beehiiv vs Kit 2026: fees, growth tools and which to pick

Kit leaves you $935 from 100 newsletter payments of $10, against about $875 on beehiiv, because Kit lets you sell on its free plan and beehiiv needs the $59 Lite plan. That makes Kit our pick for a paid newsletter under 10,000 subscribers. beehiiv wins on ownership and on ad income, and those are the two reasons to pay for it.

How much do beehiiv and Kit take?

beehiiv takes 0% of subscriptions but charges a plan fee, and Kit charges 3.5% + $0.30 per payment with no plan fee up to 10,000 subscribers. Per payment the two cost almost exactly the same, so the plan fee decides it.

beehiiv’s Free plan cannot take paid subscriptions at all. Kit’s free plan can, though products sold on it carry a Built with Kit badge that paid plans remove.

What do you keep on a real list?

The figures below are arithmetic on published fees, not reported earnings. They assume $10 monthly subscriptions paid by US cards and monthly billing for beehiiv.

At 1,000 subscribers, Kit takes $65 and beehiiv’s Stripe fees come to $66 before the $59 plan. At 10,000 subscribers, Kit takes $325, while beehiiv’s Stripe fees come to $330 and Lite costs $139 a month at that tier on beehiiv’s pricing page. Yearly billing on beehiiv narrows the gap by about $10 to $20 a month, not enough to change the result.

Past 10,000 subscribers Kit makes you upgrade to keep sending, and the comparison becomes Kit’s paid plan price against beehiiv’s. The per-payment cost stays a cent apart, so compare the two plan prices at your list size.

One case goes beehiiv’s way. beehiiv’s Free plan, up to 2,500 subscribers, can sell one digital product at 0% plus Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30. On $1,000 of $10 one-time sales that leaves $941, against $935 on Kit. Our guide to creator platform fees shows how these rates compare with Substack and Ghost.

How do beehiiv and Kit pay out?

Kit pays sales revenue weekly, on Fridays, and beehiiv sends subscription money straight to your own Stripe account on Stripe’s schedule. In both cases the first payout typically takes 7 to 14 days.

Ad money is slower on both. beehiiv moves Ad Network earnings into your beehiiv Wallet on the 20th of the month after the ads ran, and you can withdraw to your bank at any time. Kit releases ad revenue 45 days after the end of the month, so August ads pay out around October 15. Both score 7 on payouts in our reviews.

Which grows your list faster?

beehiiv and Kit both score 6 on discovery, because each runs a recommendation network that sends real subscribers but neither has a reading app like Substack. You still bring most of your audience yourself.

beehiiv’s Recommendations Network works on every plan. You can feature up to four publications in your signup flow, other newsletters can feature you in theirs, and there is no way to opt out of appearing. Paid recommendations let you buy subscribers from other newsletters, and beehiiv keeps 20% of the price.

Kit’s Creator Network also works on every plan. You can recommend up to 20 creators, and Kit shows up to five on a form or landing page. Free accounts get five Smart Recommendation slots, while paid accounts get priority and a larger share of other creators’ recommendations. Kit’s paid recommendations run through SparkLoop with a 20% service fee plus 3.5%, and you can only earn from them on a paid plan.

If you are starting from zero, our guide on how to start a paid newsletter covers building the list first.

Which features actually differ?

The real differences are ads, payment ownership and automation. Everything else is close.

The ad gap is the biggest one. On Kit, if ads earn $100 in a month, Kit keeps $23.50 by the published share and pays you $76.50, and browsing CPC campaigns needs a paid plan. beehiiv’s Ad Network shows up to seven campaigns at a time, paid by CPM on unique opens or by CPC, and beehiiv does not publish its own cut. beehiiv Pro also lets you sell sponsorships directly from a storefront, for $10 per booking.

Ownership is the other. beehiiv scores 8 on ownership and Kit 6, because Kit cancels every active subscription if your Kit account closes, while beehiiv subscriptions live in a Stripe account you control. Both export your subscriber list to CSV.

Kit also collects VAT on product and tip sales but not US sales tax, and it sells in six currencies from 39 countries.

Which should you choose?

Kit is the better choice for most writers selling a newsletter to an audience they already have. beehiiv is worth its plan fee once ads or sponsorships are a real income line, or if keeping subscriptions in your own Stripe account matters more than $60 a month. Our list of the best platforms for writers ranks the wider field.

• Pick beehiiv if you expect ads to be a real share of your income and want a marketplace of CPM and CPC campaigns.
• Pick beehiiv if you want paid subscriptions in your own Stripe account, so they survive a move away.
• Pick beehiiv if you want to sell sponsorships directly from a storefront on the Pro plan.
• Pick beehiiv if you sell one digital product to a list under 2,500 and want to pay only Stripe’s fee.
• Pick Kit if you have fewer than 10,000 subscribers and want to sell without a monthly fee.
• Pick Kit if subscriptions are your main income, since Kit’s all-in rate costs no more per payment than Stripe alone on beehiiv.
• Pick Kit if you want tips, quarterly billing or upsells on the free plan.