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GuideHow to move from Substack to beehiiv (2026)
Posts, free subscribers, paid subscribers, your domain and your podcast, in the right order, without charging anyone twice. Straight from beehiiv's own migration guide.
Summarised from official help pages. Not a hands-on migration.
Last checked 31 Oct 2026 against beehiiv's own migration guide (updated 22 Jun 2026) and help pages, plus Substack's fee page. Menu names and steps can change, so follow the official guide if anything looks different.
Disclosure (#ad): We earn a commission if you sign up for a paid beehiiv plan through links marked “paid link” on this page, at no extra cost to you. Substack doesn't pay us anything. We haven't done this migration hands-on: every step below is summarised from beehiiv's official guide, linked in the sources. How this works.
The short version
You move four things: your posts, your free subscribers, your paid subscribers, and your domain (plus your podcast, if you have one). Posts and free subscribers are a URL paste and a CSV upload. Paid subscribers move through Stripe and keep their current price.[G]
The one step people forget: after the paid migration, you have to pause or cancel billing on Substack yourself, or your paid readers get charged twice.[G]
Not sure you should move at all? If you don't sell paid subscriptions yet, Substack costs you nothing. Run your numbers in our beehiiv vs Substack break-even calculator first.
What moves, and what doesn't
| Thing | How it moves | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Free posts | Paste your Substack URL into beehiiv's Content Import tool[G] | Set a default post template first: after import, styling is post by post[G] |
| Paid posts | Upload Substack's export zip to the same tool[G] | Connect Stripe and create a paid tier first, or paywalled posts import fully visible. Paywall placement isn't kept[G] |
| Free subscribers | Export a CSV from Substack, upload it in beehiiv[G] | Signup dates show as the import date unless you ask beehiiv support to restore them[G] |
| Paid subscribers (Stripe) | Stripe copies customers to your beehiiv-connected Stripe account, then beehiiv recreates the subscriptions[G] | Everyone keeps their current price[P]. You must pause Substack billing afterwards[G] |
| Comped, gifted and iOS subscribers | Not in Stripe, so you grant them complimentary access in beehiiv[G] | iOS subscribers have to cancel in the App Store themselves[G] |
| Custom domain | Connect it in beehiiv via Entri[M] | beehiiv uses the same /p/ post URLs as Substack, so old links keep working without manual redirects[G] |
| Podcast | Import the archive, then redirect your Substack RSS feed[G] | Only redirect once you've stopped publishing episodes on Substack and the import has finished[G] |
| Not migrated | Video posts, podcast-type posts, photo galleries, comments, categories and paywall placement. Code blocks arrive as plain text[G] | |
Step 1: get beehiiv ready
- Pick a plan. beehiiv Free can't sell paid subscriptions, so if you have paid readers you need Lite or above.[B]
- Make a default post template. Imported posts take its styling; after that you can only restyle posts one at a time.[G]
- If you have paid readers: connect a new Stripe account through beehiiv (Stripe should offer to pre-fill details from your Substack-connected account) and create paid tiers that mirror your Substack tiers.[G]
Step 2: move your posts
- In Substack, go to Settings › Import/Export and make a new export. Download the zip. (On Safari, turn off “Open safe files after downloading” so it stays zipped.)[G]
- In beehiiv, go to Settings › Content Import › Start Import and choose Substack.[G]
- Paste your Substack URL for free posts, and upload the zip for paywalled posts. Free-only? Just the URL.[G]
- Wait. beehiiv says it usually takes 5–10 minutes, depending on how many posts you have.[G]
- Paid posts arrive fully gated. Add a Paywall block to any post where you want free readers to see a preview.[G]
Step 3: move your free subscribers
- In Substack, open Subscribers and export a CSV of everyone.[G]
- Optional but smart: trim it to email, name, start date, country, source and activity, and rename the columns as beehiiv suggests (for example,
Subscriber countrybecomessubscriber_country, because “country” is reserved).[G] - In beehiiv, go to Settings › Subscribers Import › New Subscribers Import, upload the CSV, confirm everyone opted in, and map the fields.[G]
