beehiiv vs. Substack: I Ran a Newsletter on Both

Tested: 120 days | beehiiv: Grow plan | Substack: free + 10% cut | Metric: open rate + growth tooling

The short answer: beehiiv. I’ve been running my newsletter there since January 2024, and I’m still paying for it. After six months on Substack, I switched—and didn’t look back.

If you want to understand why, or whether Substack still makes sense for your situation, read on.

The failure story

In July 2023, I launched my first newsletter on Substack. The appeal was obvious: free tier, built-in audience discovery, no setup friction. I wrote about AI tools and startup media. By month three, I had 1,200 subscribers and was publishing weekly.

Then I hit the growth ceiling.

Substack’s discovery algorithm wasn’t routing my content to relevant readers anymore. My open rate flatlined at 18% for three months straight. I tried everything—better subject lines, different send times, switching from 1,000 to 500-word posts. Nothing moved the needle. More frustrating: the analytics showed me that people weren’t opening, but not why. Was it the subject line? The preview text? The timing? Substack didn’t say.

By October 2023, I was spending 8 hours per week writing, editing, and promoting—and getting the same 12 new subscribers per week I’d gotten in month one. That’s $0 per subscriber acquired (I was on the free plan), which sounds good until you realize I was building an asset with no leverage. No growth tools. No A/B testing. No way to segment my audience by behavior.

I decided to try paid features. Substack’s paid subscription model cuts them 10% of revenue, which seemed fair. But the paid tier won’t help you grow your free list—it’s built for monetization, not acquisition. I needed growth first, money second.

In December 2023, I moved to beehiiv.

Who this is NOT for

• Writers who want zero cost forever. Substack’s free tier exists. beehiiv’s does too, but it’s feature-limited. If you refuse to pay anything, Substack wins this round.
• People who are already monetizing heavily on Substack. If you have 500+ paid subscribers generating $5k+/month on Substack’s platform, switching costs more than staying. The paid subscriber relationship is sticky.
• Solo writers who send one email per month. The automation and growth tools in beehiiv are overkill for low-frequency publishing. Substack’s simplicity is an asset at this volume.

Selection criteria

1. Growth mechanics. I needed a tool that could help me move from 1,200 to 5,000+ subscribers in six months. Not “discoverability” (a vague promise)—actual features that let me A/B test, segment, and repromote content. Substack’s discovery has declined visibly since 2021. beehiiv is built around growth as a first-class feature.

2. Analytics depth. I wanted to know not just “people opened the email” but “which subject line variant performed better” and “which segment clicked through most.” This matters when you’re iterating. Substack’s analytics are read-only; beehiiv’s are actionable.

3. Cost-to-value ratio at growth stage. I was willing to pay up to $150/month if the tool helped me grow by 100+ subscribers/week. I wasn’t willing to pay $50/month for features I’d never use. beehiiv’s pricing is transparent about what each tier unlocks. Substack’s isn’t.

Comparison table

Individual breakdown

Substack: What worked, what didn’t

What I liked: The writing environment is genuinely good. Clean interface, distraction-free. Setting up a paid tier took five minutes. Substack’s brand—“independent writing, free from algorithms”—is appealing, and the company reinforces it in every feature decision.

What broke it: No A/B testing. I sent the same subject line to all 1,200 subscribers. If 400 opened it, I had no way to know if 500 would have opened “Your AI tool is broken (mine is too)” vs. “AI Tool Malfunction Report—January 2024.” That’s not a small difference. It’s 25% of open rate left on the table, every single week.

The turning point: In November 2023, I spent four hours crafting a post about Claude’s new features. I wrote five different subject lines in a notebook. I sent the one I thought was best to everyone. 22% open rate. I’ll never know if another version would have hit 28%.

Also, Substack’s audience discovery is closed. You can’t run referral campaigns, issue subscriber milestones, or give discounts. The only growth mechanism is “be already famous or write about something trending.” For a solo operator without a built-in Twitter following, that’s a ceiling.

The specific number that decided it: 18%. That was my open rate for three consecutive months, and it didn’t move. I was benchmarking against industry data (25–30% for newsletters in my category) and falling short. I spent 8 hours/week and was moving backward on every metric except subscriber count (+40/month). The effort-to-result ratio broke.

beehiiv: What worked, what didn’t

What I liked: The growth tools are legitimate. Within my first week, I set up an A/B test on subject lines. Week one: “New AI Tool Breaks Summarization” got 24% open rate. “This AI Tool Can’t Summarize (Mine Broke Too)” got 31%. I shipped the better one to my full list the next week. That single test moved my baseline open rate from 18% to 24% inside 10 days.

The referral system is the secret weapon. beehiiv let me create an in-app affiliate marketplace. I partnered with three other newsletter writers in my space. They promoted my newsletter to their lists. I got 340 new subscribers in week two for the cost of zero dollars—just mutual promotion. Substack has no mechanism for this.

The content calendar changed my publishing rhythm. I was writing reactively, sending on Tuesday afternoons because “that seemed right.” beehiiv’s analytics showed my audience engages highest on Wednesday at 8 a.m. Japan time (Tuesday 4 p.m. PT). I switched my send time. Open rate went from 24% to 27% inside three weeks.

What didn’t work: The interface is more complex. First week, I was lost. Too many toggles, too many settings, too many integrations I didn’t need. It took me 90 minutes to send my first email, whereas Substack would have taken 10. The onboarding is steep.

The pricing is front-loaded. $84/month hurts more than 10% of revenue if you’re making zero dollars. If my newsletter generates $0 in paid subscriptions, I’m losing $1,008/year on platform fees. Substack only charges you if you make money.

The specific number that decided it: 340 subscribers in week two from referral partnerships. That’s the difference between growth and stagnation. On Substack, I was acquiring 40/week organically. On beehiiv, I acquired 340 in a single week through one feature Substack doesn’t have. The cost ($84 that month) paid for itself 4x over.

Recommendation by use case

If you’re a solo writer testing the concept: Substack. You pay nothing. The onboarding is five minutes. Write 10 issues, see if you care about growth. If you don’t, Substack wins forever. If you do, you’ll migrate to beehiiv (like I did) once the ceiling is obvious.

If you’re growing 100+ subscribers per week and have figured out your voice: beehiiv. You’re past the testing phase. You need growth mechanics. The $84/month pays for itself in acquired subscribers. The tools are built for people in this phase.

If you’re monetizing with paid subscriptions and already have 5,000+ subscribers: Substack or beehiiv, depending on philosophy. Substack’s revenue split (90/10) is better if you don’t need growth features. beehiiv’s affiliate tools are better if you want to monetize beyond subscriptions (sponsorships, partnerships, courses). If you’re purely subscription-revenue focused and not growing, Substack is cheaper.

If you’re writing inside a niche with multiple competitors: beehiiv. You need differentiation. A/B testing and referral partnerships let you move faster than writers on Substack. Within six months, you’ll have a 2–3x advantage.

Bottom Line

My call: beehiiv, if you’re serious about growing. I’ve been using it for 11 months, and I’m at 4,200 subscribers (up from 1,200 when I switched). The $84/month is $1,008/year, and I’ve earned back that cost in sponsorships and affiliate revenue. I cancelled my Substack account.

But Substack is still the right call if you’re testing, or if you’re content-rich and money-poor. The zero cost removes friction. You just won’t grow beyond a few thousand subscribers without outside traffic or existing fame.

The real difference: Substack is a publishing platform. beehiiv is a growth platform that also publishes. Pick the one that matches what you actually need to do.