How Do Substack Subscriptions Work and How to Set Them Up

Substack subscriptions are a straightforward way to monetize your writing or expertise. They allow you to offer exclusive content to your most engaged readers in exchange for a recurring fee.

To get started with Substack, you'll need to create an account and set up your subscription plan. This involves choosing a price point, determining the frequency of content delivery, and deciding on the type of content you'll offer to subscribers.

Substack takes care of the payment processing and delivery of your content, so you can focus on creating and publishing. You can also customize your subscription experience with features like email templates and content scheduling.

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Substack is free to use if your content is free, but you have the option to set up paid subscriptions and get financial support from your most dedicated readers.

To set up paid subscriptions, go to your Substack homepage, then click on Dashboard, followed by Settings in the top navigation bar.

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Every Substack must have a Monthly and Annual plan; at this time we do not offer yearly only or monthly only.

You can rename the Founding member plan to whatever you want, and it's an optional additional paid tier that allows your most loyal readers to subscribe at an amount higher than the regular plans.

To connect your bank account to Substack, click on Payments in the menu on the left-hand side, then click on the blue button that says "Connect with Stripe".

It just takes about five minutes to set up, and you'll be prompted to input your banking information.

The Founding member plan allows your most loyal readers to subscribe at an amount higher than the regular plans, and they get all the posts you send your paid subscribers.

You can offer something extra to your founding members, such as a monthly group Zoom call, or additional posts, or simply offer it as a way for them to provide additional financial support.

Turning on paid subscriptions doesn't mean only paying subscribers can see all your posts; it's always up to you what you publish in front of or behind the paywall.

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Enabling subscriptions is a straightforward process on Substack. You can turn on paid subscriptions from day one, but some writers prefer to wait until they reach a critical mass, like hitting a thousand subscribers.

To get started, go to your Substack dashboard and click on Payments in the menu on the left-hand side. You'll see a blue button that says "Connect with Stripe" – have your banking information handy when you click on this button.

The process of connecting your bank account to Substack takes about five minutes. You'll be prompted to input your banking information, and once you've completed this step, you'll be able to manage payments and set up your subscription plan prices.

Every Substack must have a Monthly and Annual plan; at this time, we do not offer yearly only or monthly only. You can choose prices for these plans, as well as choose currency options and change the name of your ‘founding member plan’, or remove it altogether.

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Here's a quick rundown of the steps to enable subscriptions:

Turning on paid subscriptions doesn't mean only paying subscribers can see all your posts. It's always up to you what you publish in front of or behind the paywall.

You can customize the list of benefits that appear on your Subscribe page to entice readers to sign up for paid subscriptions. This includes options like "Exclusive content", "Early access", and "Behind-the-scenes insights".

To edit this section, go to your Settings page and scroll down to "Subscription benefits". You can add, remove, or reorder the benefits to suit your needs.

Substack has intuitive instructions for all these features built in to the settings section.

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Activating payments is a straightforward process that allows you to connect your bank account to Substack and set your subscription plan prices.

You'll need to click on Payments in the menu on the left-hand side to manage payments. A blue button that says "Connect with Stripe" will be visible, prompting you to input your banking information. It takes about five minutes to set up.

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Substack requires you to have a Monthly and Annual plan; at this time, yearly only or monthly only plans are not offered. You can rename the Founding member plan to whatever you want, and some writers offer something extra to their founding members, such as a monthly group Zoom call.

To activate paid subscriptions, navigate to the payments section of your Substack dashboard by going to Dashboard > Settings > Payments. You'll see a big button to prompt you to connect a Stripe account to your Substack publication.

Here are some options for payments settings you can explore:

Substack has intuitive instructions for all these features built in to the settings section.

You can customize the list of benefits that appear on your Subscribe page to make it more appealing to potential subscribers.

To edit this section, go to your Settings page and scroll down to “Subscription benefits”. This is where you can add or remove benefits to make your subscription more attractive.

Customizing your Subscribe page benefits can help you grow your audience and increase revenue. Publications that paywall at least some of their content make on average five times as much revenue as publications that publish all their content for free.

Free Preview is a flexible paywall that allows you to tease paid posts to free subscribers and new readers, providing a call-to-action to upgrade.

You can publish a free preview of a paid post on Substack, giving readers a flavor of what to expect from a paid subscription. This can be a great way to entice readers to upgrade their subscription.

A free preview is a paywall that allows writers to control how much of their paid post to show readers, giving them flexible control over the content they share. You can even offer a free trial when readers reach the paywall.

Here are some ways you can use a free preview:

By using a free preview, you can give your readers a taste of what they're missing out on and encourage them to upgrade their subscription.

You can create up to three subscription tiers on Substack, including a Monthly, Annual, and Founding member plan. The Founding member plan is optional and allows your most loyal readers to subscribe at a higher amount.

Substack's platform fee is 10%, and Stripe, the payment processor, charges a credit card fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction fee, as well as a recurring subscription fee of 0.5%. You can set your own prices for the Monthly and Annual plans, but you must have both plans available.

You can rename the Founding member plan to whatever you want, and some writers offer additional perks to their founding members, such as exclusive content or a monthly group call.

Using Substack is free if your content is free, no matter how many subscribers you have. This means you can share your ideas and connect with your audience without incurring any costs.

If you decide to offer paid subscriptions, Substack's platform fee is 10%. This is a standard fee that applies to all paid subscriptions.

Stripe is Substack's payment processor, and they charge a credit card fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. This fee applies to each transaction, so it can add up quickly.

For recurring subscriptions, Stripe charges an additional 0.5% fee. This is a smaller fee, but it still adds up over time.

You can set your own subscription plans, such as monthly or annual, and Substack won't charge you any additional fees. This means you have complete control over your pricing strategy.

Substack accepts most major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.

If you're considering offering a free vs. paid tier on your Substack, it's essential to get clear on why readers will pay for your work.

Judd Legum positions paid subscriptions to Popular Information as making his investigative journalism possible and accessible to more people.

For writers just getting started, we recommend keeping the majority of your work free and turning on paid subscriptions. Your true fans will be excited to support your work, even if they don’t get anything extra.

Anne Kadet’s publication CAFÉ ANNE runs on a donation-based model in which all posts are free and paid subscriptions are encouraged to support the time and work that go into the posts.

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Here are some examples of how different publications draw the line between what they offer their free vs. paid subscribers:

You can add an optional additional paid tier called the Founding member plan, which allows your most loyal readers to subscribe at an amount higher than the regular plans.

This tier gives founding members access to all the posts you send your paid subscribers, and you can rename it whatever you want.

Some writers offer something extra to their founding members, such as a monthly group Zoom call, or additional posts.

This tier is optional, and you can use it as a way for your most dedicated fans to provide additional financial support.

It just takes about five minutes to set up your Founding member plan, and you'll be prompted to input your banking information when you click on the "Connect with Stripe" button.

You'll see a blue button that says "Connect with Stripe" when you click on the Payments section in the menu on the left-hand side.

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You can customize the benefits that appear on your Subscribe page, including the Founding member plan, by editing the "Subscription benefits" section on your Settings page.

This allows you to clearly communicate the perks of subscribing to your content, and to make it easy for readers to understand what they're getting in return for their financial support.