How to Migrate from Substack to beehiiv (Step by Step)

Why Creators Are Migrating from Substack to beehiiv

The math is the main reason. Substack takes 10% of every paid subscription — forever. A newsletter with 500 paying subscribers at $10/month loses $6,000/year to Substack's cut. beehiiv charges a flat $39/month and takes nothing.

Beyond money, beehiiv gives you full SEO control, automation, referral programs, and a built-in ad network — features Substack doesn't offer.

The good news: migration is easier than you think.

Step 1 — Export Your Subscriber List from Substack (2 minutes)

1. Go to your Substack dashboard
2. Click Settings → Exports
3. Download the subscriber CSV
4. You'll get a file with email addresses and subscription status

Step 2 — Import to beehiiv (2 minutes)

1. Sign up for beehiiv (free up to 2,500 subscribers)
2. Go to Audience → Import Subscribers
3. Upload your CSV
4. Map the columns: email, name, subscription tier

Your full list is now in beehiiv. Subscribers are not notified.

Step 3 — Import Your Content Archive (10 minutes)

1. In beehiiv, go to Settings → Import Content
2. Enter your Substack publication URL
3. beehiiv automatically imports your full post archive
4. Posts appear in your beehiiv dashboard with formatting preserved

Step 4 — Transfer Paid Subscribers (30 minutes)

This is the most important step and beehiiv has made it seamless.

1. In beehiiv, go to Monetization → Paid Subscriptions
2. Follow the Stripe Connect setup
3. beehiiv provides a migration guide for moving Stripe subscriptions
4. Paid subscribers' billing cycles and payment methods stay unchanged
5. They are never notified of the switch

Step 5 — Set Up Your Custom Domain

1. In beehiiv, go to Settings → Publication → Custom Domain
2. Add your domain (requires Scale plan at $39/mo or above)
3. Update your DNS records as instructed
4. Your newsletter now lives on your own domain — not Substack's

Step 6 — Send Your First beehiiv Newsletter

You're done. Send your next issue from beehiiv as normal. Your subscribers receive it from the same email address they're used to.

The Bottom Line

Migration takes under an hour, subscribers notice nothing, and you immediately start keeping 100% of your paid subscription revenue. If you've been putting this off, there's no good reason to wait.