Lemlist vs Substack
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for Lemlist and Substack, verified . Lemlist is primarily sales engagement; Substack is primarily email marketing.
Lemlist
- Starting price
- $63/mo
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- 14 days
- Plans
- 3
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
Lemlist
- Email Pro
Email-only outbound with 3 senders per user
$63/mo - Multichannel Expert
Email plus LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and calling cadences
$87/mo - Enterprise
Custom pricing with SSO, dedicated AM, and 1:1 onboarding
Custom
Substack
- Standard
Free to publish; 10% of paid subscription revenue
Free
When Lemlist wins
- SDR teams running multichannel outbound (email plus LinkedIn cadences)
- Founders doing personalized cold outreach to small lead lists
- Agencies running outbound on behalf of clients
Where Lemlist is the wrong fit
- Inbound-led sales teams (use a CRM like Close or HubSpot)
- Teams averse to LinkedIn automation due to platform risk
- Marketing teams (this is sales-engagement, not marketing automation)
When Substack wins
- New writers with no list yet who want platform-driven discovery
- Writers who would rather give 10% of revenue than pay a flat $20-100/month with no readers
Where Substack is the wrong fit
- Established creators with a paid list above ~5,000 subscribers; the 10% share exceeds what Kit, Ghost, or beehiiv would charge in flat fees at that scale
- Operators who want full control over deliverability, subscriber data, and migration optionality
- Brands needing automations, segmentation, or marketing tooling
Common questions
- Is Lemlist cheaper than Substack?
- At the entry tier, Substack starts at Free versus Lemlist at $63/mo. Substack is cheaper at the entry. Pricing scales differently above that, so check the full plan grid.
- Does Lemlist or Substack have a free plan?
- Only Substack has a permanent free plan. Lemlist only offers a free trial.
- Are Lemlist and Substack in the same category?
- No. Lemlist is primarily a sales engagement tool; Substack is primarily a email marketing tool. They overlap on use case but sit in different primary categories, so the comparison is between adjacent tools rather than direct competitors.
- Which has more plans, Lemlist or Substack?
- Lemlist ships 3 plans; Substack ships 1. Lemlist's longer ladder gives more granular upgrade steps, which can mean smoother price escalation as your team scales.
- Where can I see alternatives to Lemlist or Substack?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/lemlist for Lemlist and /alternatives/substack for Substack. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
Disclosure: links labeled "sponsored" above are affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you sign up. Pricing is the same; nothing in this head-to-head is influenced by commercial relationships. How we rank.
Lemlist: https://www.lemlist.com/pricing · Substack: https://substack.com/going-paid
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.