Beyond Substack — own your newsletter,
your readers, your revenue.
VeloCMS gives independent newsletter writers Substack's audience-first feel without the platform tax. 0% fee on subscriptions, your subscriber list always yours, and 16 themes designed for text-first publishing.
Substack was never your platform
You write the issues. Substack owns the checkout, the recommendation graph, and the design. That's the deal — and most writers don't realize it until they try to leave.
Substack takes 10% + Stripe fees on every subscription
That's not a rounding error. If your top 100 paying subscribers chip in $10/month each, you're handing Substack $100 every single month just to use their checkout — on top of Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢. A writer with 500 paid subscribers at $8/month loses over $5,000 a year to the platform. That money could pay for years of VeloCMS.
Your readers belong to Substack, not you
You can export your email list as a CSV — that part's fine. But your Substack recommendations, the social graph Substack built around your Substack account, the discovery engine that surfaces you to new readers — none of that travels with you. You're building equity in their platform. Substack's network effect is their moat, not yours.
Stuck with one layout, one font, one nav
Substack's 'themes' are barely themes. You can pick an accent color. That's about it. Every Substack looks like every other Substack — the same card grid, the same serif body copy, the same subscribe modal. Readers who follow 10 newsletters can't tell any of them apart. Your brand deserves better than a shared template.
What changes when you own your newsletter
Not theoretical ownership. Real, practical control — over your subscriber list, your revenue, your domain, and your design.
0% platform fee — you keep what you earn
Wire your own Stripe account (BYOK — Bring Your Own Key) and VeloCMS steps out of the money flow entirely. You set the subscription price. Readers pay Stripe directly. VeloCMS takes zero percent. You still pay Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction — same as you would anywhere — but the 10% Substack tax vanishes.
Your subscribers, your list, your relationships
Every subscriber who signs up via VeloCMS is yours. Full email addresses in a database you control, exportable as CSV on day one. No intermediary owns the reader relationship. If you ever want to move again, you take everyone with you — no begging for a CSV, no Substack permission required.
16 themes designed for writers
Atelier Modern, Studio Calm, Manifesto Black, Studio Newsroom — each built around text-first publishing. Real serif body type, tight line measure, reading progress bar, proper drop caps. Pick one in a click. Swap it without touching a line of code. Your newsletter finally gets a design that matches the quality of your writing.
AI-native authoring with BYOK — Gemini, GPT, Claude
Bring your own Gemini, OpenAI, or Anthropic API key and unlock the AI writing assistant directly in the editor. It drafts outlines, expands bullet notes into paragraphs, and runs an AEO scoring pass on every post. The humanize filter keeps the prose sounding like you. The pen is still yours; the assistant just handles the grinding parts.
1-click Substack import — subscribers + posts preserved
Substack Settings → Export gives you a CSV of subscribers (free + paid status) and a ZIP of your posts. Upload both in Admin → Import. VeloCMS pulls your posts in with original publish dates, images, and tags. Your paid subscriber records map into VeloCMS's member system ready for BYOK Stripe re-connection.
Newsletter features built in — no add-ons
Visual builder, segmentation, drip automations, paywall, click tracking, custom domain. Everything Substack charges 10% for is already here, at a flat monthly rate.
Visual newsletter builder
A drag-and-drop email canvas with five block types: rich text (TipTap), headers, buttons, images, and dividers. Preview the email before you send. Phase 4 shipped the full visual builder — no more writing in a plain textarea and hoping it renders.
Audience segmentation — free, paid, tagged
Send a broadcast to everyone, to paid subscribers only, or to any tag you've attached to a member segment. Onboarding drip for new free readers. Renewal reminder only to annual subscribers. The segmentation that used to require a dedicated email platform is baked in.
Scheduled send + drip automations
Schedule your next issue for 9am Tuesday, your reader's time. Set up a welcome sequence that sends three onboarding emails over the first week. Automations run in the background via Resend — no third-party ESPs, no monthly seat fees on top of VeloCMS.
Member paywall on posts and sections
Put an entire post behind a paid gate, or just the bottom half. Add the Paywall block anywhere in TipTap and VeloCMS blurs the rest for free readers with a subscribe CTA. Works on individual posts and on newsletter sections — so you can tease paid content in your free broadcast.
Open + click tracking via Resend
See exactly which subject lines get opened and which CTAs get clicked, right inside the admin dashboard. Resend's event webhooks flow into VeloCMS's analytics panel — no copy-pasting UTM params, no switching to another tab. You know what's working by the time the next issue goes out.
Custom domain — free on Pro plan
yourname.com or newsletter.yourname.com — point a CNAME, VeloCMS provisions TLS automatically via Cloudflare for SaaS. Included in Pro at no extra cost. Not a paid add-on. Not limited to a subdomain. A URL that's yours to keep if you ever move platforms again.
From Substack to VeloCMS in 60 minutes
No developer needed. The importer handles subscribers, posts, and Stripe migration. You handle the writing.
