Record started Oct 31, 2026 · Last read 5 days ago
Daily follower history for newsletter writers.
Stackblade keeps follower counts, leaderboard ranks and recommendations for 6,391 Substack writers. It is for writers, sponsors and anyone who follows newsletters closely. Substack shows only today's numbers, so the past is gone unless someone saves it. I save it. Search a writer below to see their page.
liveMost new recommenders this week
- 1+1550+ in 30 days
The Free Press2.6M followers · #1 U.S. Politics - 2+1051+ in 30 days
Heather Cox Richardson3.5M followers · #1 Podcasts - 3+951+ in 30 days
Amie - Lazy Millionaire194k followers · #13 Business - 4+950+ in 30 days
A Midwestern Doctor425k followers · #1 Health Politics - 5+9+44 in 30 days
Timothy B. Lee445k followers · #28 Technology - 6+852+ in 30 days
Robert Reich1.7M followers · #10 U.S. Politics
- 6,391
- writers tracked
- 3
- reads of the 66 category boards
- 250k
- live recommendations on record, dated back to 2022
- 637
- recommendations started in the last 7 days
This week
What moved
All of it from my own readings. Last read 5 days ago.
Biggest follower gains
Follower gains need two readings a week apart. The first ones appear on Nov 7. Until then, new recommenders show who is picking up readers.
Recently added writers
- since Oct 31Heather Cox Richardson3.5M followers
- since Oct 31The Free Press2.6M followers
- since Oct 31Robert Reich1.7M followers
- since Oct 31
The Bulwark1.4M followers - since Oct 31
Lenny Rachitsky1.4M followers
Not on the list? Search a handle and tracking starts today.
Top of the boards
- Finance #1 Citrini, rising Quoth the Raven
- Technology #1 Dylan Patel, rising Azeem Azhar
- Art & Illustration #1 Gayety, rising Needlepoint Finishing Fairy
- Literature #1 Suleika Jaouad, rising Simon Haisell
- International #1 Phillips P. OBrien, rising Alessandro Palombo
- Education #1 Ruben Hassid, rising Baby got Business
Free
Every writer page, board, chart and report. Compare five writers. Watch five. No account.
Pro, $12 once
Watch 100 writers, get digests in Discord, Telegram or a webhook, download CSVs, use the API. See the full list.
What you see
Four views Substack doesn't keep
Each one below is the live product, drawn from today's data.
The recommendation network around a writer
Who sends Alex Xu readers, whom Alex Xu sends readers to, which ones are mutual, and which started in the last 30 days. Substack shows these lists one at a time; here they're one picture, with follower counts.
- 65 publications recommend Alex Xu, 35 the other way
- Orange lines started in the last 30 days
- "Who recommends writers like you" lists the publications to ask next
Who's rising in each category this week
The writers picking up the most new recommenders, with twelve weeks of context, on one scale. A new recommendation puts a writer in front of another publication's readers.
- Per category, per size, or across all 33 categories
- Dated by Substack, so it's right from day one
Heather Cox Richardson
3.5M followers · #1 Podcasts Bestsellers
Amie - Lazy Millionaire
194k followers · #13 Business Bestsellers
A Midwestern Doctor
425k followers · #1 Health Politics BestsellersNew recommenders per week, last 12 weeks; the orange bar is this week to date. Same scale in every panel. Dated by Substack; only recommendations still live. Outlined weeks are incomplete: Substack lists only a publication's 50 newest recommenders, so for busy writers older weeks can't be counted, and a 30-day count marked + is a floor.
Rank on every read of every board
Substack's boards only show now. This shows the Technology Bestsellers top 12 on each of my reads, darker for higher. It grows by three columns a day.
Biggest climb on a Rising board since Oct 31, 2026: Rob Henderson, new at #1 in Science.
| Writer | Oct 3107:00 | Oct 3113:00 | Oct 3119:47 | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dylan Patel | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Nate | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Gergely Orosz | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Alex Xu | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Azeem Azhar | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Creative Strategies | 6 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Casey Muratori | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Aakash Gupta | 8 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Damnang | 9 | 9 | 9 | 0 |
| Eric Newcomer | 10 | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| Pirate Wires | 11 | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| Ruben Dominguez | 12 | 12 | 12 | 0 |
Followers by day, with rank changes marked
One reading a day for every writer, starting Oct 31, 2026. Leaderboard steps are marked on the line, so you can see whether a jump came with a new rank. The frame shows the first two weeks and how much of it is filled.
