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


At a Glance
Quick overview of key features differences between WordPress.com and Substack. Click on any feature to read more details.
Feature | WordPress.com | Substack |
---|---|---|
Basic Features | ||
Hosting Option | Cloud & Self-hosted | Cloud & Self-hosted |
Content Modeling | ||
Blog on Subdomain | ||
Blog on Subdirectory | ||
Marketer Experience | ||
Mobile-first Experience | ||
Automatic Content Linking | ||
Automatic CTA Linking | Limited | |
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 → |
What Users Say
See what users who have used WordPress.com and Substack have to say about their overall experience with the product.
WordPress.com's Key Strengths
Read what users love about WordPress.com.
Substack's Key Strengths
Read what users love about Substack.
WordPress.com's Key Issues
Read what issues users have with WordPress.com.
Substack's Key Issues
Read what issues users have with Substack.
What Marketers & Content Creators Say
Hear from the users who uses WordPress.com and Substack daily about their experience with the editors.
WordPress.com's Editorial Experience Highlights
What marketers love about WordPress.com's editor.
Substack's Editorial Experience Highlights
What marketers love about Substack's editor.
WordPress.com's Editorial Experience Issues
What marketers dislike about WordPress.com'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.
The WordPress mobile app does not support effective content creation for mobile users, leading to frustration.
"The WordPress mobile experience (especially in the block editor) leaves a lot to be desired, given that some settings and sections disappear entirely in portrait mode on mobile."Source
"WordPress offers responsive themes and plugins, but lacks a dedicated mobile editing experience that truly supports mobile-first content creation."Source
"WordPress does not have a dedicated mobile editor, limiting the ability to create and edit content effectively on mobile devices."Source
Substack has launched a mobile editor for creating posts directly on iOS and Android devices, offering essential functionalities.
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.
WordPress supports automatic linking of related posts based on content, tags, and categories.
"Related Posts uses your post content, tags, and categories to automatically generate a list of relevant posts on your site."Source
"I have created a tool that automatically create blog titles, outlines and complete blog articles directly to your WordPress site."Source
"It has a nice feature that auto updating internal links when post slugs changes."Source
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.
Limited support for automatic CTA linking exists through specific plugins like MailOptin and Icegram.
"MailOptin CTA implementation comes in two forms. Options to customize the button to match content."Source
"Use the calls-to-action (CTA) tool to create button CTAs, banners, or pop-ups to add to your HubSpot pages."Source
"Icegram Engage allows users to create effective CTAs easily and offers multiple CTA button options."Source
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
WordPress has built-in commenting features with approval, notification, and spam control options.
"Comments allow your website's visitors to have a discussion with you and each other. You can turn comments on or off by following the steps in this guide."Source
"Log in to your WordPress Dashboard. Go to Settings > Discussion. Check or Uncheck Allow People to Post Comments on New Articles."Source
"WordPress comments are an integral part of any blog powered by WordPress. They allow you to engage with your audience."Source
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.
WordPress supports multi-tenancy via multisite with isolated site resources and databases.
Substack does not support multi-tenancy, focusing primarily on individual writers and content monetization.
What Developers Say
Hear from developers who've integrated and built on WordPress.com and Substack about their experiences.
WordPress.com's DX Highlights
What developers love about building with WordPress.com.
Substack's DX Highlights
What developers love about building with Substack.
WordPress.com's DX Issues
What developers dislike about building with WordPress.com.
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.
WordPress supports content modelling through custom post types and fields via plugins or native features.
"Create Content Model brings powerful content management capabilities directly into WordPress Core."Source
"Custom post types in WordPress allow you to create and manage content that goes beyond standard posts."Source
"WordPress gives you a simple way to extend the standard data types into an array for custom needs."Source
"WordPress custom post types are powerful features that elevate it from a blogging tool to a content management system."Source
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.
Custom React component integration is not natively supported; requires workarounds with blocks or scripts.
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
Full Text Search
Find out if the platform supports full text search across multiple fields to help users find content quickly.
WP Fast Total Search allows full text search across posts, meta-fields, and attach file contents.
"WPFTS extends standard search capabilities by creating a word-based index, allowing full text search across multiple fields."Source
Substack's search functionality is weak, lacking full text search across all content and authors.
Starter Kits
Discover starter kits and templates to help you get started with the platform.
Multiple starter sites and kits available for WordPress themes.
(Expand section to see a list of WordPress.com templates and starter kits.)
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 WordPress.com and Substack.
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.