Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Udemy VS Substack

Compare Udemy VS Substack and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Udemy logo Udemy

Online Courses - Learn Anything, On Your Schedule

Substack logo Substack

With Substack, anyone can start a publication that combines a personal website, blog, and email newsletter or podcast. It's quick and simple.
  • Udemy Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-11-09
  • Substack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-26

Udemy

Website
udemy.com
Release Date
2010 May
Startup details
Country
United States

Substack

Release Date
-
Startup details
Country
United States

Udemy features and specs

  • Headquarters
    San Francisco, CA

Substack features and specs

  • 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 of Substack

  • 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.

Analysis of Udemy

Overall verdict

  • Udemy is generally considered a good platform for casual learners and professionals looking to gain new skills or knowledge at their own pace. However, course quality can vary since anyone can create a course, so it's important to read reviews and check instructor credentials before enrolling.

Why this product is good

  • Udemy offers a wide range of courses across various subjects at affordable prices. It provides lifetime access to purchased courses, allowing for flexible learning. The platform includes features like progress tracking, quizzes, and certificates of completion. Many courses are taught by industry professionals, providing practical and up-to-date knowledge.

Recommended for

  • Individuals seeking affordable and diverse educational opportunities
  • Professionals looking to learn new skills or upgrade existing ones
  • Students who need supplementary material for their studies
  • Hobbyists interested in exploring new topics

Analysis of Substack

Overall verdict

  • Substack is a good choice for writers seeking autonomy and a straightforward way to monetize their content. However, it may not be the best fit for those who prefer working within the framework of a larger publication or those unfamiliar with the challenges of building and maintaining a subscriber base.

Why this product is good

  • Substack is a platform that allows writers, journalists, and content creators to publish and monetize their newsletters. It is praised for its ease of use, built-in subscription system, and direct-to-consumer model which enables writers to retain control over their audience and content. The platform has attracted both independent writers and established journalists seeking the freedom to monetize their work without traditional media constraints.

Recommended for

  • Independent writers and journalists
  • Content creators looking to monetize their work
  • Individuals seeking a direct relationship with their audience
  • Those who appreciate simplicity in publishing

Udemy videos

Are Udemy Courses Worth It?

More videos:

  • Review - Udemy Scam! Watch Before You Make A Udemy Course
  • Review - Udemy Review 2018

Substack videos

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

More videos:

  • Review - E1016 Substack CEO Chris Best empowers writers via email newsletter platform, raised $15M from a16z
  • Review - Why EVERYONE should be on Substack | What it is, How it Works, $$$
  • Review - Beehiiv vs Substack (2024) - Which is Better?
  • Review - My Experience with SUBSTACK: An Honest Review of Substack

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Udemy and Substack)
Education
100 100%
0% 0
Blogging
0 0%
100% 100
Online Learning
100 100%
0% 0
CMS
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Udemy and Substack

Udemy Reviews

  1. VickiBerman
    Best online learning platform

    Udemy is best for beginners who want to start their career. They have huge collection of courses to address each and every niche. The price tag is very low, so anyone can avail their services. Best online learning platform!


10 Pluralsight Alternatives & Competitors (2024) – Our Picks
Udemy is probably one of the best online learning platforms today. With a large number of courses in every possible category (writing, design, management, app development, and so on) Udemy has millions of happy users. These online learning platforms present their content in more than 50 languages – making them one of the most diverse platforms to learn from.
8 best Teachable alternatives for course creators (Features & pricing)
Udemy benefits: After you upload your course content, selling on Udemy is largely hands-off. This can be an excellent option for instructors who want to earn passive income on their courses without running their own marketing. With over 40 million users, Udemy can make it easier to get your course in front of a large audience.
Source: www.podia.com
The Top Free and Paid Teachable Alternatives For Creators
Pricing: Udemy is free for course creators, but it charges sales commissions. Instructors receive 97% of any sales revenue earned from their own marketing activities, such as social media promotions. Udemy takes 63% of the sales revenue resulting from its promotion activities, like when a user clicks on a Udemy advertisement.
10 Best Treehouse Alternatives in 2024
Udemy is one of the best Treehouse alternatives for students and professionals. This online tutorial portal covers programming courses in almost all languages and applications. The courses are budget-friendly for beginners who are looking for new skill development.
Top 11 Coursera Alternatives 2024
Udemy is one of the top alternatives to Coursera, as it is a leading online learning platform with a strong selection of reasonably paid courses. It’s a great option for those who want to learn new skills or gain more training to hone their current skill set will find it useful. It provides classes in various subjects, including business, photography, computer science, cloud...
Source: freshlearn.com

