How to Migrate From Substack to Beehiiv: A Step-by-Step Checklist (2026)

If you want a clean Substack to Beehiiv migration, move in this order: prepare Beehiiv first, import content second, import subscribers third, then handle Stripe and sending only after you have checked the details.

TL;DR

• Create your Beehiiv template before importing posts, because imported styling is much easier to fix before the migration than after it.
• Export your Substack subscribers as a CSV, clean the columns, and import them into Beehiiv with tags and custom fields mapped properly.
• If you have paid subscribers, set up matching Beehiiv paid tiers and migrate Stripe carefully before pausing billing in Substack.
• Do not send a big “we moved” email to your whole list until your DNS, sender identity, and first test email all look right.
• Expect some manual cleanup. Videos, podcasts, embeds, comments, category structures, galleries, and exact paywall placements do not migrate perfectly.

I would not treat this as a one-click platform switch. Beehiiv has made the import flow much better, especially for Substack publishers, but the part that protects your business happens before and after the import: cleaning your subscriber data, checking paid tiers, warming up your new sending setup, and making sure readers do not get billed twice.

The mistake I would avoid is doing the migration in the order that feels exciting. It is tempting to import the archive first because seeing your posts in Beehiiv makes the move feel real. I would set up the boring pieces first: template, sender email, Stripe, paid tiers, segments, and tags. That is what keeps the migration from turning into a weekend of tiny fixes.

Your Substack to Beehiiv Migration Checklist

Use this as the simple version before you touch either dashboard:

1. Open a Beehiiv account and create your publication.
2. Set your default post template in Beehiiv.
3. Decide whether you are migrating free content only, paid content only, or both.
4. Export your Substack archive if you have paid or mixed content.
5. Export your Substack subscriber CSV.
6. Clean your subscriber CSV before importing.
7. Import your free and/or paid content into Beehiiv.
8. Import free subscribers into Beehiiv.
9. If you have paid subscribers, create matching paid tiers in Beehiiv.
10. Copy customer payment data through Stripe and complete Beehiiv’s paid subscriber mapping.
11. Pause Substack billing so subscribers are not charged twice.
12. Check imported posts, paywalls, subscriber counts, tags, custom fields, and test sends.
13. Send a short migration note to readers.

Beehiiv’s own Substack migration help article is the primary source I would keep open while doing this. It covers the actual dashboard flow and the current limitations. This article is the operator version: the order I would follow, the checks I would run, and the places I would slow down.

Step 1: Set Up Beehiiv Before You Import Anything

Start inside Beehiiv, not inside Substack.

Before importing content, create your publication, check your publication settings, and build a default post template. Beehiiv recommends setting your preferred template as the default post style before the import, because your imported posts will inherit that styling. If you skip this, you can still adjust posts later, but you are signing yourself up for post-by-post cleanup.

At minimum, set:

• Publication name
• Logo and basic brand colors
• Default post template
• Sender name
• Reply-to email
• Website URL structure
• Paid subscription tiers, if you have paid Substack members

If you are moving from Substack because you want more growth tools, this is also a good time to decide what you will use first: Beehiiv referrals, Boosts, recommendations, automations, or the Ad Network. Do not turn everything on during the migration. Get the foundation stable first.

Step 2: Export Your Substack Data

There are two different exports to think about:

• Your content archive
• Your subscriber list

For content, the path depends on whether your Substack archive is free, paid, or mixed.

If you only have free content, Beehiiv can import from your public Substack publication URL. You copy the URL, open Beehiiv’s Content Import tool, choose Substack, select free content, paste the URL, and start the import.

If you have paid content or a mix of free and paid content, you will need your Substack export file. In Substack, go to your dashboard settings and use the import/export area to create a new export. Beehiiv requires the export zip for paid content migration.

Small but annoying detail: if you use Safari, check that it is not automatically unzipping safe files after download. Beehiiv specifically notes that the paid content export needs to stay zipped for upload.

For subscribers, go to your Substack subscribers area and export a CSV of your list.

Step 3: Clean the Subscriber CSV Before Importing

This is the step most people rush, and it is where you can quietly damage your future segmentation.

Open the Substack CSV in Google Sheets or Excel and remove anything you do not need. Beehiiv recommends keeping the useful fields, such as:

• Email
• Name
• Start date
• Subscriber country
• Subscription source
• Activity

Then rename or map fields in a way Beehiiv can use. Beehiiv’s help docs recommend mapping fields like subscription_date, country, and utm_source where relevant.

I would also add a tag to this whole import, such as substack-migration-2026. That gives you a clean way to segment these readers later, compare engagement against new Beehiiv-native subscribers, and exclude the group from experiments while everything settles.

If you have a “Name” column, split it into first name and last name before importing. It sounds cosmetic, but it matters later if you want to use personalization without writing clunky emails like “Hi Alex Rivera” every time.

