Publishing Without the Platform: What Leaflet.pub Does Differently Than Substack

And why it matters for digital marketers in Europe right now

There is a quiet shift happening in how content is created and distributed online. Not spectacular, not announced with a big press release — but structurally different from everything we have built over the past decade on Big Tech infrastructure. Leaflet.pub, a project by Hyperlink Academy, is a clear example of that shift. And as a digital marketer, you should be paying attention now.

What is Leaflet.pub, exactly?

Leaflet is a tool for shared writing and social publishing: you create Leaflets — directly shareable documents with rich media and multiple pages — and Publications, similar to blogs or newsletters, that people can follow.

What makes it different: you can create a document without an account and share it immediately. Getting a publication live takes about thirty seconds. No onboarding, no credit card, no dashboard full of settings to configure before you can start.

Leaflet is a project by Hyperlink Academy, a school-software studio-research lab that builds tools for learning and collaboration. The team is three people, based in Brooklyn, and has been working on Leaflet since mid-2024.

The innovation is in the architecture

This is where it gets interesting for anyone thinking seriously about data ownership and digital sovereignty.

Publications in Leaflet are built on the AT Protocol — the same protocol that powers Bluesky — to publish data openly and enable things like comments, discovery, and (soon) memberships through the open social graph. Your publication data lives on your PDS — the same place as your Bluesky data, open and under your control.

That sounds technical. The implication is simple and significant: you own the data, not the platform.

With Substack, Medium, or LinkedIn Newsletters, the opposite logic applies. The platform manages your subscribers, your reach, your content. They can adjust algorithms, change pricing models, or — in the worst case — simply decide your category of content is no longer welcome. The AT Protocol is specifically designed so that a user can migrate their account to a new server without the involvement of that server. User data is stored in signed data repositories and verified through DIDs.

That is structurally different. You cannot be held hostage.

A concrete example: how this works in practice

Imagine you want to launch a knowledge publication around sustainable procurement. Your audience consists of procurement professionals, policymakers, and sustainability managers. Traditionally, you would choose Substack or a WordPress blog. You build a mailing list — but that list effectively lives at Substack.

With Leaflet, the picture looks different.

You create a Publication on leaflet.pub, connect your Bluesky account, and publish your first piece. Readers can subscribe via Bluesky or RSS. You manage the content, the design (including your own domain), and the relationship with your readers. Want to switch platforms later? Your data comes with you. No lock-in.

You can also use Leaflets as standalone documents — think of a summary page for a research report, a shared note for a working group, an annotated reading list, or a project brief. From shared lists to project notes, syllabi to scrapbooks: everything is possible, and you need no account to get started.

Is it safe? And what about European data?

A legitimate question. Leaflet is American (Brooklyn), and the AT Protocol originates in the US as well (Bluesky Social PBC). That means the default Bluesky PDS falls under US law and is in principle subject to the US CLOUD Act.

The situation here is still fundamentally different from Substack or Mailchimp:

The protocol is open and decentralised. Beyond the official implementation, community alternatives for the PDS software already exist, written in Rust and Go. You can run your own PDS on a European server — at a Dutch or German hosting provider — keeping your data entirely under EU jurisdiction. This is technically possible and documented.

Leaflet itself is open source. The source code is available under the MIT licence. You can, in principle, self-host the entire application.

The honest caveat: for the average marketer or communications professional, running your own PDS is not a realistic step today. Using Leaflet through the standard leaflet.pub environment means using an American server. That is comparable to using any other American SaaS tool. The structural promise of the AT Protocol is that you can change this — something that is simply never an option with Substack.

Leaflet is a new product and at this stage there is inherent uncertainty about its long-term future. The team cares deeply about stability: if leaflet.pub ever shuts down, they will ensure users can take their data with them. That promise is structurally embedded in the protocol, not just a contractual statement.

Is it easy to get started and to share?

Yes — and that is one of its strongest points.

Go to leaflet.pub/new. Without an account, without installation, without configuration, you have a shareable document within a minute. Want to start a Publication? Log in with your Bluesky account and you are ready to go.

Documents start as a single page, but you can add as many pages as you like, including canvas pages. Leaflet is collaborative by design: anyone with the edit link can contribute or make changes.

Sharing happens via a direct URL. No paywall, no “create an account to read this”, no cookie banner chasing readers away. The content is simply open and readable.

What if barely anyone uses it yet?

The most pragmatic question — and also the most honest one.

It is true: Leaflet and the broader AT Protocol ecosystem are early. Bluesky is growing fast, but its total user base is still a fraction of LinkedIn or X. If you are publishing for a broad professional audience, you will not reach them primarily through Bluesky today.

But that is the wrong frame. Consider this:

As a distribution channel, Leaflet is currently less powerful than Substack or LinkedIn. As a publishing format — a clean, shareable document with its own URL — it is already useful today and better than Google Docs or Notion for external use.

The strategic logic resembles early adoption of other open standards. Those who had their own domain and RSS feed in 2008 were not dependent on whatever Facebook decided next. The value of an open protocol grows as more people and tools connect to it. The Leaflet team is actively working on tags for discovery, profile pages, notifications, and cross-platform integrations.

And publishing on Leaflet excludes nothing. You can create a Leaflet and distribute the link via LinkedIn, your newsletter, or your own website. It is not either/or.

Why this matters right now

Over the past months, the conversation around digital sovereignty in Europe has become more concrete than ever. Organisations are reconsidering their dependence on American platforms — not out of ideology, but out of risk management. Substack, Mailchimp, HubSpot: useful tools, but your data, your subscribers, and your reach are locked inside their infrastructure.

The AT Protocol offers an alternative that is technically mature enough to take seriously, and accessible enough to start experimenting with today.

My advice: create a Leaflet. Write something you would normally post as a LinkedIn article. Publish it as a Leaflet and share the link. See what it feels like to publish content that belongs to you — not to the platform.

That is the first step.

Want to explore more about the AT Protocol, digital sovereignty in a European marketing context, or how to use Leaflet as part of your content strategy? Share your thoughts below or get in touch.

🔗 Try it yourself:

Create a Leaflet: leaflet.pub/new

Read the guide: about.leaflet.pub

Follow the development: lab.leaflet.pub (the team’s own Leaflet publication)

Learn about the AT Protocol: atproto.com