beehiiv Buyer's Checklist: What to Check Before You Pay

Use this checklist before you sign up for beehiiv, and again before you move from the trial to a paid plan. It is built from the vendor's own pricing file, help centre and terms, read on 9 October 2026, and from 100 recent Trustpilot reviews. Each item names what to check and why it matters.

Not every item applies to every buyer. A writer moving a free newsletter needs items 1, 3, 6 and 15; a paid newsletter adds 2, 7, 8, 10 and 26; a media team with several publications adds 12, 20 and 24. The numbers that decide most purchases are the workspace subscriber total, the number of paying readers, and whether beehiiv branding has to go. Settle those three first, then work through the rest in order.

1. Count your subscribers the way beehiiv counts them

beehiiv bills the workspace, not the newsletter. "Subscriber limits and plan tiers apply to your whole account, not to each publication." ^[4]. Add every list you plan to bring.

Check how many of those addresses are suppressed. "Suppressed subscribers may still appear as Active in your subscriber count because they are filtered at send time, not by status." ^[10]. If you are near a tier boundary, delete them before you import.

Why it matters. At 9,800 subscribers you pay the 10,000 tier, $139 a month on Lite. At 10,200 you pay the 25,000 tier, $199. Four hundred stale addresses can cost $60 a month.

## 2. Decide whether you will charge readers

beehiiv's case rests on its 0% take rate on paid subscriptions. If you will never sell a subscription, ad slot or sponsorship, most of what Lite costs buys features you will not use.

If you will charge, run the break-even against Substack: divide the annual plan price by $6 (10% of a $5 monthly subscription for a year). On Lite annual at the 1,000 tier, that is 98 paying readers. Below that number, Substack's 10% costs less than the plan ^[18].

3. Check what the free plan really allows

Free covers 2,500 subscribers and unlimited sends ^[3]. Before you plan to stay on it, check what it leaves out:

• No paid subscriptions, no Ad Network, no paid recommendations.
• No automations beyond the welcome email.
• beehiiv branding on everything.
• No new custom domain: "You can't add a new custom domain on the Free plan." ^[5].
• Support through the Buzz chatbot only ^[14].

## 4. Use the trial for testing, not for launching

The 14-day trial gives Pro features, but some are held back until you pay, including paid subscriptions, custom domains, multiple publications and paid recommendations, and posts are limited to one a day ^[7]. What you build in the trial switches off if you do not upgrade.

Test: the editor with your real content, your website template, the automations you will run, and an import of a sample of your list.

5. Decide how growth will be billed

Turn auto-upgrade on or off deliberately. With it on, you are charged a prorated amount for the next tier when you pass the limit ^[5]. With it off, "sends to your subscribers may be delayed when you go over your plan limits." ^[5].

Rule of thumb. If your newsletter has sponsors or a fixed send day, turn it on. If you would rather prune the list than pay, leave it off and watch the count.

## 6. Prepare your import

beehiiv holds an import that exceeds your plan; it will not take part of a file. "beehiiv doesn't import part of a list to fill your remaining space." ^[9]. Size the plan first, or trim the file.

Import only people who opted in. High bounce and complaint rates are listed reasons for an account review, and "Automated checks may pause sending immediately while your workspace is reviewed." ^[8].

7. Read the refund policy before paying annually

"All sales are final upon subscription" ^[6]. The refund article lists the cases that are not refunded, including non-use, failure to cancel before renewal, missing features and purchases made in error. The terms add that there is no prorated refund on cancellation ^[15].

Annual plans also cannot be paused: "You can't pause a plan that's billed annually." ^[4].

Checklist: start monthly; move to annual only when the plan and the list size are settled.

## 8. Check your payout country before counting on ad revenue

Ad Network and paid recommendation earnings are paid through Stripe Express only, and "beehiiv does not support alternative payment processors (such as PayPal, Wise, or PriyoPay) for Ad Network or Paid recommendations earnings." ^[11]. Confirm Stripe Express works in your country before you plan around those payouts.

Payouts arrive on the 20th for the previous month, and reports appear 96 hours after a send ^[11].

9. Treat ad earnings estimates as estimates

Ad clicks are paid on payable clicks, a quality-weighted count, and "We don't publish the exact weighting, which is standard across the industry." ^[11]. Offer estimates in the marketplace are not guaranteed. The pricing page's avg. $39/mo does not say what it averages ^[2].

