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Head to head

beehiiv vs Substack

The same six questions asked of each one, side by side.

AttributeAlternativebeehiivOur pickSubstack
Starting price$43/moNothing to publish, and 10% of paid subscription revenue when you charge readers. Substack describes this as writers keeping 90% of revenue 'minus credit card fees'; the payment processing rate is not published anywhere on Substack's own pages, so treat processing as an additional cost at an unstated rate.
Free tierYesYes
Ease of startScored 4/5Running in an hourScored 5/5Usable same day
Fit for solo / small teamScored 4/5Good for a small teamScored 5/5Made for one person
Switching costMediumMedium
Best forNewsletter operators treating it as a business — the referral programme, ad network and recommendation engine are built in rather than bolted on.Writers who want to publish today with no setup and no bill, and who value Substack's recommendation network for finding early readers.
Worth knowing side by side
Transaction fee—10%
Renews higherNoNo
Worst forPeople who just want to email a list. You would be paying for growth machinery you never touch.Anyone earning well from subscriptions. Ten percent of $5,000 a month is $500 a month, forever, for software that competitors sell for a flat fee.
Skip it ifYour newsletter is a side channel for another business. Kit's free tier goes four times further before you pay anything.Your newsletter already makes real money. beehiiv takes 0% of subscription revenue and charges a flat monthly rate instead.
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Why Substack is marked as our pick

Free until you charge, then ten percent forever plus unpublished processing fees. It has the lowest ongoing cost of the tools compared here. We compare on the price you keep paying, not the introductory rate — a plan advertised cheaply that renews higher is ranked on its renewal price. Read the methodology.

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