MailerLite vs Substack: your own list or a publishing network

The practical difference

On Substack you publish posts and choose which are free and which are only for paid subscribers. Substack says you own your content and your subscriber list, and it runs an app where readers discover publications.

MailerLite is an email marketing platform: it sends campaigns and automations to your list, and its paid newsletters and recurring subscriptions, sold through Stripe, need Comfort or Power.

Automation and forms

MailerLite's Free plan includes 3 automations, 3 signup forms, 1 website and 1 landing page; Comfort raises that to 50 automations, 10 forms and 10 websites and landing pages in total. A welcome series runs on the Joins group trigger, so it starts when a form adds someone to a group.

Cost

MailerLite Free costs nothing for up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. Billed monthly, Comfort is $12 a month at 500 subscribers and $19 at 1,000. Substack's terms for paid subscriptions are on its own site; this page gives no Substack figure.

Discovery and growth

Substack's app gives readers a place to find new publications. With MailerLite, growth comes from your own site and pages: embedded forms, pop-ups and landing pages, with double opt-in to confirm consent.

Moving a list

Export your list before switching either way. MailerLite exports subscribers as a CSV file, with group names if you add the Groups column, and imports a CSV from another platform; bring only people who opted in.

Which option should you choose?

Choose Substack if you mainly publish posts, want paid subscriptions with little setup (Substack says it takes minutes), and value its reader app. Choose MailerLite if you need automated sequences, signup forms and landing pages, or want to sell digital products beside a newsletter.

To compare for yourself, MailerLite's premium features can be tried for 14 days at no cost.