beehiiv Pricing Guide 2026

Who this guide is for

This guide is for people who run a newsletter, a digest or a members-only update to an audience they own, and who are choosing a platform that can carry that audience from a few hundred readers to several thousand. It covers the prices listed on beehiiv's pricing page and on the pricing pages of three alternatives that creators often compare it with: Kit, Ghost and Sender. The prices were checked on 7 October 2026.

It does not cover transactional email for product notifications, and it does not rate writing quality or AI features. Where a feature is named below, it is because the vendor's pricing page lists it on that plan. Nothing here is a judgement of how well a tool performs in use.

The question that drives the decision is simple: how many subscribers will you have when the bill starts to matter, and which features do you need at that size? beehiiv prices by subscriber count, so the answer changes quickly once a list passes a plan ceiling. The sections below set out the plans, compare the four platforms, show what each costs at three list sizes and explain where the trade-offs sit.

Comparison at a glance

The table below sets the four platforms side by side. Each row names the situation the platform suits best, the entry price with its plan and billing view, and the limitation that matters most once a list starts to grow.

beehiiv's plans and what each one adds

beehiiv has three base plans. Free covers up to 2,500 subscribers at $0, free forever. It includes unlimited email sends and one publication. Lite lists up to 100,000 subscribers at a $49 base price, and adds paid subscriptions, automations and audience polls. Pro lists up to 250,000 subscribers at a $95 base price, and adds advanced analytics and priority support.

The base prices are not the whole picture. beehiiv's pricing page also lists subscriber-tiered figures for Lite and Pro at 5,000 and 10,000 subscribers. Lite is $109 a month on monthly billing or $95 a month billed yearly at 5,000 subscribers, and $139 monthly or $119 billed yearly at 10,000. Pro is $199 monthly or $169 billed yearly at 5,000, and $239 monthly or $199 billed yearly at 10,000. The cost table in the next section uses these figures as they are listed, so a creator planning around a list of that size sees the number that applies to it.

Yearly billing lowers the subscriber-tiered price. beehiiv states that yearly billing saves up to 20%. Both free trials are offered on Lite and Pro, and the pricing details used for this page do not state how long those trials last, so check that before you start one.

What each option costs at real list sizes

Comparing platforms at a single size can hide how the bill changes as a list grows. The table below sets beehiiv, Kit, Ghost and Sender side by side at 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 subscribers. Where a platform does not publish a price for that size, the table says so and leaves the figure out rather than estimating it.

All figures are per month unless a yearly total is given. Yearly totals are the monthly figure multiplied by 12. For example, Lite at 5,000 subscribers on yearly billing is 12 × $95 = $1,140 a year.

Tool-by-tool breakdown

Each platform below is described for the newsletter use case. The strengths and limits come from the plan details each vendor publishes, and nothing beyond those details is assumed.

beehiiv

What it does well for this audience. beehiiv is built around a publication. One account holds the newsletter, the subscriber list, the archive and, on Lite and above, paid subscriptions. The Free plan lets a creator run a newsletter to 2,500 subscribers at no cost with unlimited email sends, so a weekly or daily issue does not add a line to the bill. Lite adds paid subscriptions, automations and audience polls, which means a creator can start charging for a premium edition and build a welcome sequence without moving to a second tool.

Where it falls short. The price rises sharply once the list passes the Free ceiling. At 5,000 subscribers the Lite figure is $109 a month on monthly billing, against $0 on the Free plan just below the limit, so the jump should be budgeted before growth reaches 2,500. Pro adds advanced analytics and priority support, which matter most to larger publications; a list of a few thousand readers may not need them yet. beehiiv is a publishing platform first. A team that wants one shared system for product messages, billing events and onboarding will find it better suited to publishing than to that wider job.

Price. Free at $0 up to 2,500 subscribers. Lite at a $49/month base price. Pro at a $95/month base price. Subscriber-tiered figures are in the cost table above. Pricing page: beehiiv pricing.

Kit

What it does well for this audience. Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers. It includes unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited email broadcasts, audience tagging and segmentation, and the ability to sell digital products and subscriptions. For a creator with a large but simple list who sends regular broadcasts and does not yet need automation, that is a strong free option. The Creator plan, at $33/month billed yearly, adds unlimited Visual Automations, unlimited email sequences, A/B testing of subject lines and removal of Kit branding.

Where it falls short. Automation is the dividing line. Visual Automations and sequences start on Creator, so a creator who wants a welcome series or a re-engagement flow needs a paid plan from the start. Deliverability reporting and unlimited users come with Pro at $66/month billed yearly. Kit's publication features are organised differently from beehiiv's, so a publisher who wants a site-first model may find the fit looser.

