Beehiiv (Newsletter platform)
Created by: Tyler Denk

Beehiiv prices on subscriber count and unlocks monetization features tier-by-tier. The ladder is the product.

TL;DR: Beehiiv's pricing scales by subscriber count, with the higher tiers unlocking the ad network, paid subscriptions, referral mechanics, and the Boost monetization network. The ladder maps to creator maturity: as the newsletter grows, the operator climbs the tier ladder by need rather than by upsell pressure. The lesson: when your product can stack monetization features, the value ladder lives inside the product, not the page.

What they sell: A newsletter platform with built-in monetization stack: ad network, paid subscriptions, referrals, Boost network.
Who it's for: Newsletter creators treating the newsletter as a business with multiple revenue streams.
Pricing model: Subscriber-count tiered with monetization features unlocking per tier
Payment frequency: Monthly or annual, with annual discount; subscriber-count tiers re-evaluated as audience grows
Free trial behavior: Free Launch tier is the structural trial. Some Scale features available on a time-limited trial during onboarding.
Number of tiers: 4

Anchor pattern: Max tier as anchor
The Max tier at the upper end of approximately $99-499/mo anchors the page for serious operators. Scale at approximately $39-99/mo reads as the reasonable creator-business tier by comparison. Launch is the entry. The anchor is doing the work of making Scale feel like the natural creator-business choice rather than the splurge.

Upgrade trigger: Subscriber-count cap plus monetization need
Two structural triggers fire together: subscriber growth past the Launch cap forces a Scale upgrade; the need to monetize via paid subscriptions or Boost network forces the same upgrade independently. The double trigger means the conversion fires reliably as creators grow, regardless of which path they take.

What's working:
Subscriber-count tiering aligns the bill with creator success, which lowers commitment friction for new creators.|Monetization features unlocked per tier turn the pricing ladder into the product roadmap.|Ad network monetization on free tier (above a threshold) gives Launch users a reason to stay AND a reason to upgrade once the cap hits.|Boost network on Scale tier is a sideways acquisition channel — Scale subscribers acquire each other's audiences, paid by Beehiiv.|Round-ish tier names (Launch, Scale, Max) communicate the operator's stage rather than feature breakdown.

What to adapt:
If your product can stack monetization features for the buyer, ladder them by tier so the pricing page IS the product roadmap.|Tier by a metric that scales with customer success (subscribers, revenue, transactions) when possible. Per-seat fails for creator products.|Use tier names that communicate stage (Launch, Scale, Max) when buyers want to identify with where they ARE in their journey.

What to avoid:
Do not tier monetization features if your product cannot credibly monetize for the buyer. Promising monetization you cannot deliver destroys trust.|Do not use subscriber-count tiering for non-audience products. The model only works when subscriber count maps to value delivered.

Brunson lens:
Stack: Vertical stack — each tier adds monetization mechanisms the prior tier did not have.
Value ladder: Four-rung Value Ladder with monetization stack baked into rung progression.
Decoy/anchor: Max tier as anchor; Scale as the visible creator-business choice; Launch as the entry.
Payment mechanics: Per-subscriber-tier monthly or annual subscription; no per-seat, no usage metering.

Pricing last verified: 2026-05-17