beehiiv Sends Without Limit on Free, and Charges for Growth
A newsletter platform that never bills you for sending. Everything that helps you grow or earn sits behind the paid wall.
beehiiv's free plan includes unlimited email sends, templates, a landing page, the recommendation network, the API and basic analytics, with no subscriber ceiling tied to sending. Paid subscriptions, ad monetisation, automations, polls, A/B tests and removing beehiiv branding all require Lite at $49 a month billed yearly, or Pro at $95.1
The sending model is the opposite of Mailchimp's. beehiiv does not count emails; it counts features.
For a newsletter writer this is close to ideal, because the cost of publishing is sentiment rather than volume. For anyone trying to earn from the list, the free plan ends exactly where the business begins.
What you actually get
| Free | Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $49/mo yearly |
| Email sends | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Subscribers | No send-based cap | No send-based cap |
| Paid subscriptions | No | 0% take rate |
| Ad monetisation | No | Yes |
| Automations | No | Yes |
| Polls and A/B tests | No | Yes |
| Branding removal | No | Pro only |
| API and integrations | Yes | Yes |
| Card required | No | Yes |
Pro at $95 monthly yearly adds branding removal, advanced analytics, AI credits, webhooks, dynamic content and priority support. Enterprise is quoted.
Unlimited sends, no hidden throughput cap
beehiiv's free plan does not meter email volume. A list of 30,000 can be mailed as often as the writer chooses, at no cost.
That is a stronger position than any other platform in this series on the sending axis. Kit caps the audience at 10,000. Brevo caps the day at 300. Mailchimp caps the month at 500.
What beehiiv does instead is attach its growth machinery to the paid tiers. The recommendation network is free, but the tools that turn audience into revenue are not.
The recommendation network is the free plan's best feature
beehiiv's cross-promotion network lets publications recommend each other to subscribers who finish reading. It is included on free.
For a new newsletter with no audience, this is the only organic growth channel in the free tier that does not require social media.
It is also the reason beehiiv's free plan is worth considering over a plain ESP: the platform is doing distribution work rather than only sending.
Recommendations only work if you give them a few weeks. A new publication with no archive and no peers will see almost nothing at first, and the common mistake is to judge the network after three sends.
What free deliberately excludes
No paid subscriptions. If you want readers to pay you, Lite is required, though it charges a zero percent take rate on those payments, which softens the $49.
No ad monetisation, no automations, no polling, no A/B testing.
No branding removal. Every free newsletter carries beehiiv's mark, and unlike most platforms this one is not removable at any tier below Pro.
How it compares
Kit also sends without limit but caps the audience at 10,000, while including digital product sales on free.
Brevo stores more contacts but sends only 300 a day, which rules out a large weekly campaign.
Mailchimp remains the most restrictive at 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends.
Buttondown is the other newsletter-first option, free to 100 subscribers with add-ons priced individually.
When it is enough
A writer publishing a free newsletter with no plan to charge readers, who wants growth tools and unlimited sends without a bill.
A publication using the recommendation network as its primary growth loop, which is precisely the audience beehiiv built the free tier for.
A migration from Substack or Mailchimp where the goal is to keep a list intact and keep publishing while deciding what comes next.
When it stops being enough
The day you want to charge for the newsletter, which is Lite at $49 monthly yearly.
When a sponsor comes calling and you need ad slots, or when you want to remove the beehiiv footer and cannot at Lite.
When you need an automation beyond a plain send, since the free plan has none at all.
Frequently asked questions
Is beehiiv free unlimited?
Sending is unlimited on the free plan. Subscriber management and sending are not metered by volume.
Can I monetise a free beehiiv newsletter?
No. Paid subscriptions and ad monetisation are paid-plan features.
How much does beehiiv cost?
Lite is $49 a month billed yearly and Pro is $95 a month billed yearly. Enterprise is custom.
Does the free plan include the recommendation network?
Yes. Recommendations are part of the free tier and are its main growth mechanism.
Can I use the beehiiv API for free?
Yes, API access and integrations are included on the free plan.
Can I remove beehiiv branding on Lite?
No. Branding removal starts at Pro.
Free plan feature list and paid tier pricing verified against beehiiv's pricing page on 20 October 2026. Sending policy and recommendation network availability also taken from that page.
Sources
- beehiiv pricing: www.beehiiv.com/pricing. Used for: Unlimited sends on free and the $49/$95 paid tiers.
All sources are the vendor's own plan or documentation pages, checked on 20 October 2026. Plan terms change without notice, so confirm current limits before you rely on them.
