Substack vs. Blogging
The platform showdown everyone is asking for.
Let’s talk about Substack vs Blogging. I see this question a ton. A lot a lot. It’s not an either or question, and I want to provide you with a detailed guide on which one should be used for which purposes.
Substack and blogging often get tossed into the same bucket for sharing your writing online. They’re not identical however. Each serves a different purpose, and if you treat them as interchangeable, you’ll end up frustrated with the results.
Substack is for the stuff people didn't know they needed until it shows up. It's thought leadership, community building, the kind of writing that makes someone go "huh, I never thought about it that way" while they're mindlessly scrolling through their inbox. You're interrupting their day with your perspective.
A blog is the opposite. It's where you answer the questions people are actively typing into search bars. Someone has a problem, they're looking for a solution, and your blog post needs to be sitting there waiting for them. It's less "here's my hot take on industry trends" and more "here's exactly how to fix that annoying thing that's been driving you crazy."
So let’s break them down, and talk about my overall recommendation.
… Before we get too far into this, it’s worth calling out Substack’s problematic moderation stances. I go into detail below, but the short version is: their approach to extremist content has raised serious concerns, and that’s part of the calculation when deciding where to publish.
What is Substack Good for?
The defining feature of Substack is inbox-first distribution and community discovery. Posts aren’t waiting on a blog for someone to stumble across them. Instead, a Substack post is delivered directly to a reader’s inbox, sitting between their shipping updates and that passive aggressive team update from their boss they still haven’t opened. Harder to ignore…though let’s be honest, some people will manage it anyway.
This setup lends itself to thought leadership. Substack isn’t optimized for answering “how to” searches like a blog is. It’s better for essays, commentary, or analysis that doesn’t have keyword demand but is still worth reading. If you’re sharing perspective, challenging ideas, or writing pieces meant to shape the conversation in your field, Substack gives you a ready-made channel.
Beyond distribution, Substack has a community baked in. Its recommendation engine, subscription network, and comment features help your writing spread beyond your immediate list. If someone subscribes to a related writer, there’s a chance your work gets suggested to them. The platform makes it easy for readers to engage, follow, and interact without leaving the ecosystem.
That means posts often feel more like conversation than publication. Readers can comment directly in the thread, reply to the email, or share through Substack’s own network. The dynamic is less one-way broadcast, more ongoing dialogue which is something that can be harder to foster with a standalone blog.
But Substack comes with real limitations. Its SEO footprint is weak: posts aren’t built to rank well, and there’s no long-term search visibility. Most engagement happens in the first wave, when the email goes out. After that, the content slips into the archive where it rarely resurfaces. Substack is excellent at creating momentum in the moment, but not at building compounding traffic over time.
This means your readership is limited to your time spent networking, building a community and growing your email list. If people aren't on your list or following you, they are unlikely to see your content.
Time is a big factor in your decision making. How much do you have? Because you can throw a blog post up and it will continue driving traffic, but you need to work and maintain a Substack daily.
The Risks of Substack
Substack doesn’t come with a reputation warranty, and in some cases, that’s an understatement.
Reputation issues. The platform’s handling of extremist content has been a flashing neon warning. In late 2023, The Atlantic bluntly labeled it “Substack Has a Nazi Problem”, pointing out that the platform defined “free speech” in a way that lets bigotry pay the bills. Following that, more than 100 authors signed an open letter under the banner "Substackers Against Nazis" demanding change. Despite the noise, Substack removed only five extremist newsletters from a pool of more than 14, drawing criticism for a “half-measure” approach. Then, in August 2025, CyberNews reported that a white supremacist blog had literally urged violence against Jewish people—and Substack’s recommendation algorithms and push notifications unintentionally promoted it.
Trust factor. The reputational fallout is starting to catch up with them.. Some readers and businesses hesitate to associate with a platform that repeatedly stumbles over the basics of moderation. High-profile creators like Casey Newton publicly left, citing concerns over Substack’s tolerance of extremist content. The message content creators are giving Substack is clear. If Substack can’t draw a line on hate speech, people will draw one for them by leaving.
When leadership won’t answer the easy questions. If you're expecting a CEO to draw a clear line under hate speech, think again. Nilay Patel pressed Substack co-founder Chris Best, asking whether a statement like
“all brown people are animals … shouldn’t be allowed in America”
would violate Substack Notes policies. Best didn’t say “no.”
Instead, he deflected with, “I’m not going to get into gotcha content moderation.”
This clearly shows the lack of moderation policies and Nazi mentality of the platform creators themselves. When the people running the platform won’t give a straight answer about racial violence, it makes it much harder to ask readers to trust your brand while publishing there.
What blogging is good for
Blogs work backwards from Substack. It’s search-first instead of inbox-first. People find you because they were looking for exactly what you wrote about. You don’t have to try to interrupt their Tuesday morning with unsolicited wisdom to get read. Your blog post becomes the answer to someone's Google search about why their marketing funnel feels like a broken conveyor belt, or even a ChatGPT query on who the best service providers are for a specific problem.
The staying power is the real difference. Blog posts keep working after you've moved on to new topics. A well-optimized post from six months ago can still drive traffic while you're busy forgetting you even wrote it. Substack posts die when the email gets buried under fifteen other newsletters about productivity hacks and cryptocurrency predictions.
