Beehiiv vs. Substack: Which newsletter platform is better?

Looking for a tool to launch, scale, and monetize with your newsletter? Try one of these tools and learn about them in this Beehiiv vs. Substack comparison.

Does your email marketing platform offer an integrated publishing functionality? If not, switch to Beehiiv or Substack.

Beehiiv combines email marketing with blogging capability, while Substack focuses on content creation and distribution. 

However, how does each perform as a newsletter tool and email marketing software? Let’s find out in this Beehiiv vs. Substack comparison.

Beehiiv vs. Substack: At a Glance

Criteria	Beehiiv	Substack	Winner
SMB Guide’s Rating	8/10	5.6/10	Beehiiv
Marketing Automation Capabilities	Workflow builder	Lacks a workflow builder	Beehiiv
Email Builder	Dynamic builder with drag and drop	Lacks drag and drop function	Beehiiv
Personalization & Customization	Merge tags and segmentation options	Basic merge tag options	Beehiiv
Campaign Performance Tracking	3D analytics on campaign performance	Basic performance metrics	Beehiiv
Email Deliverability	✅	✅	Tie
List Management	Comprehensive list segmentation options	Lacks the in-depth segmentation options	Beehiiv
A/B Testing	✅	✅	Beehiiv
Advanced Reporting & Insights	Attribution tools for tracking	Basic tracking of engagement metrics	Beehiiv
Compliance & Security	✅	✅	Tie
User Experience and User Interface	Modern interface	Complex interface	Beehiiv
Integrations and Compatibility	API and webhooks for custom integrations	Lacks an API for custom integrations	Beehiiv
Customer Support	Live chat, tickets, or email	Live chat and email	Beehiiv
Pricing	Free – $399/mo	Free	Substack
Scalability	✅	✅	Beehiiv

Beehiiv: Key Features, Pros, Cons, & Pricing

Beehiiv is a newsletter tool with blogging functionality. It allows creators to publish various content types on one platform.

The best part is that it offers a no-code solution for writing without needing tech configurations.

Beehiiv offers powerful features that can help creators grow and monetize their subscribers. These include 3D analytics, email automation, and audience segmentation.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

The Beehiiv pricing structure is straightforward. It offers four plans, including a free package.

The plans are scalable and come with a month-long free trial period. The free plan provides basic functions like API access and supports up to 2500 contacts. 

Paid plans offer more functionality, including priority support. Billing is monthly or yearly, and pricing depends on the number of subscribers.

Here are the plans.

• Launch: Free (2500 subscribers)
• Scale: $39 monthly or $408 yearly (1K subscribers)
• Max: $99 monthly or $1032 annually (1K subscribers)
• Enterprise: Custom

Substack: Key Features, Pros, Cons, & Pricing

Substack is mainly a newsletter platform that now supports publication. It combines a personal website, podcast, and blog. 

Creators have favored Substack because of its free core features, such as the native payment system. It has an integrated monetization capability that creators can leverage to charge subscribers directly.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

Substacks ‘ pricing is rather different from other newsletter platforms. It offers a forever free plan that supports unlimited subscribers.

The only charge they have is when a creator opts for paid subscriptions. Substack then charges a 10% cut on each transaction, including credit card fees (2.9% + $0.30).

It also includes a billing fee of (0.5%) for recurring payments.

Marketing Automation Capabilities

Beehiiv excels here, providing users with a workflow builder to create intricate marketing sequences. The builder allows using conditional actions and branching logic based on subscriber interactions.

Beehiiv also offers more options for triggers for automated actions, including user behavior and time-based triggers. 

Substack only provides triggers based on user behavior, such as unsubscribes and signups.

On cross-channel automation, both software primarily focuses on email marketing. Also, neither software offers integration with social media or SMS.

Regarding dynamic content personalization, Beehiiv edges Substack. It allows users to personalize email content within workflows based on recipient attributes.

✅ Winner: Beehiiv

Email Builder

Beehiiv offers a more dynamic email builder with drag-and-drop functionality for customizing templates to fit various needs.

Users can add elements like images, blocks, buttons, and embedded links to social networks.

Both platforms also optimize the templates for mobile devices. It allows seamless rendering across different screens while maintaining readability.

Substack and Beehiiv also offer HTML editing for users who need advanced customization.

After designing the email templates, users can preview them to see how they appear on various clients and devices.

Markets can also spam test the emails to check deliverability.