Step 4: Import Your Content Into Beehiiv

In Beehiiv, go to Settings, then Content Import, and start a new import.

For free content:

1. Choose Substack as the source.
2. Select free content.
3. Paste your Substack publication URL.
4. Start the import.
5. Wait for the status to move from pending or processing to complete.

For paid or mixed content:

1. Choose Substack as the source.
2. Select free content and paywalled content.
3. Paste your Substack publication URL for the free content.
4. Upload your Substack export zip for the paywalled content.
5. Start the import.
6. Review the imported posts once the import is complete.

Beehiiv says the content migration usually takes around 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how many posts you have. I would still block out more time than that. The import may finish quickly, but the review is where the real work is.

Check at least:

• Your 5 most-read public posts
• Your 5 most valuable paid posts
• Any posts with lots of images
• Any posts with embeds, code, galleries, or videos
• Any posts you plan to keep ranking in Google

Step 5: Fix Paywalls Manually

Paid posts are the part I would check most carefully.

Beehiiv’s migration docs are clear that exact Substack paywall placement does not carry over. Imported paid posts may not show a preview to free readers until you manually add a Paywall block in Beehiiv and update the web version.

That matters because your paywall is not just a technical setting. It is part of the sales page for your paid newsletter. A strong paid post usually needs enough free preview to make the reader care, then a clear reason to upgrade.

For each important paid post, check:

• Is the post marked correctly as paid or public?
• Does the free preview make sense?
• Is the Paywall block in the right place?
• Does the paywall copy sound like you?
• Are links and images still working?

This is not glamorous work, but it protects paid conversion.

Step 6: Import Free Subscribers

Once your CSV is clean, import subscribers through Beehiiv’s subscriber import flow.

The basic flow is:

1. Go to Settings, then Subscribers Import.
2. Start a new subscriber import.
3. Choose CSV upload.
4. Upload the cleaned Substack CSV.
5. Add an import tag if you want one.
6. Confirm that these subscribers knowingly opted in.
7. Map your CSV columns to Beehiiv fields.
8. Review the import results.

If Beehiiv rejects some rows, do not ignore the rejection report. It may be duplicate emails, malformed addresses, missing required fields, or subscribers who should not be imported.

One deliverability move I like: if you imported Substack’s activity rating, create a segment for the least active readers and exclude them from your first few sends. Beehiiv’s own docs suggest excluding readers with an activity rating of 0 for the first 2 to 4 weeks. That is sensible. You want the new sending setup to be greeted by people who actually open.

Step 7: Migrate Paid Subscribers and Stripe

If your Substack is free, you can skip this section.

If you have paid subscribers, slow down here. This is where the migration stops being a content project and becomes a billing project.

Before mapping paid subscribers in Beehiiv:

• Connect Stripe to Beehiiv.
• Create paid tiers in Beehiiv that mirror your Substack tiers.
• Keep the same currency wherever possible.
• Check for localized pricing or multiple currencies.
• Keep a backup export of paid subscribers.

Beehiiv’s paid migration process relies on copying customer payment data from the Stripe account connected to Substack into the Stripe account connected to Beehiiv, then recreating paid subscriptions inside Beehiiv. Stripe’s own data copy documentation explains the broader mechanics: the sender account shares customer data, the recipient account accepts it, and the copy completes inside Stripe.

The important practical point: Stripe data copy does not magically move every object in your billing history. It copies customer and payment data so subscriptions can be recreated. Follow Beehiiv’s current wizard step by step rather than improvising from a blog post.

After the Beehiiv paid migration is complete, pause Substack billing. Substack’s help center confirms that pausing payments freezes billing cycles, stops new paid signups, and prevents existing paid subscribers from being charged while paused. Beehiiv also warns that if you do not pause or cancel paid subscriptions in Substack after migration, subscribers can be billed twice.

I would pause before I would fully disconnect anything. Substack’s own guidance says disconnecting Stripe can refund and notify paid subscribers, cancel subscriptions, and revoke Substack’s Stripe access. That may be right eventually, but it is not the first button I would press on migration day.

Step 8: Connect Your Domain and Sender Setup

If you are using Beehiiv’s hosted site only, this is simple. If you are moving a custom domain or newsletter subdomain, give yourself breathing room.

Do the domain work before announcing the migration. DNS can look instant from your desk and still take time to settle for readers elsewhere.

Check:

• Publication domain or subdomain
• Sender email
• Authentication records
• Website links in your nav and footer
• Canonical links for important posts
• Any links from your old Substack welcome page

If your Substack publication had meaningful SEO traffic, do not casually delete or hide old posts before you understand what is redirecting where. For many writers, the archive is not just history. It is the front door.

