Substack vs Keystatic

Substack provides a platform for creators to build an audience and potentially monetize their content through subscriptions.

A gradual and reliable growth mechanism for newsletters, built on consistency and word of mouth.

Substack has a user-friendly interface that allows for easy setup and multimedia posts.

Substack provides the opportunity for writers to own their subscribers and communicate directly with them.

Substack allows for both free and paid content, giving flexibility in content sharing and potential monetization.

Substack allows writers to categorize their posts into unlimited publications, making it user-friendly for creators.

Offers first-class CMS experience with TypeScript and support for Markdown, YAML, and JSON.

Integrating Keystatic into an Astro blog is straightforward, and it allows coexistence of new and old content formats.

Rich text editing experience right out of the box with minimal setup.

Supports creating custom fields and components, enhancing the content management experience.

Allows connection to GitHub repositories and local file system for easy content management.

Markdown and JSON support simplifies the content workflow, appealing for technical users.

New writers may struggle to monetize effectively on Substack without a pre-existing audience.

Substack does not offer advanced features such as personalization tags or email automations, which limits marketing effectiveness.

While there are success stories, many new writers face challenges in gaining visibility and building an audience.

Writers may find it difficult to gain traction on Substack, especially without an established audience.

There is a perception that Substack may not provide enough engagement compared to platforms like Reddit.

Substack may not be the best option for long-term growth compared to other platforms that offer better discoverability.

Limited support for MDX content, which may hinder those with existing MDX setups.

Users may encounter difficulties when setting up environment variables for GitHub integration.

As it is still in experimental phases, users may face bugs or limitations.

The admin UI can become complex when trying to integrate with existing layouts.

Users have mentioned that not all features are fully developed, leading to missing functionalities.

Some advanced features may require more configuration than initially expected.

The native editor was a key reason for choosing Substack due to its ease of use.

Users appreciate the minimalist design of the Substack editor, allowing focus on writing.

The simplicity of publishing content on Substack is frequently highlighted by users.

Substack allows for creative, personal writing, garnering a welcoming community.

A user noted that they find their writing process improved with Substack's tools.

Several users encourage others to start writing on Substack for its user-friendly nature.

The integration with Astro is seamless and allows for custom components.

Users appreciate the simple markdown interface that provides flexibility.

Markdown and JSON management allows for easy content updates without confusion.

The ease of managing content in markdown is highlighted.

Keystatic frequently saves drafts, which is helpful for users.

Customizability of the admin UI is frequently appreciated by developers.

Users have expressed frustrations with the draft page becoming unresponsive at times.

Some complaints about a lack of detailed formatting options compared to other CMS platforms.

Users noted that SEO effectiveness on Substack can be lacking, affecting visibility.

Some find that monetization options can be unclear or limited without a paid subscription.

Reports of suboptimal user experience with formatting issues during editing.

Users mention that some features feel half-baked or underdeveloped compared to competitors.

Limited support for MDX format caused migration challenges for existing content.

Users faced difficulties with integrating images correctly in their posts.

Keystatic lacks some advanced features expected by users migrating from other CMS.

Users encountered issues with validations on the datetime field.

Substack allows quick setup without technical knowledge, appealing to non-experts.

Users appreciate the community and engagement aspects of Substack, as it attracts serious writers.

The platform is free and offers monetization options for writers.

Integrating Keystatic with Astro was straightforward and didn't produce installation errors.

Keystatic successfully managed Markdown content without major issues during setup.

Users find Keystatic easy to configure, especially compared to alternatives like Tina CMS.

It is seen as a good git-based CMS with simple integration.

Keystatic allows simple content organization based on user-defined structures.

Substack lacks solid SEO functionality, which can hinder discoverability.

Emails sent through Substack are public, reducing exclusivity for subscribers.

Users struggle with managing multiple lists when using Substack and Mailchimp together due to lack of integration.

There is no direct integration for tracking Facebook Pixel conversions with Substack.

MDX support was initially lacking, causing a shift to other content types.

Encountered difficulties when converting existing content formats and managing schema.

Users reported validation issues when using the admin UI, indicating potential schema misconfigurations.

One user encountered issues with accessing posts in the admin interface due to schema conflicts.

Some users expressed frustration with limited documentation and encountered initial setup issues.