Substack Fees in 2026: What the Platform Actually Takes

Substack takes 10% of every paid-subscription transaction, plus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 fee on domestic US card payments and a 0.7% recurring billing fee, while publishing and free subscriptions cost $0. Paid plans start at $5 per month or $30 per year on US-dollar Stripe accounts.

What are Substack’s fees at a glance?

Substack charges a 10% platform fee, Stripe's standard card-processing rate, and a recurring billing fee on every paid subscription, with a $5/month or $30/year minimum price for US-dollar accounts (Substack Support — How much does Substack cost?).

Every row above was checked against the linked Substack Support article in September 2026, and each source cell carries that article's own last-updated date. Substack can change its terms, so the Support Center pages remain the sources of record.

How much is Substack’s platform fee?

Substack’s platform fee is 10% of each paid-subscription transaction, while publishing, free posts, and free subscribers cost nothing.

On a $5 monthly subscription, Substack's 10% platform fee is $0.50, taken before Stripe's payment-processing and recurring-billing fees are deducted, and Substack applies the same 10% to monthly, annual, and founding-member charges.

What are Substack’s payment-processing and billing fees?

Stripe charges Substack writers 2.9% + $0.30 per credit-card transaction, and recurring subscription payments also incur a 0.7% billing fee. That 2.9% + $0.30 rate is Stripe's published rate for domestic cards on a US-dollar account (Stripe — Pricing), and Substack states that Stripe fees "are dependent on the country where you registered your Stripe account in," so writers billing in other currencies or countries should check their own Stripe pricing page.

Non-card payment methods carry different Stripe rates: for a US Stripe account Substack lists iDEAL at 80¢, Bancontact at 1.4% + 30¢, Sofort at 1.4% + 30¢, and SEPA Direct Debit at 0.8% + 30¢ capped at $6.00, with a $10.00 charge for a failed or disputed SEPA Direct Debit payment, and the 0.7% Stripe billing fee applies to these methods as well.

The 0.7% billing fee is charged on the gross recurring amount, not on what is left after Substack's cut: Stripe prices Stripe Billing at "0.7% of Billing volume", excluding one-off invoices (Stripe — Billing pricing). Substack adds that in a Stripe transaction breakdown "the Billing fee is not included in the 'Stripe processing fee' amount" and appears separately as a line item labelled "Stripe fee".

Writers who enabled payments before July 10, 2024 were grandfathered into a 0.5% billing rate that expired June 30, 2025; every publication now pays the standard 0.7% recurring billing fee (Substack Support — How much does Substack cost?).

For a $5 monthly subscription paid by a domestic US card on a US-dollar Stripe account, the listed deductions work as follows:

• Substack’s 10% platform fee: $0.50
• Stripe’s 2.9% percentage fee: $0.145
• Stripe’s fixed processing fee: $0.30
• The 0.7% recurring billing fee: $0.035
• Approximate writer proceeds: $4.02 before refunds or chargebacks

These deductions are calculated directly from Substack's published rates. The same math applied to the $30/year plan looks like this:

Figures are calculated from the platform, processing, and billing rates in Substack's fee documentation and exclude any refund, chargeback, or tax deductions.

The fixed $0.30 charge weighs more heavily on the cheaper plan: it is 6.0% of a $5 monthly payment but 1.0% of a $30 annual payment, which is why total deductions come to roughly 19.6% on the monthly plan and 14.6% on the annual plan at Substack's published rates.

What is the minimum price for a paid Substack subscription?

The minimum paid Substack price is $5 per month or $30 per year for US-dollar Stripe accounts, although pricing in other currencies can vary.

That floor prevents writers from setting a standard $1 or $2 paid-subscription tier, though a Founding Member option lets readers voluntarily pay more than the listed price, similar to a donation.

Does Substack take more from subscriptions bought in the iOS app?

Yes, indirectly: Substack states that "Apple applies a service fee for in-app purchases, which is deducted from your take-home revenue along with Substack's fee," and that the writer can "adjust your in-app prices to account for the fee, or keep prices the same and accept a lower per-subscriber payout".

So the writer-facing effect is a choice, not an automatic markup: raising the in-app price passes Apple's fee to the reader, while leaving the price unchanged means the same $5 plan nets the writer less when bought in the app than on the web (Substack Support — Can my subscribers pay on the Substack iOS app?).

Substack does not publish the exact percentage it pays Apple. Apple's own terms state that "the commission on the sale of digital goods and services through the App Store is 30%... and 15% for qualifying subscriptions".

