How to cancel Substack

Cancel in your settings

You can sign in on the web. Substack says a paid subscription is cancelled on the Manage subscription page, unless you paid through Apple in the iOS app. Android app users cancel here too, in a mobile browser.

1. 01Go to substack.com/settings and sign in.
2. 02Under Subscriptions, select the publication.
3. 03On the Manage subscription page, scroll to Account actions and click the link next to "To cancel your paid subscription, click here".
4. 04Click Cancel subscription, choose a reason, and click Cancel subscription again.
5. 05If the publication offers a free month, click Continue to cancel.

The account page should then say your subscriber benefits will end on a date. You keep paid access until then.

Cancel in the App Store

You paid through Apple's in-app purchase in the Substack iOS app. In the US, the app also offers a web checkout. A subscription paid that way is cancelled on the website instead.

1. 01Cancel the subscription in the Apple App Store. Substack says that is where an in-app paid subscription is cancelled.
2. 02Ask Apple if you want a refund. Substack says those refunds are up to Apple.

In-app paid subscriptions do not include the option to pause.

How to know it worked

• —The account page shows "Your subscriber benefits will end on [date]." That date is your proof the cancellation went through.
• —You keep paid access until that date. After it, you become a free subscriber and still get the publication's free posts.
• —To stop those emails as well, unsubscribe from the free subscription.

Watch out for

• —A pause is not a cancellation. It stops charges and paid access for 1, 3, or 6 months, then the subscription resumes on its own. Substack emails you three days before it resumes. You can pause only once every 6 months.
• —Some publications offer a free month on the way out. Click Continue to cancel if you still want it to end.
• —A free trial that ends within 10 days ends as soon as you cancel. A trial with more than 10 days left runs until its end date and then does not convert.
• —Past-due, gift, and comped subscriptions end immediately. To end any subscription today, use the end your subscription immediately link. Past charges are not refunded.
• —The publication sets the price. From December 1, 2026, Substack's terms say local VAT, GST, sales or use tax may be added.

Substack refunds

• —Cancelling does not refund the period you already paid for.
• —Substack's refund page says a refund is at the publication's discretion, and that you should ask the publication.
• —Substack will also issue a refund if you ask Substack within 7 days of payment, unless you claimed a subscriber perk or the publication marked the subscription non-refundable.
• —Substack will refund a dormant publication: no posts for at least 6 months on a yearly subscription, or at least 1 month from the payment date on a monthly one. It may also refund a duplicate charge caused by a payment error on the same account.
• —More than 7 days after payment, or after more than 3 refund requests, Substack leaves it to the publication. A refund can take up to 10 business days to show on your card.
• —A subscription paid through Apple in the iOS app is refunded by Apple, if Apple agrees.