When it comes to online publishing platforms, two big names come to mind – Substack and Medium. These platforms have gained huge popularity among writers’ and readers’ communities. Both of them allow people to share their thoughts through words. And more importantly, earn money while doing this.
Although their core functionality is simple, there are very obvious differences between them. That’s why people often get into the debate of Substack Vs Medium. Well, we’re also going to take part in this debate today. In this article, we will compare these two platforms and see which one is best for you. Let’s start.
Substack Vs Medium – An Overview
Before we get into the details, we’re going to overview both of these platforms briefly.
Substack:
Substack is a famous publishing website that is famous for running your paid newsletter. You can write about whatever you love and find a relevant audience here. This platform allows you to publish blogs and notes. You can either publish them for free or exclusively for a paying audience. It provides you with all the necessary tools you need to succeed as a writer.
Medium:
Medium is comparatively a more popular publishing platform. It allows you to share written articles (posts) with a large audience. You create a proper profile here and start publishing content. It can be relevant to anything you like. The tool allows you to follow other writers as well. You can do it for absolutely free. However, you have to purchase a subscription in order to read exclusive posts.
Read Also: 10 Best Blogging Sites Of 2024
Features Comparison
Here are the details of this comparison:
Availability:
· Substack:
Substack is available for free to anyone who has an interest in writing or reading. There are no charges applied to you when you join it. You can create a profile using your email address. Once you have joined the platform, you can start following other writers. To make things convenient, there is an app version of it also available.
· Medium:
Medium is no different than Substack when it comes to its availability. You can join it without paying anything as well. The platform asks for different information about you as a writer before you do it. It also lets you join with the help of an email address. And yes, there’s a Medium app available as well.
Content Sharing:
· Substack:
On this platform, you get to share content in the form of posts. They are usually a full article. You can also post notes here. They’re actually short pieces of content. You can add pictures and videos to these posts as well. You also get to share content in the form of a newsletter. It is a more direct way. However, you need to build an audience before you can do it successfully.
· Medium:
Sharing content on Medium is much simpler. That is because you can only publish posts here. They can add pictures and links to them. Readers can interact with these posts by liking and commenting. A unique feature you get here is the highlighted content. Users can highlight the part they like the most. When you see a post, you can see the part that is highlighted by the majority of the readers. This platform also allows you to run a newsletter.
Audience Building:
· Substack:
Building an audience on Substack is more difficult. There are several reasons for that. Having a low traffic than Medium is one of them. Being a complicated publishing platform also makes it less beginner-friendly. This means that if you don’t have an audience already, you’re going to struggle here. Besides this, persuading people to subscribe to your newsletter also takes a lot of quality work.
· Medium:
Experts say that the algorithm of Medium is more beginner-friendly. Its large audience also helps beginners grow quickly. This platform shows content to people according to their interests. This means that you can reach out to your target audience more easily with it. Once you have done it, you can start posting subscription-based posts. In this way, more people are likely to become members of the platform.
Monetization:
· Substack:
Substack is famous for helping creators generate a proper stream of income. That is because it works according to the subscription-based model. As mentioned earlier, writers can publish both free and paid posts. The reader has to subscribe in order to access the paid ones. The writer can set a certain subscription fee. Substack is going to take 10% of this fee. This means that the 90% goes to the creator.
· Medium:
Monetization is very complex on this platform. Writers have to pay a fee in order to join the Partner Program. After that, the platform shares a portion of the total generated revenue from premium membership among them. It happens whenever a reader claps on a members-only post. A complex algorithm decides how much each creator is going to get paid.
Substack Vs Medium – A Head-to-Head Review
| Substack | Medium |
| It is easy and join. | It also has an easy joining procedure. |
| You can publish notes here. | You can only publish general posts here. |
| It allows you to run a newsletter | It also has a newsletter feature. |
| It has a simple monetization method. | Its monetization is complex. |
| Writers can publish free and exclusive posts. | Writers can do the same here as well. |
| It is not beginner-friendly. | It is beginner-friendly. |
| It has a small audience. | It has a comparatively large audience |
Which One is the Best for You?
It’s very hard to answer this question. That is because these two platforms are similar yet very different. Put simply, it depends on your personal preference. We have provided details about both of them. They can help you pick the right one.
However, if you have an audience, we recommend using Substack. It’s the same case if you want a steady income. If you are a beginner and building an audience, using Medium would be the right choice.
Conclusion
Having a debate on Substack Vs Medium has become a popular thing among writers. They do it in order to signify the specialties of each of these platforms. Both of them are made for writers. However, the way they function varies from each other. There are both similarities and dissimilarities between them. We have covered their major aspects in the information given above. Their comparison can help you know which one is the right one for you.
FAQs
Is Substack a good platform for beginners?
No. This platform isn’t relatively good for beginners.
Which one of these is more famous?
Medium is more famous among both of these platforms.
Are these platforms available for free?
Yes. These platforms are basically free to use.