Beehiiv and Substack both host a newsletter, send it and let you charge for it, but they make money from you in different ways. Substack is free to use and keeps 10% of paid subscriptions. Beehiiv charges a monthly fee and takes no cut. We compared fees, growth tools, ownership and inbox placement, using each official page in October 2026, so you can pick the right home.
Substack is better if you are a writer starting from zero, because publishing is free and its network can help new readers find you. Beehiiv is better if the newsletter is a business: it takes 0% of paid subscriptions, includes referrals and an ad network on paid plans, and its Lite plan starts at $49 a month billed yearly.
Who this is for: Coaches, writers and creators choosing where to host and sell a newsletter.
Choose Substack if you are a writer starting with no audience, want to publish for free and like the idea of other Substack writers and readers finding you. Choose Beehiiv if your newsletter is part of a business, you plan to sell sponsorships or a paid tier, and you would rather pay a flat monthly fee than give away a share of every subscription.
For most coaches, Beehiiv is the better long-term fit, because you keep all of your subscription revenue and you get more control over design, automations and your own website. Substack is the easier start, and its built-in network is a real advantage when nobody knows your name yet.
The question that settles it is money. If you will not charge for a while, Substack costs nothing. If paid subscriptions will bring in a few hundred dollars a month or more, Beehiiv's flat fee starts to look cheap next to a 10% cut.
Independent comparison, last reviewed 29 October 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners. Unbury is not affiliated with, sponsored by or paid by any company compared here. Features and prices change, so check each vendor before you decide.
The two platforms charge in opposite ways, so compare them at your real numbers. We checked Beehiiv's official pricing page and Substack's official help page on costs for this comparison. All prices are in US dollars.
Publishing on Substack is free, however many subscribers you have. If you turn on paid subscriptions, Substack keeps 10% of each subscription payment. Stripe then charges its own fees on top: 2.9% plus 30 cents per card payment for US cards, and a 0.7% billing fee on recurring payments. A custom domain is an optional one-off $50.
Beehiiv has four plans. Free covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, one publication, a basic website and three segments, but no paid subscriptions, referral programme, ad network or custom automations. Lite is $49 a month billed yearly, or $59 a month on monthly billing, for up to 1,000 subscribers, and adds paid subscriptions, the referral programme, the ad network and up to 10 live automations. Pro is $95 a month billed yearly, or $109 on monthly billing, at the same list size, with unlimited automations. Enterprise is priced on request.
Beehiiv's pricing page shows yearly prices by default, so read it carefully. Prices rise with your list: at up to 2,500 subscribers, Lite is $69 a month billed yearly or $79 on monthly billing. Beehiiv takes 0% of your subscription revenue, though Stripe's standard fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents still applies.
Say you run a paid newsletter at $8 a month and 100 people pay. That is $800 a month. Substack keeps $80 of it before Stripe's fees. On Beehiiv Lite, billed yearly, you pay $49 a month however much you earn, plus Stripe's fees. Both platforms pass on Stripe's card fees, so the real difference is Substack's 10% against Beehiiv's flat fee. The break-even is roughly $490 a month in paid subscriptions on yearly billing, or $590 on monthly billing. Below that, Substack is cheaper. Above it, Beehiiv is. For a fuller look at the numbers, read our Substack vs Beehiiv monetisation guide.
This table uses each vendor's own pages at the time of writing (October 2026).
| What you need | Beehiiv | Substack |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free, then $49 a month billed yearly or $59 on monthly billing (Lite) | Free to publish |
| Free plan | Up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends | Free for any number of subscribers |
| Subscribers on cheapest paid plan | Up to 1,000 on Lite at the entry price | No paid plan; pricing is a revenue share |
| Cut of paid subscriptions | 0%, plus Stripe fees | 10%, plus Stripe fees |
| Automation | None on Free, 10 live automations on Lite, unlimited on Pro | Welcome email and basic sending, not a full automation builder |
| Website and sign-up pages | Website builder on every plan, more pages on Lite and Pro | Hosted publication page on substack.com, custom domain for a one-off $50 |
| Growth tools | Referral programme and ad network from Lite | Recommendations and discovery inside the Substack network and app |
| Deliverability help | Not listed as a feature on the pricing page | Not listed on the costs page |
| Best for | Newsletters run as a business with sponsors or a paid tier | Writers starting from zero who want free publishing and discovery |
Substack works partly as a network, not just a sending tool. Writers can recommend each other's newsletters, and readers browse and subscribe inside the Substack app. If you are starting from nothing, that gives you a chance of being found by people who already read newsletters. Beehiiv has growth tools too, but they mostly help you grow an audience you are already bringing in.
