Base vs Substack
Substack is for publishing: you write posts, readers subscribe by email, and paid subscribers unlock what you choose, with Substack keeping 10% plus Stripe's fees. Base sells access to a body of documents rather than a stream of posts: buyers question it in the browser or from their own AI and get answers that quote the source. Many writers would use both, Substack for the publication and a Base for the research and data behind it.
Updated October 7, 2026
At a glance
| Base | Substack | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Selling access to research and documents | Publishing a newsletter, with paid subscriptions |
| What buyers get | A knowledge base: overview, cited facts, timeline and the documents you allow | Posts, by email and on the web |
| Pricing | One-time or monthly, from $1 | Paid subscriptions |
| Fee | 10% of the price plus card processing (2.9% + 30¢); $8.41 of a $10 sale reaches you | 10% of subscription revenue, plus Stripe's processing fees |
| Questions | Buyers ask the Base and get answers that quote your documents, in the browser or their own AI | Readers reply and comment |
When Substack is the better choice
- You publish regularly and readers want each new piece in their inbox.
- Growing an email audience is the goal.
When Base is the better choice
- What you sell is a reference, not a feed: reports, datasets, filings, interview notes, a research archive.
- Buyers want to ask questions across all of it and check each answer against the source.
- Buyers work in Claude, ChatGPT or another AI and want the material there.
- You want to sell once as well as monthly.
Using both
Write on Substack and sell the material behind the writing as a Base: the full dataset, the source documents, the archive. Link the Base from a post; the link itself is the storefront.
Questions
Can I give my paid Substack subscribers access to a Base?
Yes, by inviting them. In a paid Base, people you invite by email get in free, beside the people who buy. There is no automatic link between the two services.
What does Base keep from a sale?
10% of the price plus card processing (2.9% + 30¢). $8.41 of a $10 sale reaches you, paid out to you through Stripe.
Sources checked on October 7, 2026
Try it with your own documents
Free for your first Bases, no card. Every new account starts with a Base that explains Base, so there is a cited answer to inspect right away.