Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, BestStacked may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never affects our scores, rankings or verdicts. Full disclosure.
Beehiiv Review
Reviewed by Carlos Gil · Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Updated 8 min readEditorially reviewed
Quick facts
- Starting price
- Free up to 2,500 subscribers; Lite $49/mo billed yearly ($59 monthly) at 1,000
- Free plan
- Yes
- Best for
- Newsletter writers and media brands that want to grow a list and earn from ads, paid subscriptions and recommendations in one place
- Platforms
- Web app, hosted website and newsletter archive, podcast RSS hosting, community (mobile web app), REST API, Send API (Pro), webhooks, MCP server
BestStacked Score
Weighted average of 5 categories. Methodology below.
Quick answer
Is Beehiiv worth it for a newsletter business?
Yes, if your newsletter is meant to earn money. Beehiiv's Free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, a website and the free recommendation network. Paid plans add the ad network, paid subscriptions with a 0% platform fee, a referral program, automations and custom domains. Lite costs $49 a month billed yearly ($59 monthly) at 1,000 subscribers, and prices rise with list size. If you mainly need complex automations or ecommerce email, a general email tool fits better.
- Cheapest plan
- Free: up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends, website builder, one digital product and free recommendations. No ads, paid subscriptions or custom domain.
- Plan to price
- Lite, at $49/mo billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers ($119 at 10,000), for the ad network, paid subscriptions, referrals and up to 10 automations.
- Fees
- Beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscription and digital product revenue; Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 still applies. Paid recommendations carry a 20% fee.
- Skip it if
- You need deep CRM-style automation, transactional or ecommerce email, or SSO without an Enterprise contract.
The Verdict
Beehiiv is built for running a newsletter as a business. Every plan, including Free, includes unlimited sends, a website, podcast hosting, a community space and digital products, and the free recommendation network helps new lists grow. Lite adds the parts that earn money: the ad network, paid subscriptions with no platform fee, paid recommendations, a referral program and automations. Pro removes beehiiv branding and adds unlimited automations, webhooks, the Send API and 24/7 priority support. The trade-offs are cost at scale, since prices climb with every subscriber tier and Lite stops at 100,000, and automation that is simpler than a dedicated marketing platform. Beehiiv also doesn't publish its ad network revenue share. We score it 9.4/10.
Best for
Writers, creators and media brands that want to grow a newsletter and earn from ads, paid subscriptions and recommendations without stitching tools together.
Skip if
You run ecommerce or transactional email, need multi-branch marketing automation, or want SSO and audit logs without moving to Enterprise.
The Background
What Is Beehiiv?
Beehiiv is a newsletter platform founded in 2021 by Tyler Denk, Benjamin Hargett and Jacob Hurd, who beehiiv says were early employees at Morning Brew. It started as a newsletter editor with growth tools and now bundles five products into every plan: newsletter, website, podcast hosting, community and digital products. Plans differ by limits, support and advanced features rather than by which products you get. On top of publishing, Beehiiv runs an ad network that brings sponsors to paid-plan publishers, a Recommendations Network for free and paid cross-promotion, and a subscriber referral program. Pricing scales with your total active subscribers across every publication in your workspace. Beehiiv says it has more than 170,000 publications on the platform as of Q2 2026.
The Product
Beehiiv Features: What You Actually Get
Ad Network
Paid-plan publishers who are actively sending can browse a live marketplace of sponsor offers, refreshed hourly, and claim the ones that fit. Campaigns pay per 1,000 unique opens (CPM) or per payable click (CPC), with up to 3 ads per post. Earnings land in your beehiiv Wallet on the 20th of the following month through Stripe Express. The network is non-exclusive. Beehiiv doesn't publish the share of advertiser spend it keeps.
A 15,000-subscriber finance newsletter claims two CPC offers a week from the marketplace instead of selling sponsorships itself.
