February 16, 2023

Substack vs ConvertKit for Expertise-Based Businesses

A fellow list member wrote in to ask:

For anyone starting an expertise-based business, there will be an evaluation of tools. For newsletters, I’ve heard you reference Substack, but your recommendation is always ConvertKit.

Given how popular Substack now is—and how well-suited it seems to be for authority businesses—your audience would probably love to hear your perspective on why CK and not SS.

Good question, thanks!

In a nutshell:

I would call Substack a publishing platform and ConvertKit an email automation tool.

ConvertKit supports tagging, automation, workflows, custom forms, and a bunch of other things that I would consider “must haves” for someone building an expertise-based business on top of an email list.

As far as I know, Substack doesn’t support any of these things.

To me, Substack feels like Medium with email bolted on. It’s a publishing platform unto itself that the readers are just as aware of as the publishers themselves.

HTH!

(Just curious... would you like more info about the tools I use on a daily basis?)

Yours,

—J

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