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Flodesk to Substack migration: CSV export, paid comps and cost before/after
Last verified against official pricing pages · published 5 Nov 2026
Prices change often. Each price was checked on the platform's official pricing page on the date shown; plans, promos and taxes vary. Confirm on the official site before you buy. Not financial advice.
Substack has no Flodesk importer — the move is a CSV export from Flodesk and a Substack subscriber upload. Export Active subscribers only; Flodesk's full-list CSV also contains unsubscribed and bounced contacts, which Substack expects you to leave out. Posts you rebuild (Flodesk is not on Substack's post-importer list). Paid Checkout members take Substack's general comp + re-subscribe path, not Ghost's one-click Stripe transfer. On cost, 5,000 active subscribers run $52/mo on Flodesk (Lite) and $0 on Substack for a free newsletter; Substack instead keeps 10% of paid subscriptions.
Prices from Flodesk and Substack (checked 2026-11-03), monthly billing. Steps from Flodesk's CSV export help and Substack's mailing-list import article (checked 2026-11-05). Neither company has an affiliate deal with us — plain links, no “paid link” labels.
Cost before and after
Free newsletter
| Active subscribers | Flodesk, cheapest plan | Substack | Flodesk cost per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $25 (Lite) | $0 (Free + 10% of paid revenue) | $300 |
| 1,000 | $25 (Lite) | $0 (Free + 10% of paid revenue) | $300 |
| 2,500 | $32 (Lite) | $0 (Free + 10% of paid revenue) | $384 |
| 5,000 | $52 (Lite) | $0 (Free + 10% of paid revenue) | $624 |
| 10,000 | $72 (Lite) | $0 (Free + 10% of paid revenue) | $864 |
| 25,000 | $162 (Lite) | $0 (Free + 10% of paid revenue) | $1,944 |
Per month, monthly billing, cheapest Flodesk plan that covers the list. Flodesk prices by active subscribers (Active and Soft Bounced count; unsubscribed, bounced and unconfirmed don't — Flodesk help). Paid Flodesk plans include unlimited email sends. Flodesk Free can host forms but cannot send email, so it never appears as the cheapest sending plan. Lite stops at 25,000 subscribers. The last column is 12 months of the Flodesk price on monthly billing — what a free Substack newsletter saves. Substack's optional custom domain is a one-time $50.
Paid newsletter
| Subscribers (5% pay $8) | Flodesk | Substack |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $83.40 (Everything) | $69.40 (Free + 10% of paid revenue) |
| 2,500 | $160.50 (Everything) | $173.50 (Free + 10% of paid revenue) |
| 5,000 | $254 (Everything) | $347 (Free + 10% of paid revenue) |
| 10,000 | $431 (Everything) | $694 (Free + 10% of paid revenue) |
| 25,000 | $992 (Everything) | $1,735 (Free + 10% of paid revenue) |
Per month, monthly billing. Paid totals = plan + platform cut + Stripe card fees (2.9% + $0.30 per payment, estimate) + Stripe's 0.7% Billing fee on recurring payments where confirmed (beehiiv, MailerLite, Ghost, Buttondown, Substack, AWeber and Flodesk); not added for GetResponse (not confirmed); Kit's 3.5% + $0.30 is all-in. How we model fees.
5% of subscribers paying $8/month. Flodesk paid subscriptions need the Everything plan plus a connected Stripe Standard account (Flodesk Checkout help); Flodesk takes 0% platform fee. Substack keeps 10% of paid revenue. Example at 5,000: $2,000/mo paid revenue costs $254/mo on Flodesk vs $347/mo on Substack, about $93/mo more on Substack, card fees included. More: Substack fees · Flodesk plans.
Calculate your exact Flodesk → Substack switching cost → · every Flodesk tier · Substack pricing
Before you start
- Decide Active vs All. Flodesk's All subscribers CSV includes Active, Unsubscribed, Bounced and spam-marked contacts (Flodesk help). Substack asks you to confirm opt-in (Substack help), so export an Active segment (or filter the file) and keep the rest as a local record.
- Pause new Flodesk sign-ups once Substack is ready: unpublish or delete Flodesk forms and turn off integrations so new contacts don't land on the old list (Flodesk cancel help notes the same steps to avoid tier bumps after you cancel).
