beehiiv Pricing 2026: What You'll Pay at Renewal

beehiiv changed its plans on October 1, 2026. Launch became Free, Scale became Lite, Max became Pro, and most prices went up. New customers pay the new prices now. Existing customers don't, yet. beehiiv's announcement says "nothing changes until your first renewal on or after November 1, 2026."

That renewal is where the whole change lands, and it lands three ways at once. Your renewal is repriced on three counts: the new plan price, the tier your list has grown into, and a plan that may no longer fit what you use. The date is set by your billing cadence. The other two you can still change before it.

Where that leaves four common accounts:

Old prices and new prices at every tier

Paid plans are priced by subscriber tier. Each tier is named for the most subscribers it covers, so 1,001 subscribers are billed at 2,500. US dollars, before tax. Enterprise is quoted per account through a sales form and isn't here.

On Lite, the monthly price is up 20% at 1,000, 14% at 2,500, 22% at 5,000 and 28% at 10,000. On Pro, monthly is flat at the two lower tiers, and yearly there is $1 to $2 a month cheaper than Max was. At 5,000 and 10,000, Pro costs $30 and $20 a month more than Max on monthly, and $20 and $6 more on yearly. The old page also printed the yearly total ("$517 billed annually" for Scale at 1,000). The new page shows yearly prices per month only, so compare per-month figures, which is what this table does.

Every new figure is the slider's own, read at all four tiers on both billings on October 10, 2026; every old one is from the Wayback Machine's September 23, 2026 copy of the same page and the price data inside it. The rules come from the announcement, its FAQ and two help articles. I'm not a beehiiv customer, so I can point you to the in-account billing popup described further down but can't show you what it says.

The Free plan (up to 2,500 subscribers) still costs nothing, but it's smaller than Launch was. Launch allowed 3 publications and custom domains. Free allows 1 publication and 1 guest author, and the help center says "You can't add a new custom domain on the Free plan." Domains already connected keep working.

Find your old plan and tier, then read across. If you're on Max below 5,000 subscribers, the price question is mostly settled and only the features matter. If you're on Scale, the gap is $10 to $30 a month, and the next two sections decide whether Lite is even the right plan.

The three things that set your renewal bill

The date. For monthly customers it's the first renewal on or after November 1, 2026, with "at least 30 days' notice before your first bill at the new price." Annual customers "keep your current price through the end of your current annual term." The plan moves over on its own. You don't have to do anything for it to happen.

The tier. This is the part most likely to surprise you. beehiiv's FAQ says: "Some accounts had grown past the tier they were billed for, and as part of this update, we've moved those accounts to the tier that best matches their current subscriber count." That new tier is also billed only from your renewal, and the same answer adds that "you can of course remove subscribers to reduce your subscriber tier." beehiiv counts active subscribers across every publication in your workspace, so a second publication counts too.

The plan. Scale maps to Lite, but Lite now has hard caps that Scale didn't print. If one of them is below what you use, the renewal that fits your account is Pro, not Lite.

beehiiv explains the increase plainly. The announcement calls it "only the second time we’ve ever updated our plans and pricing in beehiiv’s near five year history" and says "Updating prices lets us continue investing in our core platform experience." It also keeps two things that matter to paid newsletters: "we still take 0% of your paid subscription revenue," and a discount you already have "carries over to your new plan." Discounts can't be combined, so a later offer replaces the one you have.

Lite or Pro: the caps that decide it

The old plan cards and comparison rows, set against the new comparison tabs:

A dash means the old page didn't list it. Lite still has the things beehiiv puts at its center: paid subscriptions, ad monetization, automations, polls and A/B testing, up to 100,000 subscribers.

The cap you hit first decides it. A third person on the account, a fourth webhook, a sixth custom page, an eleventh live automation or a second paid tier each means Pro. At 1,000 subscribers that's $109 a month against $59 on Lite, $50 more. At 10,000 it's $100 more on monthly and $80 more on yearly. I wouldn't pay Pro's difference to keep a feature you set up once and don't use. Check which webhooks and automations are actually live, then count.

