Many legal professionals have created blog-type content on platforms like Substack in recent years. Changes in Substack’s corporate ownership and related fears of what Cory Doctorow calls “enshittifcation” are motivating many to seek alternatives.
In my view, independently owned blogs are the best alternative. An upcoming LLRX article will explain this in detail. This post supplements that article by discussing alternatives to Substack and blogs.
Here is a practical overview of the leading options:
- Medium. Medium operates less as a newsletter infrastructure provider and more as a centralized publishing network. Its core advantage is built-in audience discovery: writers can tap into Medium’s existing readership through topic tags, curation, and algorithmic distribution, without needing to build an email list from scratch. The barrier to entry is low — no hosting setup, no payment processing configuration, and no technical maintenance. Monetization occurs through the Medium Partner Program, which pays based on member reading time rather than direct subscriptions to a specific writer. That model can benefit newer writers seeking exposure, but it also limits pricing control and audience ownership. Writers do not control the subscriber relationship in the same way they would on Ghost, Beehiiv, or Kit, and earnings can fluctuate based on opaque algorithmic factors. Medium is strongest for writers prioritizing reach and frictionless publishing over economic independence and direct reader monetization.
- Ghost. Ghost is the closest thing to a like-for-like Substack replacement with a fundamentally different ownership model. Ghost is open-source and nonprofit-structured, which means there is no venture capital pressure to financialize the platform or extract revenue from writers. Ghost charges a flat monthly hosting fee — starting at around $9/month — with no percentage cut of subscription revenue. By comparison, Substack’s 10 percent cut of a publication generating $60,000 per year costs $6,000 annually; Ghost would cost $348. Ghost is also self-hostable: if Ghost the company were to close, a publisher could continue running their membership business indefinitely using the open-source code. The primary tradeoffs are less built-in audience discovery than Substack and somewhat weaker community/social features. Ghost is the strongest choice for established writers prioritizing control and economics.
- Beehiiv. Beehiiv was built by former Morning Brew executives and is optimized for email newsletter publishing and monetization. Its analytics are stronger than Substack’s, its ad monetization tools are more developed, and it has actively positioned itself as a platform-neutral alternative — arguing it is email software rather than a social platform, which sidesteps the content moderation quagmires Substack has repeatedly encountered. Beehiiv claims nearly 3,000 Substack migrations in a recent twelve-month period. It is a strong option for writers whose primary revenue model is advertising rather than subscriptions.
- Patreon. Patreon is better suited for multimedia creators and writers with tiered membership models. Lyz Lenz’s successful migration there in 2025 demonstrated it can work well for writers with established audiences. It offers more flexible membership tier structures than Substack and a different community model. Its primary limitation for newsletter-focused writers is that its email tooling is less sophisticated than dedicated newsletter platforms.
- Kit. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) prioritizes sophisticated email marketing automation — segmentation, automated sequences, conditional logic — that Substack simply does not offer. Writers who want to build complex reader journeys, segment their audience by interest or subscription level, or integrate their newsletter with other tools will find Kit significantly more capable. It charges on a per-subscriber basis rather than a revenue percentage.
- Buttondown. Buttondown is a lightweight, developer-friendly option for writers who want simplicity and low cost without the overhead of a full platform. Its web archive is limited compared to other options, but its newsletter tools are clean and functional. A good choice for writers who primarily want to send email and maintain a minimal web presence.