Medium vs Hubpages, which one is better?

1. 63

   Happymommy2520posted 11 days ago

   There’s so much talk about Medium and how great it is. After all these years I’m still a huge hubpages fan. It’s more laid back and passive income from a website that’s been around for so long is more valuable than anything. I even reached out to hubpages and they let me know that if I passed away my children would still be able to collect my monthly earnings.

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   1. 86

      bravewarriorposted 11 days agoin reply to this

      Very few of us are paid monthly anymore, Amy. HP has gone through some major changes over the past few years. As of today, April 14, 2025, unless you have articles on Discover.Hubpages.com, earnings are nil. Even so, views have plummeted sitewide which has affected our ability to earn revenue on this platform. Also, remember, you must reach the minimum threshold of $50 in order to have earnings sent to your PayPal account.

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   2. 86

      bravewarriorposted 11 days agoin reply to this

      Very few of us are seeing monthly earnings, Amy. HP has gone through many changes due to changes in ownership over the past few years. This has resulted in greatly reduced views and a slash in our earnings. As of today, April 14, 2025, unless your articles are on Discover.Hubpages.com, they no longer have the ability to earn revenue. Also, remember that you will not receive a payout until you've reached the minimum threshold of $50, which is then sent directly to your PayPal account. Even if you pass away before then.

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      1. 82

         Thelma Albertsposted 45 hours agoin reply to this

         It’s good to know that even when we pass away, we or our children can still get the earnings through our PayPal accounts. Thanks for this info bravewarrior.

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   3. 66

      OldRosesposted 10 days agoin reply to this

      I've been writing on Medium since 2020.  It's not so great any more.  Earnings are almost as bad as here on HubPages.  They do sneaky things to cut down on your earnings.  Like throttle your traffic so you don't earn.  I've had followers (people who sign up to follow my articles) complain to me that my articles no longer show up in their feeds and they have to do a search to find them.  I've even had a couple of complaints from subscribers (people who have signed up for my articles to be emailed to them) tell me that my articles are no longer being emailed to them.  A lot of people are leaving Medium.  The problem is that there are no good alternatives.  SubStack is only good if you are well-known and have a large following already.  There are also complaints about LinkedIn.  I don't write there, so I don't know.

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2. 63

   Happymommy2520posted 11 days ago

   Thanks so much for the update. I’ll have to keep a close eye on things and pause to see where I’ll start putting new content. What are you going to do? Are you going to start using a different platform?

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   1. 86

      bravewarriorposted 10 days agoin reply to this

      I stopped posting articles on HP in 2020. I'm active in the forums but think it's a waste of time to write for this platform. I'm not interested in finding another one. I'm working on a novel that I started ten years ago and am concentrating my efforts on that. I also joined Reedsy Prompts. They offer a weekly short story contest based on a series of five prompts from which you can choose and submit an original short story for a chance to win $250. This endeavor keeps my creative writing chops active. The community also comments on your work which is nice. HP eliminated the ability to comment years ago. Additionally, HP's revenue share model leaves much to be desired considering how long it now takes to reach payout.

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3. 63

   Happymommy2520posted 10 days ago

   Thank you so much for the advice!

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   1. 86

      bravewarriorposted 10 days agoin reply to this

      Amy, please don't take my response as advice. I was merely answering your question.

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4. 63

   Happymommy2520posted 9 days ago

   I appreciate everyone's feedback.  I think communication from fellow writer's is the best way to help each other not waste time on certain sites and to keep our expectations realistic.  Has anyone had any luck with Upwork?

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   1. 77

      theraggededgeposted 9 days agoin reply to this

      I did some work on Upwork. It was hard finding jobs that I felt confident to tackle but there were a some and I earned a few hundred dollars. I just didn't enjoy the site and its system.

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   2. 83

      Kenna McHughposted 9 days agoin reply to this

      I've worked it. It's filled with hoops and non-transparency. Spammers linger there, too, so you need to be vigilant, like anywhere. These days, finding worthwhile writing gigs online is like searching for new resources among fungi people. You never know whom to trust.

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5. 49

   Zackary Gonczposted 9 days ago

   There are pros and cons to either, and any other frankly. Medium does get more interaction from my perspective, a lot more commenting and liking etc. Its also easier to find things you like, there's a feed that does a decent job of learning what you want to see based on your comments, follows, likes etc. On the other hand, the interactions do seem a little more artificial and surface level, like you wouldn't get something like this reddit-style/forum-style like we're interacting on here. Hub feels like a smaller community with more depth to their interactions while Medium doesn't have quite the depth of interactions, but more interactions.
   Also, feels like there's a lot more AI articles over on Medium. There's not a review process like there is at Hub Pages, so I think a lot of people put out a lot of content that maybe they didn't put that much effort into, or any in the case of AI. A lot of listicles and ads pretending to be articles.
   I like Medium, but I would call it different more than better or worse.

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6. 63

   Happymommy2520posted 8 days ago

   Everyone was so honest and helpful. The community on hubpages is the best thing. Does anyone have any luck making extra money online? There’s a lot of websites that waste peoples time.

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7. 60

   FatFreddysCatposted 8 days ago

   I posted a bunch of stuff at Medium a few years ago but was never able to get any traction at all, so I just let it go after a while.
   
   I'm in the same boat with Substack now. I'm posting stuff there, but nobody reads it.
   
   I've pretty much packed it in at this point. I'm tired of putting in so much effort and getting zero return.

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   1. 68

      PaulGoodman67posted 7 days agoin reply to this

      Yes, Substack is fashionable but I think it’s hard to build a following unless you’re famous and have fans to bring along.

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      1. 60

         FatFreddysCatposted 35 hours agoin reply to this

         Unfortunately I am not famous, nor do I have a following. (sigh)
         
         ... judging from my feed there, I also seem to be one of the few writers on Substack who isn't writing about politics in any way, shape, or form. My humble little album review posts get washed away in a tidal wave of "Blah blah Trump blah blah Elon blah blah Tariffs blah blah."
         
         Oh well. Joining up there was intended as an experiment, anyway.

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         1. 68

            PaulGoodman67posted 33 hours agoin reply to this

            Yes, even on Medium there are only really a dozen or so topics that get a lot of views, one of them being US politics.
            
            I've written music articles in the past. A few have done well but it's generally a saturated market that's difficult to succeed in.
            
            What's frustrating generally about the internet nowadays is that the algorithms effectively favor the stuff that stokes people's emotions, so a well-balanced review usually won't do well when competing with a strident, opinionated piece.

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8. 68

   PaulGoodman67posted 5 days ago

   Medium's in slow decline. Each time there's a major change, we end up getting paid less. I only write about one article/month nowadays, and I see the same trend with other writers I follow.
   
   I tried joining the Friends of Medium scheme a few months back. I earn enough to pay the $15  monthly fee without being out of pocket, but it hasn't helped me.
   
   The only way that people seem to earn nowadays is through organized groups of people commenting on and clapping each other's work to boost views and earnings.
   
   Influencing the algorithm like this is against the rules, but it's widely practised. It means that quite a bit of low-quality material does well, though, and that doesn't help the site overall.

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9. 69

   psycheskinnerposted 4 days ago

   I did not earn anything on medium or substack, right now its Facebook monetization followed by a small amount from hubpages for me.

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