Since Substack uses Stripe, you can migrate even paid subscribers to another platform that uses Stripe, such as Ghost, without even having to have them set up payments again. You just have to get Substack to unlike themselves from your existing Stripe account so they stop taking their 10% cut.

February 08, 2026 - 11:37 UTC

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Doing this with a self-hosted Ghost is a lot of work, but for the business version of Ghost, their customer support team will handle migration. The monthly charge for that is absolutely gonna be less than the 10% cut that Substack is taking from the most successful newsletters.
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So for the ones who are making most money through Substack, platform inertia is no excuse. Leaving Substack for something that charges a flat fee (whether Ghost or another platform with a migration pathway) instead of taking a 10% would actually SAVE THEM MONEY.
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My reply was just a basic answer to the question: Why do people stay on the platform?

TY for the overview, tho. I hope other folks read it and learn that tho setting up a new account and migrating one's content takes time, Substack alts do what they can to mitigate the pain.
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