Substack Reviews

25+ Medium Alternative Platforms for Publishing Articles
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 to monetize their newsletters. It is a service often favoured by readers because it’s a convenient all-in-one solution for writing a successful podcast that...
Source: forgefusion.io
10 Best Medium Alternatives for Reading and Publishing
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 popular choice for indеpеndеnt crеators looking to connеct dirеctly with thеir audiеncе and turn thеir passion into a sustainablе incomе strеam.
9 Best Medium Alternatives for Making Money With Your Writing in 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. This business model allows Substack users to build a direct relationship with their readers via their email inboxes, whereas Medium interactions primarily...
11 Patreon Alternatives for Audience Monetization in 2023
Like a few of the other platforms we’ve looked at, Substack takes a cut of your earnings rather than charging a 10% platform fee.
Source: www.uscreen.tv
Any good Mailchimp alternatives?
My question for you is, what is keeping you from making $31 per month from your list? Are you using any feature that Substack (free until you get paid) can't handle?

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Udemy should be more popular than Substack. It has been mentiond 264 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Udemy mentions (264)

  • AI and the Full Stack Developer in 2025
    Enroll in online courses, attend workshops, and participate in hackathons to stay updated on AI advancements. Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, and Kaggle offer excellent resources. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Day 1: Introduction to Terraform and Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
    Exploring Infrastructure as Code (IaC) We also had a coupon code reducing the price of a course on Terraform on Udemy by Bryan Krausen and Gabe Maentz on Udemy, I gained insights into the core concepts of Infrastructure as Code. The key takeaway is that IaC helps in managing infrastructure through code instead of manual processes. This not only boosts efficiency but also enhances consistency, and reproducibility... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • 🏅 Valuable IT Certificates And How To Achieve Them 🏆
    Affordable Options: Udemy often runs sales, making their AWS courses available for under $20. Other affordable platforms include Tutorials Dojo and Whizlabs, which have practice exams and simulations for around $10-$30. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Best Productivity Hacks for Developers
    There are multiple skills that will upscale your development journey and provide you with a better command of your role as a developer. Some of them are learning multiple programming languages, computer proficiency, problem-solving, adaptability, debugging, etc. To polish most of the skills, you can go for a decent certification program with which you will not only learn a skill but also get a certificate to... - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Bought my first laptop for my education after years of being homeless, hope I invested my money right.
    CS is computer science. Also check out edx.com It is hosted by Harvard and if you pay for the course which is very little you get a certificate from them. There is also groupings of courses were you can get a business certificate. Also check out udemy.com. Wait for the specials for $10-15. I have heard that google has certificates that are free but that businesses except. Just try stuff and even look at skills... Source: about 3 years ago
View more

Substack mentions (102)

  • Writing by Hand is Good for your Brain
    It's ironic that the article that caused him to write this post (https://substack.com/@justindeschamps/note/c-261265212?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=7y05q) is written by AI. I see this style of informational writing all over the place now. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Ask HN: What are your favorite blogs not about AI?
    Https://substack.com/@yelluwcomedy. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Kids (With Phones) Are Alright
    Sure there was basically a cartel in social media. You saw coordinated censorship campaigns to ban the former president of the United States for example. But I wouldn't discount the amount of political interference there as well. The last administration admitted to flagging individual posts for the social media companies. But it's also true there is a lot of coordinated censorship even without state interference.... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Financing the AI boom: from cash flows to debt [pdf]
    Manhattan Project: $36B, 5 years ▫ Apollo Program: $257B, 14 years ▫ Interstate Highway System: $620B, 37 years ▫ AI data centers: $930B, 6 years and still accelerating From: https://substack.com/@rubendominguez/note/c-244929068. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • SpaceX to buy Cursor AI coding agent operator Anysphere for $60B
    The thing is, even the center of the road academics who refrain from such comparisons are noting the similarity. The MAGA movement meets the traditional defining characteristics of fascio. We can be rigid and say that only Mussolini‘s political movement can be properly be called fascist. But if we call Hitler and the Nazis fascists as well, then we open the door to any movement that meets the criteria. And Trump... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Udemy and Substack, you can also consider the following products

Coursera - Build skills with courses, certificates, and degrees online from world-class universities and companies

Ghost - Ghost is a fully open source, adaptable platform for building and running a modern online publication. We power blogs, magazines and journalists from Zappos to Sky News.

Pluralsight - Pluralsight is a learning management system (LMS) that helps aspiring tech professionals learn the basics of the trade and lets established professionals expand their skill sets.

Medium - Welcome to Medium, a place to read, write, and interact with the stories that matter most to you.

Codecademy - Learn the technical skills you need for the job you want. As leaders in online education and learning to code, we’ve taught over 45 million people using a tested curriculum and an interactive learning environment.

Buttondown - Buttondown is the best way to start and run your newsletter