For people who want alternatives, Ghost is a Substack-style platform that doesn't host Nazis. It's free and open source, so you can self-host if you prefer or use Ghost's own hosting service.
Ghost also has Fediverse compatibility so people can follow your Ghost blog or newsletter directly from Mastodon etc. More info at https://fedi.tips/ghost-blogs-and-newsletters-on-the-fediverse/
As I've stated whenever this comes up, I am saddened that many of my fellow progressives continue to support the #Substack platform.
https://funcrunch.org/blog/2025/09/01/support-for-substack-is-normalizing-the-nazi-bar/
@ben it is pretty interesting to me that everyone is looking for a platform when they could simply be their own and not be subject to changes in policies, etc, on centralized platforms.
Seeing this on the fediverse seems incongruent.
Something like technorati used to be could simply pull rss from writer sites and share them in a federated way.
And the article itself... yeah. But I would have found a way to squeeze the genocide that is still happening now into it.
@knowprose I’ve been an indieweb advocate for a very long time and ran an indieweb platform. My take is that most people don’t want the maintenance overhead. That means choosing a turnkey platform - of which Ghost and WordPress are the obvious standouts because of the lack of lock-in.
If you're bored.... part 2 is also done. I will spare you the toot. 🤣 if you are interested, you will find it.
https://realityfragments.com/2026/02/08/substack-and-the-elephants-in-the-room-1-of-2/
@ben agreed.
We want convenience without responsibility.
Nothing new here.
Writing something now on this. On my platform. 🤣
@ben Thanks for your comments and the link! I've just written to someone whose work I'd love to support — if it were on a different platform — and pointed them to the Guardian piece.
I don't have much faith that it will help, but it can't hurt to ask him to please move.
@ben Oh it’s very well documented. I’ve catalog most of them here, but I’ve got many more to add https://sightlessscribbles.com/posts/20250425/
@ben Substack also, when Musk had just bought Twitter, posted that "anyone who has a problem with Musk's fight for free speech" need not apply for a job with them. They've made it quite clear where they stand.
@ben This is the main reason why I don't pay for more subscriptions to Journalists that I want to support! They're on Substack. @MikeElgan is one of them. If he moved from Substack to Ghost, Beehiiv, I'd sub right away.
Hear that Mike! 😃
@ben I wonder what @MikeElgan thinks. He's still so bullish on Substack.
@molly0xfff wrote this “How I Set Up on Ghost” guide: https://www.citationneeded.news/substack-to-self-hosted-ghost/
@ben That was one of the reasons, why I left this walled garden.
@ben Not just nazis but supports/inflates member counts, perhaps even funnels money to crunchy mom influencer accounts like Jessica Reed Kraus who worked through out 2034 to get Trump elected. Background on this is insidious. She's just a tool but what mechanisms behind the scenes enabled her at substack?
@ben
also note their support and partnership with CBS killing and Trump quisling Bari Weiss's "The Free Press", a right wing reactionary publication.
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/substack-announcement-bari-weiss-free-press
@ben substack posters when you tell them they explicitly support nazis: "ohh but the chicken is so good tho"
@ben I don't have a fricking clue why people who claim to be all in for democracy and antifascism *choose* to put their information on Substack. I also don't understand why people need it proven--repeatedly--that Substack is a Nazi platform that has gotten *more* Nazi accounts since it was publicized that they hosted them. But here we are!
Good luck with the monetization, kids. (Spoiler: the scam has an expiration date, like all of the others.)
@ben 💯 especially for activists, organizers, and people who want liberatory change.
You aren’t starting a Revolution on Substack.
You’re funding Nazis just by being in the platform.
https://www.rootschangemedia.com/substack-breaking-platformization-sharon/
@ben I have wondered if people were being a little overdramatic about this. I will wonder no more. They aren't.
Sorry, great people on substack. I will never subscribe to your newsletter as long as you use that service.
For people who want alternatives, Ghost is a Substack-style platform that doesn't host Nazis. It's free and open source, so you can self-host if you prefer or use Ghost's own hosting service.
Ghost also has Fediverse compatibility so people can follow your Ghost blog or newsletter directly from Mastodon etc. More info at https://fedi.tips/ghost-blogs-and-newsletters-on-the-fediverse/
@FediThing @tchambers @ben Ghost has still serious #accessibility issues. So, I have another alternative @buttondown which is not decentralized. But currently I'm even trying the email subscription of @writefreely - which can be self-hosted. Then, depends on how "sophisticated" needs users have.
@elettrona @FediThing @tchambers @ben @buttondown @writefreely
Those are both registered in the US though, while Ghost's non-profit is registered in Singapore.
@kerfuffle @FediThing @tchambers @ben @buttondown @writefreely yes I know - ButtonDown is in the US. And centralized. That's why I'm going to try alternatives. I can't use ghost (tried to self-host it with no accessibility result) and now I'm self-hosting writefreely, while I'll try email subscriptions
@FediThing the self hosted version still needs a mailgun account (for newsletters), which is was an absolute PIA to find the free version https://signup.mailgun.com/new/signup?plan_name=dev_free¤cy=USD 😢
@FediThing @ben ghost isn’t free as far as I see?
It's free open source software (i.e. anyone can install, edit and release their own version) and the software itself is free of charge.
But you still have to pay the costs of hosting, either on Ghost.org or on your own server if you're self-hosting.
@miekeroth @ben @FediThing you also have to pay for mail delivery as you can only do that via Mailgun (even if you self host), who charge if you want to send more that 100 emails a day.
I have about 500 subscribers to my (free) blog so that's a problem.
There is also Beehive which is free up to 2500 subscribers and that's with them hosting, so I may move to them.
@tallpaul @miekeroth @FediThing I pay for Ghost Pro which covers hosting and mail delivery. It’s not a ton of money and their support is really good. In contrast, Substack takes a huge chunk in fees if you start getting paid subscribers. And then there’s the Nazi thing. I consider the $30 worth it to avoid that alone.
@FediThing @miekeroth @ben
As I always note when this comes up, @JuliusGoat made the switch to ghost from substack and wrote about it here
