beehiiv: The Newsletter Platform Built for Growth

beehiiv is a newsletter platform built specifically for growth. It was founded by members of the team behind Morning Brew, and the product reflects that background: publishing, subscriber management and analytics, with monetisation tools built in on the paid plans.

On Scale and above, those tools are a native ad network where advertisers pay newsletters across beehiiv, a referral program that rewards readers for sharing, paid subscriptions for premium content, and paid recommendations, where you earn for recommending other newsletters to your readers.

beehiiv is used by independent newsletter creators, media companies, content businesses, and brands running editorial newsletters.

beehiiv's Launch plan is free up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends. It is a permanent free tier with no expiry, and it includes the website builder, custom domains, campaign analytics and API access (excluding the Send API), according to beehiiv's feature table read on 30 September 2026.

The paid plans, Scale and Max, add the monetisation suite: the ad network, the referral program, paid subscriptions with a 0% beehiiv take, email automations and advanced analytics. Max adds removing beehiiv branding and up to 10 publications. The ad network is marked on beehiiv's page as not available in all regions, so check it covers Australia before you count on it. Current plan prices are on beehiiv's own pricing page.

Both are built for newsletters, with different business models.

Substack is a publishing-first platform with a large built-in reader network, so readers can discover newsletters on Substack itself, which is a distribution advantage for new creators. It charges no monthly fee and takes 10% of paid-subscription revenue. Its trade-off is limited customisation, no ad network and no referral program.

beehiiv charges a monthly fee for its paid plans and takes 0% of paid subscriptions, per its own pricing FAQ. It gives you ownership of your audience, more growth tools and more ways to earn. Substack is better if discovery inside the Substack network is your main growth channel; beehiiv is better if you intend to run the newsletter as a business with several revenue streams.

beehiiv vs Kit (formerly ConvertKit): Kit is a broader email marketing and creator tool covering automation, landing pages, and digital product sales. It suits creators who want to sell products or courses alongside their newsletter. beehiiv is more focused on newsletter growth and monetisation. If your business is primarily a newsletter, beehiiv's purpose-built tools fit better. If you need complex automation flows or digital product infrastructure, Kit is more flexible.

beehiiv vs Mailchimp: Mailchimp is a general email marketing platform aimed at businesses doing promotional email, not newsletter publishing. beehiiv is designed for editorial newsletters, recurring publishing, and audience monetisation. They serve different use cases and are rarely in direct competition.

All of these are paid-plan features. The ad network places advertisers' ads in newsletters across beehiiv; you review placements before they go out. Paid subscriptions let you charge readers a recurring fee for premium content, and beehiiv takes 0% of that revenue, leaving only Stripe's processing fee. Paid recommendations pay you for recommending other newsletters. You can also sell sponsorships directly.

A newsletter on a paid beehiiv plan can earn from advertising, reader subscriptions and cross-promotion at the same time. On the free Launch plan it can do none of the three, which is the main reason to upgrade.