beehiiv vs Substack (2026): Which Should You Start On?

If you’re about to start your first newsletter, beehiiv and Substack are probably the two names you keep hearing.

They’re both good. They’re just good at different things, and picking the right one now saves you a move later.

I’ve gone through both platforms’ own pricing pages, help centres, and terms so you don’t have to. Every price and feature below links to where I found it.

A quick, honest note: Some links on this site may be affiliate links. If you sign up through one, we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. I’ve stuck to what each platform’s own pages say and tried to keep this fair.

I’ve been writing on and off for about three years, mostly for my jobs. Lately I’ve started thinking about writing for myself, and that led me to newsletters. I’ve used beehiiv. I’ve only looked at Substack and haven’t used it, so everything about Substack here comes from its own pages.

The quick verdict

Pick Substack if you want to write, hit publish, and not think about money until you’re actually earning. It’s free no matter how big your list gets, and it comes with a built-in network of readers.

Pick beehiiv if you want your newsletter to feel like your own brand, with your own website and domain, and you’d like more ways to earn than paid subscriptions. You’ll pay a monthly fee for the good stuff, but beehiiv doesn’t take a cut of your subscription revenue.

beehiiv vs Substack at a glance

	beehiiv	Substack
Cost to start	Free plan, $0 pricing	Free, no matter how many subscribers help centre
Free plan subscriber limit	Up to 2,500 pricing	No limit features
Paid plans	Lite from $49/mo billed yearly or $59/mo monthly; Pro from $95/mo yearly or $109/mo monthly (up to 1,000 subscribers, USD) pricing	None
Cut of paid subscriptions	0%, plus Stripe fees pricing	10%, plus Stripe fees help centre
Paid subscriptions	Paid plans only pricing	Yes, free to turn on features
Custom domain	Paid plans help centre	One-time $50 USD help centre
Send email from your own domain	Yes, on paid plans help centre	No, emails still come from a substack.com address help centre
Ad network	Yes, paid plans Ad Network FAQ	Not listed on Substack’s features page
Recommendations	Free on all plans; paid recommendations on paid plans help centre	Yes, free help centre
Export your list	Yes, CSV help centre	Yes, CSV help centre

Pricing and fees

Substack: free until you earn

Substack is free to publish on, no matter how many subscribers you have.

If you turn on paid subscriptions, Substack keeps 10% of each subscription payment. Stripe, the payment company, takes its own fees on top of that.

For US cards, Substack lists Stripe’s fees as 2.9% + $0.30 per payment, plus a 0.7% Stripe Billing fee on recurring payments. Stripe’s rates depend on the country your Stripe account is in. If you’re in Canada, Stripe lists 2.9% + CA$0.30 for domestic cards, plus 0.8% for international cards and another 2% if currency conversion is needed.

Here’s what 10% looks like in real life. If your readers pay you $1,000 in a month, Substack keeps $100 before Stripe’s fees.

The only other cost is optional: a one-time $50 USD fee to use your own domain.

beehiiv: a monthly plan, but no cut

beehiiv has a free plan for up to 2,500 subscribers, with unlimited email sends.

To earn money on beehiiv, though, you’ll need a paid plan. Paid subscriptions, the ad network, and paid recommendations all start on Lite.

At up to 1,000 subscribers, beehiiv’s prices are (in USD):

• Lite: $49/month billed yearly ($588/year), or $59 month to month
• Pro: $95/month billed yearly ($1,140/year), or $109 month to month

Prices go up as your list grows. For example, Lite is $79 month to month at up to 2,500 subscribers, and $139 at up to 10,000.

The upside is that beehiiv takes 0% of your paid subscription revenue. You keep what you earn, minus Stripe’s processing fee. On a Canadian Stripe account, that’s 2.9% + CA$0.30 for domestic cards, plus the same extras as above.

New accounts can also try the Pro plan free for 14 days, with no credit card needed. Some features, like custom domains and paid subscriptions, aren’t included in the trial.

So which is cheaper?

It depends on how much you earn.

When you’re just starting and earning nothing, Substack costs nothing. beehiiv’s free plan costs nothing too, but you can’t charge readers on it.

Once you earn more, Substack’s 10% grows with you, while beehiiv’s fee is set by your list size. At some point a flat fee can work out cheaper, so do the quick math for your own numbers.

Ease of setup

Substack keeps things very simple. You write a post, and every post can be sent as an email and published on your site at the same time.

beehiiv gives you more settings to play with: a website builder, templates, segments, and automations on paid plans. That’s great if you like tinkering. It can feel like a lot if you just want to write.

If you add a custom domain, Substack says verification can take up to 36 hours. beehiiv says it can take up to 72.

When I set up beehiiv, I found it easy. I haven’t signed up for Substack, so its signup and first-post steps here are described from its official pages only.

Growth tools

This is where Substack really shines for beginners.

Substack’s built-in network

Substack is more than an email tool. It has an app, a feed called Notes, an explore page, category leaderboards, and search across publications. Substack describes all of this as its discovery network.

That means readers who already use Substack can find you without you bringing them. When you’re starting from zero, that matters.

