Part of a larger guide
This article belongs to our complete guide Substack Unfiltered: The Good, the Bad, and What Nobody Tells You, where we analyze the platform in depth for LATAM creators.
Choosing a newsletter platform feels like choosing a religion on the internet. Each one has its evangelists, its critics, and a pile of superficial comparisons that list features without telling you what actually matters for your situation.
This isn’t that comparison. Here we go feature by feature with the data you need if you’re making this decision from Mexico or anywhere else in Latin America, where context changes the priorities.
The Quick Summary (For Those in a Rush)
| Criteria | Substack | Ghost | Beehiiv |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting cost | Free | $18/month | Free (up to 2,500) |
| Revenue share | 10% | 0% | 0% (paid plans) |
| Design | Minimal, no custom CSS/HTML | Full control, open-source themes | Website builder, templates |
| Analytics | Basic (opens, clicks) | Google Analytics + native | Advanced + attribution |
| SEO | Subdomain, no redirects | Custom domain, full control | Custom domain, good |
| Discovery | Organic network + Notes | None built-in | Boost Network (paid) |
| Integrations | Almost none, no API | Zapier, open API, webhooks | Zapier, API, native integrations |
| Ideal for | Starting fast, zero friction | Full control, brand ownership | Growth, analytics, diverse monetization |
Now let’s get into the details.
Design and Brand Customization
Substack gives you five subtle homepage layouts, color adjustments, a limited set of fonts, and a logo. That’s it. No custom HTML, no custom CSS, no email templates, no drag-and-drop. Steve Hayes, CEO of The Dispatch, left Substack specifically because “everybody’s website kind of looks like your website.” If your visual brand matters (and for LATAM creators who need to differentiate in a smaller market, it matters a lot), this is a real constraint.
Ghost is the opposite extreme. Full code access, open-source themes, custom code injection in header and footer. You can make your newsletter look however you want. The cost is that you need some technical comfort or a designer.
Beehiiv falls in between: a website builder with customizable templates and an email editor with more flexibility than Substack, no code required. For most creators, it’s the most practical balance.
Analytics and Data
This is where Substack loses ground most visibly. It offers open rates, click-through rates, subscriber growth, basic traffic sources, and a five-star engagement rating per subscriber. What’s missing is everything a serious operator needs: no Google Analytics integration (deliberately blocked), no audience demographics, no behavioral segmentation, no conversion tracking beyond subscriptions, and no public API to build your own integrations.
Beehiiv stands out here. Advanced analytics with acquisition attribution, behavioral segmentation, native A/B testing, and a dashboard that tells you where your best subscribers come from. For creators who treat their newsletter as a business rather than a hobby, the difference is substantial.
Ghost offers decent native analytics plus the ability to integrate Google Analytics, Plausible, or any tracking tool via code injection. Not as complete as Beehiiv out of the box, but the flexibility compensates.
SEO and Discovery
Substack has a paradoxical advantage in SEO: its main domain has strong authority (Semrush: 82, with 616,000+ referring domains), and content gets indexed fast. One small creator documented a post reaching #2 on Google with 30,000+ monthly visitors. But individual subdomains (yourname.substack.com) may rank worse than custom domains, and you get no redirects, no canonical tags, no schema markup, and no Google Analytics.
Ghost wins on technical SEO by a wide margin. Custom domain, clean URLs, full metadata, customizable code, schema markup. If organic traffic is a central part of your strategy, Ghost is the strongest option.
Beehiiv offers custom domains, decent SEO, and more control than Substack. It doesn’t reach Ghost’s level of technical customization, but for most creators it’s more than enough.
Where Substack has a real edge is in organic discovery. Its recommendation network drives 50% of new free subscribers and 25% of new paid subscribers. Substack Notes works particularly well for smaller creators, generating up to 60% of new free subscribers for smaller publications. Neither Ghost nor Beehiiv offers anything comparable for free.
Beehiiv has its Boost Network, but it’s a paid system where you essentially buy recommendations from other newsletters. More controllable and measurable, but it requires budget.
Monetization and Pricing
The economic difference becomes brutal at scale.
Substack: 10% of all subscription revenue + ~3% from Stripe. Zero upfront cost. A creator earning $500,000/year pays $50,000 to Substack.
Ghost: $18/month on the Starter plan (up to 500 members), scaling to $75/month for 1,000 members and $199/month for 10,000. Zero revenue share. That same $500,000/year creator pays ~$2,600/year. The difference is $47,400.
Beehiiv: Free up to 2,500 subscribers. Paid plans from $49/month (Scale) to $99/month (Max), with no revenue share on paid plans. Additionally, Beehiiv offers ad monetization through its Ad Network, something neither Substack nor Ghost has.
Kit (ConvertKit): Free up to 10,000 subscribers with limited functionality. Paid plans from $29/month. 3.5% transaction fee on the free plan, 0% on paid plans. Strong on automations and CRM.
For a creator just starting out, Substack’s zero cost and 10% on potentially modest revenue is a fair deal. For a creator already generating significant income, the 10% becomes an enormous cost you finance permanently.
Integrations and Technical Control
Substack has no public API. It doesn’t connect with Zapier, doesn’t allow webhooks, doesn’t integrate with CRMs. One creator described it as “one of the most frustrating platforms on the internet” for this reason. If your newsletter is part of a broader business ecosystem (and for most consultants and founders in LATAM it is), this limitation weighs heavily.
Ghost has an open API, webhooks, and integrates with practically everything through Zapier or direct connections. You can connect your newsletter with your CRM, your website, your analytics tool, your course platform.
Beehiiv offers an API, native integrations with popular tools, and Zapier connectivity. Less flexible than Ghost for complex technical integrations, but much more accessible for someone who doesn’t want to touch code.
Which One to Choose From LATAM?
There’s no universal answer, but there are clear patterns:
Choose Substack if: you’re just starting, want zero friction, don’t have an audience yet, and the discovery network can help you gain your first 1,000 subscribers. Accept that you may eventually need to migrate.
Choose Ghost if: you prioritize brand ownership, technical SEO, full control, and plan to scale revenue. You’ll need some technical comfort or willingness to learn. The flat cost with no revenue share is better at scale.
Choose Beehiiv if: you want growth tools (referrals, Boost Network), serious analytics, and potential ad monetization on top of subscriptions. Good balance between ease of use and functionality.
Consider building your own system if: you have specific technical needs, development budget, and want zero platform dependency. A framework like Astro or Next.js with an email service like Resend gives you absolute control for ~$20/month in hosting + cost per email sent.
Need Help Choosing and Setting Up Your Platform?
From Comparison to Action
The right platform depends on your business model, your audience, and your 12-month goals. At Mazkara Studio we help creators and executives in LATAM choose the right content infrastructure and build systems that generate real results, not just vanity metrics.
Stuck between three options that all sound good? Sometimes what you need isn’t another comparison but someone who knows your market and can tell you which one makes sense for you. Let’s talk.