A Red Flag with Substack’s Subscriber Count: The Mystery of Missing Subscribers

Is Substack Hiding Your Subscribers? Here’s What I Found

For nearly a year now, I’ve noticed an odd discrepancy between the total subscribers number on my Substack account and the actual math of subscriptions and unsubscriptions. After toggling on email notifications for every new subscription and unsubscription over the past few weeks, I realized something’s not adding up—and it’s not just happening to me.

For example, over the past 7 days, I had 52 new subscribers and 18 unsubscribes. Simple math, right? That should give me a net increase of 34 subscribers. But Substack’s total subscribers count? Only 16 more than the week before.

Now, this isn’t a one-off issue. I’ve seen this happen consistently, for nearly a year, and it’s becoming clear that something is amiss. After reaching out to Substack support multiple times for an explanation, I’ve received no response. No fixes, no answers.

The most frustrating part? The math is simple, and I’m seeing similar complaints from other creators. This isn’t an isolated case, and the fact that it’s been going on for so long without an official explanation raises some serious concerns.

So, I’m putting this out there to raise awareness. If you’ve noticed discrepancies in your subscriber count, I’d love to hear your experiences. Let’s share what we know and help bring attention to what feels like a major oversight, or possibly a deeper issue, with how Substack is reporting subscriber data.

Transparency is key when it comes to growing and maintaining an audience—and we all deserve to know exactly how many people are subscribing to our work.

If you’re seeing similar discrepancies or have had better luck reaching out to Substack support, feel free to share your thoughts below. We’re all in this together.