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substack notes vs linkedin

Substack Notes vs LinkedIn Posts: Where Should Writers Post?

Substack Notes vs LinkedIn posts for writers: one-tap subscribes vs a professional network of over 1 billion members. Reach, links, format and using both.

WriteStack
WriteStack TeamSubstack Growth Playbook
11 min read
Substack Notes vs LinkedIn Posts: Where Should Writers Post?

The short answer: Use Substack Notes to grow your newsletter and LinkedIn posts to reach your professional network. Notes readers are already on Substack and can subscribe from a Note in one tap. LinkedIn posts reach colleagues, clients and recruiters, with up to 3,000 characters per post. You can post on both and point LinkedIn readers to your Substack.

Based on Substack Help, LinkedIn Help and about.linkedin.com, checked 1 November 2026.

This page compares feed posts: a Substack Note next to a LinkedIn post. Comparing LinkedIn newsletters with Substack instead? See Substack vs LinkedIn Newsletter.

You have one idea and ten minutes. Should it go on Notes first, or on LinkedIn where your clients and colleagues already scroll? Both are feeds of short posts with likes, comments and reshares. If you're also weighing X, our Substack Notes vs Twitter guide covers that question.

Substack Notes vs LinkedIn posts at a glance

Substack Notes LinkedIn posts
Who you reach Substack readers and writers, followers and non-followers Your professional network and people LinkedIn shows your post to
Post length No published limit Up to 3,000 characters
Media Up to 6 images or GIFs, or one video up to 5 minutes Photos, video, documents, polls and events
Subscribe path One tap on a Note Profile or post link, then signup on your Substack
Native scheduling Yes, in the Notes composer Yes, in the post composer
Built-in link from Substack Notes live on Substack Substack can upload video clips from video posts to LinkedIn
Long form Your Substack posts LinkedIn articles

Sources: Substack Help and LinkedIn Help, checked 1 November 2026.

The row that decides most cases is "Subscribe path." A Note sits one tap from your list.

What Substack Notes does for a writer

Substack Help says creators can share posts, links, images, quotes and comments there with their subscribers and "the greater Substack network." Notes are public and can appear on the web, in the Substack app and on your Substack profile. Posting, liking or commenting needs a signed-in Substack account.

Three details matter most:

  • Subscribing takes one tap. Substack Help says that if a creator has a publication and you click "subscribe" on their Note, you're subscribed to that publication. The reader never leaves the app.
  • The Home feed reaches past your followers. It mixes Notes from people a reader subscribes to or follows, Notes from publications their subscriptions recommend, and restacks.
  • Notes don't hit inboxes. Substack Help says subscribers aren't emailed when you post a Note. They may see it in a Notes roundup digest or a push notification.

You can add up to 6 images or GIFs (GIFs on web only), or one video of up to five minutes. Scheduling is built in: the calendar icon in the web composer, or the three dots and then "Schedule" in the app. Substack has never published a Notes character limit, and our page on the Substack Notes character limit explains what that means in practice.

Substack also shares two growth claims. In July 2024, Substack said writers who posted three or more thoughtful Notes in their launch week gained 50% more total subscribers than those who didn't. In October 2024, Substack said the app was now the number one source of subscriptions on the platform. Substack doesn't publish a Notes user count. For a full plan, see our guide to growing your Substack with Notes.

What LinkedIn posts do for a writer

LinkedIn describes itself as "the world's largest professional network with more than 1 billion members in more than 200 countries and territories." That figure counts members, and LinkedIn's About page doesn't give a daily active number, so we don't quote one.

What LinkedIn Help says about posts:

  • Length. Posts can contain up to 3,000 characters. For anything longer, LinkedIn points you to its Publishing Platform for articles.
  • Media and formats. From the composer you can add a photo or video, a document, a poll, an event, a celebration or a hiring post.
  • Scheduling and drafts. You can save a draft and keep editing on another device, or schedule a post for a set date and time and manage scheduled posts from the composer.

LinkedIn Help also says it may limit the visibility of posts when it detects excessive post creation that indicates inauthentic activity, or the use of an automation tool. LinkedIn hasn't published how its feed ranks posts with outside links, so we don't put a number on it.

Audience: readers vs your professional network

On Notes, the people scrolling are already Substack readers, and each one is a tap away from subscribing to yours. Other writers are there too, so Notes is also where restacks and recommendations start.

On LinkedIn, the people scrolling are your professional world: colleagues, clients, hiring managers and strangers in your industry. If you write about a field with job titles attached, that audience can be worth more than a bigger general one. Substack's own FAQ blog calls LinkedIn "a useful surface for grabbing the attention of businesspeople and professionals."

So ask who you want reading. Newsletter readers are on Notes. Buyers, clients and employers are on LinkedIn. For Meta's text feed, see Substack Notes vs Threads.

On Notes, the path from post to subscriber is one tap, because the reader is already signed in to Substack.

On LinkedIn, the path has more steps:

  1. A reader sees your post in their feed.
  2. They click the link in your post or on your profile.
  3. They land on your Substack and enter their email.