10. Count the fees on recommendations

Paid recommendations carry a 20% fee: "A 20% fee applies to all paid recommendations to cover operational and Stripe transaction costs" ^[13]. If you buy growth this way, a $2.50 offer is what you pay; $2.00 is what the recommending newsletter sees. Your offer also needs a balance of at least ten times its cost per subscriber to stay live ^[13].

11. Decide whether you need white-label

Only Pro and Enterprise remove beehiiv branding ^[3]. At 1,000 subscribers that moves the entry price from $49 to $95 a month billed annually.

12. Check seats, publications and authors

	Free	Lite	Pro
Team seats	1	2	10
Publications	1	3	10
Guest authors	1	3	Unlimited

From the vendor's feature table ^[3]. One reviewer found the free plan's guest-author limit cut to one in the October 2026 restructure and was blocked when adding a second author ^[19].

13. Check the integrations you depend on

• API on every plan, read-only on Free ^[3].
• Webhooks: three on Lite, unlimited on Pro.
• Send API: Pro only ^[32].
• WordPress integration and S3 data sync: Enterprise only.
• Zapier and Make for everything else ^[27].
• No native mobile app; the community app is a Progressive Web App ^[24].

14. Know how you will reach support

"Buzz is not a live agent, and no phone or email contact is currently available" ^[14]. Paid plans open tickets; Pro gets priority. If your business needs a phone line, beehiiv does not offer one on any self-serve plan.

15. Plan your exit before you enter

Exports of posts and subscribers are self-serve as CSV files, and "Download links for exported data are valid for 24 hours." ^[28]. Deleting a workspace removes all its publications and is irreversible ^[43]. If an account is blocked and access is restricted, export goes through support ^[8].

Checklist: export your list once a month as a habit.

15a. Know what your payout paperwork looks like

If you will earn through the Ad Network or paid recommendations, check that the records work for your accountant. The vendor is direct: "beehiiv does not generate traditional invoices for Ad Network or paid recommendations earnings." ^[12]. Ad Network reports, downloadable as PDF, are the payout documentation; recommendation payouts are documented in the connected Stripe Express account. In the United States, Stripe issues tax forms such as the 1099-K above $5,000 in a calendar year ^[12].

What to do: download each month's Ad Network report on the 20th, when the payout lands, and file it with the Stripe Express statement.

15b. Know that payouts survive a downgrade

Pending earnings are not lost if you change plan. "If you downgrade your beehiiv plan or close your account, pending Ad Network and outgoing recommendations earnings will still be paid out on the normal payout schedule." ^[12]. Funds in the Wallet can be withdrawn at any time, with no transfer fee ^[36].

15c. Plan the migration, especially of paid subscribers

beehiiv publishes migration guides for Substack, Kit, Mailchimp, MailerLite and others ^{[44] [45]}. For paid subscribers moving from Substack, the vendor's comparison page says "Your readers won't be notified of the switch." ^[16]. Payment methods and billing cycles move through Stripe.

What to check before you move:

1. Your Stripe account is connected to the publication you are moving into.
2. The import size fits the plan, because an over-limit import is held whole ^[9].
3. Free and paid subscribers are imported separately, with the paid tier mapped.
4. The welcome automation is published, not draft; drafts do not enrol imported subscribers ^[9].
5. You have a full export from the old platform before you close it.

15d. Size the plan for where the list will be in six months

Choose the tier against your expected list, not today's. A newsletter growing by 700 subscribers a month from 7,000 passes 10,000 in the fifth month. On Lite that moves the bill from $139 to $199 a month ^[3]. If you pay annually for the 10,000 tier in month one, plan for the prorated upgrade in month five, or turn on auto-upgrade so sends are not delayed.

Starting list	Growth a month	Months to next tier	Bill after
900	150	1	$79 Lite
4,000	300	4	$139 Lite
7,000	700	5	$199 Lite
20,000	1,000	6	$299 Lite

Our arithmetic on the vendor's monthly Lite prices.

16. Expect the documentation to lag

The plans were renamed in early October 2026, from Launch, Scale and Max to Free, Lite and Pro. Some vendor pages still use the old names, and its pricing file lists custom domains under Free in one place and not in another ^[3]. When a limit matters to you, confirm it in the account's own Billing screen before you build around it.

17. Know your free account can expire

"If you have a free account, we may cancel your account and reclaim the subdomain after a period of inactivity." ^[15]. The vendor promises at least thirty days' notice by email. If you are parking a newsletter on Free, log in now and then.