With nothing in your account over a Lite cap, take Lite. If one thing is over and you can't trim it, price Pro at your tier. On Max, the cap to check is seats: Pro allows 10 where Max allowed unlimited.

Six renewals, priced

Each row is a common Scale or Max account and what its first bill at the new price looks like, on monthly billing unless it says yearly.

The third and fourth rows show what the tier rule does. The plan change is $10. The tier catch-up is another $30 on top, and that part you can still undo. A Scale user on Reddit posted their notice: "Through October 31, 2026, you’ll stay on your Scale plan at $109/month." The next line: "On November 1, 2026, you’ll move to Lite at $139/month." That's the 10,000 row of the first table, $30 more.

An account in the third row should clean the list before the renewal, not after. beehiiv's help says a lower subscriber count "starts when your current plan ends," so the cleaning has to land before the bill to count for it.

The reaction so far, and beehiiv's answers

The Reddit thread on the increase has two kinds of complaint. One is price for nothing new. "As far as I can see, there’s no meaningful change other than the new name and the higher price," one Scale user wrote. Another put the plan change in terms of features: "You lose your custom pages limit. And you get restricted on web hooks." A local newsletter owner asked for a smaller plan instead: "I run a pretty profitable local newsletter and have absolutely no need for communities, podcasts, digital products, ad networks, etc."

In a separate thread a user proposed a core plan with paid add-ons. A beehiiv staff member answered honestly about how far that goes: "the meetings where decisions are made are a bit above me, but I'll bring this to the team." There's no commitment there, and the reply doesn't pretend there is.

On Trustpilot, a one-star review in October said the free plan's guest authors dropped to one: "I found out by trying to add someone and getting blocked." The same review says Lite "still caps guest authors at three." beehiiv's reply: "I've requested some more info via Trustpilot." A two-star reviewer wrote the next day: "you raised my price after one month!"

Earlier Capterra reviews already saw price as the weak point. A five-star reviewer in April listed "The jump from the free plan to the paid plan can feel expensive" among the cons. Another five-star review from 2024 said "The pricing can increase quite a bit when you get more customers to your list, but it's up to you to find ways to monetize your audience." beehiiv's reply to one 2025 Capterra review leans on the same two levers this page does: "With our tiered pricing and yearly discounts, we’re excited to keep offering an affordable platform built for growth!"

The annual question

Yearly billing on the new prices saves $10 to $20 a month on Lite and $14 to $40 on Pro, which beehiiv describes as "up to two months free." If you're on monthly Scale now, the obvious question is whether switching to yearly before November 1 holds the old yearly price for twelve months.

beehiiv doesn't say. The FAQ covers annual customers who already have a term, not monthly customers who switch now. Its advice in the same FAQ is "Switch from monthly to annual," and the help center describes the screen that answers the question for your account: a popup with a "Pay annually" toggle, then a Stripe billing page that "shows what you'll be charged today and on your next billing date" before you confirm.

So open that popup and read the number. If it shows the old yearly price at your tier and you'd stay a year anyway, it's the cheapest of the options. If it shows the new one, you're comparing new monthly against new yearly, and the yearly price wins once you're sure of the full year. Going the other way, from yearly to monthly, waits: "Monthly billing starts when your current annual plan ends."

Only switch to yearly if you'd keep beehiiv for twelve months at that price. Confirm it on the billing page, not from an article, this one included. For the list prices at your exact count, set the slider on beehiiv's pricing page.

Is beehiiv still worth it at the new price?

That depends on whether you charge readers.

Paid newsletters. beehiiv takes 0% of subscription revenue on Lite and Pro. Substack's help says "Substack keeps 10% of subscription revenue." Card processing is charged on top on both, so leave it out. Twelve months of Lite yearly at 1,000 subscribers is $588, and Substack's 10% matches that at $5,880 a year in paid subscriptions. At 10,000 subscribers, Lite yearly is $1,428 a year, matched at $14,280. Above those revenue lines, Lite costs less than Substack's cut. One paid newsletter writer on Reddit put it bluntly: "Substack would cost me $30,000+ a year...that's insane. Compared to that, Beehiiv is a steal, even if I don't use many of the core features."

