Note: This is a creative first-person review, written as a first-hand story for illustration.
I run a small newsletter about home cooking. Think soups, sheet-pan dinners, and messy pies. I also keep a little site with recipes and notes. I used Substack for the newsletter and WordPress for the site. I’ll tell you what felt great, what felt sticky, and where I tripped. If you’re weighing the two, I also dug into a detailed breakdown of Substack vs. WordPress that helped frame my own trial.
You know what? Both worked. But they felt very different.
For an even more detailed point-by-point breakdown, you can skim this in-depth Substack vs. WordPress comparison that walks through features like forms, payment flows, and design control.
Quick vibe check
- Substack: fast, clean, and set up for email. It nudges readers to subscribe. It also handles paid subs without fuss.
- WordPress: powerful, flexible, and a bit nerdy. It lets you build a whole site, not just a newsletter.
I used both side by side for three months. Some parts made me smile. Some parts made me sigh.
A week on Substack: soup nights and easy sends
I spun up a Substack in one afternoon. No joke. I dragged in a CSV with 327 emails from an old list. I wrote a “Tuesday Soup Letter” and hit send.
- First send got a 49% open rate. The subject was “Tomato soup that doesn’t taste like a can.” Short, silly, and it worked.
- I turned on paid for a bonus recipe on Sundays. I priced it at $5 a month. Ten folks joined in week one. Not huge. Still nice.
- I used Notes to share a quick video of onions sweating in butter. Casual. People love behind-the-scenes stuff.
I also tested audio. I read the post out loud and attached the file. It felt like radio, but cozy. Some readers said they chopped carrots while listening. That made me grin.
Tiny snag? The editor is simple. Nice simple, but also “where’s my fancy layout” simple. You can bold, add images, and toss in a pull quote. That’s it.
A week on WordPress: control freak heaven
On WordPress, I went with the Astra theme and the built-in block editor. No page builder. I wanted it lean, so it felt fast.
Here’s what I added:
- Yoast SEO (helps with search stuff)
- Akismet (keeps spam away)
- MailPoet (emails from my site)
- UpdraftPlus (backups, so I don’t cry later)
I built a recipe index with tags like “30-minute meals” and “kid-friendly.” I used the Query Loop block to show posts by tag. It looked clean and felt mine.
I also made a landing page for my “Fall Soup Club.” Big button. Pumpkin colors. I ran a tiny ads test and tracked clicks. It helped me see what hooked folks: words like “cozy,” photos with steam, and bold “Get the recipe.”
But WordPress asked for more brain work. Hosting. Updates. Plugins that want updates too. Once, an update broke my recipe cards. Five minutes of panic. Then a restore. Back to normal.
What I loved
Substack:
- Set up took under an hour
- Email goes out fast and lands in inboxes well
- Built-in paywall and Stripe made paid subs easy
- The network effect: other writers can recommend you
WordPress:
- Full control of design, menus, and layout
- SEO tools to tune titles and meta text
- Great for a full site, not just email
- You own the whole thing, top to bottom
What bugged me
Substack:
- Limited design control
- You’re on their platform rules
- Search features are basic, and tagging is light
- Fees: 10% plus Stripe fees on paid subs
WordPress:
- Setup takes time and focus
- Updates can break stuff
- You handle spam and security
- Email from your own server can be tricky without care
Need to fence off paid PDFs or members-only downloads? I followed the steps in this walkthrough on protecting files in a WordPress multisite and saved myself a headache.
Substack isn’t the only place where niche, personal storytelling thrives; during my research I came across a French adult-content community that uses simple blog formats to share candid experiences—check out the amateur et sexe hub which illustrates how even intimate, user-generated topics can attract loyal readers through honest writing and minimal technical hurdles.
Continuing down that rabbit hole of unconventional but successful niches, I also found a U.S. creator who flipped the “sugar baby diary” genre into a thriving personal brand—her candid tales and lifestyle breakdowns live at Sugar Baby Melissa and offer a real-world look at how personality-driven content can turn site visitors into a loyal, paying community through storytelling, relatable advice, and premium extras.
Money talk, plain and simple
- Substack: free to start. If you charge, they take 10% plus payment fees. Good if you want to start fast and test.
- WordPress: you pay for a domain and hosting. Think $3–$15 per month for small sites. Some themes or plugins cost more. No cut of your paid subs if you use your own cart.
Which costs more? It depends. If you grow big with paid subs, WordPress can be cheaper long term. If you’re starting and need zero mess, Substack feels easier.
If you’re still on the fence, WPBeginner offers a straightforward look at the pros and cons of Substack versus WordPress that helped me sanity-check my own math.
Email stuff that actually matters
My Substack emails hit inboxes strong. Less spam folder drama. The subscribe flow is smooth. Readers can comment, and the vibe feels like a club.
On WordPress with MailPoet, I had to warm up the sender. That means sending slow at first so inboxes trust you. After a few weeks, opens looked steady. But it took more tweaks.
SEO and reach
- Substack posts can rank, but tools are light.
- WordPress with Yoast gave me clear tasks: fix title length, write a meta summary, add a key phrase. I got a little green light for “apple pie recipe without fuss.” That post climbed to page one after a month. Small traffic win, but it felt earned.
Real examples from my kitchen desk
- Substack: I sent a “5-Ingredient Chili” post at 7:10 a.m. on a school day. Opens spiked by 8 a.m. People like simple in the morning. I tried 8 p.m. once. Lower opens. Families are busy then.
- WordPress: I made a “Print Recipe” button bigger on mobile. Time on page went up by 23 seconds the next week. Tiny change, clear win.
- Substack paid: I offered a “Sunday Soup Hotline.” Folks could reply with what’s in their fridge. I sent 3 quick ideas. Three months later, churn was low. People stayed.
- WordPress store: I sold a $7 “Soups for a Rainy Week” PDF with WooCommerce. Not riches, but it bought my onions and thyme. Before I chose WooCommerce, I read this deep dive comparing eCommerce platforms for SEO to be sure I wasn’t kneecapping my Google traffic.
- If you don’t want the hassle of plugins, a hosted cart like CandyPress can plug into your site and start selling in minutes.
Bugs and quirks, because nothing’s perfect
- Substack images sometimes looked soft on mobile. I learned to upload a bit bigger.
- WordPress cache plugins are magic until they aren’t. One hid my new post for 20 minutes. I cleared cache and breathed again.
Who should pick what?
- Pick Substack if you want to write, send, and get paid with almost zero setup. Newsletter first. Site second.
- Pick WordPress if you want a real site with sections, SEO, and your own rules. Newsletter is a part of it, not the core.
You can also do both. I kept my newsletter on Substack and my full recipe library on WordPress. Each links to the other. Simple.
My honest lean
For pure writing and steady email? Substack wins for me. It lets me focus. I can whisk soup with one hand and hit send with the other.
For a brand that grows, with search traffic and a strong home base? WordPress. It’s the kitchen with all the tools, not just a microwave.
Funny thing, though. I like the mix. Substack for the quick note and the “hey, try this.” WordPress for deep guides, neat indexes, and a home that feels like mine.
So, soup or stew? Substack is soup—fast, warm, one bowl. WordPress is stew—rich,