10 Trends That Will Shape Substack In 2026
2025 has been our best year on Substack so far - and we’re convinced 2026 will be even better.
We’ve been on Substack since 2024, and ever since we started on the platform, we noticed one thing:
Substack is moving fast - and in the right direction.
Over the last year alone, we watched the platform evolve, launch new features, improve collaboration tools, expand the creator ecosystem, and attract bigger audiences than ever before.
And because of that momentum, our own publication grew fast:
from 4,000 to 26,000+ total subscribers
from 145 to 1,000+ paid subscribers
All in just one year.
It’s safe to say that 2025 has been our best year on Substack so far - and we’re convinced 2026 will be even better.
But growth never happens by accident.
Every platform changes, and Substack is no different. New features arrive, creator behaviors shift, AI reshapes the landscape, and the strategies that worked last year won’t always work next year.
That’s why we put together this article where we share the 10 key trends we believe will shape Substack in 2026.
If you understand these trends early, you’ll set yourself up to grow faster, build deeper connections with your audience, and monetize your Substack far more effectively in 2026.
Before We Dive In…
To celebrate our milestone of reaching 1,000+ paid subscribers - and to help YOU grow your Substack more easily in 2026 - we have prepared something special…
We’re giving you a full year of Substack Notes templates for just $0.10 each if you upgrade to our paid plan right now:
Trend #1: Showing More Personality
As AI-generated content floods the internet (including Substack), the biggest competitive advantage you’ll have as a creator is something AI can’t replicate:
Your personality.
People don’t just subscribe because your content is helpful. They subscribe because they know, like, and trust you.
And that doesn’t come from sharing information alone (AI can generate infinite amounts of that), but it comes from:
your stories
your opinions
your results
your personality
your personal life
your quirks
your voice
your face
In other words, the things that make you, you.
So, to stand out in 2026, your Substack can’t read like a Wikipedia article. You need to make it feel like you.
That means:
Share personal stories in your long-form posts
Don’t just explain what to do. Show people how you learned it, how you struggled, how you figured it out. AI can’t replicate your life experience.
Add personality to your Notes
From time to time, show photos of your travels, your workspace, your wins, your morning coffee, your dog (my favorite) - whatever reflects your actual life.
Create audio/video content
Record the occasional video (like a workshop). Host the occasional Substack Live session. Start a podcast or join someone else’s.
When people can actually see and hear you, it builds a next-level connection that creates more of that ‘know, like, and trust’ which will be essential in 2026.
Trend #2: Big Names Will Keep Moving to Substack
One major trend that started gaining momentum in 2025 - and will only accelerate in 2026 - is the arrival of big names on Substack.
We’ve already seen huge creators like DAN KOE , Jay Clouse , and Justin Welsh, join Substack in 2025.
But this is just the beginning.
Many creators realize that Substack isn’t “just a newsletter platform” anymore.
It’s becoming more like a home base on the internet.
A place to publish, run a community, host podcasts, sell digital products, and build a business around your audience.
(It’s also the first platform in years that feels supportive rather than hostile.)
I personally think this is good news for the average Substack creator.
As more big names migrate to Substack and bring their audiences with them, the total size of the ecosystem grows.
And that means more opportunities for you to grow your publication, attract more readers, and build your business on Substack.
Trend #3: Collaborations Will Be Essential
Collaborating with other creators has been a massive growth engine for our Substack publication - and this will only increase in 2026.
If you look at the features Substack has introduced over the last few years, it’s clear the platform is intentionally built around collaboration:
Podcasting: With Substack’s podcasting feature, it’s easier than ever to start your own podcast and interview other creators (which is why we started our own podcast this year)
Newsletter Recommendations: This ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ feature has already brought us 7,500+ subscribers on autopilot
Guest Posting: Write a post for someone’s publication, so you directly show up in front of their audience
Collaboration Posts: Write an article together with another creator (or multiple) and feature them in the post (like we did with this article)
Cross-Posting: Share an article from another publication directly with your email list
Substack Lives: Co-host a livestream with another creator to show up in front of each other's audiences (every month, we do multiple livestreams with other creators, like this one I did with Phil Powis ❤️⚡️ and Carolina Wilke)
We can’t emphasize the power of collaborations enough.
It’s because of collaborating with awesome creators (like David McIlroy, Russell Nohelty,Veronica Llorca-Smith, Landon Poburan, and Derek Hughes - just to name a few) that we’ve been able to grow our audience much faster than we could have ever done if we did it all ourselves.
