Substack vs Zettlr
Substack
substack.com
Zettlr
zettlr.comSide by side
| Figure | Substack | Zettlr |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 1 |
| Spec score · Writing Apps | 9.4 (#4) | 8.3 (#41) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Official integrations include RSS, podcast distribution to Apple and Spotify, Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, X and Facebook pixels, Google site verification, YouTube and LinkedIn account connections. | The maker identifies LanguageTool integration and reference manager support for Zotero, JabRef, and Juris-M. |
| Privacy | Substack's privacy policy says it endeavors to protect personal information but cannot guarantee complete security. | The maker says app data is not collected, files stay on the user's computer, and update checks can be disabled. |
| Purpose | Substack is a publishing platform for writers, creators, and subscribers. | Zettlr is a publication workbench for writing projects from initial notes through journal submission or book manuscripts. |
| Support | Substack directs users to its Help Center for FAQs and walkthroughs and handles subscriber support questions on behalf of writers. | Users can seek community help through the forum and Discord, consult the manual, or report errors on GitHub. |
Plans
Substack
- Free publishingFree
- Free to startFree
- Custom domain$50, paid once
- Paid subscriptionsPrice not published
In their own words
Substack
Substack is a publishing platform for writers, creators, and subscribers, bringing posts, newsletters, podcasts, video, live streams, and pages into one publishing flow. Its editor supports scheduling, autosaved drafts, version history, templates, SEO metadata, and headline A/B testing. Creators can offer free or paid posts, subscriptions, trials, gifts, and group plans. Discovery tools include recommendations, Notes, leaderboards, referrals, and search; audience segmentation and email automation are also available. Podcast episodes can be distributed automatically to Apple Podcasts and Spotify, while video can go automatically to YouTube and LinkedIn. Publishing is free. When creators enable paid subscriptions, Substack keeps 10% of subscription revenue, and Stripe charges payment processing fees. Creators own their intellectual property and mailing list and can export their data. Substack serves writers, journalists, podcasters, video creators, experts, educators, and media companies. It is available on the web, Android, and iOS. Substack directs users to its Help Center and handles subscriber support questions on behalf of writers.
Zettlr
Zettlr is a writing workbench for projects that can run from early notes through journal submissions and book manuscripts. It began as a Markdown editor for academic researchers and is also used by students, journalists, authors, and others writing substantial amounts. The app works offline on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and files stay on the user's computer. It supports standard Markdown and exports to formats supported by Pandoc. Citation manager support includes Zotero, JabRef, and Juris-M, with more than 9,000 citation styles. Note features include IDs, wiki-style internal links, related files, navigation, and graph view. Pandoc-powered profiles can apply templates to papers or prepare presentations for Beamer, reveal.js, or PowerPoint. Zettlr also renders LaTeX equations and Mermaid charts and supports extensive settings and custom CSS. It is free and open source, with no payment required to download. The maker says app data is not collected and update checks can be disabled. Older releases are unsupported; nightly releases may contain many bugs.