You also own the whole thing. Your site, your rules, your mess when something break (both for the good and the bad) Your own site has no algorithm deciding which posts deserve attention, and no platform reputation getting tied to your professional identity. The authority is yours, which means so is the responsibility to not make it look like a Geocities page from 2003, I mean, unless that’s your thing.
Each blog post strengthens your domain's search credibility. Google notices when you consistently publish helpful content, and that recognition compounds across everything you write. Think of it as building search engine street cred, every useful post makes the next one more likely to rank.
This is the best bonus IMO: your blog can funnel people into a newsletter you actually control. Someone lands on your post about email automation, finds it useful, and subscribes to your newsletter instead of some random Substack they'll forget about in three weeks. Now they're in your ecosystem, not someone else's.
Of course, none of this happens by accident. Blogging only works if you approach it with a clear content strategy in mind. Make sure to do keyword research, content planning, and focus on showing up consistently even when you don't feel inspired. Skip those steps and you've got an expensive online diary that three people read. Follow them and you've got a reliable machine for building visibility and authority that actually belongs to you.
Which is “better”
It isn’t really about which one wins. Substack and blogging are built for different outcomes.
Substack is strongest when you want to nurture loyal readers, create a sense of community, and share thought leadership that feels like part of an ongoing conversation. But know there is a huge time trade-off to be made here.
Blogging, on the other hand, is where you capture search demand. It’s the place you own outright (it’s your platform, your design, and your data) and it keeps working for you by generating ongoing traffic long after a post goes live.
The biggest trade-off is simple: community vs. discoverability + private community building. Substack brings people closer; blogs help new people find you and get into your ecosystem.
The type of content you create should weigh into that choice. If you’re writing how-tos, tutorials, tool reviews, or answering reader questions, a blog is the better fit because that’s exactly what people are searching for. If you’re sharing opinions, reflections, or cultural commentary (the kind of posts people don’t search for but will sometimes read if they land in their inbox) Substack or another public newsletter platform makes more sense.
But here’s the final thing to keep in mind: Substack is another full-time platform to manage, and its track record on moderation has put plenty of writers off. My recommendation used to be “do both” if you could handle the workload (and stomach the founders’ viewpoints). Lately, my view has shifted. For most people, it makes more sense to keep nurturing the communities you already have, weave your blog and a private newsletter into that, and let your blog funnel people directly into your own ecosystem. That way you’re growing traffic through search, and then building a relationship in a space you control - no borrowed platforms required.
It’s also worth mentioning: if you’re selling anything, Substack is a harder sell. Readers are much less likely to click out from a Substack post to explore an offer, service, or shop. A blog, paired with a newsletter you own, gives you more freedom to guide traffic toward what you’re offering without the friction of trying to move people off someone else’s platform.
| Factor | Substack | Blog |
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Inbox-first: posts are delivered straight to subscribers. | Search-first: posts rank in Google and attract new readers over time. |
| Best for | Thought leadership, opinions, commentary, community dialogue. | How-tos, tutorials, reviews, FAQs, and content people actively search for. |
| Visibility | Short shelf life: posts fade once the email is opened (or ignored). | Evergreen: strong posts can drive traffic for months or years. |
| Ownership | Dependent on Substack’s platform and reputation. | Fully yours - site, design, and reputation are under your control. |
| Community | Built-in comments, recommendations, and social features. | Community lives where you build it - newsletter, site, or other platforms. |
| Sales potential | Readers are less likely to click away to explore products or services. | Easier to guide visitors toward offers, services, or conversions. |
| Time investment | Functions like another full-time social platform to maintain. | Requires strategy and consistency, but effort compounds through SEO. |
| Reputation factor | Moderation and extremist content controversies carry reputational risk. | Neutral - you control the platform, with no third-party PR baggage. |
| Best role | Loyalty and conversation hub. | Discoverability engine and traffic driver. |
| Smart pairing | Works best if you already have a community that wants your takes. | Ideal as the base layer: funnel traffic into your own newsletter + ecosystem. |
Frequently Asked Questions
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Not necessarily. They serve different purposes. Blogs are for search and long-term discoverability, while Substack is for community and ongoing conversation. If you don’t have time for both, prioritize the one that best matches your goals.
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You can, but you’ll be building your house on rented land. Substack controls the design, rules, and reputation. A blog on your own domain gives you control and compounding traffic over time.
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Then consider whether Substack is worth adding to your list of full-time channels. If your community already exists elsewhere, it may be smarter to funnel people from those platforms into your blog + private newsletter, instead of spinning up another place to maintain.
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It’s not ideal. Readers on Substack are less likely to click away to explore offers. A blog with clear CTAs (and an owned newsletter) gives you far more control over conversions.
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It’s real, and worth considering. While some creators separate “the platform” from “the tool,” others have chosen to leave entirely. At minimum, know that publishing on Substack means tying your brand to its reputation - good, bad, or algorithmically promoted Nazis.
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Then the short-term win might be publishing on a platform like Substack, Medium, or Ghost - just to start writing and building an audience. But long-term, it’s worth investing in your own site. Owning your platform means you don’t lose your content or your email list if a company changes its policies or shuts down.
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Focus on your blog for search visibility and pair it with a newsletter you own. That way, you can keep building traffic, while also having a direct way to reach and nurture your audience - without depending on Substack.