Beehiiv Review (2023): My Experience, Monetization, and More

What is Beehiiv?

Beehiiv is a relatively new platform launched in 2021 by Benjamin Hargett, Jacob Hurd, and Tyler Denk, who was formerly a product manager at Google. 

The founders claim that the primary goal of the platform is to help you easily build, grow, and monetize your newsletter.

Beehiiv is positioned as “the most creator-friendly newsletters platform.” However, many other newsletter platforms have a clear UI and powerful functionality.

So, what’s special about Beehiiv?

Here is how Tyler Denk, the platform co-founder, explains it:

Despite being relatively young, Beehiiv already functions as a decent newsletter platform that has the potential to become a market giant one day. 

I registered on Beehiiv in May 2022 to explore its functionality,  decide whether it’s worth moving my email list from Convertkit to Beehiiv and share my Beehiiv review with my readers. 

Apart from its rather bizarre name (I believe the name and the logo are associated with “beehive”), the platform is easy to understand and navigate around. 

Furthermore, Beehiiv has a broad functionality for landing page creation, blogging, and monetization, making it much bigger than conventional newsletter software.

How Beehiiv works

Once you register on Beehiiv, you’ll be redirected to the main dashboard with the subscribers’ statistics and the overall performance of your email campaigns for the last 30 days. 

You can see the number of active subscribers (in my case, it’s 76), the average open rate (the percentage of your active subscribers who opened your newsletter), and the average click rate (the percentage of your active subscribers who clicked on any links in your newsletter).

If you are new to Beehiiv, you might wonder how to get started. The menu in the left sidebar has many options, which might initially seem overwhelming. 

If you are starting, I recommend creating a landing page where your target audience can subscribe to your newsletter.

Many content creators ask me, “How do I create a landing page on Beehiiv?” Here is how you can do it step-by-step.

Navigate to Settings > Publication > General to create a dedicated landing page for your target audience. Filling in the required information, uploading images, and indicating the response email takes a few minutes.

If you upgrade to the Grow plan ($49 if billed monthly), you will be able to use a custom domain.

Using a free plan, you can only create one landing page, which Beehiiv calls a “Publication.” Hosting more than one publication is possible under the Scale plan, which is $99 if billed monthly. 

The customization features are somewhat limited for publications. However, the cluttered-free design helps focus your users’ attention on the most important element — the subscription form.

Here is how my publication looks on Beehiiv. I use a free plan.

If you are a website owner, like me, or manage a blog on any other platform, like Medium, Beehiiv offers several forms depending on your needs: full width, fixed width, slim embed (email field only, without header, background, or description), and advanced configuration with attribution tracking. It’s a beneficial feature to grow your email list.

The screenshot below shows the fixed and slim-width form options you can embed directly on your website.

I’ve shown you how to create a simple landing page to collect email addresses and various embed forms for your website.

What’s next?

At this point, you can already create posts and newsletters to share with your target audience. 

A big button, “Start Writing,” in the top-right corner of the creator dashboard will redirect you to the content editor, where you can create a post, an email, or a Beehiiv SEO optimized website page.

In my example below, I used a content editor to create an email. It’s super easy to understand and use. The only con I’ve noticed is a lack of email personalization. That’s why all my subscribers will get an email starting with “Hello there.”

You can also use the preview feature to see how your content will look after it is published or emailed.

In my opinion, Beehiiv is an excellent newsletter platform if you are starting your online business. Many essential features are available for free to help content creators “taste” the platform before upgrading to the paid plan. 

If you want to start with a free plan, here is what you should know:

• The Beehiiv free plan is unavailable for content creators with over 5,000 subscribers.
• You will only be able to create 3 audience segments.
• Automation is unavailable, so you won’t be able to create automated email campaigns. Good news, newsletter scheduling is available.
• Popular Beehiiv features, such as a referral program, boosts, paid subscriptions, and 3D analytics, are unavailable. 

However, there are some Beehiiv features new content creators and established businesses will benefit from. 

You’ll find the following paragraph insightful if you look for ways to monetize your newsletter regardless of size.

Beehiiv monetization opportunities

According to the Litmus guide, email drives an ROI of $36 for every dollar spent, which is higher than any other channel.

This is mindblowing information indicating the massive potential of newsletters for content creators! 

Let me share a few proven-to-work methods on how you can monetize your email list and make money with Beehiiv. 

1. Beehiiv partner program

Beehiiv partner program is one of the best ways to earn money that Beehiiv has in store for content creators. 

The logic is simple:

1. Register as a Beehiiv partner
2. Promote Beehiiv among your target audience
3. Earn 50% commission from every sale during the first year for referring new paid customers to Beehiiv

Here’s how much I’ve earned from the Beehiiv partner program in 1 year. 

I only used my website and this Beehiiv review to promote the platform through organic search results. The outcome is promising! 

Beehiiv sends your commissions every month to the Wise account. They used PayPal in the past, which was more convenient, but they’ve recently switched to Wise.

2. Boosts

Boosts is another way to grow your email list faster and create an additional revenue source.

For those looking to grow an email list faster, Beehiiv offers an opportunity to promote your newsletter among thousands of qualified Beehiiv newsletters to reach your target audience. According to the Beehiiv Boosts page, the average cost of one active subscriber is $1.63.

