SubstackReviews of substack.com

As a reader of Substack.com newsletters, I can't think of a worse way for me to interact with and support the writers whose work I adore. The way it purports to be a newsletter resource, but then tries to simultaneously be a "walled garden" like Facebook or Twitter, is just a testament to how aggressively Substack is actively making the entire internet a worse place. I have told more than one writer that I simply can't engage with their work on Substack, and that if they want my support they should set up a Patreon so I can support them that way, then send me their writing in an email using Mailchimp. I don't know who the head architect is of Substack, but it seems like they have never used the internet and don't know how it works. If this company went out of business tomorrow, the world would be a measurably better place.

They double charged me for a subscription, then their dumb AI bot refunded me once, and also removed my subscription. So I ended up paying for the subscription without getting it back. There are no more humans running support so I can't actually get a human to fix it.

I'm disappointed that as a follower of several of the people who post on Substack, I would need to spend a lot of money to get all their content. I simply can't afford $70 a year per person. I also have no desire to try to set up my own blog or newletter. I'm just a great-grandma that would like to be able to read the analyses of all the people I follow.

It’s good to see a social metspsce with long form content for complex issues

Discovered that they were taking £40 on several occasions from my bank account without authorisation, I had to get a solicitor involved for them to stop. Avoid these scammers at all costs.

Feb 2026 Substack discontinued their "Substack reader" (which worked great) on the desktop. It's now available only on phone, iPad and Apple TV. This is a huge disservice to their visually impaired readers who can't see to read on an iPhone or iPad. For as big and popular a platform this is abysmal. And a I also confirm their "billing" is an "F" as well.

no photo id could be verifies I am 88 years old into the bargain and computer literate

The initial problem began the second I registered...emails..masses of them every day.My inbox groaned under the endless barage. When I unsubscribed..the emails continued.When I went to the website and unsubcribed, the emails continue. Today, another wall of emails....so I am joining the long queue of people who want out. If the emails stop, I will remove this bad review..I doubt if there's a human administering the bad reviews..too busy harassing and alienating their potential clients. You stop..I remove this review.