- Protect your deliverability: beehiiv recommends leaving out subscribers with a Substack activity rating of 0 for your first 2–4 weeks of sends.[G]
Step 4: move your paid subscribers
- In beehiiv, go to Settings › Subscribers Import › Import paid subscriptions from Stripe › Start a New Migration.[G]
- In Stripe, switch to your Substack-connected account, open Customers, choose Copy all customers, and paste in your beehiiv Stripe account ID. Then accept the transfer in your beehiiv-connected Stripe account.[G]
- Stripe says the copy can take up to three days. beehiiv says most finish in 5–15 minutes. No one is charged during the copy.[G][P]
- Back in beehiiv, paste your Substack-connected Stripe account ID and a restricted API key you create in that Stripe account (Developers › API keys). Store the key safely: Stripe won't show it again.[G]
- Map each Substack product and price to a beehiiv tier. Legacy and discounted prices are kept either way.[G]
- Download the preview CSV for your records, then start the import.[G]
Step 5: stop Substack billing (don't skip this)
beehiiv's tool copies subscriptions; it doesn't cancel the old ones.[T] In Substack, go to Dashboard › Settings › Payments › Pause subscription billing and choose Pause indefinitely. beehiiv says most publishers pause rather than cancel because it's immediate. If you'd rather fully cancel, contact Substack Support and confirm no refunds are issued.[G]
While you're in Stripe, beehiiv suggests turning on Revenue recovery › Emails for failed payments and expiring cards, since both are off on a new Stripe account.[G]
Step 6: comped, gifted and app-store readers
These readers aren't in Stripe, so the paid import can't see them. Use the expiration date in your Substack subscriber export and give them complimentary access in beehiiv for the time they have left.[G] iOS subscribers pay through Apple, and you can't cancel those from Substack, so email them and ask them to cancel in the App Store. beehiiv suggests offering a discount link to re-subscribe on your site.[G]
Step 7: point your domain and finish up
- Connect your custom domain in beehiiv (it uses Entri, so no manual DNS editing).[M] Because both platforms use
/p/post-nameURLs, your old post links carry over.[G] - Rebuild your Substack Recommendations as beehiiv's Top 4 Recommendations, and verify the new site in Google Search Console.[G]
- Podcast? Import the archive, then use Substack's Redirect RSS feed option to point listeners at your beehiiv feed.[G]
- Rather not do it yourself? beehiiv lists migration specialists in its Experts Directory.[M]
Is it worth the move?
Reasons to move
The rough rule from our beehiiv vs Substack rundown: on beehiiv Lite (annual, up to 1,000 subscribers), the switch starts paying for itself at about $490 a month in paid-subscription revenue. Below that, staying on Substack is the cheaper call.
FAQ
Will my paid subscribers be charged twice?
Only if you forget Step 5. The beehiiv migration doesn't cancel anything on Substack, so pause Substack billing as soon as the paid import finishes.[G][T]
Do paid subscribers pay a new price?
No. beehiiv says imported subscribers keep their current price, whatever the listed price of the beehiiv tier you map them to.[P]
Will I lose my Google rankings?
If you use a custom domain and connect it to beehiiv, your /p/ post URLs stay the same, so links keep working.[G] beehiiv's note on carrying URLs over applies to custom domains; it doesn't say anything about substack.com addresses.
Can I bring over comments?
No. Comments aren't migrated.[G]
How long does it take?
beehiiv's own estimates: 5–10 minutes for the post import, and usually 5–15 minutes for the Stripe customer copy (Stripe allows up to three days). Prep and checking take longer than the imports themselves.[G]
Sources
- [G] beehiiv, “How to migrate from Substack to beehiiv”: beehiiv.com/support (updated 22 Jun 2026, checked 31 Oct 2026)
- [P] beehiiv, “How to import paid subscribers”: beehiiv.com/support (checked 31 Oct 2026)
- [T] beehiiv, “Troubleshooting paid subscription issues”: beehiiv.com/support (checked 31 Oct 2026)
- [M] beehiiv, “Migrate to beehiiv”: beehiiv.com/migrate (checked 31 Oct 2026)
- [B] beehiiv pricing: beehiiv.com/pricing (checked 30 Oct 2026)
- [S] Substack, “How much does Substack cost?”: support.substack.com (updated 29 Sep 2026, checked 30 Oct 2026)