beehiiv vs MailerLite Comparison 2026
beehiiv is a newsletter platform built around paid subscriptions and referral growth, free to 2,500 subscribers with monetization already switched on. MailerLite is general email marketing priced to stay cheap as a list grows, free to 250 subscribers and $12 a month from there on the Comfort plan. The difference shows up at scale. beehiiv spends more up front on a bigger free tier and growth tooling; MailerLite spends less every month after that, especially once a list reaches five figures.
Newsletters with paid subscriptions and referrals
Email marketing that stays cheap as lists grow
At a glance
- MailerLite starts cheaper, at $12.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
beehiiv | MailerLite | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $49 | From $12 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial (they differ) | None | 14 days |
| API |
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
MailerLite
Email marketing that stays cheap as lists grow
MailerLite sends campaigns, runs automations and hosts the signup forms feeding them, and prices all of it under the tools it competes with. The editor is plain in a way that suits people who write more than they design. The free plan stops at 250 subscribers, which is a fraction of what beehiiv and Kit give away, so the comparison is really about what you pay at ten thousand.
Why people weigh these two
- MailerLite instead of beehiiv
- Email marketing that stays cheap as lists grow, from $12 against beehiiv's $49 first paid tier, if sending matters more than referral and subscription machinery.
- beehiiv instead of MailerLite
- beehiiv gives away a bigger free plan than MailerLite's 250-subscriber cap, and layers on paid subscriptions and a referral program for a newsletter that charges its own readers directly.
Which one should you pick
Choose beehiiv if the newsletter is the product and you plan to charge for it. The free plan already covers 2,500 subscribers with Stripe-backed paid subscriptions, and the referral program with milestone rewards pulls in readers a plain sending tool cannot recruit on its own.
Choose MailerLite if the bill at ten thousand subscribers matters more than the editor or the growth tools. Comfort starts at $12 a month against a free plan capped at 250 subscribers, a tenth of what beehiiv gives away. The price stays lower as the list grows, and automations arrive on that same cheapest paid plan rather than two tiers up.
Common questions
- How much bigger is beehiiv's free plan than MailerLite's?
- Ten times bigger. beehiiv gives away 2,500 subscribers on its free plan, with paid subscriptions already included, while MailerLite's free plan stops at 250. MailerLite's trade is a lower bill later: Comfort starts at $12 a month, well under beehiiv's $49 Scale plan.
- Which is cheaper once a list gets large?
- MailerLite, usually. Comfort and Power are priced against the subscriber count you pick, so the figure on the page is the figure you keep paying as the list grows, and yearly billing takes ten percent off. beehiiv's Scale plan is $49 a month and Max is $99, both above MailerLite's $12 entry price.
- Does MailerLite include automation on its cheapest plan?
- Yes. Welcome sequences and triggered emails are included from the $12 a month Comfort plan rather than reserved for a tier further up. beehiiv puts less effort into branching automation by design, choosing instead to build out the referral program and boosts, on the assumption that growth matters more than sequences to most newsletter writers.
- Which one should I pick if I plan to charge readers?
- beehiiv. Paid subscriptions are included on the free plan up to 2,500 subscribers, with no revenue share above the plan fee beyond Stripe's own processing rate. MailerLite is built for sending and automation, not for running a paid subscription business, so a writer planning to charge from day one gets more out of beehiiv even at a higher monthly cost.
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.