Medium alternatives for writers in 2026

Why writers leave Medium

Medium is easy to start on, and since August 1, 2023 the Partner Program has had no follower minimum. These trade-offs, as of October 2026, push writers to look elsewhere:

• Earning needs a membership: the Partner Program requires an active paid membership ($5/month or $50/year), at least 1 published story, a complete profile, an eligible payout country and being 18 or older.
• Pay follows member reading: a member read counts after 30 seconds, and claps, highlights, replies and Boost all affect earnings. Medium changed the formula several times in 2025 and 2026, including a 5% bonus for external traffic from October 1, 2025.
• Paywalled reach: readers who aren't members can hit a paywall on member-only stories, while members get "no paywalls, story limits or ads."
• Custom domains: you need an active membership to connect one. Medium added them in 2015, removed them in 2018, restored them in February 2021, removed them in May 2022 and restored them in August 2022.

The 9 best Medium alternatives

Your own site

A site you own keeps your domain and archive under your control, with no membership needed to earn. CommentCamp, in private early access, adds free comments and community spaces to it through an official WordPress plugin or a universal embed script, with no ads and automated spam filtering. Self-hosted WordPress.org, which powers 39.5% of all websites (W3Techs), is the usual base.

• Price: WordPress.org is free software; SiteGround StartUp hosting is $2.99/month for the first year (renews at $17.99/month), and a .com is $11.08/year at Porkbun.
• Monetization: any method you choose.
• Best for: writers who want full control.

Disclosure: CommentCamp is our product.

Substack

The closest match to Medium's built-in audience: Substack says "More than half of new subscribers come from Substack's built-in network," and it imports directly from Medium. Deciding between Substack and Ghost? Read Ghost vs Substack.

• Price: free to publish; a custom domain is a one-time $50.
• Monetization: paid subscriptions; Substack keeps 10%, plus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per payment and 0.7% for recurring billing.
• Best for: writers who want an audience network and zero upfront cost.

Ghost

Open-source blog, newsletter and memberships in one, with native member comments and a custom domain on every Ghost(Pro) plan.

• Price: free to self-host; Ghost(Pro) Starter is $15/month and Publisher $29/month, both billed yearly.
• Monetization: paid memberships from Publisher up, with 0% Ghost fees; Stripe's 2.9% + 30 cents applies. Starter has no paid subscriptions.
• Best for: writers who want memberships without a revenue cut.

WordPress.com

Hosted WordPress with built-in comments. New to blogging? Our guide on how to start a blog walks through setup.

• Price: free plan on a subdomain with ads; Personal is $4/month billed yearly, and yearly plans include a free custom domain for year one.
• Monetization: through plugins, which every paid plan can install.
• Best for: writers who want WordPress without managing hosting.

Hashnode

A blogging platform for developers, with nested comments. Hashnode calls itself "Free to start."

• Price: free; Hashnode Pro is $5 per seat, monthly or yearly, and adds custom domain mapping, the API and AI writing tools.
• Monetization: none built in.
• Best for: developers who want a technical blog.

DEV

A developer community at dev.to. Posts live on dev.to, but you can set canonical_url on a cross-posted article so search engines treat your own site as the original.

• Price: no fee to post.
• Monetization: none built in.
• Best for: developers who cross-post from their own blog.

Write.as

A minimalist platform with "No comments, spam, likes, or distractions."

• Price: free for one blog; Pro is $6/month billed yearly ($9 month to month) and adds custom domains and newsletters.
• Monetization: Web Monetization on all plans.
• Best for: writers who want a quiet page without a comment section.

beehiiv

An email-first platform with post comments for subscribers. See more options in our best newsletter platforms guide.

• Price: free up to 2,500 subscribers; Lite is $49/month billed yearly.
• Monetization: paid subscriptions from Lite, with a 0% take rate.
• Best for: writers who want to grow an email list first.

Blogger

Google's long-running blogging service, with built-in comments and no paid plans. Use a blogspot.com address or connect a www domain you own.

• Price: no paid plans; a custom domain costs only what your registrar charges.
• Monetization: Google AdSense ads.
• Best for: hobby blogs.

Medium alternatives compared

How to move off Medium without losing readers

1. Export your stories: in Medium, open Settings, then Security and apps, then Download your information. Medium emails you a .zip of HTML files.
2. Import them: Substack imports from Medium directly; on other platforms, republish from the export.
3. Leave a trail: keep your Medium stories up with a link to your new home, and set canonical_url on DEV copies to point at your own site.
4. Move your domain: if you connected a custom domain on Medium, point it at your new platform and redirect old URLs where the platform allows.

Tip: Keep your domain at a registrar you control, such as Porkbun at $11.08/year for a .com, so your links survive the next platform switch too.

Keeping the conversation after Medium

On Medium, any signed-in account can respond, but "responses are not eligible for monetization in the Medium Partner Program." Elsewhere, the rules differ:

• CommentCamp: on your own site, with threaded replies, automated spam filtering, a moderation queue and one reader account for every CommentCamp site.
• Substack: per-post settings for everyone, free or paid subscribers, paid only, founding members or no one.
• Ghost: comments for members, free or paid; you can limit them to paid members.
• beehiiv: readers must subscribe to comment.
• WordPress: built-in comments, stored in your own database.

Note: On your own site, comments stay with your archive: WordPress's standard XML export includes posts, pages and comments.

CommentCamp is $0 for site owners, forever, funded by optional member Pro instead of ads, and adds optional Q&A, reactions, member levels and quests. WordPress comment import, full data exports and an optional local mirror are on the roadmap. Join the early-access waitlist to get an invite.