Substack VS GatsbyJS

• Ease of Use
  Substack offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for writers to publish and monetize their newsletters.
• Built-in Monetization
  Writers can easily charge readers for subscriptions, allowing for straightforward monetization.
• Direct Audience Connection
  Substack allows writers to build a direct relationship with their audience via email, which can lead to a more engaged readership.
• Discovery and Community
  Features like staff picks and recommendations help writers get discovered by new readers.
• No Upfront Costs
  Substack does not charge upfront fees; instead, it takes a percentage of subscription revenues, making it easier to start.
• Content Ownership
  Writers retain full ownership of their content, giving them more control over their work.

Possible disadvantages

• Revenue Share
  Substack takes a 10% cut of subscription revenues, which can add up for writers with a large subscriber base.
• Limited Customization
  The platform has limited customization options compared to building a custom website or using more flexible CMS options.
• Dependency on Platform
  Relying on Substack means depending on its policies and infrastructure, which could pose risks if the platform changes its terms or features.
• Competition
  As more writers join Substack, it can become challenging to stand out amidst the growing competition.
• Email Deliverability
  Writers may face issues with email deliverability, as some newsletters may end up in spam folders.
• Payment Processing Fees
  Besides Substack's fee, payment processors like Stripe also take a percentage, further reducing net earnings for writers.

• Performance
  GatsbyJS pre-builds your site into static files for fast load times and instantaneous page loads thanks to features like code splitting, PRPL pattern, and Asset Optimization.
• SEO-Friendly
  GatsbyJS generates static HTML, which helps search engines to index your site more effectively. Additionally, you have fine-grained control over metadata and other SEO optimizations.
• Rich Plugin Ecosystem
  GatsbyJS boasts an extensive plugin ecosystem that covers a wide array of functionalities such as sourcing data from CMSs, adding analytics, integrating with various APIs, and much more.
• Strong Community Support
  Gatsby has a robust and active community that provides ample documentation, tutorials, and support to help you get started and troubleshoot issues.
• Secure and Scalable
  Since Gatsby sites are static, they are inherently more secure against traditional web-based vulnerabilities and can be scaled easily by deploying to a CDN.

Possible disadvantages

• Build Time
  For larger sites, build times can become noticeably long as Gatsby rebuilds the entire site. This can be a bottleneck for frequent updates.
• Less Suitable for Dynamic Content
  Since Gatsby generates static pages, it's less suited for applications that require real-time data updates or dynamic content unless they are integrated with client-side JS or third-party services.
• Initial Setup Complexity
  Getting started with Gatsby can be complex for beginners unfamiliar with React and GraphQL, as it requires knowledge of these technologies.
• GraphQL Learning Curve
  A significant part of customizing and extending Gatsby sites involves GraphQL queries, which can be a barrier for developers who are not yet familiar with GraphQL.
• Plugin Quality Variability
  While Gatsby has a rich plugin ecosystem, the quality and maintenance of plugins can vary, requiring developers to vet the plugins they choose to integrate into their projects.

No analysis of GatsbyJS yet.

Monetizing Podcasts and Newsletters - Chris Best of Substack and Jonathan Gill of Backtracks

More videos

The Great Gatsby - Movie Review by Chris Stuckmann

More videos

• 25+ Medium Alternative Platforms for Publishing Articles
  forgefusion.io · Dec 2023

  Substack offers writers of all experience levels the ability to write an email newsletter that’s profitable through subscriptions. Substack provides purpose-built web and newsletter publishing tools to enable writers...

• 10 Best Medium Alternatives for Reading and Publishing
  www.geeksforgeeks.org · Nov 2023

  What sеts Substack apart is its sеamlеss intеgration of contеnt crеation and subscription-basеd monеtization. Substack’s usеr-friеndly intеrfacе, distribution tools, and support for various contеnt formats make it a...

• 9 Best Medium Alternatives for Making Money With Your Writing in 2023
  www.authorityhacker.com · Sep 2023

  Substack and Medium differ primarily in their monetization methods. Medium pays creators based on reader engagement, while Substack enables writers to monetize directly through paid subscriptions to their newsletters....

View more

• Top JavaScript Frameworks in 2025
  solguruz.com · Nov 2024

  Gatsby JS is a free, open-source, React-based framework that is used to create static websites. It has a great ecosystem of plugins that serve various needs like sourcing data from CMSs, integrating tools, managing...

• Top 10 Next.js Alternatives You Can Try
  www.zegocloud.com · Apr 2024

  Gatsby allows you to add plugins with versatile functions and customization to increase your efficiency when developing websites. Here, you can use multiple styling approaches like Sass and CSS-in-JS library solutions...

• 20 Next.js Alternatives Worth Considering
  tms-outsource.com · Apr 2024

  A React-based maestro, Gatsby transforms the way sites come to life by hooking into a rich set of data sources. Picture this: a web that’s blazing fast, where your creations go live almost before you hit ‘publish’....

View more

• How to Get Substack Newsletter Data: Posts, Comments and Subscriber Counts

  a profile link: https://substack.com/@noahpinion. - Source: dev.to / 1 day ago

• Ask HN: What are you working on? (November 2026)

  A free comedy newsletter that has nothing to do with technology yet mentions it from time to time. https://substack.com/@yelluwcomedy. - Source: Hacker News / 4 days ago

• UK Defence Startups Are Being Denied Banking Services Under ESG Rules

  Books have already been written on this, some as early as 1945 (That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis). Otherwise I can recommend basically everything by Curtis Yarvin and Kevin Dolan (https://substack.com/@exitgroup,... - Source: Hacker News / 24 days ago

View more

• React SEO: How to Build Search-Friendly Pages in React

  The most famous frameworks for developing SSR applications are Gatsby and Next.js. Although there are differences between them, their main goal is similar: to allow next-generation web applications to remain blazing-fast. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago

• External content for GatsbyJS

  If you enjoy React and want a standard-compliant and high performance web, you should look at GatsbyJS. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago

• Replatforming from Gatsby to Zola!

  Since around 2019 I have used Gatsby as my static site generator. Its plugin system makes it super feature extensible. It uses React under the hood which makes components easy to write and has tons of community support. Once I had a... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago

View more