When you collaborate with others, you:
Instantly reach a lot of new people who don’t know you yet
Grow through trust, not algorithms
Build long-term relationships with people in your niche
But if you’re taking the solo approach by just “writing into the void,” publishing your posts, and hoping people find you…
You’re making the game 10x harder than it needs to be.
So, if you’re looking to grow fast in 2026, you need to reach out to creators in your niche and initiate collaboration opportunities (podcasting, guest posting, livestreams, newsletter recommendations, etc.) with them.
Creators who isolate themselves too much will fall behind, but creators who collaborate will grow exponentially.
Trend #4: Email Automations Will Arrive in 2026
This is one of the biggest shifts coming to Substack, and it’s going to be a complete game-changer for creators.
Until now, Substack’s email automation has been extremely limited.
You had exactly one automated email for:
New free subscribers
New paid subscribers
New founding members
That was pretty much it.
If you wanted to build an actual automation or funnel, you had to use external tools like ConvertKit (now Kit), MailerLite, or other email platforms.
Substack simply didn’t support it.
But that’s about to change…
Substack has rolled out email automations to select Bestsellers in 2025, and it will be available to all creators in 2026.
This means you’ll be able to create full email sequences directly inside Substack.
With these automations, you’ll be able to:
Send a sequence of onboarding emails to new subscribers
Automatically deliver your best articles and resources to them
Build a sequence that leads free subscribers to your paid tier
Promote your digital products (like mini-courses) on autopilot
Promote your coaching programs, consulting offers, paid community, or other offers on autopilot
In other words…
Substack will finally allow you to build a proper email funnel.
Creators have been asking for this for years, and now it’s finally happening.
Instead of relying on a tool like Kit for automations, you can do everything directly on Substack.
This lets your Substack operate like a real business, and opens the door to:
Turning new subscribers into superfans
Growing your list of paid subscribers on autopilot
Selling digital products while you sleep
The moment this feature is released to every Substack creator, it will be a game-changer.
Trend #5: Video and Audio Content Will Increase
Even though writing is still at the core of Substack, features like livestreaming, podcasting, and the ability to upload videos (both as posts and in Notes) make Substack a much more versatile multimedia platform.
We predict that this trend will only accelerate in 2026 for two major reasons.
Reason #1: Multimedia is harder for AI to replace
AI has made written content easier than ever to produce. But audio and video content is a different story.
Your voice, your face, your energy, your personality, these can’t be faked by AI (at least not believably yet).
This means creators who embrace video and audio will naturally differentiate themselves from the flood of AI-generated content.
Reason #2: More + different ways to connect with you
Multimedia gives your audience more ways - and different ways - to interact and connect with you:
They can listen to your podcast while driving, walking, or doing chores (which they can’t do with written posts).
They can see your personality, energy, enthusiasm, and tone much better with video content (compared to written posts)
They can join your livestream and directly engage with you (e.g., ask you questions), which builds a connection that’s hard to do with writing
This is why, in 2025, we launched our podcast, started livestreaming more, and created a lot more video content.
Not only has this helped us in growing our audience, but also in connecting more deeply with our existing audience.
That’s why we predict that the creators who will mix writing with some form of multimedia content (audio, video, livestreaming, etc.) will be the ones who grow the fastest on Substack in 2026.
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Trend #6: Paid Substacks Will Need More Than Just Extra Articles
In 2026, having a paid Substack that only offers “extra articles” won’t be enough anymore.
The platform is growing fast. More creators are joining every month. More paid Substacks are launching.
And with that comes the following:
Subscribers won’t just pay for “more writing” anymore.
To stand out, paid newsletters will need to behave more like a membership product, not just more of your free writing (but with a paywall on it).
When thousands of creators are offering paid newsletters, and most of them promise the same thing… Readers start to feel subscription fatigue.
They ask themselves:
“Do I really need another paid newsletter?”
“Is this worth $10/month when I already get so much free content?”
“What am I getting here that I can’t get anywhere else?”
If your only answer is “a few more articles,” you’ll struggle.
The creators who will treat their paid Substack more like a membership (and less like a paid newsletter) will be the ones who attract the most paid subscribers.
This means you’ll have to add different types of content and perks that significantly boost the value of your paid tier.
For example:
Mini-courses
Downloadable templates
Video workshops
Monthly live calls (group coaching or workshops)
Deep dives or ultimate guides
Downloadable checklists
E-books or PDFs
Private community access
Of course, you don’t need to add all of these resources. Pick the ones you enjoy creating and that your audience wants the most.
But the main point is:
Treat your paid Substack more like a membership instead of just a paid newsletter.
That’s been one of the main reasons why we’ve been able to grow from 140 paid subscribers to 1,000+ paid subscribers in 2025 - and it will only become more important in 2026.
