beehiiv
Newsletter infrastructure that takes nothing from your subscription revenue.
- Marketing
- Analytics
- Productivity
- from $43/mo
beehiiv is a newsletter platform built by former Morning Brew operators, combining sending, a website, growth tooling and monetisation. Its central pitch is the inverse of Substack's: a flat monthly fee that scales with list size, and a 0% take rate on paid subscriptions from the Scale plan upward.
beehiiv ranking and coverage
- In Marketing
- #10 of 14 tied
- Overall
- #77 of 122 tied
- Terms score
- 5.1 /10
- Referenced here
- 1 page
Cost position 2.3 · Portability 5 · Subscription flexibility 8 - Ranked on published terms only: entry price against category peers, portability and subscription flexibility, equally weighted. This is not a quality score.How the rank is calculated.
beehiiv: the short answer
Every line below is drawn from facts verified on 9 August 2026.
- What it is
- Newsletter infrastructure that takes nothing from your subscription revenue
- Best for
- Newsletters with meaningful paid subscription revenue
- Starts at
- Launch free up to 2,500 subscribers; Scale $43/month billed annually
- Free option
- Free plan available, 14 days trial
- Biggest strength
- 0% take rate on paid subscriptions from Scale upward
- Biggest drawback
- Prices scale with subscriber count, so headline figures are entry rates
- Based on
- Primary-source research, not hands-on use
- Closest alternative
- Substack - Free until you charge, then 10% of revenue forever. Better discovery
- True annual cost
- from $516 a year on Scale, the cheapest paid tier ($43 a month)
beehiiv at a glance
| Best for | Newsletters with meaningful paid subscription revenue, Publishers monetising through advertising as well as subscriptions, Operators who want growth tooling and analytics, not just sending |
|---|---|
| Category | Marketing, Analytics, Productivity |
| Starting price | Launch free up to 2,500 subscribers; Scale $43/month billed annually |
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Company | beehiiv, Inc. |
| Founded | 2021 |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, United States |
| Founders | Tyler Denk, Benjamin Hargett, Jake Hurd |
| Platforms | Web |
| Public API | Yes |
| Browser extension | No |
| Mobile apps | None |
| Self-hosting | No |
| Affiliate programme | 60% of referral revenue every month for the first year |
| Data source | Vendor pricing page and public records |
| Last checked | August 2026 |
beehiiv pricing
Prices below were read from the vendor's own pricing page on 9 August 2026. Pricing model: subscription. Free trial: 14 days.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | $0 | per month | Up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends, custom domain, API read access |
| Scale | $43 | per month | $517 billed annually at 1,000 subscribers. $49 if billed monthly. 0% take rate |
| Max | $96 | per month | $1,151 billed annually at 1,000 subscribers. Up to 10 publications |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Negotiated | Flexible billing for 100,000+ subscribers |
What beehiiv actually costs over a year
A monthly price is not the same thing as a monthly contract. These are the plans above resolved both ways, per seat or unit where the plan is charged that way. Where a vendor quotes only a yearly figure it is divided by twelve rather than left out, and the Quoted column says which figure the vendor actually publishes.
| Plan | Quoted | Monthly | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scale | per month | $43 | $516 |
| Max | per month | $96 | $1,152 |
Which beehiiv plan should you buy?
| Your situation | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You are starting a newsletter with no paid tier | Launch | Free to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends and a custom domain. |
| You charge readers for subscriptions | Scale | The 0% take rate begins here. Against Substack's 10% it pays for itself at a few hundred dollars of monthly revenue. |
| You sell sponsorships or run several publications | Max | Adds the sponsorship storefront, branding removal and up to ten publications. |
| Your list is large | Set the subscriber slider before comparing | Every published price is quoted at a subscriber band. The $43 figure is the entry band, not your price. |
| You only need to send plain email cheaply | Consider MailerLite instead | beehiiv's monetisation tooling is the value, and you would be paying for unused capability. |
Verdict by who you are
Newsletter with paid subscriptionsYes
A 0% take rate means the platform cost stops growing while your revenue does not. This is the decisive difference from Substack.
