Hey Dan 
Both look cool :) I love the design/minimalist vibe of ‘makeandgraft’ (and that theme you’re creating - it looks like we share a love of minimal design), and looks like we’ve got some stuff in common from your recent posts (I’m an introvert, too, and ‘freedom’ is a big value of mine → I wrote more about what I’m working on + towards over on IndieHackers (in my comment below the thread).
Also, Cove looks awesome. I’m looking for a closed forum for my community, but this looks like an awesome option for comments (and alternative to Disqus).
In answer to your question, I feel like I’ve outgrown Substack. It’s something that was great for me starting out, and I continue to recommend it to writers/bloggers/makers, but, for me:
- I needed more control (things like the custom footer, the lack of a domain… I’d constantly have to tweak settings for free/paid subscribers, and kept making ‘mistakes’ by forgetting to make the right tweaks). Substack served me well initially in getting to this point - as someone who likes to tinker/perfect things, it let me largely focus on the content alone.
- My community is ~150 paid members, with an email list (I have an accompanying newsletter) of ~1500. Substack ‘threads’ were great to get started, but I need a designated forum now.
- I’m moving from mvp (Substack) to something more sophisticated for my community (the community forum + live events/workshops)
- Substack take 10%, which is a fair deal, but I see INF club steadily growing and with Ghost I get to keep 100% (minus Substack fees/Ghost hosting)
- I personally feel that Ghost/hosting your own site just looks more serious/professional (e.g. with the ‘proper’ domain, alone)
- For my brand/customer experience, and for the long-term, Ghost feels the right move.
PS. So cool that you’re working remotely from Mauritius. I spent a month working from Tenerife last year, and might be doing some more nomad-ing (when it’s possible to)