If you're after a Substack alternative that's only the newsletter, this is one.
Substack started as a mailing list. It's now a feed, an app, a chat, a video product, a recommendation engine, and a place where writers grow each other's numbers. Most of that works well. It's also the thing you slowly start writing for, whether or not you meant to.
Rumicat has no feed at all, so there's nothing to be ranked in and nobody to be recommended by.
What Substack is for
Substack is for turning writing into a paid publication, and the whole product points that way. Paid tiers, discovery, cross-promotion between writers, an app that keeps bringing readers back.
If that's the plan, they've spent years building for it and we haven't.
What Rumicat is for
Rumicat is for the letter you'd write anyway.
You get a page in your own color, a plain editor, and the people who asked to hear from you. Press send and it lands in their inbox, and that's the whole of it. Nobody gets ranked, nothing gets recommended, and there's no leaderboard on the page because there's nowhere to put one.
We're not trying to help you scale. We're trying to keep it small enough that writing it still feels good on a Tuesday night.
Moving from Substack to Rumicat
This is the one migration we actually built for, so it takes minutes rather than an afternoon. Subscribers and past posts come across together, which means the archive you spent years on arrives with the list.
- 1Export your subscriber list from Substack settings
- 2Import subscribers and past posts into Rumicat
- 3Point your readers at your new Rumicat page and keep writing
Side by side
| Comparison | Substack | Rumicat |
|---|---|---|
| Cut of paid subscriptions | 10% | None, we don't sell subscriptions |
| Free tier | Unlimited subscribers | 300 subscribers |
| Paid plan | Free to publish | $6.99 per month |
| Social feed and app | Yes | No |
| Reader support | Paid subscriptions | Donations, we take no cut |
Checked on 30 August 2026.
Is Rumicat a good Substack alternative?
Depends what you're leaving for. If it's the feed, the app and the creeping sense that you're publishing into a competition, then yes.
If it's the money, no. Substack's 10% comes with distribution attached and we can't give you that. Rumicat doesn't sell subscriptions at all, so there's no cut for us to take. Readers who want to chip in can donate, and we don't touch it.
Can I move my newsletter from Substack to Rumicat?
Yes, and it's the one migration we actually built for. Subscribers and past posts both come across, so the archive arrives with the list.
You export from Substack, upload to Rumicat, and carry on where you left off. It isn't clever, it just works.
Why does Substack take 10% and Rumicat doesn't?
Because Substack earns when you earn. That's a fair model, and it explains the rest of the product: everything in it is built to make you earn more.
We charge $6.99 and stop. Which is why nothing in Rumicat is trying to make you bigger.