In short
- Newsletter-first platform with website, podcast, community, and digital products on every plan
- Free plan up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, paid Lite and Pro plans priced by list size
- Earn through the beehiiv Ad Network, paid subscriptions at a 0% take rate, and paid recommendations
- Best fit: publishers, creators, and brands that run a newsletter as a media product
What is beehiiv
beehiiv is a newsletter platform founded in 2021 by Tyler Denk, Benjamin Hargett, and Jacob Hurd, early employees at Morning Brew who had helped turn a newsletter into a media company. It started as an email tool for publishers and is now a newsletter-first platform with a website builder, podcast hosting, communities, and digital products on every plan, plus paid subscriptions and its own ad network on paid plans. As of Q2 2026, beehiiv reports more than 170,000 publications, 450 million unique readers, and over $60 million earned by its users.
The product is built around publisher economics. You write in beehiiv’s editor and send to your list with unlimited sends on every plan, and posts can also be published on your beehiiv website. For growth there is a Recommendations network, where newsletters recommend each other for free or pay per verified subscriber (paid recommendations, which beehiiv used to call Boosts), and a referral program on paid plans. For revenue, paid plans add the beehiiv Ad Network and paid subscriptions with a 0% beehiiv take rate, while digital products work on every plan.
Where beehiiv fits in 2026
beehiiv suits publishers and creators who run a newsletter as a media business: niche and industry newsletters, media companies, and creators who want ads, paid tiers, and a website in one place. Prices rise with list size, but every plan includes unlimited sends, so a daily newsletter costs the same as a weekly one.
For D2C brands, beehiiv shows up in two ways. Some run a content newsletter on it next to their lifecycle email, since beehiiv’s automation triggers center on sign-ups, forms, surveys, segments, and its own paid subscriptions and digital products. More often, brands meet it as an acquisition channel: the beehiiv Ad Network places sponsorships across thousands of vetted newsletters that reach more than 100 million readers, and advertisers can add dynamic parameters to their click URLs so each click arrives tagged with the publication, campaign, and creative. Together with consistent UTM parameters, that lets you judge newsletter sponsorships by the orders they drive, not by opens and clicks alone.
The trade-offs are cost at scale and the free plan’s limits. Lite tops out at 100,000 subscribers and $469 a month on monthly billing, Pro at 250,000 subscribers and $999 a month, and larger lists move to Enterprise. Removing beehiiv branding requires Pro. The Ad Network, paid subscriptions, and automations all start on Lite, so the Free plan is mainly for building a list.
How beehiiv compares to alternatives
Versus Substack: Substack is free to publish at any list size and keeps 10% of paid subscription revenue, plus Stripe’s processing fees. beehiiv takes 0% of subscription revenue but charges a monthly plan once you monetize, from $59 a month on monthly billing at up to 1,000 subscribers. At that size, Substack’s cut costs more than beehiiv Lite once paid revenue passes $590 a month, and beehiiv adds an ad network and automations. Versus Kit (formerly ConvertKit): Kit is an email marketing and automation platform for creators, and its free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, four times beehiiv’s free limit. Kit is built around email automation, paid newsletters, and digital product sales. beehiiv puts publishing, its Recommendations network, and the Ad Network first. Versus Mailchimp: Mailchimp is a general email marketing platform for businesses, with marketing automations and SMS on paid plans and a free plan for up to 250 contacts. beehiiv’s free plan covers 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, and its tools are made for publishing and monetizing a newsletter rather than for promotional campaigns to customers. Versus Klaviyo: Klaviyo is built for e-commerce flows triggered by store behavior, such as abandoned cart reminders, browse abandonment, and post-purchase follow-ups. beehiiv’s automations react to subscribers, forms, surveys, and its own paid subscriptions and digital products. If you sell products, those flows belong in an e-commerce email tool, and beehiiv fits the newsletter you run as content.
FAQ about beehiiv
How much does beehiiv cost?
beehiiv has a Free plan for up to 2,500 subscribers. Paid plans are priced by list size: at up to 1,000 subscribers, Lite costs $59 a month or $49 a month billed yearly, and Pro costs $109 a month or $95 a month billed yearly. At 10,000 subscribers, Lite costs $139 and Pro $239 a month on monthly billing. Lite runs up to 100,000 subscribers ($469 a month), Pro up to 250,000 ($999 a month), and Enterprise, which covers larger lists, is priced on request.
Does beehiiv have a free plan or trial?
Yes. The Free plan, formerly called Launch, is free forever without a credit card and covers up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends, one publication, one team seat, a website, and 30 days of analytics. It does not include the Ad Network, paid subscriptions, or automations. Lite and Pro come with a 14-day free trial of Pro features that needs no credit card, although paid subscriptions, paid recommendations, custom domains, and extra team seats unlock only after you upgrade.
beehiiv vs Substack: which is better?
