Fanvault is a 2025-launched creator monetization platform that charges an 8% fee and gives creators a storefront, subscriptions, DMs, tips, and authenticated memorabilia auctions in one account. Substack is a 2017 newsletter platform that charges 10% plus Stripe fees (about 16.4% effective) and is built for writers, essayists, and podcasters. On a $10/month subscriber, Fanvault leaves the creator with about $9.20; Substack leaves about $8.36. The bigger question is which platform fits the work you actually make.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- Substack takes ~16.4% all-in on a $10/month sub (10% platform + Stripe + 0.5% billing); Fanvault takes 8%, leaving the creator $9.20 vs $8.36 per subscriber per month.
- At $10K/month in gross subscription revenue, that gap is ~$84/month or roughly $1,000/year more in the creator's account on Fanvault.
- Substack's 100,000 earning publications and 5M+ paid subs (April 2026) deliver a real discovery engine: 50%+ of paid subs come from in-network recommendations.
- Fanvault adds paid DMs, custom requests, tips, wishlists, drops, authenticated memorabilia auctions, and Shippo fulfillment that Substack does not ship at all.
- Substack wins for writers, essayists, journalists, and interview podcasters; Fanvault wins for streamers, athletes, fitness creators, and virtual / AI creators.
- Substack pays out within ~48 hours per transaction via Stripe; Fanvault uses Stripe Connect with standard 2 to 7 day settlement cadence.
How do Fanvault and Substack actually compare on fees?
Substack's headline fee is 10% on paid subscription revenue, per Substack Support. The real take is higher once Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per recurring charge and a 0.5% Stripe billing fee stack on top. On a $10 monthly subscription, that combined cost runs ~16.4%, leaving the writer roughly $8.36, per Ruzuku. Fanvault's platform fee is 8%, so creators keep 92% before Stripe processing.
Payouts on Substack run through Stripe and typically arrive in the writer's bank account within ~48 hours of each transaction, per Substack Support. Fanvault uses Stripe Connect, which settles on standard Stripe cadence (typically 2 to 7 days depending on country and account configuration).
| Dimension | Fanvault | Substack |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | 8% flat (creators keep 92%) | 10% + Stripe (~16.4% effective on $10 subs) |
| Revenue streams | Subs, paid posts, paid DMs, custom requests, tips, wishlists, auctions, buy-it-now drops, authenticated memorabilia | Subs, paid posts, podcasts, video, gifting, group plans, trials, paid threads |
| Audience size | 24-country launch footprint, invite-gated (2025) | 5M+ paid subs, ~100K earning publications (April 2026) |
| Content rules | 18+ platform, age-verified onboarding, Sightengine AI moderation, two-strike policy | No porn or sexually exploitative content, erotic literature and artistic nudity allowed in posts, no nudity in profile images, 18+ tagging under UK OSA |
| Payout speed | Stripe Connect cadence (~2 to 7 days) | ~48 hours per transaction via Stripe |
| Best for | Streamers, athletes, virtual / AI creators monetizing DMs, drops, memorabilia | Writers, essayists, journalists, interview podcasters |
What does the fee math look like at $1K and $10K per month?
The 8% vs ~16.4% gap looks small until you scale it. At $1,000/month in gross subscription revenue from $10 subscribers, Substack's combined platform and Stripe stack costs roughly $164, leaving the writer about $836. Fanvault's 8% takes $80, leaving $920 before Stripe processing.
At $10,000/month, that gap compounds. Substack's combined cost lands near $1,640, or roughly $19,680/year in platform plus processing fees. Fanvault's 8% takes $800, leaving roughly $84/month, or about $1,000/year, more in the creator's account before Stripe processing. At $5,000/month gross, source-tracked Substack creators see ~$650/month in combined fees, per industry pricing breakdowns.
That delta funds a fulfillment budget, a part-time editor, or a single paid ad campaign. It compounds further every time you raise the price or add a tier.
Where does Substack genuinely win against Fanvault?
Substack's network effect is real. More than 50% of paid Substack subscriptions originate from inside the Substack network, driven by recommendations from other publications, per Substack. No other paid-subscription platform has built a discovery graph at that scale for written work.
The numbers Substack supports are unmatched in the newsletter category. As of April 2026, nearly 100,000 publications earn money on Substack, up from 50,000 in May 2025, with more than 50 writers clearing $1M/year, per Backlinko. Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American is estimated as the top earner at ~$12M+ annually on a $5/month price point, per Readless. Writers collectively earned $450M gross on Substack in 2025, per Best Writing.
