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substack.com
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substack.com

13 technologies
VerifiedGrowingVisit140.6M/mo$424M2.1K13 Tech
Deep Dive

Substack: The $424M Platform Killing Media

How 2,122 employees built a direct-to-audience empire with 140M monthly visits

Substack isn't just a newsletter platform—it's a $424M rebellion against the dying media industry. With 140M monthly visits and a 70% direct traffic ratio, they've built something traditional publishers can only dream of: a direct pipeline from writer to reader, cutting out every middleman.

$424M
Annual Revenue
140.6M
Monthly Visits
70%
Direct Traffic
2,122
Employees

"They turned writers into businesses and readers into subscribers—no editors, no advertisers, no compromise."

The Growth Engine

With 428M backlinks and 17% organic search traffic, Substack's SEO moat is massive. But the real magic is in the 70% direct traffic—readers aren't finding Substack through Google; they're coming back because the content is unfiltered and the relationship is direct. This is the anti-algorithm model, and it's working.

The Writer's Revolution

Top creators like Paul Krugman and Heather Cox Richardson aren't just migrating to Substack—they're building empires there. With search volumes of 5,340 and 48,260 respectively for their names, these writers have become their own media brands. Substack doesn't own the content; they enable the relationship.

The tech stack tells the story: Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap, Ant Design, Vite, PWA, and Cloudflare. It's a modern, scalable infrastructure built for speed and reliability. But the real innovation isn't in the code—it's in the business model. Substack takes a 10% cut of subscriptions, aligning their success directly with creator success. No ads, no sponsorships, no corporate influence.

  • Direct traffic dominance (70%) signals brand loyalty, not algorithmic dependency
  • 428M backlinks create an SEO fortress that competitors can't scale
  • The 1.3/5 Trustpilot rating reveals a critical tension: creators love it, but users complain about discovery and UI
No algorithmic discovery for readers
70% direct traffic proves reader loyalty
Weak user ratings (1.3/5) suggest UX friction
Creator-first model (10% cut) aligns incentives
Heavy reliance on individual creator brands
Massive backlink authority (428M) creates SEO moat

The Unbundling of Media is Complete

Substack didn't disrupt journalism—they made journalism personal again. The question isn't whether traditional media can survive; it's whether they can even compete.

What tech stack does Substack use?

15 detected
Security1
Error Tracking1
Cloud & Hosting2
Performance1
Web Standards2
Build Tools1
UI Libraries1
Tracking & Analytics2
G
Google Analytics
S
Sentry

How much traffic does Substack get?

Traffic & Engagement

108.6M
Monthly Visits
+4.9%
3.1
Pages/Visit
8:15
Avg. Duration
59%
Bounce Rate
Monthly Traffic Trend-2%
111.4M
Oct 2025
Oct
103.5M
Nov 2025
Nov
108.6M
Dec 2025
Dec

Rankings

#330
Global Rank
#158
United States Rank

Backlinks & Authority

428.8M
Backlinks
616.5K
Ref. Domains
82
Authority Score
Low
Penalty Risk
Backlinks Trend-5%
453.5M
Jul 2025
Jul
461.7M
Aug 2025
Aug
454.3M
Sep 2025
Sep
455.3M
Oct 2025
Oct
446.4M
Nov 2025
Nov
428.8M
Dec 2025
Dec

Search Traffic

Organic
12.0M
Paid
920

Top Organic Keywords

#1substack
450,000 vol5.1%
#5time management methods
1,830,000 vol0.6%
#3kids activities
550,000 vol0.3%
#1substack login
22,200 vol0.3%
#1heather cox richardson
201,000 vol0.2%

Where is Substack's audience located?

🇺🇸United States51.8%
🇬🇧United Kingdom6.5%
🇮🇳India3.8%
🇨🇦Canada3.6%
🇦🇺Australia3.1%

Device Distribution

Desktop43.5%
Mobile56.5%

What keywords does Substack rank for?

5 keywords
1substack1.4M vol$1.18
2substack login46.5K vol$0.71
3sub stack45.4K vol$1.19
4paul krugman substack5.3K vol$6.02
5heather cox richardson48.3K vol$1.08

How is Substack's SEO?

Open Graph Image

OG Image preview
og:image

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Xim-!,w_400,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack.com%2Ficons%2Fsubstack%2Ficon.svg

Meta Tags

title15 chars

Home | Substack

description30 chars

The app for independent voices

languageEN

H1 Tags

h1Home

What is Substack's revenue?

$424M
Annual Revenue
2,122
44%
Employees
$200K
Revenue/Employee
$120M
Total Funding
$1.1B
Valuation
San Francisco, United States
Headquarters

Who works at Substack?

Loading leads...

What do customers think of Substack?

Substack

Substack

1.3
124 reviews

Categories

Email Service Provider#undefinedInternet Marketing Service#undefinedSoftware Company#undefined

Activity & Engagement

Reply Rate
0%
Avg. Reply Time
0.0 days

Contact Information

Address:
PO Box 720263
San Francisco, US

Reviews (20)

Filter by rating:
Mary Navarro
10/15/2025
🇺🇸 United States2 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 10/8/2025
Beyond ecpectations

Couldn't have asked for better service.

