Substack is for publications. Pagecord is for personal sites.
Substack is a great fit if you want to run a publication and monetise your blog. Many people want something different: a small home on the web that can also send posts by email.
Pagecord gives you a blog first: posts, pages, themes and your own web address. Email subscribers are there when you want them, sent per post or as a weekly digest — but it's still your site even if you never send a single newsletter.
No revenue share. No $50 fee to use your own web address. No pressure to turn your writing into a business. Classic is free forever, with 20 free uploads included. Premium is $39/year.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Pagecord | Substack |
|---|---|---|
| Free version | ✅ | ✅ |
| Email newsletters | ✅ Weekly digest or per-post delivery |
✅ |
| Social links | ✅ | ✅ |
| Privacy-respecting analytics | ✅ | ✅ |
| Comments | ✅ No reader account needed |
✅ (Substack account required) |
| Reply by email | ✅ | ✅ |
| RSS feeds | ✅ | ✅ |
| Search your posts | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom domains | ✅ | ✅ ($50 charge) |
| Multiple blogs from one account (Premium includes 3) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Create blog posts by sending an email | ✅ | ❌ |
| Custom home pages | ✅ | ❌ |
| Micro-blog posts without titles | ✅ | ❌ |
| Password protected blog | ✅ | ❌ |
| Multi-language support | ✅ | ❌ |
| Full site HTML export | ✅ | ❌ |
| Custom CSS | ✅ | ❌ |
| Custom code | ✅ Your own HTML in the head and body of every page |
❌ |
| Embeddable contact form | ✅ | ❌ |
| Open source | ✅ | ❌ |
| API | ✅ | ❌ |
| Independent and profitable | ✅ | ❌ (VC backed, never made a profit) |
Bring your posts with you
Substack lets you export your posts and your subscriber list. Send us the archive and we'll bring your writing across — and your subscribers can come too.
Start a free blog first and have a proper look around. Keep your old site live as long as you like – nothing has to move until you're happy with what you see. When you're ready, email us and we'll take it from there. Here's how importing works.