Substack loses writers to Beehiiv

Newsletter platforms look simple from the outside — send emails, charge readers, done. But once a writer turns a newsletter into an actual business, the boring stuff starts to matter more than the vibes. That is the story here. A new Verge piece says some writers are leaving Substack for Beehiiv, Ghost, and Passport because the platform’s cut, product limits, and branding tradeoffs feel a lot heavier once revenue grows. ### Why are people leaving now? The basic complaint is old, but it compounds over time. Substack takes 10% of subscription revenue, while Beehiiv pitches 0% take rates on paid subscriptions and Ghost runs on flat monthly pricing rather than a revenue share. That means a writer can start on Substack cheaply, then wake up a year later and realize the “free” platform has become one of their biggest operating costs. (theverge.com) ### What’s the “Substack tax”? It’s creator shorthand for that 10% cut. The phrase matters because it reframes the platform from partner to toll collector. If a writer makes serious subscription revenue, the fee scales forever. Rival products are basically saying: pay us like software, not like a landlord. That pitch lands especially well with publishers who already know how to find readers on their own. (support.substack.com) ### Who’s the clearest example? Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report is the cleanest case in the piece. After moving to Ghost and using an add-on called Outpost, he said his annual platform bill fell to $2,052 from about $4,968 on Substack. He also said the publication’s subscriber base has grown 22% since the end of 2024. That matters because it undercuts the fear that leaving Substack automatically means shrinking. (theverge.com) ### Is this only about fees? No — and that’s the more interesting part. Writers also want better analytics, more control over site design, and a cleaner relationship with their audience. Beehiiv leans hard into this with growth tooling, automations, ad products, and more advanced website analytics. Ghost’s pitch is even more direct: own your site, own your membership business, and don’t build your brand on top of someone else’s social layer. (vuink.com) ### Why does branding matter so much? Because Substack is no longer just an email tool. It has become a networked publishing platform with recommendations, notes, and a strong house style. That can help discovery, especially for newer writers. But the catch is that some publishers do not want to look like a tenant inside Substack’s ecosystem forever. Beehiiv’s founder framed the contrast as Shopify versus Amazon — infrastructure versus marketplace. (beehiiv.com) ### So is Substack in trouble? Not exactly. Substack still solves the hardest early problem for many writers — getting started fast with payments, publishing, and built-in discovery. For small or new newsletters, giving up 10% can be a rational trade. The pressure shows up later, when a writer wants a more customized business with multiple revenue streams, richer data, and less platform dependence. That is when rivals start to look cheaper and more strategic. (vlive.vodacom.co.za) ### What changes next? The newsletter market is maturing. Early on, creators mostly wanted an easy launch button. Now more of them want software that behaves like a business stack — website, CRM, ads, automations, audience data, and ownership. Substack helped prove newsletters could be real media companies. But turns out that success also creates the moment when some of those media companies decide to leave. (support.substack.com) ### Bottom line? This is less a collapse story than a graduation story. Substack still works well for starting a paid newsletter. But writers who have already built loyal audiences are increasingly deciding they would rather rent less, control more, and keep a bigger share of the money. (theverge.com)