- Paid Checkout? Export emails plus each member's renewal or expiration date before you stop Stripe billing on Flodesk (Substack's general move guide).
- Large lists: Substack may flag imports for review (typically within 72 hours) and can deny high-risk lists (Substack: How do email list imports work?).
Step 1: export from Flodesk
- Open Audience → Segments.
- Hover over the segment you want (prefer an Active segment, not All subscribers), click the three dots (…), choose Download CSV.
- Open the email Flodesk sends to your login address and download the file within 24 hours. If the link expires, repeat the export. Custom-domain login addresses sometimes miss the email — Flodesk's troubleshooting tip is to temporarily switch the login email to a free provider, export again, then switch back (Flodesk: How to export a CSV of your subscribers).
- Keep a separate copy of unsubscribed / bounced / spam-marked contacts for your records; do not upload them to Substack.
Step 2: import subscribers into Substack
- Create your Substack publication (new users can start at
substack.com/signup/import), then Dashboard → Subscribers → Add subscribers → Add subscribers by upload. - Upload the Flodesk CSV (CSV, XLSX or ODS). Confirm everyone opted in. If payments are enabled, pick the subscription type; for a free move leave people as free.
- Substack recommends not sending a welcome email to an imported list until the publication is ready (Substack help).
- Refresh to see added vs skipped counts. Duplicates and invalid domains (for example
gnail.com) are skipped. Everyone arrives as a free subscriber; if you use sections, pick the section in the import modal (Substack help).
Step 3: posts (rebuild — no Flodesk importer)
Substack's post importer supports Medium, Ghost, WordPress, Mailchimp, beehiiv, Tumblr, Blogspot and RSS feeds. Flodesk is not listed (Substack help). Copy important past emails into the Substack editor by hand, set the original date in post settings if you care about the archive order, and choose whether to email them. If payments are on, you can publish them as paid posts. There is no Flodesk campaigns-zip path like Mailchimp.
Step 4: paid Flodesk Checkout members
Flodesk subscription products need the Everything plan and Stripe Standard; buyers manage renewals in Stripe (Flodesk help). Substack's Ghost guide has a one-click Stripe paid import; that path is documented for Ghost only (Substack: Ghost move). For Flodesk, follow Substack's general moving guide:
- Stop old billing in the Stripe account connected to Flodesk Checkout so nobody is charged twice after they re-subscribe on Substack.
- Connect Stripe on Substack: Settings → Payments → Connect with Stripe, then set your paid plans.
- Import the emails (step 2), then on Subscribers select the paid readers → three dots → Comp for the time left (7 days, 30 days, 90 days, 6 months, 1 year or forever; Founding optional) (Substack: complimentary subscriptions).
- Publish a free post explaining the move with a Subscribe button; when the comp ends, Substack emails reminders and asks readers to enter payment details.
What moves and what doesn't
- Moves: email addresses (and whatever other columns Flodesk puts in the CSV) as free Substack subscribers.
- Rebuild: emails/templates, workflows/automations, forms, landing pages, segments/tags, analytics history, Flodesk Checkout products.
- Doesn't move: Flodesk unsubscribes as a Substack suppression list (leave them out); Stripe subscriptions without a documented one-click for Flodesk.
- Gained on Substack: Recommendations, Notes, Chat, the Substack app, and paid subscriptions with Substack's 10% fee model.
Closing Flodesk
- Confirm the Substack subscriber count and a test send.
- Unpublish Flodesk forms and turn off integrations so new sign-ups stop.
- Cancel: avatar → Plan + billing → Cancel or Downgrade, confirm. The paid plan stays active until the end of the current billing cycle, then you move to Flodesk Free (forms can still collect subscribers — unpublish them) (Flodesk: Cancel subscription).
- Download invoices first if you need them. Full account deletion is a separate email to [email protected] and erases subscribers permanently — export first.