Writer starting from zero audienceCompare first
Substack's discovery network is stronger and costs nothing until you charge. Move to beehiiv when the 10% starts to hurt.
Publisher selling advertisingYes
The ad network and sponsorship storefront are built for this and have no real equivalent.
Ecommerce marketerNo
Wrong tool entirely. Klaviyo or Omnisend handle product data and abandoned carts.
Should you buy beehiiv?
Buy beehiiv if…
- Newsletters with meaningful paid subscription revenue
- Publishers monetising through advertising as well as subscriptions
- Operators who want growth tooling and analytics, not just sending
Do not buy beehiiv if…
- Writers with no paid tier, where free alternatives suffice
- Ecommerce email marketing
- Anyone wanting the lowest possible starting cost at large list sizes
Key features
- 0% take rate on paid subscriptions from Scale upward
- Unlimited email sends on every plan, including the free one
- Recommendation network and Boosts for paid list growth
- Ad Network connecting publishers with sponsors
- Website, landing pages and link-in-bio included
- Email automations, surveys and polls on Scale
- Segmentation and advanced website analytics
- API, webhooks and an MCP server for programmatic access
Integrations
- Stripe for paid subscriptions
- Zapier and webhooks
- Google Analytics
- beehiiv API and MCP server
- Custom domains
beehiiv screenshots
Captured by us in August 2026 at 1440px, unedited. Interfaces change, so these show the product as it looked on the date we verified this profile. Pricing pages are captured from a US vantage point, so the currency shown matches the USD figures recorded above.
Our assessment
beehiiv is the right answer once a newsletter earns money. Taking nothing from subscription revenue means the platform cost stops growing while your income does not, and the growth tooling, ad network and analytics are built for people running a publication as a business rather than writing in public. Two cautions. Prices are quoted per subscriber band, so the $43 figure applies at a small list and climbs as you grow, and the free Launch plan withholds the monetisation features that are the reason to be here. Compare it against Substack using your actual paid revenue, because the answer flips sharply at a predictable point.
What works in beehiiv
- 0% take rate on paid subscriptions from Scale upward
- Unlimited sends on every plan, including free
- Genuinely useful growth tooling and an ad network
- Free tier covers up to 2,500 subscribers
What doesn't
- Prices scale with subscriber count, so headline figures are entry rates
- Monetisation features are absent from the free Launch plan
- More expensive than plain senders if you never charge readers
- Discovery network is smaller than Substack's
EveryAny Decision Score
3 of these 8 dimensions are calculated from verified facts; the rest are our judgement, shown as a band rather than a figure unless something specific sits behind them. How each score works.
- Cost position2.3/10
derivedentry tier at $43 a month against a category median of $20 a month across 13 comparable tools
- Portability5/10
derivedpublic API
- Subscription flexibility8/10
derivedfree plan, free trial, subscription, monthly billing
- Feature depthHigh
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- Ease of learningHigh
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- CollaborationModerate
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- AI capabilityModerate
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- Professional adoptionHigh
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
What leaving beehiiv would cost
moderate lock-in
beehiiv scores on public API. Portability 5/10 ; lock-in is the inverse. How this is calculated.
beehiiv competitors and alternatives
| Alternative | Why you might pick it instead |
|---|---|
| Substack | Free until you charge, then 10% of revenue forever. Better discovery. |
| Kit | Stronger automation and product selling for creators. |
| MailerLite | Much cheaper for plain sending without publisher monetisation tooling. |
Substack
Marketing
Free to publish, 10% if you get paid, and the network is the product.
Checked Aug 2026
Kit
Marketing
Email built for creators, including the part where you get paid.
Checked Aug 2026
Prices move with your list size
beehiiv’s pricing page leads with a question, “How many email subscribers do you have?”, and a slider running through bands: 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, 10K, 25K, 50K, 75K, 100K and above. Every plan price moves with that setting.
