Beehiiv vs Mailchimp
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
- Most recognised platform — integrates with almost everything
- Excellent drag-and-drop email builder
- Strong e-commerce integrations with Shopify and WooCommerce
- Predictive send time and subject line optimisation
- Detailed analytics and A/B testing
- Good automation on higher plans
- $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
- Free tier reduced to 500 contacts — less generous than competitors
- Gets expensive quickly — $100+/mo at 10,000 contacts
- List-based model causes duplicate billing if contacts are in multiple lists
- Automation builder is complex compared to ConvertKit
- Customer support slow on lower plans
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.
Mailchimp is the most widely recognised email marketing platform but has become less competitive since reducing its free tier to 500 subscribers in 2022. The drag-and-drop editor is intuitive and the brand recognition means it integrates with almost every third-party tool. However, for creators and small businesses, ConvertKit and Beehiiv now offer better value. Mailchimp retains its lead for e-commerce brands who need its deep Shopify and WooCommerce integrations and predictive send-time optimisation.