Related: Flodesk plans · Is Flodesk free? · Flodesk pricing · Substack pricing · Substack fees · Is Substack worth it? · Mailchimp to Substack · Mailchimp to Flodesk · beehiiv to Substack · Ghost to Substack · beehiiv vs Flodesk · Flodesk alternatives
Sources
- Flodesk help: How to export a CSV of your subscribers (checked 2026-11-05)
- Flodesk help: How to Cancel Your Flodesk Subscription or Delete Your Account (checked 2026-11-05)
- Flodesk help: Unsubscribes in Flodesk and subscriber-based pricing model (checked 2026-11-05)
- Flodesk help: How to set up a subscription product in Flodesk Checkout (checked 2026-10-20)
- Substack help: Import a mailing list from another platform (links Flodesk export; checked 2026-11-05)
- Substack help: Import posts from another platform (checked 2026-11-05)
- Substack help: How do I move from my current platform to Substack? and complimentary subscriptions (checked 2026-11-05)
- Substack help: How do email list imports work? (checked 2026-11-05)
- Substack help: How do I move from Ghost to Substack? — Stripe one-click documented here only (checked 2026-11-05)
- Flodesk pricing and Substack: How much does Substack cost? (checked 2026-11-03)
Tip: before you import, leave out unsubscribed and bounced contacts. Most platforms bill by list size, so a cleaner list can keep you on a lower tier. How to clean your list before switching
FAQ
Can I move from Flodesk to Substack?
Yes, but Substack has no Flodesk-specific importer (its dedicated move guides cover Mailchimp, Ghost and beehiiv). The documented route is a Flodesk subscriber CSV, then Substack Dashboard → Subscribers → Add subscribers → Add subscribers by upload. Substack itself links to Flodesk's export help from its mailing-list import article.
How do I export subscribers from Flodesk?
Audience → Segments, hover over a segment (or All subscribers), three dots → Download CSV. Flodesk emails a download link to your login address; the link expires after 24 hours. The CSV includes everyone currently in that segment, including unsubscribed, bounced and spam-marked contacts.
Should I import Flodesk unsubscribes into Substack?
No. Substack asks you to confirm everyone you upload opted in to your emails, and its import-review article says lists that look like non-opted-in contacts can be restricted. Export an Active-only segment (or filter the CSV) and leave unsubscribed, bounced and spam-marked contacts behind. Flodesk keeps those records in your audience for compliance; Substack does not document a Mailchimp-style suppression-list import.
Do my Flodesk paid subscribers move automatically?
No. Flodesk Checkout subscriptions (Everything plan + Stripe Standard) do not have a Substack one-click path. Substack documents a Stripe one-click paid import only for Ghost. For other platforms its guide says: stop billing on the old platform, connect Stripe on Substack, import the emails, Comp paid readers for the time they have left (7 days to forever), then ask them to subscribe again before the comp ends.
Can I import my Flodesk emails as Substack posts?
Substack's post importer lists Medium, Ghost, WordPress, Mailchimp, beehiiv, Tumblr, Blogspot and RSS feeds (for example Squarespace and ConvertKit). Flodesk is not on that list. Rebuild important issues in the Substack editor, or paste an RSS URL only if you already publish one elsewhere. There is no Flodesk "campaigns zip" path like Mailchimp.
Is Substack cheaper than Flodesk?
For a free newsletter, yes at every size we show: Substack is $0, while Flodesk Lite is $25/mo at 1,000 active subscribers and $52/mo at 5,000 (monthly billing; Flodesk's Free plan cannot send email). If you charge readers, Flodesk Everything takes 0% of subscription revenue (Stripe fees still apply) and Substack keeps 10%, so at 5,000 subscribers with 5% paying $8 ($2,000/mo revenue) the totals are $254/mo on Flodesk vs $347/mo on Substack — about $93/mo more on Substack.
Related guides: Is Flodesk free? Its Free plan can't send email; Lite from $25 a month (2026) · Is Flodesk worth it in 2026? Cost vs Mailchimp, MailerLite and Kit, and when Free can't send · Flodesk plans (2026) · Paid newsletter supported countries (2026) · PencilBooth alternatives · beehiiv price increase 2026 · Substack vs beehiiv vs Ghost · beehiiv vs Kit vs Substack (2026) · all guides
Comparisons: Flodesk vs Substack · Cheapest for 500, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, 10,000, 25,000 subscribers
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