Export from Substack Settings
Open your Substack dashboard → Settings → Exports. Request your subscriber CSV and your posts archive (ZIP of HTML files). Substack emails you a download link within a few minutes. The CSV includes email addresses, subscription status (free vs. paid), and subscription start date.
Sign up VeloCMS Pro, set up custom domain
Create your account at velocms.org/signup and choose Pro. Walk through the onboarding wizard — pick a theme, set your newsletter name and tagline, then add a CNAME record pointing your domain at VeloCMS. TLS provisions automatically within a few minutes.
Upload subscriber CSV — paid + free statuses preserved
In Admin → Import → Subscribers, upload your Substack CSV. VeloCMS maps free subscribers to your free member tier and flags paid subscribers for Stripe re-connection in the next step. Tags carry over if you used any in Substack.
Connect your Stripe — keep existing subscriptions
Go to Admin → Settings → Billing and connect your Stripe account (standard OAuth flow). VeloCMS's BYOK import wizard walks you through migrating your existing Stripe customers — their subscriptions stay active with no interruption, just routing to your new VeloCMS checkout instead of Substack's.
Send a goodbye post to your Substack list
Substack blocks 301 redirects from their platform, so there's no automatic way to forward readers. The most effective move: publish a final post on Substack with your new URL and a clear "follow me here" ask. We ship a short email template for this — copy, customize, send.
Substack vs ConvertKit vs VeloCMS
| Feature | VeloCMS | Substack | ConvertKit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform fee on subscriptions | 0% | 10% + Stripe fees | 0% |
| Stripe processing fee | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Owned subscriber list (export anytime) | Yes | CSV export | Yes |
| Custom themes | 16 themes | 1 (accent color only) | Limited |
| AI writing assistant | Yes (BYOK) | No | No |
| AEO / AI search optimization | Native | Basic | No |
| Self-host option | Yes | No | No |
One flat rate. No percentage tax.
VeloCMS Pro starts at $9/month — newsletter visual builder, BYOK Stripe (0% platform fee), AI authoring, AEO structured data, custom domain, and unlimited subscribers. No revenue share, no surprise bills as you grow. The Business plan at $29/month adds multi-author teams and white-label branding.
Questions newsletter writers ask before migrating
Honest answers — no sales spin.
Will Substack let me export my subscribers?
Yes — Substack provides a CSV export in Settings → Exports. The file includes email addresses, subscription status (free vs. paid), and subscription start date. It's one of the few things Substack handles cleanly. VeloCMS's importer reads this CSV directly — no reformatting required.
Do I keep my paid subscribers after migrating?
Yes, with a short overlap window. Your Substack paid subscribers are Stripe customers on Substack's account. VeloCMS's BYOK import wizard migrates them to your own Stripe account — their subscriptions stay active, billing dates carry over, and they don't see any interruption. Most migrations complete within a 7-day overlap window.
What about Substack URLs — do they 301 redirect?
Substack doesn't allow post-to-post redirects from their platform to external domains. There's no technical shortcut here. The standard approach: publish a final post on your Substack with your new URL and ask readers to follow you there. A clear, personal goodbye post with a direct link typically converts 20–40% of active readers within the first week.
Do I need to know HTML or CSS to use VeloCMS?
Not at all. VeloCMS was built for writers first — the editor, theme picker, domain setup wizard, and Stripe connect flow are all guided with plain-language instructions. If you can write a Substack post, you can run a VeloCMS newsletter. No developer needed, ever.
Can I keep paid subscriptions running during migration?
Yes. There's a migration overlap window (typically 7 days) where both your Substack subscriptions and VeloCMS subscriptions run in parallel. Readers on Substack keep access; new subscribers land on VeloCMS. Once you're satisfied everything works, you wind down the Substack side. No one loses access mid-transition.
How is VeloCMS different from Ghost?
A few practical differences stand out. VeloCMS has a 1-click Substack import wizard specifically for newsletter writers; Ghost's importer is more general. VeloCMS has AEO scoring built into the editor — Ghost relies on integrations. VeloCMS has 16 curated themes for text-first publishing; Ghost has a marketplace with varying quality. And VeloCMS offers a SaaS tier alongside self-hosting; Ghost's managed platform is significantly more expensive per month.
Is there a free tier?
VeloCMS has a free plan for up to 100 subscribers — no credit card needed. It includes the editor, AEO SEO, and basic themes. The Pro plan at $9/month adds custom domain, AI authoring, newsletter broadcasts, BYOK Stripe (for subscription revenue), and advanced segmentation. For most active newsletter writers, Pro is the right starting point.
Can I switch back to Substack if it doesn't work out?
Yes, without any friction. All your posts export as Markdown with YAML front-matter (title, slug, publish date, tags) plus images at original resolution. Your subscriber list exports as a standard CSV. There's no export gate and no plan-level restriction. You own your content and your list from day one — that's a core promise of the platform.
Your newsletter deserves a home you own.
14-day free trial. Import your Substack subscribers on day one. No credit card needed to start.
Start your migration