Substack's community-focused tools have driven subscriber and revenue growth for newsletter creators who migrated from platforms like Patreon and Beehiiv. Five creators who moved in the past year experienced larger followings and higher retention after switching. Co-livestreaming and a recommendations/referral system were credited for boosting subscribers; individual creators gained dozens to hundreds of subscribers per recommendation. Kendall Dickieson's No Filter newsletter increased by 300 subscribers after moving from Beehiiv, versus a typical two-month gain of 75. Lewis O'Brien's data visualization newsletter acquired 1,319 subscribers from 66 recommendations. Community features amplified discoverability and cross-promotion.
Substack's bet that writers want the platform to provide a community just as much as distribution appears to be paying off in 2025. Five newsletter creators who moved their operations over to Substack from other platforms such as Patreon and Beehiiv in the past year told Digiday that their following - and revenue - had grown since they made the jump, directly crediting Substack community tools such as co-livestreaming and recommendations for the subscriber boost.
"It's like all my friends just switched to Substack; I saw it happening in front of my eyes," said Kendall Dickieson, who told Digiday that she had her newsletter No Filter - which covers social media and creator strategy and has over 3,000 subscribers - gained 300 subscribers since moving from Beehiiv to Substack in June, a noticeably higher retention rate compared to the 75 subscribers she said she would typically gain during two months on Beehiiv.
Dickieson was not the only writer to call out Substack's recommendations - through which creators can suggest other writers, enabling their followers to subscribe to them with a button-click directly inside their newsletters, with the option to simultaneously subscribe to all recommended writers - as a strong subscriber growth tool. Creator Lewis O'Brien, who moved his data visualization newsletter from Beehiiv to Substack in late 2024, said that he has so far gained 1,319 subscribers from 66 recommendations.
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