Migration guide
Substack → beehiiv
Beehiiv is the closest like-for-like Substack experience without revenue share. Modern editor, built-in referral system, ad network for monetization, custom domains on every paid plan. If you mostly want a faster Substack with more growth tooling, beehiiv is the canonical move.
Published · By the TierGauge editorial team
When this migration makes sense
- You want a Substack-shaped publication (single brand, one main feed) without Substack's 10% cut.
- You'd use a built-in referral program to grow.
- You want to monetize via ads in addition to (or instead of) paid subscriptions.
When it doesn't
- You rely heavily on Substack's discovery and Notes for new readers.
- You publish a podcast as your primary format; beehiiv is text-first.
- You have under 2,500 subscribers and aren't monetizing; beehiiv's free Launch tier covers you, but Substack's free tier already does too.
What you lose by leaving Substack
- Substack's discovery network.
- Built-in podcast hosting (beehiiv supports a podcast feed but is text-first).
- The reader app experience.
What you gain with beehiiv
- No 10% revenue share.
- Built-in referral program (the standout beehiiv growth feature).
- A boost system to pay other newsletters for cross-promotion.
- Monetization via beehiiv's ad network in addition to paid subscriptions.
Step-by-step migration
- 01
Export your list from Substack
Pull a fresh CSV of every active subscriber. Capture the fields you actually use downstream: email is required, name is standard, signup date and tier (free/paid) are useful when Substack provides them.
- 02
Provision beehiiv
Sign up, set sender identity, and verify your sending domain (DKIM, SPF, DMARC). Do this before importing the list; sending from an unverified domain is the single fastest way to land in spam at the moment of cutover.
- 03
Import the list and map fields
Upload the CSV. Map email + name + any custom fields. Decide whether to import as one list or split into segments/tags. Substack-style organization rarely maps 1:1, so plan the split before the upload, not after.
- 04
Rebuild automations and templates
beehiiv's automation builder is structurally similar but won't import Substack's flows directly. Rebuild only what you actively use; the move is a chance to delete the unused ones rather than lift-and-shift dead infrastructure.
- 05
Send a test broadcast
Pick a small segment and send a real broadcast (not just a preview). Verify deliverability, link clicks, and unsubscribe flow. If anything's off, you find it before the announcement, not after.
- 06
Announce the move and cut over
Send your last broadcast from Substack announcing the new sender domain and what to expect. Cut over DNS and sending from beehiiv on the same day, not staggered. A dual-send week creates more confusion than it prevents.
Substack-to-beehiiv specific gotchas
Universal steps cover most of the work. These are the failure modes unique to this exact pair.
-
#1
Substack export gives email + name only. Tier (free/paid) and signup date don't carry over cleanly.
-
#2
Active paid subscribers re-subscribe through beehiiv's Stripe; communicate the cutover date with a clear deadline.
-
#3
Domain switch should land after beehiiv setup is verified end-to-end, not before. DNS TTL of 1h is a reasonable target.
Common questions
- Is beehiiv cheaper than Substack?
- Both start at the same headline price (Free). The reason to migrate is the pricing model and feature scope, not the entry-tier number.
- Will I lose subscribers in the move?
- Email lists transfer as raw addresses; subscriber relationships transfer with you because the addresses haven't changed. What you can lose: re-engagement (some readers won't notice the new sender domain immediately), paid subscriptions if Substack handles billing differently from beehiiv (the gotchas above call out the specific cases), and any "engagement" or warmth signals that Substack's deliverability inferred from your sending history. Plan a clear announcement and a deliverability warm-up week.
- How long does the migration take?
- For a list under 10,000 subscribers, a clean migration is one focused week: domain setup and verification, list import, automation rebuild, test broadcast, announcement, cutover. Larger lists or complex automations can stretch to 2 or 3 weeks. The constraint is rarely the import itself; it's the deliverability warm-up and the time to rebuild flows you actually depend on.
- Are Substack and beehiiv direct competitors?
- Yes. Both are primarily email marketing tools, which is why this is a defensible head-to-head migration rather than a cross-category consolidation.
- Where can I see Substack vs beehiiv side-by-side?
- The /compare/beehiiv-vs-substack page on TierGauge shows side-by-side plans, headline pricing, included features, and limit comparison at the entry paid tier. This migration guide is the long-form decision narrative; the compare page is the data-only dashboard.
Sources
- Substack: https://substack.com/going-paid
- beehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing
Pricing verified . Migration mechanics are based on the public pricing pages and standard ESP migration patterns; verify destructive steps (DNS cutover, paid subscription transfer) against the vendor's current docs before executing.