TinaCMS vs Substack

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

TinaCMS
TinaCMS
TinaCMS is an open-source, Git-backed headless content management system that empowers developers and content creators to collaborate seamlessly on a single platform, with real-time editing and version control.
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 TinaCMS and Substack. Click on any feature to read more details.

FeatureTinaCMSSubstack
Basic Features
Hosting Option
Cloud & Self-hosted
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
Limited
Read all reviews from marketers
Developer Experience
Ease of Integration
Medium
Medium
Custom React Components
Full Text Search
Starter Kits
(2 kits)
(5 kits)
Read all reviews from developers
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What Users Say

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

TinaCMS's Key Strengths

Read what users love about TinaCMS.

Substack's Key Strengths

Read what users love about Substack.

TinaCMS's Key Issues

Read what issues users have with TinaCMS.

Substack's Key Issues

Read what issues users have with Substack.

What Marketers & Content Creators Say

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

TinaCMS's Editorial Experience Highlights

What marketers love about TinaCMS's editor.

Substack's Editorial Experience Highlights

What marketers love about Substack's editor.

TinaCMS's Editorial Experience Issues

What marketers dislike about TinaCMS'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.

TinaCMS:
Limited Mobile Experience

TinaCMS has basic mobile editing capabilities but lacks a fully optimized mobile editor experience.

"Try Tina CMS, specifically with Tina cloud. I'm building a site out right now and the mobile editing experience is very straightforward."
Source
"Using Tina to edit content is, unfortunately, where the rough edges start to show. I started trying to write this post on my phone... the interface is clearly not meant for mobile screen sizes."
Source
"TinaCMS now supports various screen sizes and mobile devices, including iOS and Android. Whether you’re on the go, or at your desk, editing your content has never been more intuitive."
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.

TinaCMS:
No Automatic Content Linking

TinaCMS does not include an automatic related blog feature for linking content. Manual linking is possible but not automated.

"Easiest CMS to set up with Astro : r/astrojs"
Source
"I also use TinaCMS for writing Blog post but it's way better than Tina CMS."
Source
"Each item in your collections array represents its own entity. In the above example, we defined a post collection."
Source
"Defining "collections". In the above example, we defined a post collection, and set its path as content/posts."
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.

TinaCMS:
No Automatic CTA Linking

TinaCMS does not support automatic linking of CTAs based on content; only manual linking is possible.

"Tina does not provide a feature for automatic call-to-action linking."
Source
"Call to action buttons; Call to action panels are supported, but automatic linking is not mentioned."
Source
"TinaCMS's Headless CMS Features do not include automatic call-to-action suggestions."
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.

TinaCMS:
No Comments Supported

TinaCMS does not offer built-in commenting feature for public content. Custom implementations are possible but not out-of-the-box.

"TinaCMS has not integrated a traditional commenting feature like WordPress; it allows editing and review processes but does not allow public comments on articles."
Source
"Currently, TinaCMS does not support external commenting features for user-generated feedback on blogs or articles."
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.

TinaCMS:
Limited Multi-tenancy

TinaCMS offers multi-tenancy capabilities but requires manual implementation for user management and project collaborations.

"For a more advanced branching and Pull-Request workflow, checkout TinaCloud's editorial workflow (only available on Business and Enterprise plans)."
Source
"Tina supports using external media providers, however a light backend media handler needs to be setup/hosted by the user."
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 TinaCMS and Substack about their experiences.

Ease of Integrating TinaCMS:
Medium
Users report mixed experiences with integrating TinaCMS; some find it straightforward while others face challenges.
Ease of Integrating Substack:
Medium
Integration with Substack is feasible but lacks robust features and direct integrations, leading to some workarounds.

TinaCMS's DX Highlights

What developers love about building with TinaCMS.

Substack's DX Highlights

What developers love about building with Substack.

TinaCMS's DX Issues

What developers dislike about building with TinaCMS.

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.

TinaCMS:
Customisable Content Types

TinaCMS supports content modeling, allowing custom content types and various fields.

"Tina uses a "content-modeling as code" approach, allowing developers to define the shape of their content."
Source
"Tina contains multiple field types like string, number, boolean, image, object, etc. that help in content modeling."
Source
"TinaCMS allows for real-time visual editing and has a robust content modeling schema that enhances block-based editing."
Source
"TinaCMS provides flexible content modeling features allowing developers to create custom content types."
Source
"Tina CMS is highlighted as a notable Git-based content management system that excels in content modeling."
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.

TinaCMS:
Custom React Components Supported

TinaCMS supports custom React components via the ui.component property in field definitions.

"A custom component can be passed and rendered by setting the ui.component property on a field. This component completely overrides the original component."
Source
"The first approach involves defining a React component and passing it into the component property of a field definition."
Source
"Tina also provides a variety of pre-built components. To specify these, the ui.component property should be configured with the string name of the registered field plugin."
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
TinaCMS:
Full Text Search Supported

TinaCMS supports full text search using search-index allowing content searches across multiple fields.

"TinaCMS provides built-in search functionality for content. This is useful for allowing editors to quickly finding content in a site."
Source
"Search is not currently supported in self-hosted Tina."
Source
"The self-hosted backend does not currently have endpoints to support search functionality."
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.

TinaCMS:
Available

TinaCMS offers starter kits for Next.js and Astro integration.

(Expand section to see a list of TinaCMS 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 TinaCMS and Substack.

TinaCMS's Pricing
Free
$0 / month
- 2 Users
- 2 Roles
- Community Support
Team
$29 / month
- 3 Users
- 2 Roles
- Team Support
- Up to 10 Users
- $9/additional seat
Team Plus
$49 / month
- 5 Users
- 2 Roles
- Team Support
- Up to 20 Users
- $15/additional seat
- Editorial Workflow
- AI Features (Beta)
Business
$299 / month
- 20 Users
- 3 Roles (Beta)
- Business Support
- No User Limit
- $18/additional seat
- Editorial Workflow
- AI Features (Beta)
- API (Beta)
Enterprise
$0 / custom
- Custom Users
- Custom Roles
- Enterprise Support
- No User Limit
- Variable user pricing
- Custom Editorial Workflow
- AI Features (Beta)
- API (Beta)
- SSO
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 TinaCMS & Substack? Try Wisp.
Wisp is the best solution for blogging. Try it free today!