Substack passed 5 million paid subscriptions in March 2025, the platform’s most recent confirmed milestone as of mid-2026. By July 2025 the company itself was valued at $1.1 billion after a $100 million Series C round, nearly 70% above its 2021 valuation. The subscriber growth and the funding round tell two different stories: readers are paying, and investors are betting the payments keep climbing.
For anyone running a paid newsletter, the numbers below matter for more than bragging rights. They show how concentrated Substack earnings really are, what the platform keeps in fees before a writer sees a dollar, and where Substack’s own Terms of Use leave a writer legally exposed.
How many paid subscriptions does Substack have in 2026?
Substack has not announced a paid-subscriber count past 5 million+ in March 2025, a milestone it reached four months after passing 4 million in November 2024. Total active subscriptions, meaning free plus paid combined, reached roughly 35 million by September 2025, which puts paid subscriptions at about 14% of everyone reading a Substack publication.
Figure 1: Share of Substack’s active subscriptions that are paid versus free. Source: Substack subscriber data as reported by Sacra and Backlinko, September 2025.
Substack’s co-founder said in a May 2025 podcast appearance that the platform had crossed 20 million monthly active subscribers across free and paid tiers combined, a figure the company has not repeated in a press release since. Treat that number as directional rather than an audited count, since it came from a conversation rather than a formal announcement.
Most readers on Substack are still on the free tier. That gap between 35 million total subscriptions and 5 million paid ones is exactly why writer income on the platform stays so concentrated, a pattern the earnings data below makes explicit.
How fast is Substack growing paid subscriptions?
Substack’s paid-subscription count has more than doubled in roughly two years, from 2 million in 2023 to 4 million in November 2024 to 5 million-plus in March 2025, according to research firm Sacra’s tracking of the company’s own milestone announcements. That is a faster growth curve than the platform posted in its earlier years.
Figure 2: Substack paid subscription growth. Source: Sacra, citing Substack’s own announced milestones, 2023 to 2025.
Newsletter analyst Simon Owens has noted that Substack said only “5 million-plus” as of May 2026 rather than naming a new precise figure, which suggests the platform had not yet reached its next likely milestone of 6 million paid subscriptions at that point. A slower cadence of announcements does not mean growth stopped, but it is a weaker signal than the crisp year-over-year doubling seen through early 2025.
How much is Substack worth in 2026?
Substack raised $100 million in a Series C round in July 2025, led by BOND and The Chernin Group with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, valuing the company at $1.1 billion. That is almost 70% higher than the $650 million valuation Substack carried after its 2021 Series B, according to reporting from Axios and Bloomberg.
Figure 3: Substack’s valuation after its July 2025 Series C. Source: Axios, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, July 2025 funding coverage.
The round brought Substack’s total funding since its 2017 founding to roughly $200 million across five rounds, starting with a $2 million seed in 2018 and a $15.3 million Series A in 2019.
Figure 4: Substack’s funding rounds and valuation milestones. Source: Axios, TechCrunch, Sacra, 2018 to 2025.
A unicorn valuation does not directly change what an individual writer earns, but it does say something about how much revenue investors expect Substack’s paid-subscription model to keep generating over the next few years.
How much do Substack writers actually earn?
Writers collectively earned an estimated $450 million in gross revenue on Substack in 2025, per Sacra’s analysis built from the platform’s subscription growth data. That total is heavily concentrated at the top: Substack’s own reporting puts combined earnings for its top 10 individual authors at $40 million a year, up from $25 million in 2022 and $20 million in 2021, and Hollywood Reporter’s 2025 review of Substack’s exclusive data found more than 50 creators now earn over $1 million annually on the platform.
Figure 5: Combined earnings of Substack’s 10 highest-paid authors. Source: Substack’s own reporting, cited by Press Gazette and Backlinko, 2021 to 2025.
Substack is one of several platforms where a small share of paid users funds most creator income. The broader creator economy’s earnings sit on the same curve: more than half of all monetized creators earn under $15,000 a year even as the top of the market pulls in tens of millions. Patreon shows a similar shape, where podcasters alone earned more than $472 million in 2024 while the median creator earns far less than the platform’s headline totals suggest.
| Platform | Paid users or patrons | Platform take rate | Reported creator earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Substack | 5M+ paid subscriptions (Mar 2025) | 10% plus payment processing | ~$450M gross to writers (2025) |
| Patreon | ~340,000 creators earning from patrons (2026) | 8-12% tiered, plus processing | $472M+ to podcast creators alone (2024) |
| YouTube Partner Program | 3M monetized channels (2024) | Roughly 45% platform cut on ad revenue | $100B+ paid to creators over 4 years |
Source: Substack milestone announcements and Sacra; Patreon and creator economy figures per the linked posts above.