Price. Free up to 10,000 subscribers. Creator at $33/month billed yearly. Pro at $66/month billed yearly. A 14-day free trial applies to paid plans, with no credit card required. Pricing page: Kit pricing.

Ghost

What it does well for this audience. Ghost suits a publication that wants its own website, design and membership model, not only a newsletter. Starter at $15/month billed yearly includes a website, an email newsletter and one staff user. Publisher at $29/month billed yearly adds custom themes, paid subscriptions and analytics, with up to three staff users. Ghost(Pro) is the managed hosting option. Ghost is also open-source software, which matters to teams that want to control their own stack.

Where it falls short. Ghost has no free plan. Starter and Publisher both cap at 1,000 members, so a list of 2,000 or more needs the Business plan at $199/month, which covers up to 10,000 members with 15 staff users and priority support. A creator choosing Ghost for a mid-sized list should expect the Business price from the start, and should weigh that against beehiiv Lite at the same audience size.

Price. Starter at $15/month, Publisher at $29/month, Business at $199/month, all on yearly billing. Pricing page: Ghost pricing.

Sender

What it does well for this audience. Sender's Free Forever plan covers 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month at $0. That suits a small newsletter sent weekly, or a list that receives several messages a week. Paid plans are set by email volume as well as subscribers. Standard at $6.30/month covers 6,000 emails a month, and Professional at $10.50/month covers 12,000 emails a month. For a publisher with a modest list and a high sending frequency, this is one of the lowest-cost routes in this comparison.

Where it falls short. Because paid tiers depend on email volume, a publisher who sends daily to a growing list has to watch the monthly email count as closely as the subscriber count. The pricing details used here do not give a published price for lists above the Free plan's 2,500-subscriber limit, so for a list of 5,000 or more the cost is pricing on request.

Price. Free Forever at $0. Standard at $6.30/month. Professional at $10.50/month. Pricing page: Sender pricing.

How to choose

Start with the list you expect in twelve months, not the one you have today. The free plans on beehiiv and Kit are the cheapest place to begin, but beehiiv's Free plan stops at 2,500 subscribers. If you expect to pass that within a year, price the Lite plan at that size before you commit, because the first paid price is usually where a newsletter's costs change shape.

Next, decide whether you need automation on day one. A weekly newsletter with no welcome series runs well on a free plan. A newsletter that charges for a premium edition or sends a welcome sequence needs paid features, and that is where the platforms differ most. beehiiv places paid subscriptions and automations on Lite. Kit places Visual Automations and sequences on Creator. Ghost places paid subscriptions and custom themes on Publisher. Compare those inclusions against the features you need in the first three months.

Then check how the price behaves as you grow. A low entry price with a sharp jump at a subscriber threshold can cost more over a year than a higher starting price with a gradual climb. Work out the yearly total at your expected size, and use yearly billing where it is offered. beehiiv's subscriber-tiered figures show the effect clearly. Lite at 10,000 subscribers is $139 a month on monthly billing and $119 a month billed yearly, which is $1,428 a year against $1,668 on monthly billing (12 × $139).

Finally, separate the publishing decision from the lifecycle decision. beehiiv is designed around the newsletter. If the same list also needs product onboarding or billing-triggered emails, that work may belong in a separate tool, and it should be priced on its own terms rather than squeezed into a publishing plan.

Worked bills

A new publication with 1,800 subscribers and a weekly issue. beehiiv Free costs $0. Unlimited sends mean the weekly issue adds nothing to the bill. The trade-off is that the Free plan has one publication and no Lite-level automations or paid subscriptions, so the newsletter cannot run a welcome sequence yet.

A paid newsletter that reaches 5,000 subscribers. beehiiv Lite at 5,000 subscribers costs $109 a month on monthly billing, or $95 a month billed yearly. On yearly billing that is $1,140 a year (12 × $95). That covers paid subscriptions and automations. Kit's free plan would cost $0 at this size and lists the ability to sell digital products and subscriptions, but its Visual Automations start on Creator at $33 a month billed yearly, which is $396 a year (12 × $33). The choice depends on whether the first paid edition needs beehiiv's automations or Kit's lower-cost automation tier.

A list of 10,000 subscribers that needs automation. Kit's free plan covers 10,000 subscribers at $0, and Kit Creator adds automation at $396 a year. beehiiv Lite at 10,000 subscribers is $119 a month billed yearly, or $1,428 a year (12 × $119). Pro at 10,000 is $199 a month billed yearly, or $2,388 a year (12 × $199). Ghost's Business plan, at $199 a month, covers up to 10,000 members.