beehiiv vs Curated Comparison 2026
Both cover newsletter & email. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Newsletters with paid subscriptions and referrals
A link newsletter that stays free to 1,500 readers
Why people weigh these two
- Curated instead of beehiiv
- Curated is shaped around a link-roundup format specifically and stays free to 1,500 readers before $39, cheaper than beehiiv's $49 start once a list needs a paid plan.
- beehiiv instead of Curated
- beehiiv suits the essayist a link-digest tool underserves, with paid subscriptions and referral growth built in; free tier, then paid from $49.
At a glance
- Curated starts cheaper, at $39.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
beehiiv | Curated | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $49 | From $39 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | None | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
beehiiv
Newsletters with paid subscriptions and referrals
beehiiv handles sending, paid subscriptions, a referral program and a basic website, which covers most of what someone writing a weekly letter actually needs. It was built by people who ran Morning Brew, and it shows in the growth tooling. Automation is thinner than a dedicated email platform.
Our note
If you are starting a newsletter you intend to charge for, start here. The free tier goes further than it looks, the growth tools are the reason people stay, and the export is clean if you decide to leave.
Only on this side
- Covers monetization & payments
- Works with Substack
Curated
A link newsletter that stays free to 1,500 readers
Curated is built for the link-roundup newsletter specifically, so collecting items through the week, writing a line under each and having the issue assemble itself is the main path rather than a workaround. Every feature including sending is on the free tier, which runs to 1,500 subscribers. Pricing then moves in published subscriber bands rather than on a quote. Anybody writing long-form essays rather than curating links will find the whole editor shaped around a job they are not doing.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.