Substack does not charge to publish, whatever your list size. Beehiiv's Free plan stops at 2,500 subscribers, and you need Lite before you can charge anyone. If you want to test a paid newsletter without any monthly bill, Substack lets you do that from day one.
You can start writing on Substack within minutes. Paid subscriptions, a publication page and a reader app are all built in, with almost nothing to set up. For a coach who wants to write a weekly letter and does not want to think about templates, segments or automations, that is a genuine strength.
Substack feels like a publication, with comments, a reader app and a familiar layout that many readers already know. If your newsletter is built around your voice and your essays, it suits that style well.
Beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscriptions. Once a paid newsletter grows, a flat monthly fee is usually far cheaper than giving away 10% of every payment. Our guide to running a paid subscription newsletter covers pricing and launch.
From Lite, Beehiiv includes a referral programme, where readers earn rewards for bringing in friends, and an ad network that helps you sell sponsorship slots. If sponsors are part of your plan, Beehiiv has more of the tools built in. Our guide on how to monetise a newsletter compares the main ways to earn.
Lite includes up to 10 live automations and Pro has unlimited. That means you can send a welcome series, tag readers by interest and send different content to different groups. For a coach, that is the difference between a newsletter and a newsletter that leads people towards a call or a programme.
Beehiiv gives you a website builder on every plan, with more pages and advanced blocks on paid plans. Your newsletter can live on your own site and look like your brand rather than a page inside someone else's network.
Beehiiv's analytics, segments and plan tiers are built for people treating a newsletter as a media business. If you expect to add sponsors, a paid tier and a team, you are less likely to outgrow it.
Do not move just because a comparison says the other platform is better. If your newsletter is growing, people reply and the money works, the cost of moving (new templates, new sign-up forms, telling readers, re-testing every link) can outweigh the gain. If you leave Substack, you also leave its network, and that growth does not come with you.
Both platforms let you export your subscriber list, which matters, because you should never be fully locked into one company. How much engagement data comes with the export varies by plan, so check before you rely on it.
Neither platform guarantees the inbox. Both send on shared systems, so your placement depends partly on other senders, and mostly on your own list and how readers engage. A newsletter can land in Gmail's Promotions tab on either platform. If that worries you, read why emails go to Promotions and run your setup through our free email deliverability checker.
Neither platform will give you a reason to subscribe or pay. A vague topic, irregular sending and no clear paid offer will hold a newsletter back on either one. Fix the offer and the sending habit first, then decide if the platform is really the problem.
1. Do you already have an audience? If not, Substack's network gives you a better chance of being found. If you already have followers on social media, a podcast or a client list, Beehiiv's referral programme and your own website will do more with them.
2. How much will paid subscriptions earn? Under about $490 a month, Substack's 10% costs less than Beehiiv Lite billed yearly. Above that, Beehiiv's flat fee wins, and the gap grows as you do. If you never plan to charge, compare Substack with Beehiiv's Free plan.
3. Is the newsletter the product, or does it sell something else? If the newsletter itself is what people pay for, either works. If it exists to fill your coaching calls or courses, you will want automations and segments, which points to Beehiiv, or to a creator email tool. Our Kit vs Mailchimp comparison covers that side.
A done-for-you studio fits when you know the newsletter should be bringing in clients, but you do not have time to plan the content, build the welcome series and track what turns readers into buyers. That is what we do at Unbury: we find where your marketing loses people, build the fix on the platform that suits you and run it week to week. You can start with a free marketing audit.
It depends on what the newsletter is for. Beehiiv is better if you run it as a business, because it takes 0% of paid subscriptions and includes referrals, an ad network and automations on paid plans. Substack is better for a writer starting from zero, because publishing is free and its network helps new readers find you.
Substack keeps 10% of each paid subscription payment. Stripe also charges its own fees, which for US cards are 2.9% plus 30 cents per payment and a 0.7% billing fee on recurring payments. Publishing free posts costs nothing.
Yes, up to 2,500 subscribers, with unlimited sends. The Free plan does not include paid subscriptions, the referral programme, the ad network or custom automations. Those start on Lite, at $49 a month billed yearly or $59 a month on monthly billing for up to 1,000 subscribers.
Yes. Both platforms let you export your subscriber list, and Beehiiv can import it. Paid subscribers need care, because their payments run through Stripe, so follow each platform's own migration steps. You will lose Substack's network and app discovery when you leave.
Neither has a clear edge that we can point to. Both send on shared systems, so your inbox placement depends mostly on your own list quality, how often you send and how readers engage. Check your setup with a deliverability test before you blame the platform.
Send us your setup and we will tell you honestly where it is leaking customers and what to fix first. Free, no pitch.