Kit vs Substack — own your audience or rent it
Substack made paid newsletters normal. Kit makes you own the whole thing. Picking between them is really picking between two business models, and it's worth thinking about before you publish your first post.
My short answer: use Substack if you want the simplest possible setup and the discovery network to find readers. Use Kit if you want to own your subscriber list, keep more of the revenue, and run more than one way to make money.
Substack's model
- All-in-one: publish, email, paid subscriptions and comments in one place. Setup takes minutes.
- Discovery: Substack's network can bring readers to you — real value for a brand-new writer.
- The trade: Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, plus payment processing fees. The rate has changed before, so check the current terms. Free readers cost you nothing.
Kit's model
- Ownership: your subscriber list is yours, fully exportable, independent of any network.
- Flat fee: you pay a monthly subscription and keep the rest of what you sell. No percentage of every paid subscriber.
- More revenue streams: paid newsletters, digital products, and your own website in one workflow.
- No discovery: you bring the audience — SEO, ads, social, partnerships.
The real trade-off
| Substack | Kit | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | Minutes | An afternoon |
| Discovery | Built-in network | You drive the traffic |
| Revenue model | 10% of paid subs + processing fees | Flat monthly fee; you keep the rest |
| Audience ownership | On the platform | Fully yours, easy to leave |
| Monetization | Paid subscriptions | Paid subs, products, more |
Substack's 10% fee checked via its current terms and third-party breakdowns in August 2026; fees change, so verify on the current Substack terms and Kit pricing.
My take
Substack is a fine starter home: no setup, instant publication, and the network gives new writers a real chance to be found. What you give up is control — the audience relationship runs through Substack, and its fee policy is not something you can influence.
Kit is the "own your land" option. You trade the discovery network for full control: your list, your revenue, your exit options. If you're building a business around your audience, that control compounds over years.
I've seen writers run both: publish on Substack for discovery, build the owned list in Kit. It's more work, but it means no single platform's rule change can sink you.
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