Paid subscriptions with a 0% platform fee
Lite and up can charge for premium content through your own Stripe account. Beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid subscription and digital product revenue, leaving Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Lite allows one paid tier; Pro allows unlimited tiers plus paid trials and group subscriptions. Metered paywalls and coupons are on Lite and up.
A niche B2B writer charges $10 a month for a premium edition and keeps everything except Stripe's processing fee.
Recommendations Network (formerly Boosts)
Free recommendations, where newsletters promote each other at signup, are on every plan. Paid recommendations, which replaced Boosts, are on paid plans: you pay other publishers per verified subscriber or earn by recommending others. Beehiiv takes a 20% fee built into the marketplace price, the minimum deposit is $20, and you're only charged for subscribers who pass verification.
A new newsletter funds a $1,000 paid offer to buy verified subscribers from similar publications, filtered to US readers only.
Referral program
Paid plans can reward subscribers for sharing the newsletter with milestone rewards: physical items, promo codes, digital files or a paid-subscription gift. Lite allows 3 milestones; Pro and Enterprise allow unlimited. The referral block appears in emailed posts only, not on the web version.
A sports newsletter gives a sticker pack at 3 referrals, a hoodie at 10 and a free year of premium at 25.
Website, podcast and community
Every plan includes a hosted website with templates, a link-in-bio page and subscribe forms, plus podcast RSS hosting (5,000 monthly downloads on Free, 15,000 on Lite, 50,000 on Pro) and a community space with channels, DMs and a mobile web app. Custom domains need a paid plan, and Free allows one custom page versus five on Lite and unlimited on Pro.
A creator runs their newsletter archive, podcast feed and member community from one domain and one login.
Automations and segmentation
Lite includes up to 10 live automations with triggers such as signup, segment entered, tag added, survey submitted and paid subscription purchased, plus delays, tags and true/false branches. Pro makes automations unlimited and adds click triggers, A/B splits and advanced conditions. Segments are unlimited on every plan; publishing to segments starts on Lite.
A course creator sends a five-email welcome series and tags readers who click a product link for a later launch.
beehiiv AI, Agent and MCP
Paid plans get AI writing and image tools in the post editor and AI chat in the Advanced Website Builder; Pro's AI allowance is 5x Lite's. The in-app beehiiv Agent and the beehiiv MCP (for tools like Claude and ChatGPT) are read-only on Free, can create and edit content on Lite, and can schedule and send posts on Pro and Enterprise.
An editor asks the beehiiv Agent which of the last ten posts had the best click rate and drafts three subject lines in the same tone.
Feature recap
- Newsletter, website, podcast, community and digital products on every plan
- Unlimited email sends on every plan
- Ad Network marketplace on paid plans (CPM and CPC)
- Paid subscriptions with a 0% beehiiv fee (Stripe fees apply)
- Free recommendations on all plans; paid recommendations with a 20% fee
- Referral program with milestone rewards on paid plans
- Automations: 10 live on Lite, unlimited on Pro
- AI editor, beehiiv Agent and MCP access that expand by plan
The Numbers
Beehiiv Pricing: Every Plan Explained
Beehiiv prices by plan and by total active subscribers across all publications in your workspace. There are four plans: Free, Lite, Pro and Enterprise. Lite and Pro come with a 14-day free trial of Pro features and no card required. The pricing page says yearly billing saves up to 20%; at the tiers we checked, the actual saving ranges from about 13% to 17%. Prices below were checked on October 11, 2026, at 1,000 subscribers unless noted.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Included Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends, 1 team seat, 1 publication, website builder with 1 custom page, podcast hosting, community, 1 digital product, free recommendations, API access, 30-day analytics. Support through the beehiiv Agent | New newsletters testing the platform |