✅ Winner: Beehiiv

Personalization & Customization

Beehiiv offers powerful personalization functionality, allowing dynamic content insertion based on set criteria. It mainly involves segmentation and subscriber behavior, among other attributes.

The software also provides a broad range of merge tags for personalization, including recipient information.

The granular segmentation allows marketers to create detailed personas and deliver personalized content.

On the other hand, Substack is making strides in personalization but not yet on Beehiiv’s level of flexibility and depth. 

While it offers basic merge tags and segmentation options, its simplicity limits personalization options. Not only that, behavior personalization isn’t a core feature and its dynamic content insertion has limitations.

✅ Winner: Beehiiv

Campaign Performance Tracking

Beehiiv shines here, offering 3D campaign performance analytics on tracking metrics like open rates, CTR, and ROI.

Substack offers basic performance metrics like open rates and CTR. Not only that, its analytics have limitations compared to those of Beehiivs.

Regarding real-time reporting dashboards, both software offers the feature. However, Substack’s is less intuitive and displays fewer data points.

With campaign goal setting, Substack focuses on content distribution and engagement. Beehiiv, on the other hand, allows marketers to define and measure their campaign objectives against industry benchmarks.

On a/b testing, both platforms offer the tools for running split tests on various email content elements. However, Substack’s tools lack advanced capabilities, such as providing granular insights into the test results.

Both platforms also integrate with third-party analytics platforms, including Google Analytics. The integrations allow granular tracking and analysis, providing a holistic view of the campaign’s performance.

✅ Winner: Beehiiv

Email Deliverability

Beehiiv and Substack offer spam filter testing functionality to identify potential deliverability issues. However, Substack focuses on basic deliverability but lacks advanced testing features like those on Beehiiv. 

Instead, it implements measures like SPF and DKIM to verify the sender and prevent spam. Something to note is that both platforms also focus on tracking spam complaints and bounce rates.

✅ Winner: Tie

List Management

Beehiiv provides comprehensive list segmentation options, allowing marketers to group their audience based on defined custom criteria. 

The flexibility allows businesses to customize their campaigns to fit the different segments.

Unlike Substack, Beehiiv allows tagging subscribers based on behavior and interaction.

Substack lacks the in-depth segmentation options like those on Beehiiv. It only focuses on content distribution, meaning list management isn’t essential.

Regarding list cleaning, both platforms provide the functionality. Users can use the tools to remove invalid email addresses and duplicates. 

Both software also offer opt-in/opt-out options for subscriber preference management. However, Beehiiv provides double opt-in processes and subscription management preferences.

Marketers also have the option to create custom landing pages and subscription forms.

✅ Winner: Beehiiv

A/B Testing

Beehiiv offers powerful functionality where users can run tests on various email elements. These include sending times, content, and subject lines.

Setting the A/B tests is straightforward, with the interface guiding the steps.

The A/B testing feature on Substack has some limitations. While it allows running tests on the email subject lines, it doesn’t allow testing other elements. 

On reporting, Beehiiv offers more detailed test results, unlike Substack. It provides visualizations that make it easy to compare the test variations.

✅ Winner: Beehiiv

Advanced Reporting & Insights

Beehiiv edges Substack here, providing powerful reporting features for analyzing campaigns across segments.

It also includes attribution tools to track customers through the funnel and measure the campaign’s impact on conversions.

Substack reporting focuses more on subscriber growth and engagement. It lacks the same level of in-depth segmentation analysis as that on Beehiiv. 

On attribution, Substack offers basic tracking of engagement metrics. While it can provide insights into campaign impact, it lacks the depth of Beehiiv.

Unlike Substack, Beehiiv offers advanced predictive analytics to forecast future campaign performance.

The software can use historical data to provide insights on campaign engagement inhibitors and suggest areas for improvement.

✅ Winner: Beehiiv

Compliance and Security

Beehiiv and Substack offer features that help to facilitate GDPR compliance. They both offer consent management tools that allow businesses to get consent to collect subscriber data.

Beehiiv goes on to support data access requests and processing agreements, unlike Substack. 

Regarding data encryption, both software use SSL/TLS.

On permission-based marketing, both software adheres to the principles. It means that the platform only sends emails to subscribers who have opted to receive messages.

✅ Winner: Tie

User Interface and User Experience

Beehiiv offers a modern interface with a clean layout that simplifies navigation. The platform organizes the menu and key functions logically, making them easily accessible.

