beehiiv #1 vs Substack #8 of 9 on /best/email-marketing
beehiiv vs Substack
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for beehiiv and Substack, verified . Both are primarily email marketing tools.
beehiiv
- Starting price
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- 30 days
- Plans
- 4
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
Migrating between these tools 1 guide
Long-form migration guide for this exact pair. Each covers the cost math, what you lose, what you gain, and the pair-specific gotchas that bite during cutover.
Compare across the category
This page is beehiiv vs Substack. To put both side by side with every other email marketing tool we track on a single price-only table, see the email marketing pricing comparison . Free tiers, entry paid plans, and mid-tier plans for the full email marketing cohort.
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.
- Are beehiiv and Substack in the same category?
- Yes. Both are primarily email marketing tools, which is why this is a natural head-to-head comparison.
- Which has more plans, beehiiv or Substack?
- beehiiv ships 4 plans; Substack ships 1. beehiiv's longer ladder gives more granular upgrade steps, which can mean smoother price escalation as your team scales.
- Where can I see alternatives to beehiiv or Substack?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/beehiiv for beehiiv and /alternatives/substack for Substack. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
Disclosure: links labeled "sponsored" above are affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you sign up. Pricing is the same; nothing in this head-to-head is influenced by commercial relationships. How we rank.
beehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing · Substack: https://substack.com/going-paid
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.