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Flodesk vs Substack

Flodesk: Design-first email marketing for small businesses. Substack: Writers making money doing the work they believe in. Same fact set for both, straight from each vendor's docs.

Flodesk

Free tier
Free plan for list-building only (forms/landing pages, no email sending)
Paid from
$25/mo (Lite, up to 1,000 subscribers); subscriber-based · pricing page
Public API
Yes docs
MCP server
Yes · Official MCP server at mcp.flodesk.com/mcp, documented by vendor
Best for
Design-first email marketing for small businesses
Website
https://flodesk.com

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?

Flodesk suits design-first email marketing for small businesses. 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 Flodesk alternatives, Substack alternatives, or the full table.