The real question is who pays for the platform
Substack and beehiiv both give you a newsletter, a website and paid subscriptions. The difference is the business model.
Substack is free until you charge readers. Then it keeps 10% of paid subscription revenue, and Stripe takes its processing fee on top. In exchange, your publication lives inside Substack's network: the Substack app, the Notes feed, and recommendations from other writers.
Beehiiv charges you directly. The Launch plan is free up to 2,500 subscribers, Scale starts at $43/month billed annually and is about $109/month at 10,000 subscribers on monthly billing, and Max adds branding removal, audio newsletters and more publications. On Scale and Max, beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscriptions.
Finding your break-even point
The 10% fee is invisible when you start and large when you succeed. A simple way to compare:
| Monthly paid revenue | Substack fee (10%) | Beehiiv Scale at 10k subs (monthly billing) |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | $0 | About $109 |
| $500 | $50 | About $109 |
| $1,090 | $109 | About $109 |
| $3,000 | $300 | About $109 |
| $10,000 | $1,000 | About $109 |
Stripe fees apply on both platforms, so they cancel out. Beehiiv's price rises with subscribers rather than revenue, so run the numbers with your actual list size. The pattern holds: once paid revenue is well past about $1,100 a month, the flat fee wins, and beehiiv's ad network can add revenue Substack does not offer.
What Substack's network is worth
The revenue share is not just a fee. Substack has spent years building a reader-side product. People browse the Substack app, follow writers in Notes, and subscribe from recommendations at the end of posts. For writers without an existing audience, that discovery can be the main source of growth, and it is hard to recreate elsewhere.
Beehiiv has its own recommendation network and paid Boosts, where other newsletters pay you to recommend them (or you pay to be recommended). These work, but they are closer to an acquisition channel you manage than a reader habit. Before leaving Substack, check how many of your new subscribers came from inside the network. If it is most of them, the 10% may be well spent.
What beehiiv gives operators
Beehiiv suits people who treat the newsletter as a business with a funnel:
- Automations on paid plans, such as welcome sequences that introduce your best posts over several days. Substack sends one welcome email.
- Segments and A/B tests for subject lines, so you can send different content to different groups and learn what opens.
- Monetization beyond subscriptions: the Ad Network, Boosts, and on Max a sponsorship storefront.
- Referral program with milestone rewards and tracking.
- Brand control, including a customizable website and branding removal on Max.
Substack has a basic referral feature and simple stats, but it deliberately avoids operator tools.
Where Substack still wins
Substack is the better fit if you want to write and not manage software. It has almost no settings, and it bundles podcasts, video, live sessions and a subscriber chat. There is no monthly bill to justify while you figure out whether the newsletter will work. Plenty of writers stay on Substack for years because the network effect outweighs the fee.
Moving between them
Most migrations go from Substack to beehiiv, and beehiiv has a dedicated importer for it.
- Export from Substack. Download your subscriber list and posts from the Substack settings.
- Import into beehiiv. Use the Substack importer to bring over posts and subscribers, including free and paid status.
- Connect Stripe. Paid subscriptions on Substack run through a Stripe account you own. Connecting the same account to beehiiv is what lets paying subscribers continue without re-entering card details.
- Point your domain. If you used a custom domain on Substack, move it to beehiiv so links keep working. Posts on a substack.com subdomain cannot be redirected by you, so expect some link loss.
- Rebuild the welcome flow. Substack's single welcome email becomes a beehiiv automation, which is a good moment to expand it.
Going the other way works the same way in reverse, but you give up automations, ads and Boost income.
Questions to answer before choosing
- Where did your last 100 subscribers come from? If most came from Substack's app, Notes or recommendations, leaving costs you that channel. If most came from social media, search or your own site, beehiiv loses you little.
- Will you sell sponsorships? Beehiiv's Ad Network and storefront reduce the work of finding sponsors. On Substack you sell and place every ad yourself.
- How much do you want to tinker? Beehiiv rewards people who test subject lines, build welcome sequences and segment readers. Substack rewards people who just want to write.
- How big will the paid side get? Model your paid revenue a year out and compare 10% of it with beehiiv's plan price at your expected list size.
Platform risk and ownership
Both platforms let you export your list, so neither traps your subscribers. The difference is how much of your publication's identity depends on the platform.
On Substack, many readers know you as a Substack. They follow you in the app, see you in Notes and subscribe through recommendations. That network is valuable, but it also means Substack's product decisions, policies and brand shape how readers experience your work. If you use a substack.com address, your URLs live on Substack's domain.
On beehiiv, readers mostly experience your brand: your domain, your site design and, on Max, no beehiiv branding. There is no reader app, so your audience is less tied to the platform. The cost is that you do more of your own distribution.
A custom domain on either platform reduces risk, because links keep working if you move.
Deliverability when you change platforms
Moving a large list to a new sender is where newsletters most often lose inbox placement. Since 2024, Gmail and Yahoo require bulk senders to authenticate their domain, offer one-click unsubscribe and keep spam complaints low. Both beehiiv and Substack handle the unsubscribe mechanics, but your list quality travels with you.
Before migrating, remove subscribers who have not opened in many months, and send your first issues on the new platform to your most engaged readers. Beehiiv lets you authenticate a custom sending domain, which helps your reputation build under your own name rather than the platform's.
Use-case matchups
| Situation | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| First newsletter, no audience yet | Substack | Free to start and discovery through the app and Notes |
| Paid newsletter earning several thousand dollars a month | Beehiiv | Flat plan fee instead of 10% of revenue |
| Newsletter funded by sponsors | Beehiiv | Ad Network and sponsorship storefront |
| Writer who also runs a podcast and live sessions | Substack | Podcasts, video, live and chat in one place |
| Operator testing subject lines and welcome flows | Beehiiv | A/B tests, segments and automations |
| Media brand with a distinct visual identity | Beehiiv | More site control and branding removal on Max |
| Software company sending product updates to users | Sequenzy | Product events, billing triggers and transactional email |
Where Sequenzy fits
Sequenzy is not a creator newsletter platform. It has no reader network, no paid subscription billing for readers and no ad marketplace, so it is not a replacement for either tool if writing is your business.
It fits when the newsletter is one part of a software company's email. Product teams often send a monthly update to users alongside onboarding, trial ending, failed payment and receipt emails. Sequenzy handles all of those from one account, connects to Stripe, Paddle and Polar for billing events, and charges by emails sent rather than taking a cut of revenue.
Bottom line on fees and growth
Substack is the lowest-risk start and the best discovery network for writers. Beehiiv is the better tool once you have revenue to protect and a funnel to optimize. Run the break-even table with your own numbers, and check where your new readers actually come from before you decide.
Decision checklist
- Start on Substack if you have no audience yet and want the network to help you find one.
- Move to beehiiv when 10% of paid revenue is larger than the plan price at your list size.
- Choose beehiiv if you want ad revenue, Boosts or sponsorship tools inside the platform.
- Choose Substack if podcasts, video and chat are part of how you publish.
- Use a custom domain on either platform so you can move later without breaking links.
- Clean inactive subscribers before migrating to protect deliverability.
- Consider Sequenzy if the newsletter belongs to a software product and needs to sit next to lifecycle email.