18. Read the restructure as a signal

The October 2026 rename did more than relabel. One reviewer reports the free plan's guest author allowance fell to one, discovered "by trying to add someone and getting blocked", and adds that "The documentation is also still inconsistent" ^[19]. One review is one voice, but it matches what we found in the vendor's own files. The terms allow plan and fee changes with thirty days' notice for paid accounts ^[15]; free and trial features can change at any time.

What to do: after any announced plan change, recheck the limits you rely on in Billing & Plan, and keep a dated screenshot of your plan's feature list.

19. Check how your account will be judged

The listed reasons for an account review are high spam complaints, high bounces, suspicious links, billing issues such as chargebacks, policy violations, trust and safety signals, monetisation abuse, and geolocation that does not match your stated audience ^[8]. Most are within your control:

• Import only addresses that opted in to your newsletter.
• Avoid link shorteners and long redirect chains in your posts.
• Use a payment method you will not dispute.
• Set your business location accurately.

Spam complaints are the most common trigger at any email vendor; beehiiv's help centre has a full article on causes and remedies ^[41].

20. Check the website limits if the site matters

beehiiv's website builder is on every plan, but the limits differ sharply ^[3]:

	Free	Lite	Pro
Custom pages	1	5	Unlimited
Site redirects	None	10	Unlimited
Custom robots.txt	No	No	Yes
AI bot control	No	No	Yes
Website analytics	Basic	All data	All data with filters

If you are moving an existing site with dozens of URLs, ten redirects on Lite will not cover it. Redirects are also among the features that stop working if you downgrade to Free; they stay saved and return when you upgrade ^[5].

What to do: list the pages and old URLs you need before choosing between Lite and Pro.

21. Check the podcast limits if you publish audio

Podcast hosting is included, with monthly download caps of 5,000 on Free, 15,000 on Lite and 50,000 on Pro, and one show on Free, two on Lite, unlimited on Pro ^[3]. Dynamic ad insertion and programmatic podcast advertising start on Lite. Premium episode previews and VAST tags are Pro.

What to do: compare your current monthly downloads with the cap, not your subscriber count; a podcast can outgrow its plan while the newsletter does not.

22. Check the analytics lookback

Free keeps 30 days of analytics, Lite twelve months, Pro unlimited ^[3]. If you report to sponsors on year-over-year growth, Lite's twelve months is the minimum and Pro's history the comfortable option.

23. Check AI and data terms if your content is sensitive

The in-editor AI arrives on Lite, with usage described only as "Elevated", and Pro gets "5x Lite" ^[3]. The models are not named. No-training and zero-retention commitments, audit logs, granular role permissions and a bring-your-own model key appear only on Enterprise ^[3]. If your newsletter handles unpublished reporting or client material, that line matters more than the AI features themselves.

24. Check deliverability tools against your volume

Every plan advertises optimised deliverability, but dedicated IP addresses and random cohort sends are Enterprise only, and deliverability reports are listed for Enterprise as coming soon ^[3]. On shared infrastructure, your sending reputation depends partly on other senders, which is one more reason the account review rules matter ^[8].

25. Check the community limits if you will run one

The community is included on every plan. Notifications are capped at 5,000 a month on Free, 25,000 on Lite and 250,000 on Pro; post history is 90 days on Free, twelve months on Lite and unlimited on Pro; the content library is 5 GB on Lite and 50 GB on Pro ^[3]. The community app installs from the browser as a Progressive Web App, not from an app store ^[24].

26. Check the paid subscription features you will sell

	Lite	Pro
Paid subscription tiers	1	Unlimited
Group subscriptions	No	Yes
Paid trials	No	Yes
Sponsorship storefront	No	Yes
Coupons, promo codes, metered paywalls	Yes	Yes

From the vendor's monetisation table ^[3]. A newsletter that wants a monthly and a founding-member tier, or team subscriptions for companies, needs Pro.

## The checklist in one table

Check	Where
Workspace subscriber total, suppressed included	Subscribers
Break-even against Substack	Annual plan ÷ $6 per $5 subscriber
Free plan limits	Pricing file
Trial exclusions	Help centre
Auto-upgrade setting	Billing & Plan
Import size against plan room	Import, review step
Refund policy	Help centre, terms
Stripe Express in your country	Stripe
Branding, seats, publications	Pricing file
Support channel	Help page
Export habit	Settings, Export Data