How to delete your Substack account
Substack is a publishing platform for newsletters and now also podcasts and short video posts, with millions of writers and tens of millions of readers. Substack stores your published posts, drafts, subscribers (if you're a writer), the newsletters you subscribe to (as a reader), payment methods for paid subscriptions, comment history, and Substack Notes (microblog) activity. Subscriber lists and posts are uniquely sensitive because paying subscribers expect privacy.
Delete your Substack account, step by step
- 1Sign in to substack.com
- 2To delete a READER account: open your profile > Settings > scroll to 'Delete account' (sometimes only available via support)
- 3If the button isn't present, email support@substackinc.com from the registered email requesting account deletion
- 4To delete a PUBLICATION (writer): email support@substackinc.com listing the publication name and explicitly state you want it permanently deleted
- 5Substack will email confirmation and ask for verification
- 6Deletion completes within ~30 days
What actually happens when you delete
Gets removed
- ✓Your reader profile, reading history, and subscriptions
- ✓Comments and notes you left on posts
- ✓Liked posts and recommendations you gave to publications
- ✓For writers: publication, all posts, subscriber list, and payment connection
- ✓Saved drafts and unpublished posts
Stays behind
- ✗Published posts may persist in subscribers' inboxes (delivered emails can't be retracted)
- ✗Subscriber payment relationships ended; transaction records retained for tax
- ✗Recommendations you made to publications (may show 'deleted user')
- ✗Records Substack retains for tax, billing, and trust & safety
- ✗Stripe records for writer payouts (separate retention)
Before you delete
Substack treats writers and readers differently. Reader accounts have a simpler closure path; publication closure requires support intervention to handle subscriber notifications and revenue settlement. Cancel paid subscriptions to other newsletters BEFORE deletion. For writers, export your subscriber list and download your posts FIRST — Substack lets you take your subscribers to another platform, which is one of its selling points.
Download your data from Substack first
Most platforms only honor a data-export request while the account is still active. Do this before you delete.
- 1Writers: Dashboard > Subscribers > 'Export' for CSV of your subscriber list (great for migrating to a different platform)
- 2Posts: Dashboard > Posts > each post can be exported individually as Markdown
- 3For full personal data, file a privacy request through the help center under 'Privacy'
If deletion fails — or you live in the EU, UK, or California
You have a legal right to request erasure of your personal data under GDPR (EU/UK) and CCPA (California). Use these official channels if the self-service flow doesn't work.
Substack deletion FAQs
How do I delete just a publication without deleting my Substack reader account?+
Email support@substackinc.com from the publication owner's address and request publication deletion specifically. Substack will pause the publication, notify or refund paid subscribers per your instructions, and remove it. Your reader profile stays.
What happens to my subscribers if I delete my Substack publication?+
Subscribers are notified the publication is closing. Active paid subscribers are refunded for the remaining time on annual plans (Substack's standard practice). Free subscribers simply stop receiving issues.
Can I take my Substack subscribers with me to another platform?+
Yes. Export the subscriber list as a CSV from Dashboard > Subscribers > 'Export'. The CSV includes emails and subscription tier, which you can import into Beehiiv, Ghost, ConvertKit, or others before closing your Substack publication.
Will already-sent newsletter emails be removed from subscribers' inboxes?+
No. Emails delivered to subscribers' inboxes cannot be retracted by Substack. Past issues you sent are owned by the recipients. The web archive on substack.com goes 404 after deletion.
Will my paid subscriptions to other Substacks auto-cancel?+
Cancel them BEFORE deletion via your profile's subscription list. Annual subscriptions usually run to the end of the period; cancellation stops the next renewal.
What happens to my Stripe payout records as a Substack writer?+
Stripe retains payout history for tax and accounting; Substack keeps an aggregate record. Download your year-end summary from the dashboard BEFORE deletion because re-accessing it later requires re-authentication that won't be possible.
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