| LiteBest value | $59 (1k) · $139 (10k) · $469 (100k) | $49/mo (1k) · $119/mo (10k) · $399/mo (100k) | Up to 100,000 subscribers, 2 seats, 3 publications, Ad Network, 1 paid tier, paid recommendations, referral program (3 milestones), 10 automations, custom domains, A/B testing, AI editor, 3 webhooks, standard support | Writers ready to start earning |
| Pro | $109 (1k) · $239 (10k) · $699 (100k) · $999 (250k+) | $95/mo (1k) · $199/mo (10k) · $599/mo (100k) · $869/mo (250k+) | Up to 250,000 subscribers, 10 seats, 10 publications, no beehiiv branding, unlimited paid tiers and automations, direct sponsorships, webhooks, Send API, dynamic content, RSS-to-send, webinars, 5x Lite AI usage, 24/7 priority support | Established newsletters and media brands |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom subscriber limits, unlimited seats, SSO/SAML, audit logs, dedicated IPs, granular permissions, WordPress integration, S3 data sync, customer success manager, concierge onboarding | Publishers with security or scale requirements |
Free is usable for a real newsletter up to 2,500 subscribers, but it can't earn: the ad network, paid subscriptions, paid recommendations, referrals and custom domains all start on Lite. Lite is the plan most writers should price first. Pro's main additions are no beehiiv branding, unlimited automations and paid tiers, webhooks, the Send API and 24/7 priority support; at 1,000 subscribers that costs $46 a month more than Lite on yearly billing. Watch the tier jumps: Lite is $49 a month yearly at 1,000 subscribers but $119 at 10,000, and Lite isn't offered above 100,000, so a 150,000-subscriber list starts at Pro's $689 a month yearly. Beehiiv counts subscribers across all publications in a workspace, and if you go over your tier with auto-upgrade on, it charges a prorated amount for the next tier. Without auto-upgrade, sends may be delayed.
Pricing scenarios
What Beehiiv costs at 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000 subscribers
These are our calculations from Beehiiv's and competitors' published prices on October 11, 2026, not quotes.
Calculation 1, a new newsletter with 1,000 subscribers. Free costs $0 and covers you up to 2,500. Lite is $49 a month billed yearly ($588 a year) or $59 monthly ($708 a year). Kit's Free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers but has no automations; Kit Creator is $33 a month billed yearly ($390 a year).
Calculation 2, a growing list of 10,000 subscribers. Lite is $119 a month billed yearly ($1,428 a year) or $139 monthly ($1,668 a year). Pro is $199 a month yearly ($2,388 a year). Kit Creator at the same size is $116 a month billed yearly ($1,390 a year) or $139 monthly, so the two are close on price.
Calculation 3, a paid newsletter with 10,000 subscribers and 300 paying $8 a month. Gross revenue is 300 × $8 = $2,400 a month. Beehiiv takes 0%, so you pay Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per payment: 300 × ($0.232 + $0.30) = $159.60, plus Lite at $119, for $278.60 a month in total. On Substack, publishing is free but Substack keeps 10% ($240) on top of the same Stripe card fee ($159.60), and its help page also lists Stripe's 0.7% Billing fee ($16.80), for $416.40. Lite's flat fee costs less than Substack's 10% once paid revenue passes $1,190 a month at this tier.
Calculation 4, a large list of 100,000 subscribers. Lite is $399 a month yearly ($4,788 a year) or $469 monthly. Pro is $599 a month yearly ($7,188 a year). Past 100,000, Lite isn't available: Pro at 150,000 is $689 a month yearly ($8,268 a year) or $799 monthly.
The Tradeoffs
Beehiiv Pros and Cons
What we love
- Newsletter, website, podcast, community and digital products on every plan
- Free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends
- 0% beehiiv fee on paid subscriptions and digital products
- Built-in ad network marketplace on every paid plan
- Free recommendations, paid recommendations and a referral program in one place
- 14-day Pro trial with no credit card
What could be better
- Price climbs with every subscriber tier, and Lite stops at 100,000
- Ad Network revenue share isn't published
- Paid recommendations carry a 20% fee
- Free plan has no ticket support, custom domain or monetization
- Automations are capped at 10 on Lite and simpler than a full marketing platform
- All sales are final; no prorated refunds on cancellation
The Audience
Who Should Use Beehiiv?
