beehiiv vs Substack vs Kit vs Ghost

There is no single answer, which is why each comparison here has its own page. Broadly: beehiiv if the newsletter is meant to make money, Substack if you want to publish with zero setup and no monthly bill, Kit if the newsletter sells a course or product, Ghost if you want to own the whole stack.

beehiiv and Ghost both take 0% of paid subscriptions, with Stripe fees still applying. Kit charges 3.5% + 30c on commerce transactions. Substack takes 10% of subscription revenue, which is by far the largest cut of the four and the one that grows with you.

Kit, at up to 10,000 subscribers. beehiiv Launch covers 2,500. Substack is free to publish with no subscriber cap but takes 10% once you sell subscriptions. Ghost(Pro) has no free tier, though the software is open source and free to self-host.

Yes, and all four export subscribers as CSV. Free subscribers move easily. Paid subscribers are harder because recurring billing has to move between Stripe accounts, so treat that as a planned migration rather than an afternoon job.

It applies to beehiiv only, on the Scale and Max plans, for new beehiiv customers. It gives 14 days free and then 20% off your first 3 months.