Substack to Kit 2026: The Paid Subscriber Problem

Free Substack subscribers export as a CSV and import into Kit in minutes. Paid subscriptions do not transfer – Kit’s own documentation confirms there is no method to migrate paid subscribers along with their payment details. You have two options: recreate the subscription product in Kit and email each paid subscriber a new subscription link, or keep Substack running in paid-only mode while you move the free list. Substack Recommendations and archive URLs also do not migrate. Kit charges 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction on paid newsletters, against Substack’s 10%. Verified July 2026 by PassiveKit.

Bottom Line – PassiveKitYour free list moves in minutes. Your paid subscribers do not move at all – Kit confirms there is no way to carry subscriptions across with their payment details, so every paid reader has to resubscribe through a new link. That is a re-subscription campaign, not a data transfer, and you will lose a percentage. The number that justifies it: Substack takes 10% of subscription revenue and Kit takes 3.5% + $0.30, which on $2,000 a month is roughly $1,400 a year back in your pocket. Keep Substack live until the money has moved. Verified July 2026 by PassiveKit.

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The CSV export is trivial. Everything around it is not. If you have paid subscribers, the migration is not a data transfer – it is a re-subscription campaign, and you will lose some of them. This page covers what actually moves, what does not, and how to handle the paid subscriber problem without torching your revenue.

What moves

Item	How
Free subscribers	Settings → Exports → Download subscriber list. CSV with email, name, status.
Paid subscriber list	Exports as a separate CSV – the list of who they are, not their subscriptions
Past newsletters	Recreate manually as Kit Broadcasts, backdated to the original publish dates
Your landing page	Rebuild as a Kit Newsletter Site – profile, bio, newsletter feed

The paid subscriber problem

This is the part that catches everyone. Kit’s own help documentation states plainly that there is no convenient method of migrating paid subscribers’ subscriptions, with their payment details, to Kit. Payment methods are held by Substack’s Stripe account, not yours in a portable form.

Two workable approaches:

Approach	How it works
Re-subscribe campaign	Create the subscription product in Kit with a new Stripe account, then email each paid subscriber a personal link to resubscribe. Expect to lose a percentage – plan the email carefully and explain why you are moving.
Run both in parallel	Keep Substack open in paid-only mode and run your free list from Kit. Migrate paid subscribers gradually as their renewals come up. Slower, but no cliff.

The commercial argument for moving: Substack takes 10% of subscription revenue. Kit charges 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction. On $2,000/month in subscriptions that is $200 versus roughly $80 – about $1,400 a year. That gap is what justifies the disruption, and it is worth putting in the email you send to paid subscribers.

3.5% instead of 10% on every subscription

Substack takes a tenth of your subscription revenue. Kit takes 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction. On $2,000 a month that is roughly $1,400 a year back. Start on the free plan and move the free list first – no credit card, up to 10,000 subscribers.

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What you also lose

Substack Recommendations – the cross-promotion network does not exist outside Substack, and for some newsletters this is a meaningful share of growth
Archive URLs – your existing post links break unless you rebuild and redirect
The Substack app audience – readers who consume you in-app rather than by email

The problem that shows up 30 days later

An imported list that has never engaged with your new sending domain can crater your deliverability about a month in. Send a reintroduction email before your first real broadcast, and suppress anyone who has not opened a Substack email in six months. A smaller list that lands in inboxes beats a bigger one that lands in spam.

The order to do it in

#	Step	Note
1	Export both CSVs from Substack	Free list and paid list separately. Duplicates get merged on import.
2	Create your Kit account	Free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers
3	Set up your Newsletter Site	Replaces your Substack landing page
4	Import the free list with a source tag	Tag them so you know where they came from
5	Send a reintroduction email	Before anything else. Protects deliverability and sets expectations.
6	Set up your paid product with a new Stripe account	Kit needs its own Stripe connection
7	Email paid subscribers individually with the new link	This is the conversion moment – write it properly
8	Keep Substack live until paid subscribers have moved	Never delete the publication before the money has moved

FAQ

Can you transfer Substack paid subscriptions to Kit?

No. Kit confirms there is no method to migrate paid subscriptions with payment details. Subscribers must resubscribe through a new link.

Do free Substack subscribers transfer?

Yes, via CSV export and import. This part takes minutes.

What does Kit charge on paid newsletters?

3.5% + $0.30 per transaction, against Substack’s 10% of subscription revenue.

Will my Substack archive links still work?

No. Archive URLs do not migrate. You can recreate past newsletters as Kit Broadcasts with backdated publish dates, but the original links break.

Should I delete my Substack after migrating?

Not until every paid subscriber has moved and you have sent at least one successful broadcast from Kit. Your Substack publication is your safety net.

Substack to Kit: Moving Your Newsletter (Including Paid Subscribers)