Best for: writers turning a newsletter into income
Lite puts the ad network, paid subscriptions with no platform fee, paid recommendations and a referral program behind one bill, from $49 a month yearly at 1,000 subscribers. Start on Free while you build the list.
Best for: media brands running several publications
Pro gives you 10 publications, 10 seats, unlimited automations, webhooks, the Send API and 24/7 priority support, with subscribers counted across the whole workspace. Enterprise adds SSO, audit logs and dedicated IPs.
Skip if: email is part of a store or sales funnel
Beehiiv is built around publishing. If you need ecommerce flows, transactional email or multi-branch nurture sequences, a general email platform such as Brevo or Kit is a better fit.
The Methodology
How We Reviewed Beehiiv
This is an editorial review, not a documented hands-on test. We didn't use a Beehiiv account. On October 11, 2026, we checked Beehiiv's pricing page on both the yearly and monthly toggles at every subscriber tier from 1,000 to 250,000+, the full plan comparison table, its features and about pages, and help center articles on the Ad Network, Recommendations Network, referral program, paid subscriptions and Stripe, custom domains, migrations, AI features, beehiiv Agent and MCP, plan changes, refunds and account deletion. We also checked competitor pricing pages the same day. The cost scenarios are our calculations from list prices. Beehiiv doesn't publish its Ad Network revenue share, exact AI credit amounts per plan or average support response times, so we don't state them.
Our editorial evaluation considers product information, official documentation, pricing, features and professional experience. It is not a claim of documented hands-on testing.
Our review methodology →What changed
- : Rebuilt in the full review format. Re-verified all plan prices on both billing toggles from 1,000 to 250,000+ subscribers, plus ad network, recommendations, referral, migration and AI details; Boosts are now paid recommendations, Free support is the beehiiv Agent only, and the WordPress integration is Enterprise only. Score unchanged.
The Field
Beehiiv vs The Competition
Beehiiv competes with creator email platforms and paid newsletter hosts. Scores come from each tool's own BestStacked review where we have one.
| Tool | Starting Price | Free plan | Best Feature | BS Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beehiiv | Free up to 2,500 subscribers; Lite $49/mo billed yearly ($59 monthly) at 1,000 | Yes | Ad Network | 9.4/10 |
| Kit | Free up to 10,000 subscribers; Creator $33/mo billed yearly ($39 monthly) at 1,000 | Yes | Visual automations and creator commerce | 9/10 |
| Substack | Free to publish; Substack keeps 10% of paid subscription revenue | Yes | Built-in reader network and app | 8.2/10 |
| Ghost | Starter $15/mo billed yearly ($18 monthly) for 1,000 members | No | Open-source publishing with 0% transaction fees | 8.4/10 |
| Mailchimp | Free under 250 contacts; Essentials from $13/mo | Yes | General email marketing for small businesses | 8.4/10 |
| Brevo | Free (300 emails/day); Starter $9/mo ($8.08 billed yearly) | Yes | Email, SMS and transactional messaging priced by volume | 8.7/10 |
Kit: Kit's Free plan covers four times as many subscribers as Beehiiv's, and its Visual Automations are deeper. Kit charges 3.5% + 30¢ on sales; Beehiiv charges no platform fee on paid subscriptions and has its own ad network on every paid plan.Read our Kit review →
Substack: Substack costs nothing until you charge, then keeps 10% of subscription revenue plus Stripe fees, and a custom domain costs a one-time $50. Beehiiv charges a plan fee that rises with list size instead, takes 0% of paid subscriptions, and offers more design control and a built-in ad network; both have reader referrals.Read our Substack review →
Ghost: Ghost(Pro) is a strong fit for writers who want a publication-first website and 0% transaction fees, but paid subscriptions start on its Publisher plan. Beehiiv includes more growth and ad tools on its paid plans.Read our Ghost review →
Mailchimp: Mailchimp suits businesses sending promotional and ecommerce email. Its free plan stops at 250 contacts, and it has no newsletter ad network or paid subscription system like Beehiiv's.Read our Mailchimp review →
Brevo: Brevo prices by emails sent rather than subscribers and adds SMS, WhatsApp and transactional email. Beehiiv is the better fit when the newsletter itself is the product.Read our Brevo review →
In The Wild
How People Actually Use Beehiiv
A solo writer starting a niche newsletter
Launch on Free with a hosted website and the free recommendation network, then move to Lite near 2,500 subscribers to switch on ads, a paid tier and a referral program.
