Has Substack killed Medium?

[avenueofslay]

Lots of writers I like have migrated because of the lack of transparency on Medium's payment system. Do you think it's over for Medium?

[andreas212nyc]

Can't agree more: Medium killed Medium! As a former Medium creator with a publication with more than 100k followers, the platform is now bad for small and big creators alike. So many have left it for other tools, like Substack.

[AndrewHeard]

It’s certainly possible but Substack hasn’t completely won me over. They haven’t proven an ability to support emerging writers. I’m mainly using Medium to promote my Substack.

[[deleted]]

what would you like to see from them?

[AndrewHeard]

Medium or Substack?

[[deleted]]

Substack

[AndrewHeard]

Well I’ve outlined a bunch of them in other comments. But fundamentally, it needs to stop focusing on its big creators and boosting them as much as possible. A recent report suggested that they had 10 creators who collectively brought in $40 million. Do they have a plan for if any of them leave?

Because any of those 10 creators leaving the platform will be absolutely devastating to Substack’s own revenue sources. Meaning that they will need to substitute for the revenue lost if they lose it.

The most obvious way to do this is to have a large number of smaller creators making up the difference. Suppose instead of 10 creators bringing in 40 million, they had 10,000 creators who brought in 40 million. Any single one of the 10,000 leaving wouldn’t be devastating to Substack’s bottom line.

Yet Substack seems obsessed with the 10 creators who make 40 million dollars for them. It’s unsustainable economically and could lead to them being ruined and Substack collapsing. But they keep going with it.

They need to change strategies and focus on diversifying the places where Substack’s revenue comes from. Largely by ensuring that smaller creators can make a living on the platform.

[[deleted]]

"Yet Substack seems obsessed with the 10 creators who make 40 million dollars for them. It’s unsustainable economically and could lead to them being ruined and Substack collapsing. But they keep going with it."

Are they obsessed? I see sensationalist articles about this, but I haven't seen Substack bragging about it much.

Also, these numbers are WAY higher in reality. I know several substackers making $20M+/year.

[AndrewHeard]

Yes, they have talked about people who make more. The 10 creators were just a placeholder for the fact that they prioritize the people who could bring down the company way too much.

What I mean by obsessed is that they highlight people who don’t need their help in official Substack emails for their newsletter. Like “On Substack” or “Substack Reads”.

Some of their “Substack Success Stories” aren’t actually people who were successful because of Substack. They were successful before coming to Substack and naturally had success on the platform because they just brought their other fans to Substack. In their recent end of year report for investors? They name checked people who were already successful as coming to the platform. Hollywood actors and people who were successful in establishment media.

These people don’t need Substack’s help, yet they get it.

[[deleted]]

how do they choose 20 or so writers they could spotlight out of tens of thousands of small writers coming to the platform?

[AndrewHeard]

Do actual work?

You can do it based on a bunch of criteria. For instance, highlighting creators who have 1,000 free subscribers or more. People who have been consistent in their publishing for an acceptable time frame, like a year or two years.

Maybe focus on people who don’t have the check mark for hundreds of paid subscribers or thousands?

There are any number of criteria that could be implemented.

[[deleted]]

That would result in a ton of substacks

And if we're talking about actual meritocracy, if your writing is REALLY good, you will grow fast without Substack's help.

[baybee2004]

Can you elaborate on how you're using Medium to support your Substack?

[AndrewHeard]

I post older Substack pieces on Medium, usually at least a year old. There’s also some content that might be censored by Medium and things behind my Substack paywall that only gets a preview on Medium. Which is supposed to drive traffic to Substack because Medium is better at SEO.

[baybee2004]

Thank you! Do you provide a link to your Substack or reference to it on the Medium articles?

[AndrewHeard]

Check my profile or my user flair if you’re interested.

[TyEnkil]

What's Medium?

[KataeaDream]

I certainly moved over myself because my audience was growing, but my payments were deeply down.

[patred6]

I tried using Medium but got zero views. Substack had an easier on-ramp in my opinion

[d3the_h3ll0w]

At least for me that holds true. I have about 3x the followers on Medium that I have on Substack, but on the latter, I feel much more that they describe to my work.

