How to Migrate to beehiiv in 2026 (Step by Step)
Every week, newsletters leave Substack's 10% fee or Mailchimp's clunky editor for beehiiv's growth stack. The actual migration is easier than the decision — here's the order of operations that avoids the common pitfalls.
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Before You Move
Three things to settle first:
- List hygiene — migrations are the perfect excuse to purge dead emails. Export your full list, remove hard bounces and 12-month non-openers, import a clean list.
- Paid sub plan — billing can't transfer between platforms. Decide your transition offer before you move (discount, bonus content, grandfathered pricing).
- Domain strategy — if you're on a platform subdomain (you.substack.com), you'll need redirects or a new custom domain. Own the domain if you can.
Create your beehiiv account first — free up to 2,500 subs →
Step 1: Export Everything
From Substack: Dashboard → Settings → Exports → download subscriber CSV + post archive. Takes minutes.
From Mailchimp: Audience → Export audience (CSV). For content, you'll need to copy campaigns manually or via the API.
From Kit (ConvertKit): Subscribers → Export. Sequences and automations don't export — document them before cancelling.
From Ghost: Settings → Labs → Export members + content JSON.
Step 2: Import to beehiiv
- Substack: use beehiiv's built-in Substack importer (Settings → Import) — it pulls posts and free subscribers directly. beehiiv's concierge migration does this free for you on paid plans.
- Other platforms: Audience → Import → upload your CSV. Map fields (email, name, tags, custom fields) and tag imports with the source so you can track engagement of migrated vs new subs.
- Content: republish your archive as backdated posts — every post becomes an SEO-indexable page on your beehiiv site.
Step 3: Domain & Redirects
- Add your custom domain in beehiiv (Settings → Domains) — Scale plan and up.
- Point DNS records at beehiiv (instructions provided in-app; usually a CNAME).
- If your old newsletter lived on a platform subdomain, enable Substack→beehiiv redirects or leave a pinned "we moved" post. SEO equity on platform subdomains can't transfer — another reason custom domains matter.
- Update newsletter links in your email signature, social bios, and any published content.
Step 4: Move Paid Subscriptions
This is the only genuinely delicate step — Stripe billing is tied to the old platform.
- Announce early: email paid subs 2 weeks before switching — explain what changes (nothing, or better features) and what they need to do (one click to re-subscribe).
- Sweeten it: offer a transition incentive — a free month, exclusive post, or locked-in lower rate.
- Overlap billing: keep the old platform live through at least one billing cycle so nobody gets double-charged or cut off.
- Follow up: a 3-email sequence (announce → remind → last call) typically recovers 80–95% of paid subs.
Platform-Specific Notes
- Substack: the cleanest migration — importer + concierge exist specifically for it. The 10% fee you'll stop paying makes the math easy.
- Mailchimp: subscribers export fine; campaign content doesn't migrate. Most people republish only their best issues.
- Kit: subscribers + tags move cleanly. Rebuild automations in beehiiv (welcome journeys are quick to recreate).
- Ghost: members and posts export as CSV/JSON; expect a bit more manual work.
Launch Checklist
- Subscribers imported, tags mapped, source tagged
- Archive republished (at least top 10 posts)
- Custom domain live, SSL green
- Welcome automation rebuilt
- Referral program configured (this is why you switched — turn it on)
- First send: "we moved" announcement with re-subscribe links for paid
- Old platform kept live for 1 billing cycle
- Social/bio links updated
Bottom line: the technical migration is an afternoon. The paid-sub transition is a 2-week email sequence. Everything else is checklists — and the moment you're done, the referral program and ad network start working for you.
Start your beehiiv migration — free up to 2,500 subs →
Last updated: October 2026. Migration tooling changes — check beehiiv's import docs for the latest importer support.
