Medium / Substack

Medium & Substack

Your words behind their paywall, your audience on their platform.

  • Paywalled basicsCore features held hostage behind a paid tier.
  • Lock-inProprietary formats or cloud storage that make leaving painful.

The exit

  1. Independent publishing with built-in newsletters and paid memberships, run by a nonprofit.

    Status
    Stable Mature and ready for daily work.
    License
    MIT
    Get Ghost ↗View source ↗

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Hootsuite / Buffer
  • Paywall
  • Subscription

Hootsuite & Buffer

Hootsuite killed its free plan in 2023. Scheduling posts now costs a subscription.

  1. PostizStableAGPL-3.0

    Open-source social media scheduling across every major network.

    Site ↗Source ↗
Intercom / Zendesk
  • Subscription
  • Paywall

Intercom & Zendesk

Per-seat fees plus per-resolution AI charges, just to talk to your own customers.

  1. ChatwootStableMIT (core)

    An omnichannel support inbox covering live chat, email, WhatsApp and more.

    Site ↗Source ↗
Intuit
  • Paywall
  • Lock-in

Mailchimp

Since Intuit bought it, the free plan keeps shrinking and pricing scales with your audience.

  1. listmonkStableAGPL-3.0

    A self-hosted newsletter and mailing-list manager in a single fast binary.

    Site ↗Source ↗
Salesforce / HubSpot
  • Subscription
  • Lock-in

Salesforce & HubSpot

Per-seat pricing for your own customer list, and steep costs to ever leave.

  1. TwentyStableAGPL-3.0

    A modern open-source CRM you can self-host and fully customize.

    Site ↗Source ↗