Whichever platform a writer chooses, the earnings curve looks the same: a small top tier drives most of the reported revenue, and the platform’s take rate applies before any of that money reaches a bank account.
What fees does Substack charge writers?
Substack keeps 10% of every paid subscription before payment processing fees are even deducted, according to the company’s own support documentation. Stripe then charges roughly 2.9% plus $0.30 per card transaction, plus a 0.5% billing fee on recurring subscriptions, so the combined cut a writer loses scales down as subscription price goes up.
| Subscription price | Substack fee (10%) | Stripe processing (approx) | Total fees | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5/month | $0.50 | $0.47 | $0.97 | 19.4% |
| $10/month | $1.00 | $0.64 | $1.64 | 16.4% |
| $20/month | $2.00 | $0.98 | $2.98 | 14.9% |
Source: Substack support documentation (10% platform fee) and Stripe’s published card and billing rates; effective rates calculated from those disclosed percentages.
A $5-a-month tier loses nearly a fifth of its revenue to fees before a writer sees anything, while a $20-a-month tier keeps a noticeably larger share. Pricing a publication above the lowest tier is one of the few levers a writer controls directly inside this fee structure.
What does Substack’s Terms of Use mean for your liability?
Substack’s own Terms of Use let a writer keep ownership of what they publish, but the writer grants Substack a broad, royalty-free license to host and distribute it, and remains individually responsible for making sure that content is lawful and does not infringe anyone else’s rights. Substack caps its own liability to a writer at the greater of $100 or whatever the writer paid in the prior 12 months, which for most free-tier writers means Substack’s practical liability exposure is effectively zero.
Figure 6: The decision most Substack writers face over custom terms. Source: Substack’s Terms of Use and support documentation on hosting a custom Terms of Service or Privacy Policy.
Substack does let a writer link their own custom Terms of Service and Privacy Policy from their publication settings, layered on top of Substack’s platform-wide terms, which still govern the underlying service. Writers who charge for subscriptions and want their own refund window, cancellation process, or liability language spelled out in plain terms should not rely on Substack’s own default terms to cover it. You can generate a terms and conditions agreement that states your refund policy, dispute process, and content ownership clearly, rather than leaving readers to guess at what happens when a paid subscription goes wrong.
The Bottom Line
Substack’s headline numbers, 5 million paid subscriptions and a $1.1 billion valuation, describe a platform in growth mode. The earnings numbers underneath tell a narrower story: a few thousand writers split most of the $450 million writers collectively earned in 2025, and Substack’s 10% fee plus Stripe processing takes a real bite before any of it reaches a bank account, especially at lower price points. If you run a paid publication, the platform’s default Terms of Use will not spell out your own refund or liability terms for you. Publishing your own keeps that decision in your hands instead of Substack’s.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many paid subscriptions does Substack have? Substack passed 5 million paid subscriptions in March 2025, its most recent confirmed milestone as of mid-2026, up from 4 million in November 2024 and 2 million in 2023, according to the company’s own announcements.
How much is Substack worth? Substack was valued at $1.1 billion after a $100 million Series C round in July 2025, up almost 70% from its $650 million valuation at its 2021 Series B, according to Axios and Bloomberg.
How much money do Substack writers make? Writers collectively earned an estimated $450 million in gross revenue on Substack in 2025, per research firm Sacra, though the platform’s top 10 individual authors alone account for $40 million of combined annual earnings.
Do I need my own Terms of Service if I publish on Substack? Yes, if you want your own liability, refund, or dispute language to apply to your readers. Substack’s own Terms of Use cap the company’s liability at the greater of $100 or what you paid in the past 12 months, and leave individual writers responsible for the content they publish.
Sources and References
- Axios. (2025). “Substack raises $100M, becoming unicorn with $1.1B valuation.” July 2025 Series C coverage.
- Bloomberg. (2025). “Substack Raises $100 Million at $1.1 Billion Valuation.”
- Sacra. (2025). Substack company research: revenue, valuation, funding, and subscriber estimates, updated through July 2025.
- Backlinko. (2026). “Substack User and Revenue Statistics.” Aggregated subscriber, revenue, and top-creator figures with underlying source citations.
- Simon Owens. (2026). “Is Substack’s subscription growth slowing down?” Newsletter-industry analysis of Substack’s own disclosed milestones.
- The Hill. (2025). “Substack surpasses 5 million paid subscriptions.” March 2025 milestone coverage.
- Substack. Terms of Use. Content ownership, license grant, writer responsibility, and liability cap provisions.
- Substack Support. “How can readers pay for a subscription on my Substack publication?” Platform fee and payment-processing documentation.
Note: All figures verified as of September 2026. Substack has not published a paid-subscriber count more recent than its March 2025 milestone, so several figures here are the most current confirmed numbers available rather than a live 2026 count; this post will be refreshed if Substack announces a new milestone.