Free newsletters. The price argument is weaker. You're paying for a website, podcasts and community whether you use them or not, which is the complaint behind several of the Reddit posts quoted above. If you only send, compare your tier against cheaper per-subscriber senders on the price comparisons page, or see what Kit's tiers cost at the same list size. Free still works up to 2,500 subscribers if one publication and one guest author are enough. Ad network and Boosts earnings can offset the plan price, but they vary too much by niche to price here.

A paid newsletter earning above the break-even line for its tier should stay and pick between Lite and Pro by the caps. A free newsletter that only sends should price an alternative before the renewal, and move only if the saving covers the work of moving.

What the new plan shapes point to

None of what follows has beehiiv's confirmation; it's how I read what beehiiv has published. The announcement calls October 2026 only the second plan and price change in the company's near five-year history, so changes are rare, and I'd expect Lite and Pro prices to hold for a while. What has changed is the shape of the plans. Free lost two publications and new custom domains compared with Launch, and Lite arrived with printed caps on seats, webhooks, custom pages and automations that Scale didn't list. That points to features being sorted by plan more tightly than before, not to cheaper entry. The other direction readers asked for, a core plan with paid add-ons, has got as far as a staff member saying it would go to the team, with no date and no promise. Until beehiiv publishes something more, I'd treat add-ons as an idea in a Reddit thread and choose between Lite and Pro on the caps as they are.

Six checks before the bill changes

1. Find the date. Monthly: your first renewal on or after November 1, 2026, and the notice email. Yearly: your term's end.
2. Check your tier. Compare your active subscriber count across all publications with the tier you're billed for. If beehiiv moved you up, decide whether to clean.
3. Clean before the date. Remove the cold part of the list, then use Decrease Subscriber Count. The lower tier starts with the next billing period.
4. Count your caps. Seats, live webhooks, custom pages, live automations, sender addresses, paid tiers. Over one on Lite means Pro.
5. Read the billing page. Toggle monthly and yearly and note both numbers before confirming anything.
6. Leave auto-upgrade on if the list is growing. The help center says that without it "sends to your subscribers may be delayed when you go over your plan limits."

FAQ

How much is beehiiv now?

On monthly billing, Lite costs $59 at 1,000 subscribers, $79 at 2,500, $109 at 5,000 and $139 at 10,000, or $49, $69, $95 and $119 a month on yearly billing. Pro is $109 to $239 a month across the same tiers. Free costs nothing up to 2,500 subscribers.

When does the new beehiiv pricing apply to existing customers?

At your first renewal on or after November 1, 2026. Monthly customers get at least 30 days' notice. Annual customers keep their current price until their term ends.

What happens to my beehiiv Scale plan?

It moves to Lite at your renewal. At 1,000 subscribers that's $59 a month instead of $49. Lite caps team seats at 2, webhooks at 3, custom pages at 5 and live automations at 10. If you're over one of those, Pro is the plan that fits.

Why did beehiiv move me to a higher subscriber tier?

beehiiv says some accounts had grown past the tier they were billed for and were moved to the tier matching their current count. It's billed from your first renewal on or after November 1, and removing subscribers before then can bring the tier back down.

Is beehiiv Pro more expensive than Max?

At 1,000 and 2,500 subscribers, no: monthly is the same and yearly is $1 to $2 a month cheaper. At 5,000 it's $30 a month more on monthly and $20 more on yearly; at 10,000 it's $20 more on monthly and $6 more on yearly. Pro allows 10 team seats; Max allowed unlimited.

Does beehiiv take a cut of paid subscriptions?

No. beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscription revenue on Lite and Pro, and says that isn't changing. Substack keeps 10%, so a paid newsletter earning $5,880 a year pays Substack about what Lite yearly costs at 1,000 subscribers.