Substack ARR hit $45M

Substack, the newsletter‑centric platform founded in 2017, has grown into a substantial subscription engine. As of March 2025, the platform hosts over 5 million paid subscriptions—a surge of more than 1 million since November 2024—reflecting strong user demand. It has a rough $45 million annualized recurring revenue; the total subscription revenue flowing to Substack creators is roughly $450 million. With top creators and media brands increasingly turning to Substack, its revenue trajectory is clearly in the high‑hundreds‑of‑millions range.

At its core, Substack solves a key problem for independent creators: monetizing newsletters, podcasts, and video under one roof. It handles payment processing, analytics, hosting, and distribution—allowing writers to focus on content while earning recurring revenue. In response to growing creator formats, Substack has invested in audio/video tools, launched a $20 million creator accelerator to onboard TikTok content creators, and enabled multimedia publishing—all aimed at broadening its appeal beyond text‑only creators .

Financially, Substack has raised capital without traditional VC rounds: after a $585 million valuation Series B in 2021 and a $10 million “friends & family” extension in late 2024, it remains independent and cash‑flow positive as of Q1 2025. With over 50,000 monetizing publishers and the top ten earning more than $40 million combined annually, the platform is firmly entrenched in the creator economy and continues scaling rapidly—with a sustainable business model built on revenue-based growth.