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The Complete 2025 Creator Media Leaderboard: Top 40 Independent Tech & AI Publishers

The Definitive Guide to Independent Technology Journalism

As traditional newsrooms face layoffs and economic pressures, thousands of journalists are building profitable media businesses through direct audience relationships. The Creator Media Leaderboard identifies the top 40 independent technology publishers who have successfully made this transition.

Our methodology analyzes publicly available data including subscriber counts, web traffic, and engagement metrics. This fills a critical gap—no reliable directory exists for discovering influential tech publishers.

“There’s no assessment like this that exists,” said Will Kruisbrink, Vice President at Treble. “This helps solve the question: what outlets am I missing, and which independent voices should I be following?” The leaderboard highlights both established and emerging outlets that have rapidly gained traction.

The Complete Rankings

  • Outlet Name
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • Subscribers
  • Own Domain?
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • Organization Type
  • Substack Rank
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • Year Founded
  • Journalist
  • Focus
  • Outlet Name
  • ByteByteGo
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 65.47
  • Subscribers
  • 1,000,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 629,000
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 3
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 948,000
  • Year Founded
  • 2021
  • Journalist
  • Alex Xu
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Newcomer
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 64.08
  • Subscribers
  • 101,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 60,500
  • Organization Type
  • Team
  • Substack Rank
  • 7
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 6,700
  • Year Founded
  • 2020
  • Journalist
  • Eric Newcomer
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Lenny's Newsletter
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 61.83
  • Subscribers
  • 1,100,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 250,260
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 1
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 275,453
  • Year Founded
  • 2019
  • Journalist
  • Lenny Rachitsky
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Stratechery
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 60.66
  • Subscribers
  • 120,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 398,111
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 1
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 7,200
  • Year Founded
  • 2013
  • Journalist
  • Ben Thompson
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Exponential View
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 60.24
  • Subscribers
  • 123,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 60,700
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 5
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 425,000
  • Year Founded
  • 2015
  • Journalist
  • Azeem Azhar
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Interconnects
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 58.27
  • Subscribers
  • 40,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 92,763
  • Organization Type
  • Team
  • Substack Rank
  • 43
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 20,962
  • Year Founded
  • 2022
  • Journalist
  • Nathan Lambert
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • The Product Compass
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 57.97
  • Subscribers
  • 109,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 55,507
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 19
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 194,049
  • Year Founded
  • 2022
  • Journalist
  • Pawel Huryn
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • AI Supremacy
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 57.40
  • Subscribers
  • 152,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 84,192
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 42
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 234,000
  • Year Founded
  • 2021
  • Journalist
  • Michael Spencer
  • Focus
  • AI
  • Outlet Name
  • The Batch
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 56.50
  • Subscribers
  • Unknown
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 1,000,000
  • Organization Type
  • Team
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 2,000,000
  • Year Founded
  • 2019
  • Journalist
  • Andrew Ng
  • Focus
  • AI
  • Outlet Name
  • Data Science Weekly
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 56.20
  • Subscribers
  • 60,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 14,100
  • Organization Type
  • Team
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 0
  • Year Founded
  • 2013
  • Journalist
  • Sebastian Gutierrez and Hannah Brooks
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Product Growth
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 55.81
  • Subscribers
  • 168,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 118,000
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 9
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 253,080
  • Year Founded
  • 2024
  • Journalist
  • Aakash Gupta
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • The Pragmatic Engineer
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 55.71
  • Subscribers
  • 1,000,000
  • Own Domain?
  • No
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 399,617
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 1
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 175,000
  • Year Founded
  • 2021
  • Journalist
  • Gergely Orosz
  • Focus
  • VCs/Startups
  • Outlet Name
  • Uncharted Territories
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 55.49
  • Subscribers
  • 110,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 60,296
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 12
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 12,630
  • Year Founded
  • 2021
  • Journalist
  • Tomas Pueyo
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Scarlet Ink
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 55.17
  • Subscribers
  • 68,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 30,097
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 13
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 56,080
  • Year Founded
  • 2021
  • Journalist
  • Dave Anderson
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Computer, Enhance!
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 54.57
  • Subscribers
  • 52,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 68,300
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 6
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 0
  • Year Founded
  • 2022
  • Journalist
  • Casey Muratori
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Refactoring
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 54.20
  • Subscribers
  • 150,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 20,606
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 20
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 25,500
  • Year Founded
  • 2021
  • Journalist
  • Luca Rossi
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Ben's Bites
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 53.52
  • Subscribers
  • 128,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 6,814
  • Organization Type
  • Team
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 9,403
  • Year Founded
  • 2022
  • Journalist
  • Ben Tossell
  • Focus
  • AI
  • Outlet Name
  • User Mag
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 53.07
  • Subscribers
  • 79,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 102,948
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 17
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 11,927
  • Year Founded
  • 2024
  • Journalist
  • Taylor Lorenz
