Writers fleeing the Substack tax: how Ghost and Beehiiv are picking up the platform's biggest names
Substack has spent four years rising as the standard infrastructure for independent writing. The data of the past six months, however, suggests that a sizeable number of writers are leaving the platform. A Verge survey of 600 writers found that 8 percent of Substack's paid-subscriber base has moved to other platforms in the last 12 months — a tangible measure of a pressure the industry is now calling the "Substack tax."
The central example in the Verge's review is The Ankler, the Hollywood newsletter founded in 2018. Since the start of 2025 the publication has been paying Substack more than 800,000 dollars in annual commission, around 20 percent of its 4 million dollar revenue. When The Ankler's chief executive Janice Min announced its move to Beehiiv in February 2026, she cited Substack's pricing model and "the misalignment of the platform's social-focused turn with the work of writing" as the chief reasons.
For writers earning over 100,000 dollars a year, Substack charges a 10 percent transaction fee on top of Stripe's 2.9 percent processing fee. That puts a total cost of about 13 percent on writers' revenue. Ghost and Beehiiv, by contrast, charge only a fixed monthly subscription (Ghost starts at 9 dollars; Beehiiv has a free tier with scaling premium plans). Neither platform charges a percentage commission on payments.
Five former Substack writers The Verge interviewed also raised concerns about "social-led writing." In 2025 Substack started adding social-media-style features: Notes, a short-form content area, Following and algorithmic discovery. Writers said those features eroded their ability to spend time on the actual work of writing. From Substack's side, Notes is considered critical because it brings an average writer 28 percent of their subscriptions.
Substack's early 2024 decision over the platforming of Nazi and far-right newsletters has emerged as another reason for departure. That decision particularly drove away left-leaning writers — names like Pamela Paul and Jonathan V. Last. In the Verge survey, 19 percent of respondents cited Substack's moderation policy as their primary reason for leaving.
Ghost's chief executive, John O'Nolan, told The Verge that the recent uplift in joiners reflects this: "Writers want full ownership of their lists, their pricing and their brand. Substack is an intermediary; we're an infrastructure." Ghost's annual revenue growth reached 67 percent in 2025, almost six times Substack's 12 percent over the same period.
Beehiiv's chief executive, Tyler Denk, emphasises a different angle. "Our segment is the writer who is also an operator," he says. Beehiiv hosted more than 4,500 paid newsletters in 2025, a 220 percent rise on 2024. The platform offers subscription analytics, advanced email segmentation and direct ad placement among other business-to-business features.
Substack defends the status quo. Chief executive Hamish McKenzie, in two interviews over the past three months, has stressed that the platform is "a community for the writer ecosystem." McKenzie argues that the annual commission structure exists not as a tax on writers but to fund a sustainable platform for free subscribers as well.
Financially, Substack closed its Series C round in 2024 at a private valuation of 800 million dollars. By early 2026 market rumours suggest the company's valuation may have eased to around 500 million dollars. Main investor Andreessen Horowitz confirmed last month that its investment committee had convened to reconsider the valuation.
The Verge's closing line is a useful reminder for readers: choosing an independent writing platform is a decision tied as much to a writer's values as to their business model. Substack still leads Ghost and Beehiiv in distribution power and brand recognition, but if the trend of the last six months continues, the gravity of higher-tier writing may shift toward platforms with fewer intermediaries.