TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    LiveJournal

    Score10 out of 10
    N/Ais a social network owned by SUP Media where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary - a wide variety of political pundits also use the service for political commentary.N/A

    Substack

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/ASubstack is a subscription-based newsletter publishing platform.N/A
    Pricing
    LiveJournalSubstack
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    LiveJournalSubstack
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    LiveJournalSubstack
    Considered Both Products
    LiveJournal
    No answer on this topic
    Substack Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    LiveJournalSubstack
    Small Businesses
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Blogger
    Score10 out of 10
    Blogger
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    LiveJournalSubstack
    Likelihood to Recommend
    3.5
    (5 ratings)
    8.7
    (6 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    6.2
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    LiveJournalSubstack
    Likelihood to Recommend
    LiveJournal
    I feel it's better for personal blogging than for business.
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    I think Substack is better for people who want to set up a personal-facing branded website vs people who just want to post random musings every so often. Monetization is better there than any other collective publishing platform as well as organic reach via email. Substack also allows you to build direct relationships with your readers via emails and own them 100% which is great long-term if you use it to pivot to another site or another form of writing/content creation. Substack would be less helpful for someone wanting to write as a part of a group, not individually, or someone who's unwilling to put their personal brand behind their content. It's less optimized for SEO (which other platforms allow you to do) and can be harder to curate content based on your interests (you really have to go in knowing what you want vs finding it on the fly).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    LiveJournal
    • The friends list feature aggregates content posted by the users and communities you follow, so you don't have to visit each individual journal.
    • The privacy settings are easy to use and understand. Posts can be set as public, friends-only, private, or you can create a custom privacy filter that enables access only by certain users you have approved.
    • LiveJournal offers a wide variety of journal styles and customization options, with the most options available to paid subscribers.
    • Communities enable users to make online friends and connections who share similar interests. Users may comment on posts and initiate conversations with original authors and other commenters.
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    • Because it has a very high Domain Authority ranking relevant backlinks in a published article will help make my store more searchable.
    • Substack is very easy to work in. The toolset they provide may not be as extensive as other platforms but it is certainly enough to create a meaningful, interesting post.
    • Substack is very focused on creating a community of writers that support each other. They run an ongoing email campaign that reinforces their focus on building a community of writers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    LiveJournal
    • LiveJournal is a bit clunky. Posting is easy, but formatting a post can be a bit difficult, especially if the user doesn't have much HTML expertise.
    • The search function is practically unusable. When searching for a community to join or check out, it is difficult to wade through the list of results. Often times, the results that come back are not related to the topic a user is searching for.
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    • editor is on the primitive side - it's wysiwyg, but missing some embed options
    • integrate with google analytics
    • percentage cut that Substack takes can become a burden as your revenue grows. Problems scaling.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    LiveJournal
    As long as I have friends using it, I will use it. But I can't predict how long that will be the case.
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    LiveJournal
    LiveJournal does not hold a candle to any of these alternatives in my opinion. The above options allow for more flexibility with their free suites, and provide more professional results with less work. We actually do not use the LiveJournal much anymore because these other alternatives work far better. We used it only as an additive to what the other products bring us
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    Medium is not so good for running newsletter. I find the mail that a user gets is very easily readable. Also as a creator it's very easy for me to track the analytics and monetise my blogs unlike Medium. Blogger is a very old technology. The kind of integrations and the support for Markdown / different media is very great in Substack.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    LiveJournal
    • I do not use this for business purposes anymore, as mentioned.
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    • I haven’t made any money from it
    • Can be disheartening when you realise you’re putting in maximum effort for minimum audience
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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