If you want to monetize your newsletter on Beehiiv, you can apply to boost other newsletters and get paid for every new subscriber. Please, note you’ll have to set up a Stripe account to get your Boost earnings. 

You can learn more about making money with Boosts in this video.

3. Ad network

The Beehiiv ad network allows newsletter creators to connect with premium brands and earn revenue by featuring ads in their newsletters. The network matches brands with newsletters based on audience demographics and interests so that the right people see ads.

To join the Beehiiv ad network, you must have more than 1,000 subscribers and be actively sending emails on beehiiv. 

Once approved, you’ll receive inbound ad opportunities from the beehiiv team. You can choose to accept or decline any placement, and you’ll be paid a portion of the ad revenue generated.

It is a great way to monetize your newsletter and reach a wider audience. It’s also a hands-off way to manage your ad sales, as Beehiiv handles all the ad placement and reporting.

4. Subscriptions

As an email newsletter platform, Beehiiv offers content creators an opportunity to create recurring revenue through paid subscriptions. 

Beehiiv doesn’t charge any fees for paid newsletters, and they only take a 2.9% + $0.30 processing fee from Stripe, their payment processor.

With subscriptions, you can:

• Set up a paywall to protect your premium content
• Offer different pricing plans
• Offer monthly and yearly plans
• Create custom offers and free trials directly on the platform
• Track your subscription revenue
• Promote your paid newsletter

Here is how much you can earn from Beehiiv paid subscriptions over a year if you have 100 paid subscribers paying $7/m — it’s my email monetization plan.

The path toward monetizing an email list is not easy, even for established content creators. Therefore I encourage you to try different monetization options to determine what works for you.

Beehiiv pricing 

I hope this Beehiiv review has been helpful to you by now. 

In this paragraph, I want to discuss Beehiiv’s pricing in detail. Even though many features are free on Beehiiv, most essential functionalities, including monetization options, are only available for users of the Grow, Scale, and Enterprise plans.

I’ve created the following table to help you better understand what each Beehiiv plan offers and which is most suitable for you.

Beehiiv offers a customized plan for content creators and companies having over 100,000 subscribers. If it’s your case and you want to learn about what Beehiiv can offer, you can inquire about the enterprise plan here.

FAQ

Is Beehiiv legit?

Beehiiv is a relatively new but fast-growing platform. 

According to Crunchbase, the company had its first fund rising on September 30th, 2021 and raised $2.6. 

Since the fundraising, Beehiiv’s founders announced that funds would be allocated in the following way:

“With the new capital, beehiiv will triple the size of its team with numerous hires across engineering, community, growth, and marketing. It will also continue to invest in growth and product development—including robust data analytics, a native referral program tool, etc.”

The fundraising and the company’s announcements bring me to this conclusion:

The company is actively growing, attracting investors, and building long-term plans. It makes me believe that Beehiiv is legit and will likely stay with me for a long time.

Is Beehiiv free to use?

Beehiiv has a free tier for content creators, where you can grow your email list up to 5,000 subscribers and use most of its functionality for free.

However, let’s not forget that Beehiiv is not a charity organization. It’s a company that does business. The main goal of every business is to become profitable and generate revenue. 

Therefore, Beehiiv offers three more paid tires for content creators who want to offer premium subscriptions, run multiple websites under the same account, link a custom domain, and launch a referral program. 

It’s worth mentioning that the costs are flat, which means they will only grow if you upgrade the tier. There are no hidden fees or extra charges.

What are Beehiiv alternatives?

If you are already a Behiiv user and wonder what other newsletter platforms exist, I recommend checking ConvertKit and Substack. I’ve personally tried both platforms and shared my feedback below. 

Beehiiv vs. Convertkit

Beehiiv is a newer platform explicitly designed for creators. It is known for its simple, user-friendly interface and attractive pricing as you scale. Beehiiv also emphasizes helping you monetize your audience through premium subscriptions, an integrated referral program, and its ad network.

ConvertKit is a more established platform known for its powerful automation capabilities. It is also a good choice for creators who want to integrate their email marketing with other platforms, such as WordPress and Teachable. 

Beehiiv vs. Substack

Beehiiv and Substack are two of the most popular platforms for creating and publishing newsletters. Both platforms offer a variety of features, including email marketing, landing pages, and monetization options.

Exec Sum put together an illustrative table that compares the costs and benefits of Beehiiv and Substack as your revenue growth.

It turns out that paying a flat fee can benefit you more, especially once your earnings start to grow. 

Does Beehiiv have landing pages?

Yes, you can create a dedicated landing page for your newsletter on Beehiiv for free. The landing page will have a cluttered-free design, a brief description of your newsletter, a call-to-action, and a subscribe form. 

Does Beehiiv have newsletter templates? 

The Beehiiv team claims every newsletter component is customizable, including fonts, colors, spacing, formats, and more. Besides, Beehiiv’s newsletters are responsive to look nice in every email box. However, I could not find ways to change their custom newsletter template. I believe they might introduce more newsletter template options in the upcoming future. 

Have you already tried Beehiiv? Feel free to share your experience and opinion about Beehiiv in the comments below