beehiiv vs Substack

What do beehiiv and Substack cost at your list size?

A free newsletter costs nothing on Substack at any list size (going paid). The free plan at beehiiv stops at 2,500 subscribers. Past that it bills by bucket: the more addresses on your list, the higher the monthly plan (beehiiv pricing).

The catch on beehiiv Free is money. Its plan table lists paid subscriptions from Lite, which starts at $59 a month for up to 1,000 subscribers, checked 6 November 2026 (beehiiv pricing data). Free also leaves out a custom domain and automations.

Substack has no plan to buy. It “takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, plus Stripe card fees” (going paid). So a free list of 50,000 costs you nothing on Substack and $299 a month on beehiiv Lite.

How much can you make on Substack?

The fee Substack is free to start and takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, plus Stripe card fees.

Writers keep Writers keep 90% of their revenue minus credit card fees.

Every list size for all 15 tools sits in the email price table.

When does Substack’s 10% cost more than beehiiv Lite?

Once your monthly paid revenue passes ten times the Lite price for your list size. On Lite, beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscriptions (pricing data). Its cost stays flat while Substack’s share grows with every subscriber who pays.

The last column uses monthly billing. Card fees sit on top on both platforms and are left out. The beehiiv FAQ publishes Stripe’s 2.9% plus 30 cents a transaction; the Substack page names Stripe fees without a rate.

Two clauses move the line. The free trial of Lite excludes the 0% take rate, so the saving starts on a paid month (pricing data). And a list rounds up to the next bucket, so 10,001 subscribers price at the 25,000 step. The beehiiv pricing page has every bucket.

Which AI features come with each?

The AI at beehiiv is listed by plan; Substack names none. beehiiv AI, the writing help inside its editor, starts on Lite. Free gets “limited” AI usage without it (pricing data).

It also connects to AI assistants such as Claude or ChatGPT through an MCP server. That is a standard way for an assistant to read and act on your account. Free gets read access and Lite adds write access. An AI tool that turns podcast episodes into newsletters is on Pro.

Substack’s terms say it “may offer” generative AI tools and that third-party providers run them (terms, 6 October 2026). Neither the going-paid page nor the terms names a feature, a plan or a limit.

Both police AI-written publications. beehiiv’s acceptable use policy bars “publications that rely entirely on AI-generated material without meaningful human input”. Substack’s terms let it apply AI-detection labels to content.

Does beehiiv or Substack train AI on your posts?

Neither document says so either way. That gap matters if your archive or your subscriber list is the business.

beehiiv’s terms, modified 6 October 2026, never mention training. Section 3 lets beehiiv compile anonymised Aggregated Statistics from your Content. Its pricing table lists “No-training / zero-retention” in the Enterprise column only.

Terms of Use, 3 (Aggregated Statistics)

You acknowledge that beehiiv may compile Aggregated Statistics based on your Content (as defined below). You agree that beehiiv may: (i) make Aggregated Statistics publicly available in compliance with applicable law; and (ii) use Aggregated Statistics to the extent and in the manner permitted under applicable law; provided, that such Aggregated Statistics do not identify you or Your Users.

Substack’s licence lets it reproduce your posts “to enable us to provide, improve, and notify you about new features within Substack”. Its AI section says data goes to “third-party service providers, together with those vendors’ own subprocessors”. The privacy notice does not name them.

Terms of Use, Limited License to Us

You hereby grant Substack a license to translate, modify, reproduce, and otherwise act with respect to your Posts to enable us to provide, improve, and notify you about new features within Substack.

How the other 13 email tools answer: does your email tool train AI.

How do you move a newsletter from Substack to beehiiv?

beehiiv’s migration guide, updated 22 June 2026, splits the move into three imports.

1. Free posts come in from your Substack URL. Paid posts need the export zip from Substack’s settings, and a paid tier set up in beehiiv first, or paywalled posts import fully visible.
2. Free subscribers move as a CSV exported from Substack.
3. Paid subscribers move through Stripe. You transfer customers from the Stripe account linked to Substack, map each price to a beehiiv tier, then pause Substack billing “to prevent double billing”.

Some things stay behind. Video and podcast-type posts do not migrate, nor do comments or photo galleries, and subscription dates reset to the import day unless support restores them. Comped, gifted and iOS subscribers are not in Stripe, so you grant them access by hand.

Easy editing on beehiiv; unwanted sign-ups lead Substack’s complaints

We read 19 public sources on each, from Trustpilot and Reddit. They date from 18 May to 28 October 2026. beehiiv scores 3.9 on Trustpilot from 413 reviews. Substack scores 1.4 from 185, and the page mixes reviews from readers and from publishers.

On beehiiv:

• An editor beginners use without technical skill (6 of 19 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)
• Recommendations bring steady subscriber growth once set up (3 of 19 sources: Reddit)
• Price rises, some soon after joining (3 of 19 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)
• Ad network pay is hard to estimate (3 of 19 sources: Reddit, Reddit)
• Unwanted emails from newsletters hosted on beehiiv, with unsubscribe requests said to be ignored; both reviewers describe publishers’ lists (2 of 19 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)
• Editor and mobile app clunky or freezing on pasted content (3 of 19 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)

On Substack:

• People signed up without consent, with unsubscribing hard to find (5 of 19 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)
• Harassment and harmful content handled poorly, in reviewers’ view (4 of 19 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)
• Restacks and recommendations reach readers outside your own list (3 of 19 sources: Reddit, Trustpilot)
• Billing and cancellation faults (3 of 19 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)
• Publications suspended without a clear reason, with weak appeals (3 of 19 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)

A suspension stops a paid newsletter overnight. Substack’s terms let it suspend accounts and limit its liability for those decisions, so keep your own subscriber export current.

Which one fits your newsletter?

Stay on Substack if most of your readers find you inside its app and paid revenue sits under the line in the table above. You pay nothing until money comes in, and the network does the discovery. Other hosts for that kind of newsletter sit on the best newsletter platforms.

Move to beehiiv once paid revenue clears that line, or when you need your own domain and automations. The beehiiv profile covers its limits in full.

Writers weighing a creator tool can read beehiiv vs Kit; those leaving a marketing platform, beehiiv vs Mailchimp. The full field is on the best newsletter platforms, and every tool we track sits on the AI email marketing hub.

Questions buyers ask about beehiiv and Substack

Is beehiiv cheaper than Substack?

For a free newsletter, no: Substack charges nothing at any size, and beehiiv bills from 2,501 subscribers (beehiiv pricing). With paid subscribers, beehiiv Lite costs less once Substack’s 10% passes the Lite price.

Does beehiiv take a cut of paid subscriptions?

No beehiiv cut on Lite and Pro: its take rate is 0%. Stripe’s 2.9% plus 30 cents a transaction still applies, and the 0% rate is not part of the free trial (beehiiv pricing data).

Can I move my paid subscribers from Substack to beehiiv?

Yes, through Stripe. You transfer customers from Substack’s Stripe account to the one linked to beehiiv, then pause Substack billing to avoid charging readers twice.

Does Substack use AI on my writing?

Its terms say AI services run through third-party providers and do not say whether posts train any model. Substack’s terms and going-paid page name no AI writing feature.

More email tool comparisons sit together in the AI email marketing hub →