The short answer
- Moving from beehiiv Lite to Ghost costs $872 more in the first year, after setup and upkeep time (Stackcut's model: modeled, not measured).
- Ghost's official migration guide moves 2 kinds of data in full and 1 partly; 3 things stay behind. What moves
- 3 public accounts of making this switch: 3 switched. Read them
- Switching help: Ghost's migrations team moves content, newsletters, members and payments for free. Self-service importers (including a native beehiiv migrator) are the default; managed migrations run on a private staging site with integrity checks and 301 redirects, typically completing in 7-21 days. ghost.org
What beehiiv and Ghost cost
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, as stored in the Stackcut catalog. Each price links its source.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv Lite | $49/mo | $49/mo | 1,000-subscriber tier: $49/mo billed yearly; plan up to 100,000 subscribers; 2 team seats; paid subscriptions with a 0% take rate |
| beehiiv Pro | $95/mo | $95/mo | 1,000-subscriber tier: $95/mo billed yearly; plan up to 250,000 subscribers; 10 team seats; removes beehiiv branding; ad monetization |
| Ghost(Pro) | $18/mo | $15/mo | Starter tier: 1,000 members, 1 staff user; $180/yr |
| Ghost Publisher (1,000 members) | $35/mo | $29/mo | 1,000 members; $348/yr |
| Ghost Publisher (2,500 members) | $55/mo | $46/mo | 2,500 members; $552/yr |
| Ghost Publisher (5,000 members) | $75/mo | $63/mo | 5,000 members; $756/yr |
- beehiiv free plan: Free: up to 2,500 subscribers, 1 team seat, unlimited email sends beehiiv.com
- Ghost free plan: Self-hosted is free ghost.org
Moving from beehiiv to Ghost
What Ghost's importer carries over, what it leaves behind, and any help it offers switchers.
To Ghost
Official guide ghost.org · Tools: Ghost beehiiv migrator (Ghost Admin Settings > Advanced > Import/Export), beehiiv API key, beehiiv Full subscriber export (CSV), ghost-stripe-migration-toolkit (Magic Pages)
Moves: Posts/content (full); Subscribers/members (full); Paid subscriptions and payment details (partial). ghost.org
Doesn't move: Email automations and newsletter templates (rebuild in Ghost); Boosts and recommendation-network standing; Paid subscription billing continuity without a Stripe migration (new Stripe account required). ghost.org
Watch out for:
- beehiiv connects Stripe with controller type 'application', so the same Stripe account cannot be connected to Ghost — a new account is required ghost.org
- Paid subscribers must be re-created with mapped price IDs or they will need to re-subscribe ghost.org
- beehiiv export download links expire after 24 hours ghost.org
Switching help: Ghost's migrations team moves content, newsletters, members and payments for free. Self-service importers (including a native beehiiv migrator) are the default; managed migrations run on a private staging site with integrity checks and 301 redirects, typically completing in 7-21 days. ghost.org
From each destination's own migration docs and switching pages, plus community write-ups where no official guide exists, each checked against its page. Confirm terms on the linked page before you rely on an offer.
People who moved from beehiiv to Ghost
3 public accounts of leaving beehiiv: 3 switched. Summaries are ours; each links the original, and each was checked against its page before it appeared here.
First-person account of leaving beehiiv for Ghost after two years: moved to get a blog-first publishing workflow and better design control, accepts weaker analytics and missing automations (works around with Outpost and Zapier). Revenue Rulebreaker
Testimonial on Ghost's migration page from a publisher whose path included beehiiv; praises the free concierge service and says she is never moving again. Ghost
Short unnamed testimonial embedded on Ghost's beehiiv comparison page, three months after switching from beehiiv to Ghost; vendor-published marketing quote. Ghost
FAQ
Is Ghost cheaper than beehiiv?
Modeled, not measured: moving from beehiiv Lite to Ghost costs $872 more in the first year, after setup and upkeep time at $50/hour. It depends on your plan, seats and usage. the math
Can I move my beehiiv data to Ghost?
Ghost's official guide moves: Posts/content; Subscribers/members; Paid subscriptions and payment details. It doesn't move: Email automations and newsletter templates (rebuild in Ghost); Boosts and recommendation-network standing; Paid subscription billing continuity without a Stripe migration (new Stripe account required). ghost.org
Does Ghost help people switch from beehiiv?
Ghost's migrations team moves content, newsletters, members and payments for free. Self-service importers (including a native beehiiv migrator) are the default; managed migrations run on a private staging site with integrity checks and 301 redirects, typically completing in 7-21 days. ghost.org
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find_alternatives({"vendor": "beehiiv"})