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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    MadCap Flare

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/AMadCap Software, headquartered in La Jolla, offers MadCap Flare, a help authoring and technical writing tool featuring onboarding and support from MadCap, and a set of modules for designing advanced guides, aids, and web or application help aids.

    $167

    per month

    Substack

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/ASubstack is a subscription-based newsletter publishing platform.N/A
    Pricing
    MadCap FlareSubstack
    Editions & Modules
    MadCap Central
    $1,500
    per year
    MadCap Flare
    $1,999
    per year
    MadCap AMS
    $2,999
    per year
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    MadCap FlareSubstack
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsIncludes a 12-month Platinum-level Maintenance Plan.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    MadCap FlareSubstack
    Considered Both Products
    MadCap Software
    No answer on this topic
    Substack Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    80%
    Would buy again
    4 Answers
    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
    80%
    Happy with the feature set
    4 Answers
    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
    MadCap FlareSubstack
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Blogger
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    MadCap FlareSubstack
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.2
    (5 ratings)
    8.7
    (6 ratings)
    Usability
    6.4
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    MadCap FlareSubstack
    Likelihood to Recommend
    MadCap Software
    MadCap Flare has its problems, but it serves our team well as an authoring software. This would not be the case if we needed to regularly collaborate on articles, as Flare is prone to conflict issues when another person dares to breathe near an open topic. When working individually, though, it's fine. I'd love to see improvements to design, performance, and stability, but Flare remains one of the best softwares on the market for our needs as an authoring team. MadCap Central is well-suited to internal reviewing when every member is comfortable with Flare (the errors it tends to introduce set aside). SMEs, though, tend to find it hard to use. It's cluttered, some styles don't render, and it just seems like a failed attempt to reproduce Google Docs. I'd love to see improvements there, to help get our SMEs to want to use Central.
    Incentivized
    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
    MadCap Software
    • Single-sourcing
    • Branching (GIT)
    • Publishing and hosting
    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
    MadCap Software
    • I use it on a mac with windows parallel and it can be so buggy and laggy.
    • I would love it if the software was entirely cloud-based, like Google Docs.
    • Reviewing in Central is not a good experience, need better review functionality.
    Incentivized
    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
    Usability
    MadCap Software
    MadCap Flare is in desperate need of an overall redesign. It relies heavily on dozens and dozens of tiny buttons that contain dozens of nested features. Clicking the wrong button can cause your software to freeze and crash. Building targets can be an absolute mystery, as far as all the files involved. It also has a tendency to freeze and crash. There's typically a huge learning curve for new hires who've never used it--nothing is intuitive.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Substack Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    MadCap Software
    MadCap software does offer quite a few more technical features than Google Drive, but the user experience is far inferior. Google Drive is much less buggy to work with, and it's much more accessible. MadCap only being available on Windows operating systems makes it difficult to work with teammates who may not have such a device available.
    Incentivized
    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
    MadCap Software
    • We haven't measured this specifically
    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
    ScreenShots

    MadCap Flare Screenshots

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