| Plan | Substack | Beehiiv |
|---|---|---|
| Free publishing | $0 — unlimited free subscribers | $0 — up to 2,500 subscribers |
| Paid subscriptions | 10% revenue share | $49/month, 0% revenue share (Grow) |
| Breakeven point | $490/month MRR — above this, Beehiiv is cheaper | |
| Large lists (>50K subs) | 10% (no subscriber limit fee) | $99/month flat (Scale — up to 100K) |
| Payment processing | ~3% (Stripe) | ~3% (Stripe) |
| Your Monthly Revenue | Substack Cost | Beehiiv Grow ($49/mo) | Monthly Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 (free only) | $0 | $0 (free plan) | Even |
| $100 MRR | $10 | $49 | Substack saves $39 |
| $490 MRR | $49 | $49 | Break-even |
| $1,000 MRR | $100 | $49 | Beehiiv saves $51 |
| $3,000 MRR | $300 | $49 | Beehiiv saves $251 |
| $5,000 MRR | $500 | $99 (Scale) | Beehiiv saves $401 |
| $10,000 MRR | $1,000 | $99 (Scale) | Beehiiv saves $901 |
| Feature | Substack | Beehiiv |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in discovery | Yes — Substack network, Notes feed | Limited — no native discovery |
| Analytics depth | Basic open rates + subscriber count | Advanced: segments, attribution, revenue/sub |
| Referral program | No native referral program | Built-in referral program (Grow+) |
| Ad monetization | No (beyond your own ads) | Beehiiv Ad Network (Scale) |
| Custom domain | Yes (included) | Yes (Grow+) |
| Revenue share | 10% | 0% |
| Social features (Notes) | Yes — Notes, reposts, comments | No equivalent |
| Podcast hosting | Yes (included) | No |
| Template library | Limited | Extensive template library |
| Ease of migration in | Easy (simple onboarding) | Yes (Substack import tool) |
PricePulse monitors Substack and Beehiiv pricing hourly. If either platform changes its fee structure, you'll know instantly — with the exact diff of what changed.
Get price alerts — free See example alertBeehiiv Grow ($49/month) is cheaper than Substack (10% fee) once you earn more than $490/month from paid subscriptions. Below that threshold, Substack's percentage model costs less. At $1,000 MRR, Beehiiv saves you $51/month; at $5,000 MRR, it saves $401/month.
Start on Substack if you don't have an audience yet and want zero cost to test. Start on Beehiiv if you already have subscribers and plan to monetize soon — you'll want the analytics and referral program from day one rather than migrating later.
Technically easy — Beehiiv has a one-click Substack import. The harder part is paid subscriber migration: your paid subs need to re-subscribe via Beehiiv's checkout, not Substack's. Most newsletters see 60–80% of paid subscribers successfully migrate. Plan the migration carefully with a dedicated email campaign.
Substack has a "Recommend" feature (cross-newsletter recommendations) but no traditional referral program with tracking links and subscriber rewards. Beehiiv's referral program is a distinct competitive advantage for growth-focused newsletters.
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