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Both Substack and Beehiiv offer audio features for newsletter authors. But they work very differently. Here’s what each offers and where third-party tools like audiclip fill the gaps.
Podcast hosting: Free. Upload audio files, distribute to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Private RSS for paid subscribers.
AI voiceover: Text-to-speech that reads your post aloud. Single voice. Verbatim. Limited rollout — not available to all authors. You can’t manually enable it.
Author voiceover: Record yourself reading the post. Upload the audio. Appears as a player at the top.
Limitation: No AI podcast generation. The TTS voiceover is robotic and verbatim. If it’s not enabled for your publication, you’re out of luck.
Podcast hosting: Launched April 2, 2026. Upload MP3/M4A/WAV. Distribution to Apple, Spotify, Overcast, Castro. Auto normalization. Transcripts included. Private RSS for paid subs. No revenue share.
AI audio: None. Beehiiv provides the hosting pipes but not the content generation.
Limitation: You still need to create the audio yourself — record or use a third-party AI tool.
| Feature | Substack | Beehiiv |
|---|---|---|
| Podcast hosting | Yes (free) | Yes (free, launched Apr 2026) |
| AI voiceover/TTS | Limited rollout | No |
| AI podcast generation | No | No |
| Revenue share | 10% of paid subs | 0% |
| Private RSS for paid | Yes | Yes |
| Transcripts | No | Yes (auto-generated) |
Neither platform generates AI podcast episodes. That’s where tools like audiclip come in:
If you’re on Substack: Check if AI voiceover is enabled for your publication. If not, use audiclip or Jellypod for AI generation, then upload to Substack’s podcast hosting.
If you’re on Beehiiv: Use audiclip or Jellypod to generate episodes, then upload to Beehiiv’s new podcast hosting. You get distribution + AI generation with zero revenue share.
If you’re choosing between platforms: Beehiiv’s 0% revenue share and brand-new podcast infrastructure (with transcripts) gives it a slight edge for authors who want audio. But Substack’s larger ecosystem and built-in discovery might matter more for growth.
Both platforms host your podcast. Neither creates it. That’s where AI comes in.