TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Substack

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/ASubstack is a subscription-based newsletter publishing platform.N/A

    Volusion

    Score4.8 out of 10
    N/AVolusion is a cloud-based ecommerce solution from the company of the same name in Austin, TX. It features an intuitive dashboard, built-in marketing and promos, SEO, templates, and tools to customize look and appearance.

    $29

    per month

    Pricing
    SubstackVolusion
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Personal
    $29
    per month
    Pro
    $79
    per month
    Startup
    $179
    per month
    Business
    $299
    per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    SubstackVolusion
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    SubstackVolusion
    Considered Both Products
    Substack Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Volusion LLC
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    83%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    SubstackVolusion
    Online Storefront
    Comparison of Online Storefront features of Substack and Volusion
    Feature
    Substack
    -
    Ratings
    Volusion
    3.6
    9 Ratings
    74% below category average
    Product catalog & listings00 Ratings4.39 Ratings
    Product management00 Ratings4.39 Ratings
    Bulk product upload00 Ratings4.28 Ratings
    Branding00 Ratings3.69 Ratings
    Mobile storefront00 Ratings1.28 Ratings
    Product variations00 Ratings4.78 Ratings
    Website integration00 Ratings3.38 Ratings
    Visual customization00 Ratings5.19 Ratings
    CMS00 Ratings2.27 Ratings
    Online Shopping Cart
    Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Substack and Volusion
    Feature
    Substack
    -
    Ratings
    Volusion
    3.6
    9 Ratings
    72% below category average
    Abandoned cart recovery00 Ratings3.67 Ratings
    Checkout user experience00 Ratings3.79 Ratings
    Online Payment System
    Comparison of Online Payment System features of Substack and Volusion
    Feature
    Substack
    -
    Ratings
    Volusion
    4.1
    8 Ratings
    68% below category average
    eCommerce security00 Ratings4.18 Ratings
    eCommerce Marketing
    Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Substack and Volusion
    Feature
    Substack
    -
    Ratings
    Volusion
    2.6
    9 Ratings
    99% below category average
    Promotions & discounts00 Ratings4.89 Ratings
    Personalized recommendations00 Ratings1.88 Ratings
    SEO00 Ratings1.28 Ratings
    eCommerce Business Management
    Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Substack and Volusion
    Feature
    Substack
    -
    Ratings
    Volusion
    2.9
    9 Ratings
    94% below category average
    Multi-site management00 Ratings3.02 Ratings
    Order processing00 Ratings3.69 Ratings
    Inventory management00 Ratings2.28 Ratings
    Shipping00 Ratings3.08 Ratings
    Custom functionality00 Ratings2.67 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    SubstackVolusion
    Small Businesses
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Ecwid by Lightspeed
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Blogger
    Score10 out of 10
    Shopify
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    IBM Digital Commerce
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    SubstackVolusion
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.7
    (6 ratings)
    1.5
    (20 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (12 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    SubstackVolusion
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    Volusion LLC
    Volusion is a good company if you're starting out. The problem is that, if you want more complexity out of the program, you're kind of stuck. Also the regular time out errors and slow downs can be very frustrating. Packages that miss overnight deadlines because your system stops working can cost you customers. In today's highly competitive market, that's just something that's hard to put up with. If you have a lower volume of business you might be able to work around these issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    Volusion LLC
    • Templates are pre-built for a good end user experience. I've gone through the process of building custom sites as well as tweaking both free and paid templates that Volusion's design team provides.
    • Their support team didn't use to be as helpful, but in recent years have answered nearly all questions I've had. Their support section within the database provides detailed walkthrus as well.
    • Order processing is easy once you've been trained on the system. We got to a point where nearly the entire process was automated from initial purchase through shipping.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Volusion LLC
    • API calls use the previous call as a reference, even if you weren't the one we made the previous call. Can lead to data gaps, so you often have to set a manual date range to look back to make sure you aren't missing any data.
    • Not as customizable as most ecommerce platforms
    • Not as many integration options as most platforms
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Substack Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Volusion LLC
    When you spend so much time with a product like this and not only have you witnessed its growth, but you almost feel like you are next those that make the decisions of building features a certain way, you can't help but want to stay and be a part of their continued growth. It's simply a great product. Can it improve? By all means! But it will only improve because of users and avid resellers like me.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Substack Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Volusion LLC
    I know what to do to add a new product, promotion or do an analysis of sales.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Substack Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Volusion LLC
    You have to wait on hold for at least 45 minutes every call—the tech support person never knows the answer right away so they put you on 10 minute holds only to come back and say they're still looking for answers. The chat function could take days to get a response. Our "Dedicated Account Manager" never checks in or answers, nor are they ever in the office when we call. It's like they try to be as unavailable as possible until you forget why you even called in the first place. Insane.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Substack Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Volusion LLC
    It is best to use the built-in features and recommended services for the most turn-key experience (ie. Skipjack for payment processing so that it can all be done from the Volusion backend).
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Volusion LLC
    While k-eCommerce was very glamorous to us because it integrates with our main workflow, it just didn't have some of the marketing features that are so integral to the way we do business online. The set-up costs were also way too high. Volusion is so affordable and feature heavy, it makes it very difficult for any shopping cart provider to compete. You can find others who are competitively priced and have similar features, but they simply aren't as robust (at least for the way we use it)
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    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
    Volusion LLC
    • Honestly, when you're in the dashboard, the UX is simply horrendous. I mean, everything that should be 1-2 clicks away is 4-6 clicks away, and each pages takes at least four seconds to load. You just find yourself wasting a lot of time waiting for things to load. This should be more simple.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Volusion Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot