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Publica Now vs Substack

Substack or Publica Now? Here's the honest answer.

Substack is great for pure newsletters. Publica Now is great for multi-format creators. We tell you which one fits, with no spin.

TL;DR — in 3 lines

  • Substack is better if you sell access to your newsletter as your only product and your audience reads on mobile.
  • Publica Now is better if you sell more than text (music, video, courses, photos) and want to keep your email list without being locked in.
  • If you're unsure: they can coexist. Free newsletter on Substack for visibility, paid products on Publica Now.

Publica Now vs Substack across 10 dimensions

Table built with data verified May 13, 2026. Sources are in each quote below.

Supported formats Publica Now Substack
Platform fee 20% 10%
Flat per-transaction fee USD 0.30 No
Effective total cost ~22.4% ~15.9%
Free tier Yes Yes
Multi-format Yes No
Subscriptions Yes Yes
Email to your list Yes Yes
Mobile app for readers No Yes
Discount codes Yes No
AI training opt-out Explicit opt-out Ambiguous
Content ownership 100% creator-owned Creator-owned

Why each difference matters

Real pricing and fees

Substack takes 10% of income plus processing fees (2.9% + USD 0.30 per transaction), which works out to about 15.9% on a USD 9.99 sale and 18.9% on a USD 4.99 one. Publica Now charges 20% + USD 0.30 flat per paid transaction, all-inclusive. Substack leaves more in each sale, but that gap is offset once you factor in that Publica Now lets your buyer pay in their local currency, that you sell multi-format (not just a newsletter), and that LATAM creators on Substack hit payment limitations.

Supported formats

Substack is text + embedded audio. That's it. If you sell an album, a course, or a photo set, you have to shoehorn it into a "paid post" without a dedicated landing page, presentation, or bundling with other products. Publica Now supports books, music, photography, video, courses, zines, poetry, and design in a single profile with your own URL.

Ownership and control of your work

Both platforms let you export your email list as CSV. The difference: if Substack decides to suspend your account (PickThatEmail documents 88% of Trustpilot reviews are 1-star, with export-on-suspension as a top complaint), your export gets disabled. Publica Now retains 100% of rights for you: if you leave, you take your catalog, list, and history without penalty.

Mobile experience

Substack wins here clearly: mature iOS and Android apps, and many readers already consume content there. Publica Now is web mobile-responsive without a native app. If your audience mostly consumes via mobile reader apps, that's a point for Substack.

AI training stance

This is one of the critical 2026 questions. Substack's policy is ambiguous and has changed multiple times. Publica Now publishes an explicit opt-out in its terms: creator work is not used to train AI models. Not a marketing claim — it's in the product's ToS.

When each platform fits

When Substack is the better choice

  • Writers whose offering is 100% paid newsletter
  • Audience mostly in the US and Europe paying in USD
  • Readers who consume on mobile (Substack has a mature app)
  • Folks starting out who don't want to set up their own site

When Publica Now is the better choice

  • Creators who sell more than text (music, video, courses, photos)
  • Audiences in LATAM or regions with international payment limitations
  • Anyone needing discount codes or launch promotions
  • Businesses that depend on human support when things break

A worked numerical example

You sell a USD 50 course to 40 people/month (USD 2,000 gross).

Publica Now Substack
Platform fee 20% after the fixed fee = USD 397.60 10% × 2,000 = USD 200
Processing fee Included 2.9% + USD 0.30 × 40 = USD 70
Transaction fee USD 0.30 × 40 = USD 12 —
Total fees USD 409.60 (20.5%) USD 270
You keep USD 1,590.40 USD 1,730

Substack leaves you USD 139.60 more in pure fees in this scenario. But on Substack, that course is a "paid post" inside your newsletter — no dedicated landing, no discount code, no bundling, no discoverability outside your list. On Publica Now it lives in your profile alongside everything else. And if you join as a Founding Author, your commission stays at 15% + USD 0.30 for life.

Migration

Migrating from Substack to Publica Now

What DOES transfer

  • Subscriber email list (exportable CSV)
  • Post content (HTML/Markdown/ZIP)
  • Your work — you retain all rights

What DOESN'T transfer

  • Paid subscriptions: each subscriber has to re-enter their card
  • Substack-internal followers who aren't email subscribers
  • Recommendations, claps, comments, and historical metrics
  • SEO value from substack.com URLs (no proper 301 redirects)

Complexity

Low to medium — export is straightforward; the real loss is paid subscriptions, which is PCI standard across all platforms.

Estimated time

60-90 minutes to move catalog and list. Paid-subscriber reactivation can take 2-4 weeks with 30-50% conversion.

What creators say

Real complaints from Substack users

Verbatim quotes from public reviews and creator communities in 2025-2026. Sources are linked.

FAQs about Substack

Yes. Export the CSV from Substack and invite them to publica.now. Paid subscriptions don't transfer automatically — each subscriber has to confirm and re-enter their card. That's PCI-standard across all platforms, not a Publica Now quirk.
If you leave it active, yes. Many creators keep Substack for free newsletter (visibility) and Publica Now for paid products. They're not mutually exclusive.
Upload to Publica Now what you want, as individual articles or downloadable compilations. Anything you don't migrate stays in Substack if you keep the account active.
Moving catalog and list: 60-90 minutes. Reactivating paid subscribers in the new platform: 2-4 weeks with typical 30-50% conversion (consistent across any platform migration with paid subs).

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