The Substack interface is minimal and focuses on simplicity. Unlike Beehiiv, navigating the platform is complex, requiring a few clicks to access the key features.

Beehiiv and  Substack also offer an email editor to customize the templates. However, unlike Beehiiv, Substack’s editor lacks drag-and-drop functionality, limiting customization flexibility.

Both platforms also provide spam testing and preview features. The preview function lets marketers see how the emails appear on various devices and clients.

The spam testing tool also helps optimize for deliverability.

✅ Winner: Beehiiv

Integrations and Compatibility

Beehiiv integrates with popular CRMs like Mailchimp. The integration process is straightforward and has clear instructions. 

Substack offers a limited integration stack and lacks native connections with CRMs. It focuses on content creation and distribution rather than CRM functionalities.

Regarding API availability, Beehiiv edges Substack. It offers an API and webhooks for custom integrations, which, unlike Substack, adds flexibility.

On e-commerce integrations, Beehiive connects with Shopify and WooCommerce. Substack lacks direct integration with e-commerce systems. It requires using manual processes to sync the data.

✅ Winner: Beehiiv

Customer Support

Businesses can reach support on Beehiiv through live chat, tickets, and email. Users who subscribe to the top plans get priority support and a dedicated account manager.

Substack relies on live chat and email for communication. The live chat on each platform is the quickest, with response taking, on average, 3-5 minutes.

The other channels can take up to 6 hours to get a response. Marketers looking for self-help resources will find that Beehiiv offers a knowledge base with guides and tutorials.

The content is in-depth and covers various topics, including the software’s inner workings.

Substack offers a help center full of guides covering the most common inquiries. It also has a community forum where users can interact with other experts.

✅ Winner: Beehiiv

Pricing

Beehiiv offers four scalable plans that include a forever-free package. Pricing depends on the number of subscribers, with free plan capping at 2500.

It gives solopreneurs and startups an excellent entry point. Besides that, the paid plans are transparent and scalable.

Substack operates on a revenue-sharing model with no upfront costs. The platform retains a 10% commission on all paid subscribers. 

This model suits creators with large contact lists. While it lacks explicit pricing tiers, the dynamic revenue-share model makes it easy for startups to join.

✅ Winner: Substack

Scalability

Beehiiv pricing can accommodate growing businesses with a rising subscriber base. As you upgrade, the platform offers access to more advanced functionalities.

Its infrastructure can also handle high email volumes while maintaining reliable performance. 

Substack focuses on content creation and distribution but has scalability limitations. While it can handle unlimited subscribers, it lacks advanced customization features like Beehiiv.

As your business grows, you will likely outgrow the platform’s capabilities.

✅ Winner: Beehiiv

Standout Features of Beehiiv

Besides offering an excellent newsletter tool with publication capabilities, Beehiiv offers other standout features.

Here are two that we found.

• Magic links: Beehiiv generates URLs that auto-subscribe to the person who clicks on them. This crucial feature helps avoid the back-and-forth with a subscriber, allowing for one-click sign-up.
• Email gating pop-ups: This feature restricts audiences from accessing valuable content by requiring them to provide email addresses. Beehiiv allows users to customize the popup and enable it site-wide or on individual pages.

Standout Features of Substack

Substack offers a remarkable platform for content creation and distribution. However, there are two features we found that make it unique.

They include:

• Payment processing: Substack offers a built-in monetization system for collecting payments. The processor handles all transaction fees and bank payouts, simplifying content monetization.
• Community engagement: Substack emphasizes community building by providing engagement features like reader comments and discussion threads. It helps foster interaction when the readers comment on posts and engage in the discussions.

Beehiiv vs. Substack: SMB Guide’s Verdict

Across this in-depth comparison, Beehiiv beats Substack in almost all categories. That is why it is our pick for the winner.

Here is why:

It offers marketers advanced segmentation, a built-in Stripe payment processor, and 3D in-depth analytics. It also provides better integration options via API and webhooks for custom connections.

These and many other features are why it edges Substack. Substack is a decent alternative that excels at community engagement and focuses on content creation.

However, the lack of native integrations and basic customization options makes it lose this duel.

Choose Beehiiv If:

You need a scalable email marketing platform with advanced tools for optimizing campaigns.

Choose Substack If:

You are a writer or publisher and need a free platform for publishing and monetizing content.