A creator moving from Substack
Beehiiv's importer pulls free posts by URL and paywalled posts from a Substack export, and its migration tool moves paid subscribers' Stripe data. Remember to cancel billing on the old account to avoid double charges.
A small media company with three newsletters
Pro covers up to 10 publications and 10 seats under one subscriber count, with webhooks and the Send API for internal tools and 24/7 priority support.
The Ecosystem
Beehiiv Integrations
Beehiiv has a public API on every plan, an in-app App Marketplace with native integrations, and officially maintained Zapier and Make apps for everything else.
- →Zapier and Make (official, maintained by beehiiv)
- →Stripe (paid subscriptions, products and payouts)
- →Shopify, HubSpot, Kajabi, ClickFunnels, Stocktwits (guides in the App Marketplace)
- →REST API (all plans) and Send API (Pro and Enterprise)
- →Webhooks (3 on Lite, unlimited on Pro)
- →beehiiv MCP for AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT
- →Giphy and Unsplash; Getty Images on Pro and Enterprise
- →WordPress integration and S3 data sync (Enterprise)
The native list is short, so most connections run through Zapier or Make, which adds another subscription. Beehiiv's support team only services those two no-code platforms. API rate limits rise by plan (low on Free, high on Pro, custom on Enterprise), and the WordPress integration is Enterprise only.
Common Questions
Beehiiv FAQ
The Final Word
Should You Use Beehiiv?
Beehiiv gives newsletter writers many ways to grow and earn under one bill: a free plan up to 2,500 subscribers, then an ad network, paid subscriptions with no platform fee, paid recommendations, referrals and automations from Lite. Website, podcast, community and digital products come with every plan. Budget carefully as you grow, because each subscriber tier raises the price and Lite caps at 100,000. If you need deeper automation or ecommerce email, look at Kit or Brevo; if you want to pay nothing until you charge readers, Substack is the simpler start. We score Beehiiv 9.4/10.
Yes, if
Your newsletter is the product and you want to earn from ads, paid subscriptions or recommendations while growing the list.
No, if
You need ecommerce or transactional email, complex multi-branch automation, or want to pay nothing until you have paying readers.
About the reviewer
Carlos Gil
Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Carlos Gil is the bestselling author of The End of Marketing, a LinkedIn Top Voice, and founder of The Best Network. He brings 15+ years in marketing to practical reviews of AI, SaaS, email marketing, creator, and ecommerce software.
Keep reading
Related to Beehiiv
Head-to-head
Compare Beehiiv vs Kit (ConvertKit)
Pricing, strengths and who each tool fits — side by side.
Category
Best Email Marketing Platforms
See how Beehiiv ranks against the rest of the category.
Stack Pack
The $50/Month Creator Stack
Beehiiv is part of this stack.
Stack Pack
The Email Marketing Stack
Beehiiv is part of this stack.
Get the best of BestStacked
The AI tools worth knowing. None of the noise.
- New AI tool and software reviews as they publish
- Head-to-head comparisons and stack breakdowns
- The occasional recommendation worth knowing
No fake urgency. No made-up weekly cadence. Unsubscribe anytime.