beehiiv review 2026: fees, plans and who it suits

beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscriptions, which makes it cheaper than Substack once a newsletter earns more than about $590 a month. The catch is the plan fee. Paid subscriptions need the Lite plan, which costs $59 a month at 1,000 subscribers, and beehiiv raised and renamed its plans on October 1, 2026. In our view beehiiv is the most complete newsletter business tool we review, provided your revenue can carry the subscription.

How much does beehiiv cost in 2026?

beehiiv has four plans as of October 2026, and only the paid ones can charge readers. Lite starts at $59 a month billed monthly or $49 a month billed yearly, at 1,000 subscribers.

Those prices are for the 1,000-subscriber tier. beehiiv prices each paid plan by your total active subscribers across every publication in your account, so the bill rises as your list grows, free readers included. Yearly billing saves up to 20%.

The plans changed on October 1, 2026. Launch became Free, Scale became Lite and Max became Pro, and prices rose for new customers. Net Influencer reported that Lite at 10,000 subscribers went from $109 to $139 a month. Existing monthly customers keep their old rate until their first renewal on or after November 1, 2026, and annual customers keep theirs to the end of their term.

How much does beehiiv take?

beehiiv takes nothing from paid subscriptions and digital products. It does take a cut of some marketplace income, and Stripe’s fees apply to everything you sell.

beehiiv’s pricing page mentions only Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30. Subscriptions are set up as Stripe products and prices in your own Stripe account, and Stripe charges 0.7% of recurring billing volume for that, so budget for it. On a $10 monthly subscription the arithmetic on published fees is $0.59 for the card and $0.07 for billing, leaving $9.34 before your plan cost.

How do beehiiv payouts work?

beehiiv never holds your subscription money. Paid subscriptions and product sales go straight to the Stripe account you connect, and Stripe pays your bank on its own schedule, with a first payout that typically takes 7 to 14 days.

Marketplace income is different. Ad Network and paid recommendation earnings land in your beehiiv Wallet, which is tied to a separate Stripe Express account for each publication.

• Ad Network earnings become final 96 hours after a send and move to your Wallet on the 20th of the following month.
• Paid recommendation earnings arrive as each referred subscriber passes verification.
• Wallet withdrawals go to your bank at any time and typically take 3 to 5 business days.

Earnings already owed still pay out if you downgrade or close your account. beehiiv does not support PayPal, Wise or other processors for these payouts, so creators in countries without Stripe Express cannot use the Ad Network.

How do you make money on beehiiv?

beehiiv offers five ways to earn, and the Ad Network is the one that sets it apart. Paid subscriptions, the Ad Network and paid recommendations need Lite or higher, while digital products are on every plan.

Paid subscriptions use tiers you price yourself, with revenue in your own Stripe account. The Ad Network is open to any paid-plan publication that is actively sending. You set preferences and up to three tags, then claim offers from a marketplace showing up to seven at a time, refreshed hourly. Campaigns pay by CPM on unique opens or by CPC on payable clicks. beehiiv’s own example is a $5 CPM earning $5 per 1,000 unique opens.

Paid recommendations, formerly called Boosts, pay you a set amount for each verified subscriber you send to another newsletter. In beehiiv’s example an advertiser pays $2.50 per subscriber and the recommending publication receives $2. Direct sponsorships let Pro and Enterprise users sell their own ad slots from a storefront, and digital products, including webinars, carry no beehiiv commission.

How does beehiiv help you find readers?

beehiiv’s main discovery tool is its Recommendations Network, which works on every plan. You can feature up to four publications in your signup flow, and other newsletters can feature you in theirs.

Paid recommendations add a budget to that loop. You fund a beehiiv Wallet with at least $20, set a price per verified subscriber, and beehiiv charges you only for readers who pass verification. To appear in the network a publication must be public, have sent a post in the last 60 days and have a name and logo set. There is currently no way to opt out of appearing.

Can you move to or from beehiiv easily?

beehiiv keeps your list portable. Subscriber data exports as a Quick or Full CSV with emails, status and tier, and you can export post content as well.

Paid subscriptions live in your own Stripe account, but it has to be one created through beehiiv’s Stripe setup, not an account you already used elsewhere. beehiiv’s migration tool copies active subscriptions from your old Stripe account into the new one. It does not cancel billing on your previous platform, so you have to do that yourself, and beehiiv warns that more cards may fail at first because the new account has no payment history with your readers.

Who is beehiiv best for?

beehiiv suits newsletters that already have readers and want several income streams in one place. Next to Substack, the break-even is simple. Both pay Stripe, so beehiiv’s $59 Lite plan costs less than Substack’s 10% once paid revenue passes $590 a month.

The Recommendations Network helps, but it will not grow a list from nothing the way Substack’s app can. Skip beehiiv if you only want a simple paid newsletter. Kit lets you charge readers on its free plan, and Ghost does it from $35 a month with your own website included.

beehiiv alternatives

Our Substack vs beehiiv comparison weighs discovery against fees, and beehiiv vs Kit is the choice for creators who also sell products. For a wider view of the options, see our best platforms for writers and the guide to creator platform fees.