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Circle vs Substack
Circle: Creators unifying audience email and community in one platform. Substack: Writers making money doing the work they believe in. Same fact set for both, straight from each vendor's docs.
Circle
- Free tier
- 14-day platform trial; Email Hub free under 100 contacts, first 30 days free
- Paid from
- Professional $89/mo + Email Hub add-on (free under 100 contacts; +$99/mo at 10K contacts) · pricing page
- Public API
- Yes docs
- MCP server
- Community · Community repo wraps Admin API v2; broadcast endpoints not documented
- Best for
- Creators unifying audience email and community in one platform
- Website
- https://circle.so
Substack
- Free tier
- Free to publish, no subscriber cap
- Paid from
- No monthly fee; 10% of paid subscription revenue plus Stripe fees · pricing page
- Public API
- Yes docs
- MCP server
- Community · Community servers on GitHub only
- Best for
- Writers making money doing the work they believe in
- Website
- https://substack.com
Which one?
Circle suits creators unifying audience email and community in one platform. Substack suits writers making money doing the work they believe in. Pricing changes; the fact tables above link both vendors' live pricing pages. For the rest of the field, see Circle alternatives, Substack alternatives, or the full table.