- 7-day change from Nov 7, 30-day change from Nov 30
- CSV of the full history with Pro
Alex Xu: 144,392 followers on Nov 1, 2026.
How it works
What I read, and how often
Every board, once a day
Bestsellers and Rising, top 100, all 33 categories. Substack overwrites these; I keep every read, so you can see who climbed and who fell.
Every writer, every 3 days
Exact follower count, rounded subscribers and paid band from each public profile. 9,023 readings. One every 3 days per writer from here on, daily for writers you watch.
Every recommendation list, weekly
Who recommends whom, with Substack's start date and the day a recommendation disappears. That's the network around each writer.
Who it's for
Writers, sponsors, and people who follow Substack closely
Writers
See how you're growing against writers your size in your category, who recommends them and not you, and when a new recommendation moved your numbers.
Sponsors and agencies
Before you buy an ad: is the newsletter growing or flat, does it hold its leaderboard spot, who sends it readers. Reletter charges $49 to $199 a month (reletter.com/pricing, checked Nov 6, 2026).
Analysts and journalists
Rank history Substack doesn't keep, the recommendation network as data, and a CSV of anything you see. The API answers with JSON.
Activity
Recent activity
New recommendations from large publications and steps up the boards, as I read them. Also as an RSS feed.
- Hush Kit entered History Bestsellers at #45
- LITTLE MATTERS entered Design Bestsellers at #98
- Lisa Loeb entered World Politics Bestsellers at #99
- Doc Malik started recommending Dr. Joseph Sansone
- Pablo Manríquez started recommending Ask a Pol
- DIY Investor started recommending Investment Alley
- I Fucking Love Australia started recommending Guard The Leaf’s Substack
- Tech Fund started recommending Consumer Spec
Pricing
Free to use. Pro is $12 once.
No subscription. Pay once, keep Pro for as long as the site runs.
Free
$0
No account needed
- Every writer page: followers by day, ranks, recommendations
- Every category board with moves and rank history
- Rising this week, activity feed, reports
- Compare up to five writers
- Watchlist of 5, with in-app notifications
- Badge and embed for your own page
- Public RSS and JSON for current numbers
Pro one payment
$12 once
No subscription. Refund within 14 days.
- Watchlist of 100 writers
- Digests to Discord, Telegram, any webhook or private RSS, weekly or daily
- CSV of any writer's full history and recommendations
- CSV of any explorer view, up to 2,000 writers
- API with your license key
- Import a list (Reletter export, spreadsheet column)
- Badge without the Stackblade mark
- Sign in on other devices with a passkey
Writers who share
$0
Verify your page, share your numbers
- Verified mark on your page
- Show sponsors exact paid count, open rate, revenue band
- Benchmarks for writers your size in your category
- You choose what's public; the rest only feeds groups of 5 or more
How far back does the history go?
Follower counts and leaderboard ranks start on October 31, 2026, the day I began recording. Substack doesn't publish past follower counts or past boards, so nobody can fill in earlier days, including me. Each writer gets a follower reading every 3 days (daily for writers on a Pro watchlist), and every board is read once a day. Recommendation start dates are older: they're Substack's own dates, some from 2022.
Where do the numbers come from?
From Substack's public pages: each writer's profile (follower count, rounded subscriber count, paid band), the category leaderboards, and each publication's recommendation lists. I read them one request at a time and pause whenever Substack asks.
Are followers the same as subscribers?
No. Followers follow the writer's profile on Substack; subscribers get the newsletter by email. Substack shows subscribers rounded ("169K+") and paid subscribers only as a band ("Thousands"). I record those as shown.
Can I see my own page?
Yes. Search for your handle. If I'm not tracking you, the lookup starts today. If you claim the page with a code in your bio, you get a verified mark and can share private numbers for the benchmarks.
Is it free?
Every writer page, board, chart and report is free. Pro is $12 once: a 100-writer watchlist, digests to Discord, Telegram, a webhook or RSS, CSV exports, the API and an unbranded badge.
How do I get Pro?
Press Get Pro. You pay $12 once by card through Stripe. The page you land on shows your license key and unlocks Pro in this browser. Lost it? Write to me with the Stripe receipt.
Is this Substack's site?
No. Stackblade isn't affiliated with Substack.
Why one payment instead of a subscription?
The work is reading public pages and keeping them, which costs me very little per person. $12 covers it. You keep Pro for as long as the site runs.
Look yourself up
Or the writer you're about to sponsor. If I'm not tracking them, the history starts today.