Beehiiv vs ConvertKit
Pick any two tools to get a head-to-head breakdown.
- Built-in paid subscription and paywall features
- Beehiiv Ad Network connects you to paid advertisers
- Referral programme grows your list automatically
- Boosts lets you earn by recommending other newsletters
- Beautiful, customisable newsletter templates
- Free plan: up to 2,500 subscribers
- Web archive of all past issues included
- Free tier goes to 10,000 subscribers — most generous in the market
- Tag-based system more flexible than Mailchimp lists
- Visual automation builder designed for creator workflows
- Built-in digital product sales and tip jar
- Excellent deliverability rates in our testing
- Subscriber tagging keeps list management clean
- Creator community and education resources
- $42/month Scale plan required for monetisation features
- Automation less powerful than ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign
- Smaller user community than Mailchimp or ConvertKit
- Less suitable for promotional email — built for editorial
- Analytics focused on newsletter metrics, not e-commerce
- Relatively new — fewer integrations than established tools
- More expensive than Mailchimp on higher subscriber counts
- Email template designs are more minimal than Mailchimp
- Fewer e-commerce integrations than Mailchimp
- Landing page builder is basic
- Reporting less detailed than ActiveCampaign
Beehiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers and has become the platform of choice for independent creators looking to monetise. Its built-in referral network, ad network (Beehiiv Ad Network), paid subscriptions, and boosts programme create revenue streams that no other email platform offers natively. At $42/month for the Scale plan it is not cheap, but for newsletter operators the monetisation features can generate more than the subscription cost. The free plan allows up to 2,500 subscribers — genuinely useful for starting out.
ConvertKit (now rebranded Kit) is the best email marketing platform for bloggers, newsletter creators, and course sellers. Its free tier allows up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited sends — 20x more generous than Mailchimp. The tagging and segmentation system is more logical than Mailchimp list management, and the automation builder is designed around subscriber journeys rather than campaign blasts. Commerce features let you sell digital products directly. For content creators, it is the clear choice over Mailchimp.