MailerLite vs beehiiv: two different animals, one search box
How to read this page: every number below was read from the vendor’s own public pricing page on the date shown, and the pages are re-checked daily. Currencies differ because that is what each vendor showed an EU visitor. Some links on this page are affiliate links — if you subscribe through one we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Per our method, that never changes a number or a verdict. Source links always point to the vendor’s plain page.
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the EU — USD. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
Plan
Price
Contacts
What the page says
Free
Free
up to 250
2,500 monthly emails, 2 seats, 3 automations, 1 landing page, community support
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the United States — USD. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
Plan
Price
Contacts
What the page says
Launch
Free
Scale
$49/mo ($43.08 annual)
Max
$109/mo ($95.92 annual)
Source: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing · read 2026-09-05 (UTC) · Paid prices shown at the up-to-1,000-subscriber slider position and rise with subscriber count. Annual billing saves ~12% (Scale $517/yr, Max $1,151/yr); the annual per-month rates are shown alongside.
beehiiv quotes USD worldwide — identical figures from our United States, United Kingdom and EU readers, read 2026-09-05.
What the record says
People type this search because both tools send email to a list, but the two pricing pages are written for different lives. beehiiv's page sells a publishing business: newsletters, a website, a podcast, and four ways to get paid. MailerLite's page sells a marketing department: automations, landing pages, pop-ups, integrations. Same inbox at the end; completely different purchase.
The free tiers make the split concrete. beehiiv's Launch plan is free up to 2,500 subscribers — one of the deepest free tiers we track in any category — while MailerLite's free plan stops at 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. If you're starting a newsletter from zero, beehiiv gives you roughly ten times the runway before anyone asks for a card.
The first paid rung flips the story. MailerLite's Comfort plan is $12/month; beehiiv's Scale is $49/month at the 1,000-subscriber position. But the $49 isn't buying marketing features — it buys monetization rails: the ad network, paid recommendations, and paid subscriptions where beehiiv takes 0% (you pay only Stripe's own processing fee, a comparison their page aims squarely at Substack's 10%). The advertised annual savings cross-check exactly against the monthly rates, which is more arithmetic honesty than most pricing pages manage.
So the decision rule is the job, not the feature list. Newsletter as the product — audience, sponsors, paid readers — and beehiiv's free depth plus built-in monetization wins. Email as the channel for a shop, a service or a SaaS — and MailerLite's $12 entry with automations and landing pages wins. Both prices slide with subscriber count; the figures above are same-day readings at the positions shown.
Beyond the price tag
Making money
beehiiv builds it in: paid subscriptions at a 0% platform take, an ad network, and a paid-recommendations marketplace. MailerLite lets you sell — digital products and e-commerce features sit on its paid plans — but there is no ad marketplace and no sponsor network; monetization is yours to bring.
Marketing automation
MailerLite's $12 plan includes 50 automations and a drag-and-drop builder that reviewers consistently rank among the friendliest in the category. beehiiv has automation too, but its pricing page leads with publishing and monetization — that's where the platform's weight is.
Beyond the inbox
beehiiv includes a website and podcast hosting even on the free plan. MailerLite counters with landing pages (1 free, 10 on Comfort) and the wider integrations of a general marketing tool.
Questions people actually search
Is beehiiv really free up to 2,500 subscribers?
Yes — the Launch plan, read from beehiiv's pricing page on the date shown: free up to 2,500 subscribers with newsletters, a website, a podcast and campaign analytics. What it excludes is the money layer: no ad network and no paid recommendations until Scale.
Which is cheaper once you outgrow the free plans?
MailerLite, by a wide margin at the entry: Comfort is $12/month against beehiiv Scale's $49 at the 1,000-subscriber position. But note Comfort caps sending at 5,000 emails a month, and the two $-figures buy different things — marketing features versus monetization rails.
Can I monetize a newsletter on MailerLite?
You can sell through it — digital products and e-commerce features are on the paid plans — but there's no built-in ad network or sponsor marketplace. beehiiv's pitch is keeping 0% of your paid-subscription revenue (Stripe's own processing fee still applies).
Do both prices rise with my list size?
Yes. Both pages price by subscriber count; our tables show same-day readings at beehiiv's 1,000-subscriber slider position and MailerLite's base tier. The gap at the free level (2,500 vs 250 subscribers) is fixed, though.
THE VERDICT, ONE MORE TIME
Our pick: beehiiv — if the newsletter is the product. If email is just your marketing channel, it flips to MailerLite.
beehiiv's free Launch plan holds up to 2,500 subscribers — ten times MailerLite's 250 — and making money is built into the platform: paid subscriptions at a 0% platform take, an ad network, a recommendations marketplace. For someone starting a newsletter as a business, that free runway is the whole game.
We verified the prices and plan limits on both vendors' own pages (dates shown above). Feature descriptions summarize what each vendor's own materials emphasize and how the tools are commonly reviewed; we have not run a hands-on test. The method →
Found a price that no longer matches the vendor’s page? Tell us — corrections are dated and stay on the page.