Socle Dons vs. Donorbox
Ghost is a more powerful, independent alternative to Substack with no transaction fees.
Hey there! Thinking about switching to Ghost? Or trying to decide which platform to use for the first time?
If you're wondering what the differences are between Ghost and Substack for creators and publishers running a premium newsletter, we've put together this straightforward overview.
| Donation Platform | Donorbox | |
|---|---|---|
| Email newsletters | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Premium podcasts | Yes, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Custom tiers, with both monthly and annual payment options | ❌ No, Substack links are penalized and hidden |
| Share your writing on Twitter | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Email newsletters | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Premium podcasts | Yes, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Custom tiers, with both monthly and annual payment options | ❌ No, Substack links are penalized and hidden |
| Email newsletters | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Email newsletters | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Additional Selling Points
While Substack is a closed platform over which you have little control, Ghost is open source and extremely flexible. A Ghost publication can be completely customized to meet the needs of all kinds of publishers and authors.
On Substack, you're limited to a single design with a few basic settings and no ability to create your own website or landing pages to promote your growing newsletter business.
With Ghost, you always own your content, subscriber lists, and even the code, because it’s completely open source. This means that even if Ghost, the company, were to disappear, you could continue to run your membership business indefinitely.
It's possible to create a completely custom newsletter, like *Publisher Weekly*:
Our Other Tools
SMD Socket
An affordable website and newsletter creation service that combines the Ghost CMS with European tools.
E-Reader Stand
A simple and easy-to-use PDF reader for magazines, journals, and books, including a web-based reading mode.