It depends on how you plan to earn. Substack costs nothing until you charge readers, then keeps 10% of subscription revenue plus Stripe’s fees. beehiiv charges a monthly plan for paid features but takes 0% of subscription and digital product revenue, and it adds an ad network and automations. Once paid revenue is high enough, the flat fee costs less than Substack’s cut: at up to 1,000 subscribers, Lite’s $59 a month equals 10% of $590 in monthly paid revenue.
beehiiv vs Kit (ConvertKit): what is the difference?
Kit, formerly ConvertKit, is an email marketing and automation platform for creators. Its free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers and includes paid newsletters and digital products, while automations and sequences need a paid plan. beehiiv is newsletter-first: it bundles a website, podcast hosting, the Ad Network, and a recommendations network with publishing, and its free plan stops at 2,500 subscribers. If your business runs on email automation and product sales, Kit is the closer fit. If you earn from ads and paid tiers, beehiiv is.
Does beehiiv have an ad network?
Yes. The beehiiv Ad Network is open to publications on Lite or above that actively send on beehiiv. Eligible publishers see up to 15 matched offers at a time, choose which ones to run, and are paid per 1,000 unique opens (CPM) or per verified click (CPC), with up to three ads per post. beehiiv vets every advertiser and says creators have earned more than $37 million through the network.
How do you make money on beehiiv?
Paid plans add the main revenue streams: the Ad Network, paid subscriptions with monthly, annual, or pay-what-you-want pricing, and paid recommendations that pay you for each qualified subscriber you send to another newsletter. Digital products work on every plan, with higher limits on paid plans. Pro adds a sponsorship storefront for selling sponsorships directly. beehiiv takes 0% of subscription and digital product revenue, so only Stripe’s processing fee of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction applies.
What are beehiiv recommendations and Boosts?
Recommendations is beehiiv’s cross-promotion network: right after someone subscribes, they see newsletters you recommend. Free recommendations work on every plan. Paid recommendations, which beehiiv used to call Boosts, need a paid plan: you set a price per subscriber and pay only for subscribers who pass verification and engage, or you earn whenever you send a qualified subscriber to another newsletter.
Is beehiiv a good fit for e-commerce brands?
For a content newsletter, yes, and its Ad Network can be a useful acquisition channel. beehiiv’s automations react to sign-ups, forms, surveys, segments, and its own paid subscriptions and digital products, so cart and browsing flows belong in an e-commerce email tool. Brands that advertise through the Ad Network can add dynamic parameters to their click URLs and see each publication’s clicks in their own analytics or attribution tool.
What are beehiiv alternatives?
The main alternatives are Substack for publishing without a monthly fee, Kit (formerly ConvertKit) for creator email automation, and Ghost, an open-source publishing platform with newsletters and paid subscriptions. General email marketing platforms such as Mailchimp and MailerLite suit businesses sending campaigns and simple automations, and D2C brands use Klaviyo for email triggered by store behavior.
What are beehiiv reviews?
beehiiv is rated 4.5 on G2 with 40 reviews, 4.4 on Capterra with 16 reviews, and 3.9 on Trustpilot with 414 reviews. G2 reviewers most often praise the interface and the monetization tools, and price is the most common complaint. See the G2 reviews for detailed feedback.
Does beehiiv have an API?
Yes. beehiiv’s REST API covers publications, subscriptions, posts, segments, custom fields, automations, tiers, webhooks, and the referral program, with documentation at developers.beehiiv.com. API access is included on every plan, while the Send API requires Pro and webhooks start on Lite. beehiiv also connects to Zapier and Make.
Does beehiiv use AI?
Yes. Paid plans include beehiiv AI in the editor, with AI usage limits that grow by plan. Every plan includes the beehiiv Agent assistant and read access to the beehiiv MCP server, which connects Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI tools to your newsletter data, and Lite and up add write access to both. The Free plan also includes an AI website builder, and Pro adds AI bot control for your website.
How does beehiiv work?
You collect subscribers through beehiiv’s forms and website or import an existing list, write posts in the editor, and send them by email, with the option to publish each post on your beehiiv site as well. Recommendations and the referral program bring in new readers, and the Ad Network, paid tiers, and digital products turn the list into revenue. Analytics cover opens, clicks, subscriber growth, and earnings, and by default beehiiv adds UTM parameters to the links in your posts.
How to use beehiiv?
Sign up for the Free plan at beehiiv.com, set up your publication and website, and import your subscriber list or add a subscribe form. When you want to try the paid features, start the free Lite or Pro trial.
How to learn beehiiv?
beehiiv runs a knowledge base with setup guides, publishes newsletter strategy on its blog, and posts video tutorials on its YouTube channel. Developers find the API reference at developers.beehiiv.com.
beehiiv pricing
beehiiv is free. Billing: Free / Lite / Pro / Enterprise, priced by subscriber count. A free plan, plus a free trial of lite and pro option is available. See the full beehiiv pricing page for current tiers and any add-ons.
