Top 6 Beehiiv Alternatives in 2026
Beehiiv is for publishers. Businesses that want email to support a shop, a sales team or a service leave for tools with real automation and integrations. Paid plans start at $49/mo for 1,000 subscribers. Every tool below starts cheaper. ConvertKit ($33/mo) is built for creators, with tagging, simple automations and ways to sell to an audience. MailerLite ($10.80/mo) does the essentials cleanly at a low price. Mailchimp ($13/mo) is the familiar all-rounder, priced by audience size.
01Quick Comparison
| Tool | Entry price | Free plan | Value score |
|---|---|---|---|
| ConvertKit | $33/mo | Yes | 4.1/5 |
| MailerLite | $10.80/mo | Yes | 4.6/5 |
| Mailchimp | $13/mo | Yes | 4.5/5 |
| ActiveCampaign | $15/mo | No | 4.2/5 |
| Klaviyo | $20/mo | Yes | 4.3/5 |
| Brevo | $8.08/mo | Yes | 4.7/5 |
| Beehiiv (current) | $49/mo | Yes | 4.1/5 |
02The Alternatives
ConvertKit
From$33/moValue score4.1/5
Compared with Beehiiv: Starts at $33/mo, $16 a month less than Beehiiv; its free plan allows up to 10,000 subscribers.
ConvertKit, now called Kit, is email marketing for creators: writers, podcasters, course sellers and newsletter operators. Subscribers are organized with tags instead of lists, automations are drawn as simple visual flows, and you can sell digital products and paid subscriptions from the same account. Emails are plain and text-first by intent.
- Best for
- Creators and newsletter businesses focused on audience building
- Pricing
- Creator plan, billed annually ($39 billed monthly), 1,000 subscribers at this price. Free plan: up to 10,000 subscribers.
- Key features
- Visual automations, Landing pages and forms, Creator commerce tools
Where it falls short: Design options and reporting are limited, and it is not built for stores or sales teams.
ConvertKit plans and pricing Beehiiv vs ConvertKit in detail Visit ConvertKit
MailerLite
From$10.80/moValue score4.6/5
Compared with Beehiiv: Starts at $10.80/mo, $38.20 a month less than Beehiiv; its free plan allows up to 250 subscribers.
MailerLite is a simple, inexpensive email tool with a clean editor. Newsletters, landing pages, forms and straightforward automations are all there, and the free plan is usable. It leaves out the heavier features, which keeps both the interface and the bill small.
- Best for
- Small businesses and creators that want value and simplicity
- Pricing
- Comfort plan, billed annually ($12 billed monthly), 500 subscribers at this price. Free plan: up to 250 subscribers.
- Key features
- Newsletter builder, Automation workflows, Landing pages and websites
Where it falls short: Automation, reporting and integrations are lighter than in the bigger platforms.
MailerLite plans and pricing Beehiiv vs MailerLite in detail Visit MailerLite
Mailchimp
From$13/moValue score4.5/5
Compared with Beehiiv: Starts at $13/mo, $36 a month less than Beehiiv; its free plan allows 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.
Mailchimp is the email tool most small businesses try first. It covers campaigns, templates, basic automation, landing pages and forms, and connects to almost everything. It is a generalist: good at getting a newsletter out, less convincing once you need advanced automation, and priced by the size of your audience.
- Best for
- SMBs that want a familiar general-purpose email platform
- Pricing
- Essentials plan, billed monthly, 500 contacts at this price. Free plan: 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.
- Key features
- Email campaigns and templates, Audience segmentation, Marketing automation journeys
Where it falls short: The price rises with every contact you add, the free plan is small, and automation is shallower than in specialist tools.
Mailchimp plans and pricing Beehiiv vs Mailchimp in detail Visit Mailchimp
ActiveCampaign
From$15/moValue score4.2/5
Compared with Beehiiv: Starts at $15/mo, $34 a month less than Beehiiv; unlike Beehiiv, it has no free plan.
