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beehiiv vs. Substack

beehiiv is the dynamic and modern alternative to Substack, focused on newsletter growth and monetization.

Number of premium subscribers

Monthly subscription cost

$
Substack$97,668 / year
Gross revenue:$120,000
Paid Subs fee:$12,000
Stripe fee:$10,680
beehiiv$109,320 / year
Gross revenue:$120,000
Paid Subs fee:$0
Stripe fee:$10,680
You earn $11,652 / year more with beehiiv

*beehiiv takes no share of your revenue, but your payment processor may apply transaction fees.

The tools you need to build a successful newsletter

Custom Website & Branding

Custom Website & Branding

Craft a newsletter and website that perfectly match your brand, without writing a single line of code.

Limited design options mean every Substack ends up looking the same.
Ads & Monetization

Ads & Monetization

Earn more with the industry's largest native ad network. Plus, keep 100% of your subscription revenue.

Paid subscriptions are your only option, and Substack takes 10% of your revenue—forever.
Data & Insights

Data & Insights

Track performance and subscriber engagement with real-time dashboards.

Substack doesn't share the metrics that matter for growth.
Automated Workflows

Automated Workflows

Engage and retain your audience at scale with powerful automations.

Forget personalized journeys or advanced targeting. Substack is built for one email at a time.
Open Ecosystem

Open Ecosystem

beehiiv connects with the tools you use today—and the ones you might need tomorrow.

Substack locks you into a closed ecosystem. No integrations, no flexibility.

Hear from Writers Who Left Substack

"We’ve been working with beehiiv for a year now and can’t recommend the product and their team more. It’s an intuitive, easy-to-use, and all-inclusive product that’s only made better by the great team behind it."

Oliver Darcy
Oliver Darcy
Status.news

"After moving to beehiiv, I feel like I went from someone who just writes newsletters to someone who is building a real and sustainable media business"

Ryan Broderick
Ryan Broderick
Garbage Day

"I’m thankful for the initial start Substack provided, but as our paid subscribers grew, it became clear that their 10% cut wasn't sustainable for us. Switching to beehiiv gave us more control, flexibility, and profitability—it's exactly what we needed to scale."

Seamus Hughes
Seamus Hughes
CourtWatch

See who else is on beehiiv

compare features

With beehiiv you'll have the same suite of tools used by the world's largest newsletters.

beehiiv icon

beehiiv

Substack icon

Substack

Newsletter Features
Custom builder
Optimized deliverability
Custom fields
Custom HTML
Audience polls
A/B Testing
Content creation AI
Custom mobile apps
Podcasts
Collaborative editing
Inline comments
Dynamic content
Growth
Recommendation network
Magic links
Referral program
Boosts
Monetization
Integrated Ad network
Paid Subscriptions
Boosts
Direct sponsorships
Digital products
Analytics
Campaign analytics
Subscriber metrics
Advanced segmentation
Advanced analytics
Integrations
Giphy
Unsplash
API access
App marketplace
Support
Normal support
Priority support
Account manager

Got Questions?

Will I lose subscribers during migration?

No. Export your Substack list and import it directly into beehiiv. We've migrated lists of 500,000+ subscribers without losing a single contact.

How do I transfer paid subscribers from Substack to beehiiv?

Your readers won't be notified of the switch. Their payment method, billing cycle, and subscription stay unchanged. The only difference? You keep 100% of revenue instead of losing 10% to Substack.

Can I bring my existing content from Substack to beehiiv?

Yes. Drop your Substack URL into our content import tool, and we'll migrate your archive automatically. Estimated time: 10 minutes.

How long does the Substack to beehiiv migration take?

Often, less than an hour! Upload subscribers (~2 min), import content (~10 min), transfer paid subscriptions (~30 min). Many publishers send their first newsletter from beehiiv the same day.

Do you get Substack's discovery features when switching to beehiiv?

Even better. beehiiv offers two discovery tools: Recommendations, an opt-in cross-promotion feature that lets newsletters recommend each other to grow their lists, and Boosts, a paid recommendation marketplace where you can acquire subscribers. These tools give publishers full control over their growth and promotion strategy.

What migration training and onboarding support will I have available?

All plans include robust documentation, tutorials, and guided onboarding resources. Max and Enterprise plans add priority support and a dedicated customer success manager, respectively.

Will I lose Substack's community features when migrating to beehiiv?

No. beehiiv supports comments and community engagement. You'll also gain features Substack doesn't offer: polls, surveys, and advanced subscriber segmentation for personalized engagement.

Does beehiiv integrate with other tools better than Substack?

Yes. You get API access, native integrations with popular platforms, a growing app marketplace, and support for custom workflows. Substack runs on a closed ecosystem with fewer integrations, making it harder to connect to external tools.

estimated migration time: 42 minutes

Download our free migration guide below

1

Upload subscribers

Download a csv of your existing email list and upload it directly to beehiiv.

Estimated time: 2 minutes.

2

Import existing content

Drop your current URL into our content import tool and we'll do the rest.

Estimated time: 10 minutes.

3

Transfer premium subscriptions

Your readers won't be notified of the switch—their payment method, billing cycle, and other settings will all remain unchanged...and now you'll keep 100% of your revenue.

Estimated time: 30 minutes.

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