Step 9: Send a Short Reader Note

You do not need a dramatic announcement. Readers care about what changes for them.

Keep it short:

Quick note: I have moved this newsletter from Substack to Beehiiv. You do not need to do anything. The newsletter will keep arriving from me as usual, but you may notice a slightly different email template and website. If this landed in Promotions or spam, drag it back to your primary inbox so future issues arrive correctly.

For paid subscribers, add a plain billing sentence:

If you are a paid subscriber, your subscription has been moved to the new setup. You should not be charged twice. If anything looks odd, reply to this email and I will fix it.

Do not over-explain the platform switch. The migration is important to you. To most readers, the promise is simple: same publication, better home.

Step 10: Check the First Two Weeks Like a Hawk

The migration is not finished when the import status says complete.

For the first 2 weeks, watch:

• Open rate
• Click-through rate
• Spam complaints
• Unsubscribes
• Replies from paid subscribers
• Failed payments
• Broken links in imported posts
• Traffic to old Substack URLs

Compare your first Beehiiv sends against your recent Substack baseline, but do not panic over one weird issue. Platform switches can create a little noise. What you are looking for is a pattern: are engaged readers still receiving, opening, clicking, and replying?

If your first send underperforms, I would check deliverability and audience selection before blaming the platform. Did you send to inactive subscribers? Did the sender name change? Did the email land in Promotions? Did the subject line look like an announcement instead of a useful issue?

What Does Not Migrate Cleanly From Substack to Beehiiv?

Beehiiv’s current migration notes list several limitations. The big ones to know:

• Videos do not migrate.
• Podcasts do not migrate.
• Comments do not migrate.
• Photo galleries do not migrate.
• Embeds do not migrate.
• Category structures do not migrate.
• Exact paywall placement does not migrate.
• Code blocks may need to be recreated.
• Blockquotes may look slightly different.

That does not mean the migration is bad. It means you should triage your archive instead of trying to perfect every old post.

My rule would be:

• Fix your top traffic posts.
• Fix your top paid conversion posts.
• Fix posts you link to from your welcome sequence.
• Leave the rest until readers or analytics give you a reason.

Tools We Recommend

For this migration, the stack is intentionally small:

• Beehiiv: the platform you are moving into, especially if you want referrals, Boosts, paid subscriptions, and a newsletter website in one place.
• Substack: the platform you are leaving, but still useful to understand when comparing what changes for readers.
• Beehiiv vs Substack: the comparison to read if you are still deciding whether the move is worth it.

If you are already sure, do not spend another week reading platform comparisons. Open Beehiiv, set up the boring foundation, and do the migration carefully.

FAQ

How long does it take to migrate from Substack to Beehiiv?

The actual Beehiiv content import can take around 5 to 10 minutes, depending on your archive size. A careful migration takes longer because you still need to clean your subscriber CSV, review imported posts, check paywalls, test sending, and handle Stripe if you have paid subscribers.

Can I migrate paid Substack subscribers to Beehiiv?

Yes, but it is more involved than importing free subscribers. You need Beehiiv paid tiers that mirror your Substack tiers, a connected Stripe setup, and Beehiiv’s paid subscriber mapping flow. After the migration, pause Substack billing so subscribers are not charged twice.

Will my Substack posts keep their exact formatting?

Not always. Basic posts should come across cleanly, but videos, podcasts, embeds, comments, galleries, category structures, exact paywall placements, and some code formatting may need manual work. Review your most important posts first.

Should I email my list before or after migrating?

I would email after the migration is technically complete but before your first normal issue from Beehiiv. Keep the note short. Tell readers the newsletter has moved, they do not need to do anything, and they can reply if anything looks wrong.

Is Beehiiv better than Substack for beginners?

It depends on what you want. Substack is simpler if you only want to write and publish. Beehiiv is stronger if you care about growth tools, referrals, ads, segmentation, and keeping more control over monetization. If you are starting from zero, read our Beehiiv vs Substack comparison before you move.

Final Checklist Before You Send From Beehiiv

Before the first real issue goes out, check:

• Beehiiv template is set as default.
• Important public posts are imported and readable.
• Important paid posts have Paywall blocks in the right place.
• Subscriber CSV has imported with the right tags and fields.
• Inactive Substack readers are segmented or excluded from the first sends.
• Paid tiers match the old Substack tiers.
• Stripe migration is complete, if relevant.
• Substack billing is paused, if relevant.
• Domain and sender settings are working.
• Test email lands correctly.
• Reader announcement is drafted.

I like Beehiiv for this kind of move because the migration is not just about changing where you write. It gives you a cleaner growth system once you land: referrals, Boosts, better analytics, paid subscriptions without Substack’s 10% platform cut, and a newsletter site that is easier to build around.

Start your Beehiiv account here, set up the foundation first, and use this checklist before you import anything important.