Percolate, now part of Seismic vs. Substack

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Percolate, now part of Seismic
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Percolate was a content marketing platform designed to help large brands create content and manage marketing campaigns. The product's capabilities have been integrated into the Seismic platform's digital marketing capabilities, and Percolate is no longer available for sale standalone.N/A
Substack
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Substack is a subscription-based newsletter publishing platform.N/A
Pricing
Percolate, now part of SeismicSubstack
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Percolate, now part of SeismicSubstack
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Percolate, now part of SeismicSubstack
Features
Percolate, now part of SeismicSubstack
Content Creation
Comparison of Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Percolate, now part of Seismic
8.5
13 Ratings
8% above category average
Substack
-
Ratings
Ideation7.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Approval workflows9.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Content collaboration9.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Content calendar8.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Network for content licensing/production9.34 Ratings00 Ratings
Content Publishing
Comparison of Content Publishing features of Product A and Product B
Percolate, now part of Seismic
7.8
13 Ratings
1% below category average
Substack
-
Ratings
Content hub8.012 Ratings00 Ratings
Content distribution8.012 Ratings00 Ratings
Content promotion7.010 Ratings00 Ratings
Content automation8.012 Ratings00 Ratings
Content Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Content Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Percolate, now part of Seismic
7.3
13 Ratings
2% below category average
Substack
-
Ratings
Closed-loop tracking and reporting7.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Content performance analytics7.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign optimization dashboard8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Percolate, now part of SeismicSubstack
Small Businesses
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
Spotify for Podcasters
Spotify for Podcasters
Score 8.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
Adobe Express
Adobe Express
Score 8.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Vyond
Vyond
Score 8.6 out of 10
Adobe Express
Adobe Express
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Percolate, now part of SeismicSubstack
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(14 ratings)
8.7
(6 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Percolate, now part of SeismicSubstack
Likelihood to Recommend
Discontinued Products
Very useful for the management, planning, and programming of all social networks, as well as marketing campaigns. One of the best tools to make life easier for community managers and automate daily tasks such as content publishing. It is my favorite for managing my clients' networks.
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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).
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Pros
Discontinued Products
  • Create social content from briefing all the way through to the approval process.
  • Social planner for managing topics and content streams across multiple channels.
  • Robust API and integrations.
  • Image library (with cost-free access/rights to stock photo libraries).
  • Frequent updates to the platform.
  • Built-in community management.
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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.
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Cons
Discontinued Products
  • A lot of the features in Percolate are very well built, but only provide the bare minimum as features go. Its editorial calendar for example lacks export/import features and its multimedia repository only supports images. In many ways, Percolate is trying very hard to be too much at the same time.
  • At the moment, Percolate lacks user level management. We can add users who need to be moderated before posting, but it is for example not possible to add users just for one specific function (like the multimedia database).
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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.
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Likelihood to Renew
Discontinued Products
Percolate is a great tool for us, because we need the approval process workflows. The training was great when we first signed on, and the interface is very user friendly. We have trained our interns to use it as well with no issues. It makes keeping up with our content calendar a breeze and we can easily see what posts have been approved and which ones are still pending at a quick glance
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Substack Inc.
No answers on this topic
Usability
Discontinued Products
Easy to set up approval flows, but not always necessary to follow all the requires steps
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Substack Inc.
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Discontinued Products
Rarely has a company shown this much support during implementation. This almost got to the point where it was too much hand holding. Sometimes, social teams just want the keys to the car so they can drive it themselves instead of waiting on someone to drive along with them...
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Substack Inc.
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Discontinued Products
Percolate and Falcon have many similarities and provide many of the same features, however Percolate felt a bit more robust than Falcon, although it does come with a higher price tag to match. Both platforms are excellent for content approval workflows, content scheduling, and community management. Percolate offers additional features such as an Asset Management Library and a section for creative briefs and collaboration with internal teams.
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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.
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Return on Investment
Discontinued Products
  • Percolate has made it much easier to communicate between teams and has provided a return on investment in that area in particular.
  • Percolate also helps save time because you are able to schedule social media posts across channels easily.
  • It has also been an easy way to work with remote team members, which is very helpful.
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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
Read full review
ScreenShots

Percolate, now part of Seismic Screenshots

Screenshot of Percolate's integrated marketing calendarScreenshot of Percolate's integrated marketing calendar