Substack
Free until you monetize, then 10%
- 10% transaction fee on every paid subscription
- Substack network controls discovery
- Limited design and theming control
- One newsletter per account, no multi-blog
Vlogerly is free forever, takes 0% fees, and lets you run multiple blogs from a single dashboard. You own your audience, your email list, and your content. No platform between you and your readers.
By the numbers
$0
forever
No subscription, no surprises
0%
platform fees
Keep every dollar you earn
∞
blogs
Manage them from one panel
2 min
setup
Sign up to publishing
Detailed comparison
Both platforms let you publish and grow an audience. The differences show up the moment you start earning, multiplying projects, or wanting design control.
Substack
Free + 10% fee
Vlogerly
Free forever
Pricing
Free tier
Transaction fee on paid posts
Cut taken from paid subscriptions
Custom domain on free tier
Credit card required to sign up
Audience ownership
Own your subscriber email list
Export and use anywhere
Export subscribers anytime
No platform-managed paywall
Network-driven discovery
Built-in cross-promotion
Publishing
Multiple blogs per account
Scheduled posts
Rich text editor with media
Categories and tags
Design & control
Custom theme / branding
Custom CSS / code injection
Open Graph + SEO out of the box
Newsletter
Built-in newsletter delivery
Double opt-in support
Monthly digest automation
Substack public pricing reflected as of 2026-05. Vlogerly is free forever with 0% transaction fees across every tier.
Why creators switch
Substack pioneered paid newsletters and earned a huge audience. The trade-off is the 10% cut, the locked-in network, and the single-newsletter limit. Vlogerly removes those frictions without taking anything in return.
Vlogerly takes 0% on every plan. Substack charges 10% plus Stripe fees on every paid subscription, which can eat $1,000+ per year off a 100-subscriber list.
Your subscribers belong to your blog, not to Substack. Export your list anytime, take it anywhere, no platform permission required.
Substack limits you to one newsletter per account. Vlogerly lets you run as many blogs as you need, all from a single panel.
Vlogerly gives you full theming and custom domain on the free tier. Substack visitors always know they're on Substack, not on your brand.
Vlogerly emits sitemap, Open Graph, schema, and clean URLs out of the box. Substack is paywall-first, which hurts organic search visibility.
FAQ
Vlogerly is free forever. No trial, no credit card, no upgrade prompts inside the dashboard. Unlimited blogs, posts, subscribers, and newsletter sends.
Yes. Substack exports your posts as Markdown / CSV. Drop them into Vlogerly's editor and republish in minutes. Categories and tags come along with the import.
No. Substack lets you export your subscriber list as CSV. Import the CSV into Vlogerly's newsletter and continue emailing your existing subscribers from your new home.
Beehiiv and Ghost are great if you need built-in paid memberships and ad networks. Vlogerly is for creators who want a free, multi-blog platform without revenue cuts. If paid memberships are critical day one, Ghost fits; otherwise Vlogerly wins on simplicity and price.
If we add memberships, they will be 0% fee. Our business model is not taking a cut of your earnings, and that will not change. Future paid tiers (if any) will be flat subscriptions for power users, not percentages on what you make.
Free forever, 0% fees, your own audience. No reason to wait.
Start free with Vlogerly