plebos vs Medium
Medium is a place to be read. plebos is a place to be followed — the difference is who owns the relationship.
| plebos | Medium | |
|---|---|---|
| How you get paid | Direct patronage — 96%+ is yours | Opaque engagement pool |
| Your own domain | Yes | Members only |
| Own your subscriber list | Yes, always | Restricted |
| Engagement algorithm deciding your reach | Never | Entirely |
| Readers can follow you across the open web | Built in | No |
The pool problem
Medium writers are paid from the membership pool by an engagement-based formula. You cannot see it, you cannot price against it, and it reorganizes your incentives toward whatever the formula currently rewards. On plebos a reader pays you; we take 4%, declining, and the math is on the pricing page in full.
The reader relationship
On Medium, your readers belong to the feed: distribution is entirely algorithmic, custom domains are members-only, and since May 2025 the export of new in-app subscriber emails is restricted. Each policy is defensible in isolation. Together they mean the audience you built is not portable — and an audience you cannot take with you is not yours.
plebos inverts every one of those defaults: your own domain, your full subscriber list exportable at any moment, and federation so readers follow your address, not our app. The exit is the guarantee.
To be fair to Medium
Medium gives a first-time writer an instant audience with zero setup, and for occasional essays that may be exactly right. Our case is for the writer building a body of work and a readership they intend to keep.