How to Extract Emails from a Substack Export
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Export and import options vary by plan, permissions and product version. Check the platform’s current help documentation if a menu or format differs. Use only contact data you are authorized to process; an extracted address is not proof of marketing consent.
Why Extract from Substack?
Substack is a newsletter and publishing platform used by writers, journalists, podcasters and creators. It stores subscriber records that include email addresses, subscription type (free or paid), subscription date and engagement data. Subscribers sign up through Substack's built-in subscription flow.
Extracting email addresses from Substack data is useful in several scenarios.
Migrating to another platform. When moving from Substack to a different newsletter platform (Beehiiv, Ghost, Kit, MailerLite, Buttondown), a clean email list provides a starting point for the new platform. This is one of the most common reasons to extract from Substack.
Backing up your list. Your Substack subscriber list is the most valuable asset of your publication. Extracting and saving a copy ensures you have an independent backup that does not depend on continued Substack access.
Combining with other channels. If you collect email addresses through other channels (a personal website, a separate email platform, social media, a course platform), extracting from Substack and deduplicating with other sources shows your total unique audience size.
Separating free from paid subscribers. Exporting all subscribers and comparing with a paid-only export reveals which free subscribers might be candidates for conversion campaigns.
How to Export from Substack
Substack allows publication owners to export their subscriber list.
Exporting subscribers
- Log in to Substack.
- Go to your publication's Dashboard.
- Navigate to Settings and then Subscribers (or find the subscriber export option, which may be under Subscribers in the dashboard).
- Click Export (or Export subscribers to CSV).
- Substack generates a CSV file containing all subscribers.
- Download the file.
Export fields
Substack subscriber exports typically include: email address, subscription status (active, inactive), subscription type (free, paid, gift, comp), subscription date, and in some versions the subscriber's Substack profile name. The exact columns may vary as Substack updates its export format.
What is not included
Substack exports do not include engagement data (which emails each subscriber opened or clicked), payment details (card numbers, billing addresses), or content (your published posts). The export focuses on the subscriber list itself.
How to Extract the Email Addresses
- Go to bulkemailextractor.com.
- Select "Text and files."
- Upload the CSV file. Up to 25 MB per file, 100 MB per batch.
- Click "Extract emails."
- Review the results. Duplicates are removed automatically.
- Download as TXT for a plain list, CSV for a single-column spreadsheet, or CSV with sources.
Working with the Results
Migrate to another newsletter platform
The extracted email list can be imported into any newsletter platform. Most platforms (Beehiiv, Ghost, Kit, MailerLite, Buttondown) accept CSV imports. Since Email Extractor outputs email addresses only, the imported subscribers will not carry over their free/paid status. Use the original Substack CSV for that distinction, or import the extracted list as free subscribers and handle paid subscriptions separately.
Combine with other publications
If you run multiple Substack publications, export from each and upload all files in one extraction. Deduplication creates a combined list of unique email addresses. Download CSV with sources and compare the source names to find addresses shared by the exports. Confirm subscription or membership status in the original records; matching addresses alone do not establish a current active membership.
Compare with a personal website list
If you collect email sign-ups on your own website (through a form builder or email platform) in addition to Substack, export from both and extract together. Deduplication creates a combined list of unique email addresses. Download CSV with sources and compare the source names to find addresses shared by the exports. Confirm subscription or membership status in the original records; matching addresses alone do not establish a current active membership.
Build a master list
Writers often accumulate subscribers across several platforms over time. Upload exports from Substack, a previous Mailchimp account, a WordPress newsletter plugin and any other source. The deduplicated result is your master subscriber list.
Things to Know
Column headers are not extracted
CSV column headers from Substack are text, not email addresses, so they do not appear in the extracted results.
Subscriber data is not preserved
Email Extractor outputs email addresses only. Subscription type (free/paid), subscription dates, subscriber names and other metadata from the Substack export are not carried over. If you need to preserve paid subscriber status during migration, import the original CSV into your new platform and map the relevant columns.
Inactive subscribers
Substack may include inactive subscribers in the export (people who signed up but later deactivated their subscription or whose email bounced). These addresses will appear in the extracted results. Review the subscription status column in the original export to identify them.
Paid subscriber management
If you have paid subscribers on Substack, migrating them to a paid tier on another platform requires more than just email extraction. You will need to handle payment migration separately (re-subscribing on the new platform's payment system). Email extraction gives you the addresses but not the billing relationship.
Substack's portability stance
Substack has publicly stated that writers own their subscriber lists and can export them at any time. There is no lock-in period or restriction on exports.
Multiple email addresses
Some subscribers may have signed up with different email addresses across your publications or over time. Deduplication handles exact matches, but if someone used both a personal and a work address, both will appear as separate entries in the extracted results.