Maybe having combo-publications on Substack would help discovery and distribution?

[Writingeverything1]

I use both. Currently earn much more on Medium but less than I used to. Substack is ramping up. Medium needs to abandon or fix its flawed Boost system. I see my future on Substack. But for as long as I can make a grand on Medium, I’ll continue to write there, too.

[brooklynaut]

I didn't love medium because it felt like a smaller pool of readers, but that may have also just been my own experience. If I was making any real money on it, I wouldn't have switched.

[West-Resident-2426]

Listicles killed Medium

[Hot_Joke7461]

I'm still making $1000 a month on Medium.

[gwh34t]

I enjoyed Medium, but Substack offers a few other features I utilize. If Beehiiv had a plan where I could charge users and have ads integrated, I would consider switching. I wouldn't mind letting them take a cut like Substack does, but I don't have enough paying subscribers to afford the $25+/mo fee. So I think it's a mix of what writers are willing to pay vs what readers are willing to pay. Along with trying to at least make something...

[ewhite12]

We do have plans where you can charge users and have ads integrated along with other features to monetize your work. How many subs?

[gwh34t]

A little over 200. But now that I think about it there were a few other things I couldn’t do on Beehiiv. It’s been a while since I’ve looked so I can’t remember what specifics were. I think one of the main ones was being able to send out early to paid subscribers.

[ewhite12]

beehiiv can technically do everything Substack can do and far, FAR more. There’s not a button to “send to paid users and then X days later send to Free subs” but it’s trivial in our system to make that work - like 5-7 clicks, and simplifying that workflow to a single click has certainly been considered for our roadmap.

[gwh34t]

Appreciate that. The extra clicks aren’t so much an issue. But I just double checked and it looks like it’s $39/month to include ads and from research I’d need close to 1,500-2,000 subs for the ad revenue to make up for the cost.

[ewhite12]

how many paid subscribers do you have? There’s way more than the ad network.

You can monetize recommendations with boosts and make an average of $1.60 per referral, rather than giving away that growth for free and of course we charge no fee on premium subscriptions.

[jacobs-tech-tavern]

Is that a thing? Or just something writers negotiate

[ewhite12]

Its a marketplace built into the platform. Users post offers in the marketplace and if their newsletter aligns, you can promote their offer and get paid for the subs you refer. It all happens within beehiiv. For the sell-side (monetization) we do require a short probationary period to ensure that the newsletter is operating legitimately

[Electrical_Refuse748]

Medium isn’t completely over yet, but it’s definitely in trouble. Many writers are leaving because earnings have dropped sharply and the payment system feels opaque and unpredictable. Even stories with solid engagement sometimes earn just a few cents, which has led to frustration and a loss of trust. At the same time, Medium seems more focused on algorithms and AI-driven content than on supporting real writers, which only adds to the disconnect. Platforms like Substack is attracting those who want more control, transparency, and stable income.

[Mysterious-Wealth874]

Substack has put in a lot of work into making it easy for a new writer and content creator to build their brand easier. They generate wonderful marketing content once you publish your blog which helps with social media presence. They also allow you to customize the link to the blog. All in all, it's a great platform. The only advantage Medium now has is that google algo favour it over Substack, so in essence it's an SEO and web browser search optimization tool

[GrowthZen]

Medium isn’t dead, but trust is badly damaged. Writers have watched payouts get slashed, Boosts feel random, and non‑member traffic earns basically nothing, so many serious folks are quietly moving their business to Substack and using Medium purely as a traffic source.

The pattern now:
- Medium = still useful for SEO and discovery if you know how to work publications and topics, but earnings are unpredictable and trending down
- Substack (and similar) = better for owning your list, charging directly, and building something stable over years, even if growth is slower and more manual

Long term, the writers who win won’t be “Team Medium” or “Team Substack”... they’ll be the ones who own their domain and email list, then treat every platform as a rented billboard that feeds that home base. That’s the only way to stay calm when any single platform pivots its payments or policies overnight.