Substack
CMS
Notion Sites
CMSSubstack vs Notion Sites
Substack and Notion Sites are both popular choices, but they serve different needs. Substack is a CMS with a traditional, manual approach to building, while Notion Sites is a CMS that prioritises developer or designer control.
Below you'll find a side-by-side breakdown of detection signals, AI scores, and technical fingerprints — plus our honest take on which builder wins for different use cases.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | CMS | CMS |
| AI Score | 20/100 — Traditional | 20/100 — Traditional |
| Detection Signals | 5 patterns | 5 patterns |
| Script Detection | 2 patterns | 2 patterns |
| CDN Detection | 1 domains | — |
| Header Detection | — | — |
| Sites Detected | 4 scans | No data yet |
| Best For | Blogs & content-heavy sitesTry Substack → | Blogs & content-heavy sitesTry Notion Sites → |
| Official Website | Visit | Visit |
Example Websites
Substack websites
Notion Sites websites
Substack
CMS
Substack is a cms with an AI Score of 20/100 (Traditional). Our detection engine uses 5 signal patterns to identify Substack-built sites.
Notion Sites
CMS
Notion Sites is a cms with an AI Score of 20/100 (Traditional). Our detection engine uses 5 signal patterns to identify Notion Sites-built sites.
Platform Overviews
Substack
Substack is the largest and most influential newsletter and subscription platform, hosting hundreds of the world's top writers, journalists, and independent media outlets — including publications that have generated millions in annual subscriber revenue. It pioneered the paid newsletter model with simple 10% revenue sharing, a writer-friendly setup experience, and a built-in discovery network. Substack Recommendations has become a major growth channel, with reader suggestions driving new subscriber acquisition. Substack sites are identifiable through resources loaded from substackcdn.com for media and assets, the Substack JavaScript runtime on all publication pages, and distinctive *.substack.com subdomain patterns. Custom domain sites still load all media through substackcdn.com, making it a reliable detection signal. The platform is free to use with Substack taking 10% of paid subscription revenue.
Notion Sites
Notion Sites is a feature within Notion that lets users and teams publish their Notion pages as public websites, enabling everything from personal portfolios to company wikis to be hosted directly from Notion's workspace. The published sites maintain Notion's distinctive block-based layout and typography system. Notion-powered sites are identifiable through requests to Notion's CDN infrastructure, the presence of Notion-specific JavaScript globals, and the characteristic nested block structure in the HTML. Notion Sites is included with all Notion plans, which start free for personal use and scale to $10/user/month for team plans.
Key Differences
- Both Substack and Notion Sites are classified as CMS tools, making them the most direct competitors in this comparison.
- Substack scores higher on AI involvement (20/100 vs 20/100 for Notion Sites), meaning it relies more heavily on AI for site generation and content creation.
- Our detection engine identifies Substack using 5 fingerprint patterns and Notion Sites using 5 patterns — more signals generally means more reliable detection.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Substack if…
- You prefer a cms solution
- You want more manual control over the final output
- Substack's detection fingerprint of 5 signals means your site is reliably identifiable
Choose Notion Sites if…
- You need a cms approach
- You prefer traditional building tools with predictable output
- Notion Sites's ecosystem and community better match your team's existing workflow
Our Pick — Based on 4+ detections
Substack
The most frequently detected cms in our scan database.
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