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Big Technology
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 53.01
  • Subscribers
  • 160,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 20,400
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 62
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 37,000
  • Year Founded
  • 2020
  • Journalist
  • Alex Kantrowitz
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Understanding AI
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 52.33
  • Subscribers
  • 64,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 102,602
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 24
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 300
  • Year Founded
  • 2023
  • Journalist
  • Timothy B. Lee
  • Focus
  • AI
  • Outlet Name
  • Engineering Leadership
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 52.14
  • Subscribers
  • 136,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 14,289
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 35
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 63,648
  • Year Founded
  • 2022
  • Journalist
  • Gregor Ojstersek
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Runtime
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 51.83
  • Subscribers
  • 40,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 11,000
  • Organization Type
  • Team
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 3,000
  • Year Founded
  • 2023
  • Journalist
  • Tom Krazit and Jen Krazit
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • The Rundown AI
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 51.68
  • Subscribers
  • 1,000,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 768,238
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 64,000
  • Year Founded
  • 2023
  • Journalist
  • Rowan Cheung
  • Focus
  • AI
  • Outlet Name
  • Platformer
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 51.17
  • Subscribers
  • Unknown
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 130,616
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • Yes
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 7,400
  • Year Founded
  • 2020
  • Journalist
  • Casey Newton
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • The AI Break
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 50.74
  • Subscribers
  • 81,000
  • Own Domain?
  • No
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 64,464
  • Organization Type
  • Team
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 15,700
  • Year Founded
  • 2023
  • Journalist
  • Luis and Rui Sousa
  • Focus
  • AI
  • Outlet Name
  • Core Memory
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 50.37
  • Subscribers
  • 17,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 15,111
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 28
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 15,689
  • Year Founded
  • 2025
  • Journalist
  • Ashlee Vance
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Slow Boring
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 50.24
  • Subscribers
  • 209,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 687,306
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 1,400
  • Year Founded
  • 2020
  • Journalist
  • Matthew Yglesias
  • Focus
  • Politics/Policy
  • Outlet Name
  • Tech Investments
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 50.11
  • Subscribers
  • 12,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 5,209
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 25
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • Year Founded
  • 2023
  • Journalist
  • N/A
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Not Boring By Packy McCormick
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 50.05
  • Subscribers
  • 244,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • Organization Type
  • Team
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 13,525
  • Year Founded
  • 2019
  • Journalist
  • Packy McCormick
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Last Week in AI
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 49.91
  • Subscribers
  • 67,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 10,300
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 976
  • Year Founded
  • 2018
  • Journalist
  • Jacky Liang
  • Focus
  • AI
  • Outlet Name
  • Next Play
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 49.79
  • Subscribers
  • 66,000
  • Own Domain?
  • No
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 26,284
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 11
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 165,992
  • Year Founded
  • 2024
  • Journalist
  • Ben Lang
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • The Gradient
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 49.36
  • Subscribers
  • 55,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • Organization Type
  • Team
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 2,000
  • Year Founded
  • 2017
  • Journalist
  • Daniel Bashir
  • Focus
  • AI
  • Outlet Name
  • Fabricated Knowledge
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 48.73
  • Subscribers
  • 68,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 4
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 2,900
  • Year Founded
  • 2020
  • Journalist
  • Doug O'Laughlin
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Forkable
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 47.77
  • Subscribers
  • Unknown
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 114,558
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • Yes
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 1,400
  • Year Founded
  • 2025
  • Journalist
  • Paul Sawers
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Towards AI Newsletter
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 46.14
  • Subscribers
  • 130,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 851
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 1,900
  • Year Founded
  • 2021
  • Journalist
  • Louie Peters
  • Focus
  • AI
  • Outlet Name
  • Cautious Optimism
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 46.09
  • Subscribers
  • 7,300
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 7,263
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 8,000
  • Year Founded
  • 2019
  • Journalist
  • Alex Wilhelm
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Elena's Growth Scoop
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 46.06
  • Subscribers
  • 63,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 32
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 138,401
  • Year Founded
  • 2023
  • Journalist
  • Elena Verna
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • Creators’ AI
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 44.68
  • Subscribers
  • 10,000
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 24,000
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 186
  • Year Founded
  • 2023
  • Journalist
  • Stepan Ikaev
  • Focus
  • Tech
  • Outlet Name
  • The Deep View
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 42.65
  • Subscribers
  • 1
  • Own Domain?
  • Yes
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 54,281
  • Organization Type
  • Team
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 1,700
  • Year Founded
  • 2024
  • Journalist
  • N/A
  • Focus
  • AI
  • Outlet Name
  • Clouded Judgement
  • Treble Creator Media Influence Score
  • 42.04
  • Subscribers
  • 81,000
  • Own Domain?
  • No
  • Monthly Web Traffic
  • 72,080
  • Organization Type
  • Solo
  • Substack Rank
  • 0
  • TechMeme Ranking
  • No
  • LinkedIn Followers
  • 16,450
  • Year Founded
  • 2020
  • Journalist
  • Jamin Ball
  • Focus
  • Business

About This Research

The assessment will be refreshed quarterly to track this evolving landscape and identify new voices in technology journalism. Our expert media team created a proprietary measurement formula with inputs across a variety of publicly facing audience and influence metrics. Reach out to medialeaderboard@treblepr.com with questions.