Compare
FlockStack, beehiiv and Substack side by side
Side by side
What each one charges and keeps
| FlockStack | beehiiv | Substack | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | $0: 2,500 subscribers, 10,000 emails a month, with a small “Sent with FlockStack” link | $0 up to 2,500 subscribers, no automations | Free to publish at any size |
| What you pay for | The emails you send: plans from $9 a month for 25,000 emails | Your subscribers, with unlimited sends: Lite plans start at $109 a month | Nothing up front. A share of what readers pay you instead |
| 5,000 subscribers | $9 a month (Starter, 25,000 emails) | $109 a month on Lite, $95 billed yearly | $0 platform fee |
| 25,000 subscribers | $29 a month (Growth, 125,000 emails) | $199 a month on Lite, $169 billed yearly | $0 platform fee |
| 100,000 subscribers | $109 a month (Scale, 500,000 emails) | $469 a month on Lite, $399 billed yearly | $0 platform fee |
| Cut of paid subscriptions | 0%. Readers pay your own Stripe account; Stripe's fees apply | 0%. Stripe's fees apply | 10%, and card fees |
| Past your plan's emails | $0.15 per 1,000 extra emails, up to a monthly limit you set | Sends are unlimited; the price follows subscribers | No sending limit to pay for |
| Open source | Yes, AGPL-3.0. Run it yourself or use FlockStack Cloud | No, hosted only | No, hosted only |
Checked . Sources: beehiiv.com/pricing, substack.com/going-paid. Prices are USD a month, billed monthly unless it says yearly, and change: check each page before you decide.
beehiiv Lite
The same subscribers, a weekly newsletter
FlockStack's price for each plan against beehiiv's Lite price for the same number of subscribers.
FlockStack Free, $0
2,500 subscribers, 10,000 emails a month
2 automations, besides the welcome email
beehiiv Free, $0
Up to 2,500 subscribers
No automations
| A weekly newsletter to | FlockStack | beehiiv | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 subscribersFlockStack Starter, 25,000 emails a month | $9/mo | $109/mo | 92% |
| 25,000 subscribersFlockStack Growth, 125,000 emails a month | $29/mo | $199/mo | 85% |
| 50,000 subscribersFlockStack Pro, 250,000 emails a month | $59/mo | $299/mo | 80% |
| 100,000 subscribersFlockStack Scale, 500,000 emails a month | $109/mo | $469/mo | 77% |
| 400,000 subscribersFlockStack Max, 2,000,000 emails a month | $299/mo | Enterprise only on beehiiv | |
Billed monthly.
Three months
Worked out, with the assumptions
Card fees are left out of every column. Substack's cost is its share of what your readers pay.
A weekly free newsletter
5,000 subscribers, a weekly issue: 25,000 emails a month.
- FlockStack
- $9/mo
- Starter plan
- beehiiv Lite
- $109/mo
- Unlimited sends
- Substack
- $0/mo
- Nothing to publish
A weekly newsletter with paid readers
25,000 subscribers, a weekly issue, 5% paying $8 a month: 125,000 emails a month, $10,000 a month from readers.
- FlockStack
- $29/mo
- Growth plan
- beehiiv Lite
- $199/mo
- Unlimited sends
- Substack
- $1,000/mo
- 10% of paid subscriptions, nothing to publish
A daily newsletter to a big list
100,000 subscribers, a daily issue: 3,000,000 emails a month.
- FlockStack
- $449/mo
- Max plus 1,000,000 extra emails ($150.00)
- beehiiv Lite
- $469/mo
- Unlimited sends
- Substack
- $0/mo
- Nothing to publish
Honestly
Where we are the weaker pick
Substack costs nothing until you earn
If you want to publish for free at any size and don't mind giving up 10% of paid subscriptions, Substack's price is hard to beat, and it brings readers with it. FlockStack has no reader network of its own beyond a small recommendations directory.
A daily sender pays more here than a weekly one
FlockStack counts emails, so a daily newsletter to a big list narrows the gap with beehiiv's unlimited sends. The scenarios below show a case where the gap is only a few percent.
We have no mobile app and no enterprise paperwork
FlockStack has no app of its own, no SOC 2 report and no SSO. If a buyer's checklist needs those, FlockStack is not ready for you yet.
This page leaves features out
It compares prices and fees we could check on each company's own pages on the date shown. It does not compare editors, ad networks, recommendation features or deliverability, which we haven't tested side by side.
Your list isn't one of these three. Enter your own subscribers, sends and paying readers in the newsletter cost calculator, which adds Kit and Mailchimp. Head to head, with the facts behind each claim: FlockStack vs beehiiv and FlockStack vs Substack.
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