Trend #7: Community Will Matter More Than Ever
In 2026, Substack won’t just be about publishing content. It will be about building a community around your message.
In an age where AI-generated content floods every platform, people will crave what AI can’t replace:
Real connection.
Writers who simply “broadcast” to their audience will fall behind.
Your readers want to feel:
Part of something
Connected to you
Connected to each other
Like their voice matters
Like they belong in your world
And the moment someone feels like they belong to your community, they naturally become more:
Loyal
Engaged
Supportive
Likely to share your work
Likely to buy your products
Likely to become a paid subscriber
Fortunately, Substack has a few great tools to help you build more of a community.
Feature #1: Substack Chat
Chat is one of the most underrated features on Substack.
This is where people talk with you, not just read from you.
Use the Chat to:
Ask questions
Start discussions
Learn what your audience is working on
Ask what they’re stuck with
Share behind-the-scenes stories
Create ongoing conversation, not one-off broadcasts
When you use Chat a few times per week, your publication stops feeling like a one-way street and starts feeling more like a community.
Feature #2: Substack Lives
Live sessions are powerful because:
They show the real you
There’s no hiding behind polished writing
People connect with your personality
Readers can ask questions in real-time
You build trust 10x faster than with text alone
We’ve seen this firsthand.
Every time we run a Substack Live:
Engagement goes up
Chat activity goes up
Paid conversions increase
Readers turn into superfans
Live sessions create a feeling of connection that a lot of other content formats simply cannot replicate.
Trend #8: Substack Will Be Your Home Base on the Internet
For years, “starting a Substack” basically meant “starting a newsletter.”
But that meaning is already shifting. And in 2026, it will change completely.
Substack is no longer just an email platform.
For many creators, Substack is becoming their home base on the internet - the central hub for everything they create.
Over the last two years, Substack rolled out features that rival other platforms:
Podcast hosting
Video uploads
Short-form content (Notes)
Livestreaming
Chat (community feature)
Paid memberships
Recommendations and collaboration tools
Email automations (coming in 2026)
You have it all in one place.
And that’s exactly why launching a Substack in 2026 won’t just mean, “I’m starting a newsletter.”
It will mean, “I’m building the online home for my creator business.”
Trend #9: Creators Will Monetize Beyond Paid Subscriptions
Many new Substack writers make the same mistake:
They think the only way to make money on Substack is by getting paid subscribers.
And yes, paid subscriptions are great. But in 2026, more creators will wake up to something much bigger:
Paid subscriptions are just ONE monetization method. Not the whole business.
And the creators who understand this will make significantly more money than those who only chase paid subs.
A paid subscriber brings in somewhere between $10 and $20 per month.
But that same person might also happily pay for:
A course
A cohort
A workshop
A community membership
A coaching program
A consulting package
And those offers can easily range from $50… all the way up to $3,000+.
So instead of earning $120 - $240 per year from one subscriber, you could earn $500, $1,000, even $3,000+ from that same person, simply by offering something beyond the paid tier.
This is where the real revenue lives.
That’s why we see our paid Substack as an entry-point offer instead of the end-point.
Once someone pays $10/month to learn from you, they’ve already crossed the biggest psychological barrier:
They’ve bought from you.
And buyers buy again.
We see this constantly in our publication.
If someone becomes a paid subscriber, they’re much more likely to join any of our courses or coaching programs, which is where we generate the bulk of our revenue.
Trend #10: Ads Will Likely Arrive on Substack
Right now, Substack’s entire business model is built on taking a 10% cut of paid subscription revenue.
And while that works, it’s not enough to sustain a rapidly growing platform long-term.
Which is why we believe that sometime in 2026, Substack will introduce ads in some form - and we actually think this is good news for creators.
Simply because ads are another way for creators to get paid for their knowledge and expertise.
For many creators, this will mean:
More revenue from the same content
More incentive to publish consistently
Less pressure to constantly push for paid subscriptions
A more sustainable creator business overall
Substack has been very creator-friendly from day one, so if they introduce ads, we’re confident they’ll do it in a tasteful, optional, non-disruptive way.
What’s Your Prediction For Substack in 2026?
Which trends or changes do you predict will happen to Substack in 2026? And what are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments below. 👇
I’m not looking forward to ads, but I am looking forward to automations so I can create a true welcome experience.
Also hoping Substack adds more community features in app, so we can house all of those other digital products & services in one place & create a true digital home.
I'm happy to hear Substack's evolving to make it easier for creators to be seen and rewarded. And hopefully it keeps the generosity and creative spirit that brought many of us here.