You can also recommend other Substack writers, and they can recommend you. New subscribers may see your picks right after they sign up. Substack also has a reader referral program with milestone rewards.

beehiiv’s growth tools

beehiiv’s growth tools work around your own site and signup flow.

Free recommendations work on every beehiiv plan, including the free one. You swap recommendations with other newsletters, and they show up after someone subscribes.

On paid plans, there are paid recommendations (beehiiv used to call these Boosts). You can pay other newsletters for each verified subscriber they send you, or get paid for recommending others.

Paid plans also add a referral program, surveys and polls, A/B testing, and email automations.

My honest take: if you have no audience yet, Substack’s network is a real head start. If you already have followers somewhere else, beehiiv’s tools help you turn them into subscribers on your own site.

Monetization

Making money on Substack

Substack is built around paid subscriptions. It offers monthly and annual plans, a founding member tier, free trials, coupons, gift subscriptions, and group plans.

Substack doesn’t list an ad network on its features page.

Making money on beehiiv

beehiiv gives you more ways to earn, but they’re on paid plans.

• Paid subscriptions with 0% taken by beehiiv. Lite allows one paid tier; Pro allows unlimited tiers.
• The beehiiv Ad Network. beehiiv finds advertisers, and you choose which ads to run. You’re paid per open or per click, on the 20th of each month for the month before.
• Paid recommendations, where you earn by recommending other newsletters.
• Digital products, which you can sell even on the free plan (one product).
• A sponsorship storefront on Pro, for selling ads directly to brands.

One thing to know: ad network and paid recommendation payouts go through a Stripe Express account. beehiiv says publishers in some regions can’t receive those earnings, and its pricing page marks these features “not in all regions”. None of beehiiv’s pages I read name Canada either way. If you’re in Canada, check with beehiiv before you count on that money.

Also, beehiiv’s own FAQ says expected ad payouts are an estimate, not a guarantee. Small lists usually see fewer offers at first.

Owning your list and exporting it

If you ever leave, you’ll want your readers to come with you. Both platforms let you do that.

On Substack, you can export your subscriber list as a CSV any time, and export your posts too. One small catch: Substack says it’s not currently possible to export subscriber names, just the email addresses and related data.

Substack’s Publisher Agreement says you own what you create, and that you’re the controller of your list.

On beehiiv, you can export your posts and your subscribers as CSV files. The full export includes custom fields and stats. Download links last 24 hours, so grab the file when it’s ready.

There’s one more ownership difference. On beehiiv’s paid plans, your emails can come from your own domain, like hello@email.yoursite.com. On Substack, even with a custom domain, your emails still come from a substack.com address.

Design, website, and SEO

Substack

Substack gives you a website editor with several homepage layouts, plus colours, fonts, a logo, navigation, and custom pages like an About page.

Each post has SEO options for the search title, description, URL, and social image.

Substack also says some SEO features, like sitemaps and Google Search Console verification, become available as your publication grows.

beehiiv

beehiiv comes with a website builder on every plan, plus templates, subscribe forms, and a link-in-bio page.

Every beehiiv website gets an automatic sitemap, and you can set your site’s meta title, description, and social preview images.

Paid plans unlock more, like the advanced website builder and more custom pages: one on Free, five on Lite, unlimited on Pro pricing. Removing beehiiv branding is a Pro feature.

If you want your newsletter to live on a website that feels like your brand, beehiiv gives you more control. If you’d rather not think about design at all, Substack’s simpler setup is a plus.

Who should pick which?

Substack is probably right for you if:

• You want to start free and stay free while you find your voice
• You mainly plan to earn from paid subscriptions
• You don’t have an audience yet and want help being discovered
• You’d rather write than fiddle with settings

beehiiv is probably right for you if:

• You want your own brand, domain, and sending address
• You want to earn from ads, sponsors, or digital products, not just subscriptions
• You expect to earn enough that a 10% cut would sting
• You like having tools like automations, segments, and A/B tests

And honestly? You’re not locked in. Both let you export your list, and Substack even has a guide for moving from beehiiv to Substack. Pick the one that fits today.

FAQ

Does Substack really take 10%?

Yes. If you turn on paid subscriptions, Substack keeps 10% of each subscription payment, and Stripe charges its own processing fees on top. If you only publish for free, you pay nothing.

Can I make money on beehiiv’s free plan?

Not through paid subscriptions, ads, or paid recommendations. Those start on the Lite plan. The free plan does let you sell one digital product.

Can I move from Substack to beehiiv later, or the other way?

Yes. Both platforms let you export your subscribers and posts, so you can take your list with you.

Are these prices in Canadian dollars?

No. beehiiv’s prices are listed in USD, and Substack’s custom domain fee is $50 USD. If you’re in Canada, check your card’s terms for currency conversion fees.

The bottom line

If you want to start free and get discovered, start on Substack. If you want your own brand and more ways to earn, start on beehiiv.

Either way, the best platform is the one that gets you writing this week.

Try beehiiv free · Start on Substack

Prices and features checked November 2, 2026. Platforms change things often, so check the official pages before you decide.