ActiveCampaign is an automation tool that also sends email. Its visual builder handles branching logic, lead scoring, site tracking and conditional content, and a sales CRM can be added on. It asks for more learning than its simpler rivals and repays it for businesses whose marketing depends on timing and behavior.
- Best for
- Businesses that prioritize automation and segmentation
- Pricing
- Starter plan, billed annually ($19 billed monthly), 1,000 contacts at this price.
- Key features
- Advanced automations, Segmentation and personalization, Built-in CRM
Where it falls short: There is no free plan, the learning curve is real, and the cost climbs with both contacts and tier.
ActiveCampaign plans and pricing ActiveCampaign vs Beehiiv in detail Visit ActiveCampaign
Klaviyo
From$20/moValue score4.3/5
Compared with Beehiiv: Starts at $20/mo, $29 a month less than Beehiiv; its free plan allows up to 250 active profiles and 500 sends a month.
Klaviyo is built for online stores. It pulls order and browsing data from platforms such as Shopify and uses it for segmentation and automated flows: abandoned carts, post-purchase follow-ups, win-backs. Email and SMS run from the same data. It is the specialist’s choice for ecommerce and priced like one.
- Best for
- Ecommerce brands prioritizing retention and customer lifecycle revenue
- Pricing
- Email plan, billed monthly, 251-500 active profiles at this price. Free plan: up to 250 active profiles and 500 sends a month.
- Key features
- Behavior-based segmentation, Ecommerce automation flows, SMS marketing
Where it falls short: Pricing follows the number of active profiles and rises quickly, and it offers little to a business that is not selling online.
Klaviyo plans and pricing Beehiiv vs Klaviyo in detail Visit Klaviyo
Brevo
From$8.08/moValue score4.7/5
Compared with Beehiiv: Starts at $8.08/mo, $40.92 a month less than Beehiiv; its free plan allows 300 emails a day.
Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, combines email campaigns with SMS, WhatsApp, transactional email and a light CRM. Its pricing is based on how many emails you send, not on how many contacts you store, which favors large lists that are mailed occasionally. The free plan caps daily sends instead of list size.
- Best for
- SMBs that want email, SMS, and transactional messaging in one tool
- Pricing
- Starter plan, billed annually ($9 billed monthly), from 5,000 emails per month. Free plan: 300 emails a day.
- Key features
- Email campaigns and automation, Transactional email, SMS marketing
Where it falls short: Templates and reporting are plainer than Mailchimp’s, and the free plan’s daily cap limits how many people you can reach at once.
Brevo plans and pricing Beehiiv vs Brevo in detail Visit Brevo
03FAQ
What is the closest alternative to Beehiiv?
ConvertKit. ConvertKit, now called Kit, is email marketing for creators: writers, podcasters, course sellers and newsletter operators. Starts at $33/mo, $16 a month less than Beehiiv; its free plan allows up to 10,000 subscribers.
What is the cheapest alternative to Beehiiv?
Brevo: free plan, then $8.08/mo. Starter plan, billed annually ($9 billed monthly), from 5,000 emails per month. Free plan: 300 emails a day.
Which Beehiiv alternatives have a free plan?
ConvertKit, MailerLite, Mailchimp, Klaviyo and Brevo. Free plans differ a lot in what they limit, so check the plan tables on each tool’s pricing page.
Is Beehiiv still worth using?
Yes, if you publish a newsletter and want growth and monetization tools built in. Its strength is growing and monetizing a newsletter as a business in itself. The weakness: it is not suited to stores or sales-driven marketing, and the paid plans cost more than basic email tools.
04Bottom Line
If cost is why you are leaving Beehiiv, start with Brevo. If you want the least disruption, ConvertKit is the closest in spirit: it is built for creators, with tagging, simple automations and ways to sell to an audience. If you would rather simplify, MailerLite is the easiest of the group to adopt.