The figures recorded here are read at the 1,000-subscriber band with annual billing: Scale $43 a month, billed as $517 a year, and Max $96 a month, billed as $1,151. Monthly billing costs more, with Scale at $49. Set the slider to your own list before comparing anything.
The 0% take rate is the whole argument
From Scale upward, beehiiv takes nothing from paid subscription revenue. Compare that with Substack, which takes 10% of every payment indefinitely:
| Monthly subscription revenue | Substack’s cut | beehiiv Scale |
|---|---|---|
| $500 | $50 | $43 |
| $2,000 | $200 | $43 |
| $10,000 | $1,000 | $43 |
The crossover arrives at a few hundred dollars of monthly revenue, and after that the gap widens without limit. If you have a paid list of any real size, this is the decision.
What the free plan holds back
Launch is generous on the things that cost beehiiv money: up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends, custom domains, a website and API read access. It withholds the things that make money, and that is deliberate. The ad network, recommendations, the 0% take rate, automations, surveys, webhooks and team seats all begin at Scale.
So Launch is an excellent free newsletter tool and not a free version of the product described above. If monetisation is the reason you are here, price Scale from the start.
Where Substack still wins
Discovery. Substack’s app, Notes and recommendation surface introduce readers to publications at a scale beehiiv’s network does not match, and for a writer starting from zero that can matter more than the fee. beehiiv’s answer is Boosts, where you pay other newsletters for subscribers, which works but is a cost rather than a windfall.
Start on Substack if you have no audience and no revenue. Move when the 10% starts to sting.
beehiiv questions, answered
- Is beehiiv worth it?
- beehiiv is the right answer once a newsletter earns money.
- How much does beehiiv cost?
- Launch free up to 2,500 subscribers; Scale $43/month billed annually. The cheapest paid tier we recorded is Scale, published at $43 a month, which works out at $43 a month or $516 over a year. Verified against the vendor's pricing page.
- Does beehiiv have a free plan or free trial?
- beehiiv has a free plan. A free trial is available: 14 days.
- What is the best beehiiv alternative?
- It depends on the job. Substack: Free until you charge, then 10% of revenue forever. Better discovery. Kit: Stronger automation and product selling for creators. MailerLite: Much cheaper for plain sending without publisher monetisation tooling.
- Can I self-host beehiiv?
- No. beehiiv is a hosted service only, so your data lives on the vendor's infrastructure.
What this profile is based on
Every claim below is about our work, not about beehiiv. A "no" is recorded rather than omitted, because the difference between a tested review and careful desk research is the reader's to weigh. How we research a profile.
-
Prices read from the vendor : yes
Read from beehiiv's own pricing page on 9 August 2026
-
Plans and terms recorded : yes
4 rows, each with its billing period
-
Original screenshots : yes
2 captured by us: homepage, pricing page
-
Sources cited and dated : yes
2 primary sources, each with the date it was read
-
Product used first-hand : no
Not tested. This profile is desk research from primary sources
-
Alternatives used first-hand : no
None, so comparisons here rest on published facts rather than use
-
Vendor contacted : no
Not contacted for this profile
Where beehiiv appears on this site
One other page here references beehiiv, and it is listed below.
- Another profile Substack names it as a competitor
Counts pages on this site that name the product by choice - buyer guides, articles, deal records and other profiles. Category and directory indexes list everything automatically and are not counted.
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Provenance and freshness
When each fact was last checked
- Pricing ·
- Plans ·
- Free trial
- Features
- Platforms
- Integrations
- Affiliate programme ·
- Company details
What has changed
-
August 2026
- Pricing verified at the 1,000-subscriber band with annual billing
- Partner programme commission verified at 60% for the first year
- Added plan picker and verdicts
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- beehiiv pricing - checked 9 August 2026
- beehiiv partner programme - checked 9 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.
