DatoCMS vs Substack

Compare DatoCMS and Substack for your content needs. Find out what actual users are saying about each product and which one is best suited for you!

DatoCMS
DatoCMS
Visit DatoCMS for the most complete, user-friendly, and performant Headless CMS. Manage online content from a central hub and distribute it via API without legacy constraints.
Substack
Substack
Substack is a user-friendly publishing platform for writers, enabling them to create newsletters and build a subscriber base while retaining full ownership of their content and mailing lists.

At a Glance

Quick overview of key features differences between DatoCMS and Substack. Click on any feature to read more details.

FeatureDatoCMSSubstack
Basic Features
Hosting Option
Cloud Only
Cloud & Self-hosted
Content Modeling
Blog on Subdomain
Blog on Subdirectory
Marketer Experience
Mobile-first Experience
Limited
Automatic Content Linking
Automatic CTA Linking
Engage with Comments
Multi-tenancy
Read all reviews from marketers
Developer Experience
Ease of Integration
Medium
Medium
Custom React Components
Full Text Search
Starter Kits
(3 kits)
(5 kits)
Read all reviews from developers
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What Users Say

See what users who have used DatoCMS and Substack have to say about their overall experience with the product.

DatoCMS's Key Strengths

Read what users love about DatoCMS.

Substack's Key Strengths

Read what users love about Substack.

DatoCMS's Key Issues

Read what issues users have with DatoCMS.

Substack's Key Issues

Read what issues users have with Substack.

What Marketers & Content Creators Say

Hear from the users who uses DatoCMS and Substack daily about their experience with the editors.

DatoCMS's Editorial Experience Highlights

What marketers love about DatoCMS's editor.

Substack's Editorial Experience Highlights

What marketers love about Substack's editor.

DatoCMS's Editorial Experience Issues

What marketers dislike about DatoCMS's editor.

Substack's Editorial Experience Issues

What marketers dislike about Substack's editor.

Mobile Editing

Find out how the platforms handle the mobile-first experience for the new generation of workforce on the move.

DatoCMS:
Limited Mobile Experience

DatoCMS offers a functional mobile interface for content creation, but improvements are needed for a better mobile-first experience.

"DatoCMS is a headless CMS equipped with all the features presented above that a mobile CMS should have."
Source
"Dato’s mobile interface is functional. Again, some tweaks could make the mobile experience more pleasant."
Source
"DatoCMS provides content as a service. This means it delivers content through an API, which can be consumed by various front-end systems such as websites, mobile apps, or other internet-connected platforms."
Source
"DatoCMS is a cloud-based headless CMS designed to work with websites, mobile apps, and server-side applications of any kind."
Source
Substack:
Mobile-First Experience

Substack has launched a mobile editor for creating posts directly on iOS and Android devices, offering essential functionalities.

"Today we’re launching a new mobile editor, which allows you to write and publish posts directly from the Substack app for iOS."
Source
"Publishing a new post is available on the Substack iOS and Android apps."
Source

Automatic Content Linking

Find out if the platform supports automatic linking of related content to help user discover more content without additional manual effort from the marketer. This automatically create topical clusters of content and is essential for SEO.

DatoCMS:
No Automatic Content Linking

DatoCMS does not support automatic linking of similar blog posts for SEO.

"Automatic linking of related blog posts is not mentioned as a feature."
Source
"Inverse relationships allow for manual linking between content types, but not automatic linking."
Source
Substack:
No Automatic Content Linking

Substack does not support automatic related blog linking features; manual linking is required.

"If you'd like to share certain parts of a post or allow readers to jump to a specific section of a long post, try adding anchor links."
Source
"Recommendations are a Substack super ... However, I couldn't find evidence of automatic related content linking."
Source
"I was wondering if it is a good idea to create a substack and post my content on there as well and even link the substack post back to my main blog."
Source

Automatic CTA Linking

Find out if the platform supports automatic display of Call-to-Actions using AI to help users take actions that are relevant to the content they are reading.

DatoCMS:
No Automatic CTA Linking

DatoCMS does not support automatic CTA linking; however, it allows modular content creation.

"DatoCMS allows the definition of re-usable 'Blocks' for CTAs, but lacks explicit automatic linking features."
Source
"In DatoCMS, users can create landing pages with CTAs but are required to manually link them."
Source
Substack:
No Automatic CTA Linking

Substack lacks built-in automatic CTA linking; users rely on external tools for automation features.

"Substack provides no automation tools at all; the author notes this is a primary reason users leave for competitors."
Source
"Substack lacks several critical features needed for effective email marketing, including automated email sequences."
Source
"Users discuss the absence of integrated automation features in Substack, noting their reliance on external tools."
Source

Comments

Find out if the platform supports comments from your users to improve user engagement. This is often a great way to collect feedback and user emails.

DatoCMS:
No Comments Supported

DatoCMS does not support external commenting features for site visitors. Comments are limited to internal collaborators via plugins.

"A plugin that allows you and your project collaborators to leave comments under a record."
Source
"DatoCMS does not allow content editors to add comments to content entries."
Source
Substack:
Comments Supported

Substack supports commenting on posts from both subscribers and non-subscribers, with moderation options available.

"Navigate to your publication's Settings and click on Community. Slide the toggle to enable comments."
Source
"You can now enable comments on your posts for anyone on your mailing list, even if they’re not a paid subscriber."
Source
"Writers can choose whether to allow comments from everyone or only paid subscribers."
Source

Multi-tenancy

Find out if the platform supports managing multiple clients or projects within a single account. This is useful for agencies, multi-client or multi-project scenarios.