Mindaugas SmalinskasVerified
1/15/2026
🇱🇹 Lithuania1 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 1/15/2026
Very disappointed after being 4 years loyal user

I have been a loyal user for 4 years, but my recent renewal experience has been a nightmare. While the subscription page clearly lists the price as 70€, Substack is attempting to charge me 85€. To make matters worse, there is no option to cancel this pending renewal in my account settings. It has been trying to process this incorrect charge for 4 weeks straight. The automated support agent is useless and cannot resolve billing discrepancies. Extremely disappointed in the lack of transparency and human support.

MrH
1/11/2026
🇬🇧 United Kingdom15 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 1/11/2026
Abysmal and Utterly Useless Support

Abysmal and utterly useless support. The chatbot's designed to just regurgitate specific lines and phrases. So no help at all trying to get a refund. Claim it can't find my email address, then it can't find the 'publisher' then it can't confirm that I've paid. All tosh, and no doubt designed to frustrate and ultimately and thwart the return of funds. I could not have imagined such a popular platform would be so dodgy when it comes to returning funds. More fool me.

Susan Russell
1/10/2026
🇺🇸 United States1 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 1/7/2026
Unresponsive AI loop hell

Substack "customer support" is an oxymoron. One star is too generous. Either there is none - it's all AI -- or the fictional "team" is in a basement somewhere deliberately making subscribers' lives miserable. It's a disgrace. The two newsletters to which I subscribed and which were still charging me began telling me to "subscribe" for access. I got "previews" instead of full access. Again, I was already a fully paid- up subscriber. I went through dozens of iterations of "magic links" and codes, and was continually thrown back into the link-code-chat loop. The "chat" is a joke, and there is no human "team," as promised, if it doesn't work. Any employees being paid to support subscribers should be fired. The apparent irreversibility (and absence of human contact) of payment glitches that disadvantage subscribers is serious and remedied only by contacting your credit company. I blocked payment on my credit card and filed a dispute which was immediately resolved in my favor. A week later I did hear from a staffer at one of the newsletters --having sent them an email about Substack customer support hell. He apologized and was going to take it up with none other than customer support to resolve asap. The mention of customer support gave me a bad feeling. I've heard nothing since. And if it's up to customer support, I never will. (Update: after the well-intentioned newsletter staffer said he would get the matter to "support" to fix the problem asap, the only development has been a vindictive lock symbol on the newsletter. That's "support's" response.) This occurred during December, 2025- beginning of January, 2026.

Nicola
1/10/2026
🇬🇧 United Kingdom8 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 1/1/2026
Poor

Poor, subscription has auto renewed. Sub Stack says you can cancel within 7 days for a full refund. I had done so numerous times through help but nothing is happening and now it isn’t even recognising my request. There is no one to speak to and help feels like an AI bot and I have no way of getting a refund. Really awful customer service. I will be deleting my account and do not recommend.

Frequently Asked Questions about Substack

What is Substack's Revenue?
Substack generates approximately $424M in annual revenue. With 2,122 employees, that's $200,000 per employee. The company has raised $120M in total funding.
What does Substack do?
The app for independent voices
How fast is Substack growing?
Substack has grown by 4.9% in the last 6 months according to traffic data. employee count has changed by 44% year over year.
How do people interact with Substack?
When visiting Substack, visitors view an average of 3.1 pages per visit, and spend around 8:15 on the site, and the bounce rate is 58.9%.
How do people find Substack?
96.7M people (89%) visit Substack directly. 12.0M (11%) find them through organic search. 920 (0%) come through paid advertising.
Who uses Substack?
Substack's top market is United States with 56.3M visitors (51.8%). United Kingdom is 2nd with 7.0M (6.5%). India is 3rd with 4.1M (3.8%).
What technologies does Substack use?
Substack uses 13 technologies across their website including Fonts, Security, Error Tracking. Key technologies include Google Fonts, HSTS, Sentry.
Who are Substack's competitors?
Substack's main competitors include Patreon, Mailchimp, WordPress, Ghost, ConvertKit. These companies operate in similar markets and compete for the same customer base.
What do customers think of Substack?
Substack has a Trustpilot score of 1.3 out of 5 (1 stars) based on 124 customer reviews.

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About substack.com

The app for independent voices

Company Overview

substack.com
Website
news_and_media
Industry
#293
Global Rank
140.6M
Monthly Visitors
13
Technologies

substack.com Key Pages

Contact substack.com

Technology Stack

substack.com uses 13 technologies across their website including Google Fonts, HSTS, Sentry, and more.

Fonts

Google Fonts

Security

HSTS

Error Tracking

Sentry

CMS

Framer

Cloud & Hosting

Amazon S3, Cloudflare

Performance

Lazy Loading

Traffic & Audience

140.6M
Monthly Visits
48%
Bounce Rate
3.6
Pages/Visit
3:35
Avg. Duration

substack.com receives approximately 140.6M monthly visitors and ranks #293 globally. The website has a bounce rate of 48% with visitors viewing an average of 3.6 pages per visit. Users spend an average of 3:35 on the site.

The majority of substack.com's traffic comes from undefined, undefined, .

Frequently Asked Questions

What is substack.com?
The app for independent voices
What technologies does substack.com use?
substack.com uses 13 technologies including Google Fonts, HSTS, and 7 more. View the full tech stack analysis above.
How popular is substack.com?
substack.com receives approximately 140.6M monthly visitors and ranks #293 globally. Traffic is growing by 8.4% month-over-month.

Related Searches

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This page provides publicly available information about substack.com. Data is collected from various public sources and may not always be up to date. For the most accurate information, please visit substack.com directly at https://substack.com.