Substack's advice for LinkedIn is to put the substance in the post itself. Its guide to bringing a social audience over says Facebook and LinkedIn reward substantial content, so share your complete thoughts and full explanations in the post itself. Its FAQ blog shows writers posting a link to a Substack post with a few lines of introduction, so the social preview image fills in automatically.

Tip: end a LinkedIn post with one plain sentence that says what subscribers get, then the link. "I send one short note on pricing every Tuesday" gives a reader a reason to click.

Substack's FAQ blog also suggests adding your Substack link to your LinkedIn profile.

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Substack's LinkedIn tools you may not know

Substack has one feature that talks to LinkedIn directly, and it's for video posts. Substack Help (updated 30 October 2026) says that when you publish a video post, you can have clips uploaded to your LinkedIn profile automatically:

  1. Connect LinkedIn in the Connected Accounts section of your publication's Settings page, or on the Publish page after you finish a draft.
  2. On the Publish page, scroll to LinkedIn under Connected accounts and click Edit.
  3. Pick up to two clips Substack generated from your video, click Update, then publish.
  4. After publishing, links to the clips appear in the post's share center so you can edit the LinkedIn description.

The connection belongs to your Substack profile, so Substack recommends a shared LinkedIn account if several creators publish to one publication. Substack Help doesn't describe automatic LinkedIn sharing for Notes or text posts.

The second tool is the social preview: in the post editor, Settings lets you edit the text and image a shared link shows.

How to run both without doubling the work

A simple loop:

  • Write the idea once as a Note. Readers can subscribe on the spot.
  • Expand it for LinkedIn. Take the Notes that got the most replies and turn them into a fuller LinkedIn post with a clear point, an example and one link.
  • Reuse your long posts. See how to turn one post into a week of Notes.
  • Check what LinkedIn sends you. Substack Help says a post's stats list "Popular sites" when readers arrive from social media links. If linkedin.com shows up there, the loop is working.

For Notes timing, the native composer works, and our guide to schedule Substack Notes compares your options. LinkedIn has its own scheduler in the post composer.

If you'd like one queue for both, Buffer is a friendly pick. Buffer's pricing page lists LinkedIn and Substack among its channels, and a LinkedIn profile or page each counts as a channel. Its Free plan connects up to 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts per channel (checked 1 November 2026; Buffer says its pricing was last updated in November 2025). Our guide to using Buffer with Substack Notes walks through the setup.

FAQ

Is LinkedIn or Substack better for writers?

It depends on the goal. If you want subscribers and paid readers, Substack Notes sits next to your publication and readers can subscribe in one tap. If your readers are buyers, clients or employers, LinkedIn puts you in front of your professional network. Business writers often use LinkedIn for reach and Substack to keep readers.

Is a Substack Note like a LinkedIn post?

Both are short posts in a feed with likes, comments and reshares (restacks on Substack). A LinkedIn post can run to 3,000 characters. Substack has never published a Notes limit. Readers can subscribe to your publication right from a Note.

Should I post the same thing on LinkedIn and Substack Notes?

Adapt it. Substack says LinkedIn rewards substantial posts, so give LinkedIn the full idea with a clear reason to subscribe. On Notes, a shorter take can work because readers can open your publication without leaving Substack.

Can I share my Substack posts on LinkedIn?

Yes. Paste the post link with a short intro so the social preview shows, which is Substack's own advice. You can edit that preview in the post editor under Settings, with images of at least 1200 x 630 recommended (Substack Help, "How do I edit what my post looks like on social media?").

Can Substack post to LinkedIn automatically?

For video posts, yes. Substack can upload up to two auto-generated clips to your connected LinkedIn profile when you publish (Substack Help, updated 30 October 2026). Substack Help doesn't describe automatic LinkedIn sharing for Notes or text posts.

Can I schedule Substack Notes and LinkedIn posts together?

Substack schedules Notes natively, and LinkedIn Help says you can schedule a post from the LinkedIn composer. For one queue across both, Buffer connects LinkedIn profiles and pages as well as Substack (buffer.com, checked 1 November 2026).

Do LinkedIn followers turn into Substack subscribers?

Some do when you ask clearly. Put your Substack in your LinkedIn profile, end posts with one plain call to action, and watch the "Popular sites" source on your Substack post stats to see if linkedin.com sends readers.

What's the difference between this and a LinkedIn newsletter?

This page compares feed posts. A LinkedIn newsletter is LinkedIn's own email newsletter product. For that comparison, see Substack vs LinkedIn Newsletter.

The short version

Notes turns attention into subscribers in one tap. LinkedIn puts your thinking in front of the people who hire you, buy from you and work next to you. Make Notes your daily habit, bring your strongest ideas to LinkedIn in full, and send those readers back to your Substack. For the other open-network options, see Substack Notes vs Bluesky and Substack vs Mastodon. For a visual feed, see Substack vs Instagram. For friends, Pages and Groups, see Substack vs Facebook.

If Notes is where you want to show up daily, WriteStack lets you plan and schedule Substack Notes ahead, publishing through Sync plus the Chrome extension. More than 100 Substack bestsellers use WriteStack.

Sources

All checked on 1 November 2026.

Topicssubstack notes vs linkedinlinkedin vs substack notessubstack notes vs linkedin postssubstack and linkedinsubstack notes
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