beehiiv vs Substack
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for beehiiv and Substack, verified . Both are primarily email marketing tools.
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
beehiiv
- Launch
Free up to 2,500 subscribers
Free - Scale
Monetize and grow
$43/mo - Max
Pro features for larger operators
$96/mo - Enterprise
100,000+ subscribers, custom contracting
Custom
Substack
- Standard
Free to publish; 10% of paid subscription revenue
Free
When beehiiv wins
- Newsletter operators who plan to monetize via ads, sponsorships, or paid subscriptions
- Solo creators who want one tool for newsletter, website, and podcast
- Publications under 100k subscribers that value growth networks (recommendations, boosts) over deep automation
Where beehiiv is the wrong fit
- B2B teams that need deep CRM integration or pipeline workflows
- Brands that need granular email design and dev-level template control
- API-first transactional senders (use Postmark or Resend instead)
When Substack wins
- New writers with no list yet who want platform-driven discovery
- Writers who would rather give 10% of revenue than pay a flat $20-100/month with no readers
Where Substack is the wrong fit
- Established creators with a paid list above ~5,000 subscribers; the 10% share exceeds what Kit, Ghost, or beehiiv would charge in flat fees at that scale
- Operators who want full control over deliverability, subscriber data, and migration optionality
- Brands needing automations, segmentation, or marketing tooling
Common questions
- Is beehiiv cheaper than Substack?
- Both beehiiv and Substack have free or custom entry pricing, so a direct entry-tier price comparison is not meaningful.
- Does beehiiv or Substack have a free plan?
- Both have free plans. beehiiv: Free up to 2,500 subscribers. Substack: Free to publish; 10% of paid subscription revenue.
beehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing · Substack: https://substack.com/going-paid
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.