DatoCMS:
Multi-tenancy Supported

DatoCMS supports multi-tenancy, enabling agencies to manage multiple client accounts with unique content.

"DatoCMS is a cloud-based headless CMS that provides all the benefits and features you have just seen and much more. It was designed to work with static websites, mobile apps, and server-side applications."
Source
"They needed a platform that could manage completely separate brands, with their own segmented markets, price lists, inventories, promotions, and customers."
Source
Substack:
No Multi-tenancy

Substack does not support multi-tenancy, focusing primarily on individual writers and content monetization.

"Substack is designed for independent writers and does not offer multi-tenancy features."
Source
"Substack emphasizes individual monetization and audience ownership, lacking multi-tenant capabilities."
Source

What Developers Say

Hear from developers who've integrated and built on DatoCMS and Substack about their experiences.

Ease of Integrating DatoCMS:
Medium
Users report that DatoCMS is relatively easy to integrate, but there are some hurdles with customization and initial setup.
Ease of Integrating Substack:
Medium
Integration with Substack is feasible but lacks robust features and direct integrations, leading to some workarounds.

DatoCMS's DX Highlights

What developers love about building with DatoCMS.

Substack's DX Highlights

What developers love about building with Substack.

DatoCMS's DX Issues

What developers dislike about building with DatoCMS.

Substack's DX Issues

What developers dislike about building with Substack.

Content Modelling

Find out how developers model and manage their content with the platform with key highlights and limitations.

DatoCMS:
Customisable Content Types

DatoCMS has extensive content modelling features, including a variety of field types like text, media, modular content, and blocks.

"Models are composed of several field types - where each field serves a specific purpose for accepting data (such as the title, slug, featured image, etc.)."
Source
"The Modular Content field is used to define a dynamic area for richer page layouts, allowing writers to choose among various blocks."
Source
"Blocks allow you to define complex and repeatable structures that can be embedded inside records, providing significant expressive freedom."
Source
"DatoCMS has advanced content modelling capability using the unique Modular Content field."
Source
Substack:
No Customisable Content Types

Substack does not offer built-in content modelling features or custom content types.

"Substack offers limited customization, focusing more on content rather than design."
Source
"Directus allows you to create custom schemas, manage data, define roles & permissions for your organization."
Source
"Substack doesn’t allow customization for its newsletter formats, thus limiting content modelling."
Source

Custom React Components

Find out if the platform supports custom React components to go beyond the basic HTML components for content.

DatoCMS:
Custom React Components Supported

DatoCMS allows custom React components through its Plugin SDK and functionalities.

"DatoCMS plugins can be built using React, allowing for extensive customizations."
Source
"A set of components and utilities to work faster with DatoCMS in React environments."
Source
"You can also use our <StructuredText> component to render it."
Source
"You can implement custom components to render in modals."
Source
"The react-datocms Image component is used for responsive images in React."
Source
Substack:
No Custom React Components Supported

Substack does not support custom React components directly in the content editor.

"Over the years, I’ve written and reviewed hundreds of React components for a $1.7B GenAI startup."
Source
"I wanted to display my Substack posts on my website instead of a subscribe link, so I created my own Substack feed component!"
Source
"A customizable React component renders the login page based on the user's UI settings."
Source
"The new components are both fully customizable AND robust."
Source
"I have used substackapi to achieve this Custom Embed Substack Signup Form."
Source
DatoCMS:
Full Text Search Supported

DatoCMS supports full-text search across multiple fields using its Site Search API.

"Our Content Management API offers a REST endpoint to perform search requests."
Source
"I have created my own search index of DatoCMS data in JSON file, by using DatoCMS API."
Source
"DatoCMS Site Search is a way to deliver tailored search results to your website visitors."
Source
Substack:
No Full Text Search

Substack's search functionality is weak, lacking full text search across all content and authors.

"From the Substack web inbox, readers can search keywords to find posts, publications, and people."
Source
"Substack search can’t find posts even when I know the exact title or URL. Search often can’t find people."
Source

Starter Kits

Discover starter kits and templates to help you get started with the platform.

DatoCMS:
Available

DatoCMS offers several starter kits and templates for quick project setup.

(Expand section to see a list of DatoCMS templates and starter kits.)

Substack:
Available

Substack offers various starter kits and templates for creators.

(Expand section to see a list of Substack templates and starter kits.)

Pricing & Plans

Compare the prices of DatoCMS and Substack.

DatoCMS's Pricing
Free Plan
$0 / month
- 1 collaborator
- 300 records
- 200MB file storage
- 10GB/month bandwidth
- 100k API calls/month
Professional Plan
$149 / month
- Up to 10 collaborators
- 100k records
- 500GB file storage
- 1TB/month bandwidth
- 1M API calls/month
- Includes 10 locales
- Supports 11 projects
- Basic support
Enterprise Plan
$0 / custom
- Custom pricing
- Dedicated support
- Enhanced security features
- Higher limits on resources
Substack's Pricing
Monthly Subscription
$5 / month
- Includes all posts for paid subscribers only
- Recurring payments processed via Stripe
- 10% platform fee
- 2.9% + $0.30 transaction fees on Stripe
Annual Subscription
$50 / year
- Includes all posts for paid subscribers only
- Recurring payments processed via Stripe
- 10% platform fee
- 2.9% + $0.30 transaction fees on Stripe
Founding Member Plan
$20 / month
- Optional tier for additional support
- All posts for paid subscribers

Compare with other technologies

Looking for a better alternative to DatoCMS & Substack? Try Wisp.
Wisp is the best solution for blogging. Try it free today!