The stack also bundles paid podcasts with RSS, video uploads, subscriber chat, threads, gifting, group plans, and free trials. For an essayist or interview podcaster, the platform delivers an end-to-end newsletter and audio business in one account, with the discovery engine doing most of the acquisition.
Where does Fanvault out-monetize Substack?
Fanvault's pitch is monetization surface. Beyond subs and paywalled posts, creators get paid DMs and custom requests, tips, wishlists, and the storefront layer that no newsletter platform offers: authenticated memorabilia auctions with proxy bidding and anti-snipe extension, buy-it-now drops for limited releases, and integrated Shippo-powered fulfillment.
The other differentiator is the automation layer. A creator can spin up a storefront, list items, schedule content, and triage fan DMs through an in-app chat interface or Telegram. Substack's product is dashboard-first; Subscriber Chat exists but is for community messaging, not creator workflow automation.
For sports and entertainment memorabilia alone, that's access to a $30B+ market that text-first platforms cannot address. A streamer selling signed apparel, a fitness creator running custom-plan auctions, or a virtual creator dropping limited collectibles has tools on Fanvault that simply do not exist on Substack.
Which platform fits which creator?
Both platforms are honest about who they are for. The question is what shape your monetization actually takes.
| Creator type | Fanvault | Substack |
|---|---|---|
| Essayist or journalist | Underused (no native long-form discovery) | Best fit (network effect + paid posts) |
| Interview podcaster | Underused (no native RSS) | Best fit (podcast RSS + private feeds) |
| Streamer or esports creator | Best fit (drops, signed gear, paid DMs) | Wrong shape (no commerce, no DMs) |
| Athlete or fitness creator | Best fit (custom requests, memorabilia, fulfillment) | Wrong shape (no fulfillment, no storefront) |
| Virtual or AI creator | Best fit (storefront + Content Capital pipeline) | Wrong shape (no AI-creator support) |
| Mixed creator (writes + sells) | Best fit (one account, one payout) | Half the business (Substack for posts, Shopify elsewhere) |
An essayist with a podcast feed and Substack's recommendation engine in reach should probably stay and absorb the ~16.4% take. A creator monetizing across DMs, drops, custom requests, and signed gear is leaving 8 cents on the dollar at Substack just to access tools Substack does not ship.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Substack's actual fee on a $10/month subscription?
Substack's headline fee is
The effective percentage is heaviest on lower-priced subscriptions because the flat $0.30 Stripe charge consumes more of each transaction. On a $5/month sub the all-in cost runs noticeably higher than 16%. Fanvault's
Why does Fanvault charge less than Substack?
Fanvault launched in 2025 as an AI-native platform built around the conversational and storefront model, with infrastructure designed for an 8% fee from day one. Substack launched in 2017 against a different competitive frame (newsletters versus blogs) and has held its 10% platform fee since, on top of Stripe processing.
Fanvault's
Can I run both Fanvault and Substack at the same time?
Yes. Many creators use Substack for written content and a separate platform for commerce, DMs, and drops. The tradeoff is operational: two dashboards, two payout schedules, two audiences to grow, and double the platform fees on any work that overlaps.
Fanvault's pitch is one account that handles subs, paywalled posts, paid DMs, tips, wishlists, drops, and authenticated memorabilia auctions, with Stripe Connect on the back end. Whether the consolidation is worth leaving Substack's network effect depends on what share of your revenue comes from network-driven subscriptions versus commerce and DMs.
Does Substack allow adult or NSFW content?
Substack prohibits pornographic and sexually exploitative content but allows erotic literature and artistic nudity inside posts. Nudity in profile images is banned, sexually explicit visual content is hidden or removed from discovery, and creators publishing adult work must tag content
Fanvault is an 18+ platform with age verification at onboarding, Sightengine AI moderation, a two-strike brand-safety policy across all content, and provenance metadata on physical listings.
How fast do payouts arrive on each platform?
Substack pays writers through Stripe, with funds typically arriving in the writer's bank account within ~
Substack's per-transaction payout is faster on subscription revenue. Fanvault batches across the full revenue stack (subs, drops, auctions, tips, DMs) into one settlement flow, which is the tradeoff for running everything in one account.