The reduced 15% App Store rate applies only under stated conditions: Apple's App Store Small Business Program requires that a developer and its associated accounts earned no more than $1 million USD in proceeds in the previous calendar year and stay under that threshold in the current year, with the standard rate resuming on future sales once it is passed (Apple — App Store Small Business Program). Apple also notes that different commission rates apply to apps distributed in Brazil, the European Union, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, and South Korea.

In-app money also arrives later: Substack states that "Apple then pays Substack for a month's worth of subscriptions at a time, up to 45 days after the end of the month," so App Store subscriptions bought in January reach the writer's Stripe account by mid-March.

Substack also notes that it includes external links to the web checkout inside the iOS app in the U.S. only, because "Apple does not allow this outside the U.S.," so international readers upgrading in the app see only the in-app payment option (Substack Support — Can my subscribers pay on the Substack iOS app?).

What about refunds, chargebacks, and taxes on Substack subscriptions?

Substack honours a reader's refund request submitted within 7 days of payment, unless a subscriber perk has been claimed or the publisher marked the subscription non-refundable, and refunds can take up to 10 business days to appear on the reader's statement (Substack Support — What is Substack's refund policy?).

Substack also refunds subscribers to a dormant publication, defined as one that has published nothing for at least 6 months for yearly subscribers or 1 month for monthly subscribers, and requests beyond a subscriber's third refund request may be left to the publisher's discretion.

On chargebacks, Substack states that because it uses Stripe Connect accounts, "individual publishers are the merchant of record responsible for refunds and chargebacks," and that "if a paid subscriber initiates a chargeback, Substack will notify you, the publisher, via email" (Substack Support — What happens when a subscriber disputes a paid subscription on Substack?).

Tax is handled through the optional Stripe Tax integration, which Substack says costs "0.5% per transaction where you're registered to collect taxes" and calculates VAT or sales tax at the point of sale from the subscriber's address or card ZIP code.

Where might Substack’s subscription model leave a gap?

Substack's paid model is built around recurring subscriptions billed monthly or annually, and Substack confirms it "does not offer a 'yearly only' subscription plan option" and enforces a $5 monthly and $30 annual minimum on US-dollar Stripe accounts. Writers who want to charge for a smaller, one-off interaction — a single question, a one-time tip, a paid reply — therefore need a separate product alongside Substack, because Substack's own minimum makes a $1 or $2 paid option impossible.

Where can creators add one-off payments alongside Substack?

Writers usually pair Substack with a one-off payment page — Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee, Gumroad, or FanBell — so a reader can pay once instead of subscribing. Disclosure: FanBell is our own product. FanBell charges a 12% platform fee only when a fan pays, with no monthly fee and payouts through Stripe (FanBell pricing), and supports paid private questions, tips, and creator services. Compare the rates on any of these against the ~19.6% total Substack deduction calculated above before choosing. Musicians making the same calculation can use our Bandcamp fee breakdown to compare digital, physical, and processing costs.

Related reading

• Patreon vs Substack fees compared
• Substack vs Ko-fi: subscriptions vs one-off tips
• Creator platform fees compared
• How much do Substack writers make

Frequently asked questions

How much does Substack take from writers?

Substack takes 10% of every paid-subscription transaction. Stripe also charges 2.9% + $0.30 per card transaction, and recurring payments incur a 0.7% billing fee (Substack Support — How much does Substack cost?). Podcasters comparing paid-audience platforms should also weigh Spotify subscription fees for paid podcasts, where processing costs replace a platform cut.

What is the minimum I can charge for a Substack subscription?

The minimum is $5 per month or $30 per year for US-dollar Stripe accounts. A Founding Member tier can be priced higher than the standard monthly or annual plan (Substack Support — How do I set up a paid publication?).

Does Substack charge more when someone subscribes through the iOS app?

Yes, indirectly. Substack says Apple's service fee "is deducted from your take-home revenue along with Substack's fee," and writers may either raise the in-app price so readers absorb it or keep the price and accept a lower per-subscriber payout. Apple's standard App Store commission on digital goods is 30%, or 15% under the App Store Small Business Program.

Can fans pay me for one-off requests instead of a subscription?

Yes, through a one-off payment page rather than a subscription plan. FanBell — our own product — takes one-off questions, shoutouts, services, and tips with no follower minimum (how it works) and charges a 12% platform fee only when a fan pays.

Substack's $5 monthly floor doesn't fit every request a reader wants to pay for. Create your free FanBell page to take one-off payments alongside your newsletter.