Substack now allows writers to pay for their chat rooms

Substack is launching the ability for writers to pay for their entire chat or specific threads to paying members or founders only, the company announced Wednesday. The rollout of the new feature comes 18 months after Substack launched Chat as a way for writers to communicate directly with their loyal readers.

The company believes that paid chats will help keep conversations intimate and troll-free, while also acting as a paid perk for readers. Substack says its data shows that active chat participants are 12% more likely to maintain their subscriptions.

Editors can choose to pay for an entire chat or individual threads. Once a writer pays for their chat, free subscribers and non-subscribers will be prompted to upgrade to view the chat.

Image credits: Substack

Substack is also upgrading the chat interface to make it easier to navigate in large groups. The company is launching the ability to search for discussions to make it easier for users to find old discussion threads. Additionally, it introduces thread notifications and new reply badges to ensure people don’t lose their place in a conversation. Substack is also upgrading its back-end systems to load new chats and replies in real-time, making it easier to stay on top of conversations during live chats.

When Substack first launched Chat, the company hoped to capitalize on Twitter’s upheaval following Elon Musk’s takeover. Substack still considers Chat a viable alternative to Twitter (now X), as noted in its latest blog post that “many readers prefer the simplicity of Substack Chat over other platforms.” The company then highlighted a comment from a paid subscriber saying Chat is a good substitute for X.

Chat isn’t the only Substack feature looking to take on X, as the company introduced a Twitter-like “Notes” feature a year ago. The Notes feature allows users to share posts, quotes, comments, images, videos and more in a Tweet-like format. Short-form content is displayed in a dedicated Twitter-like feed.