Beehiiv and Mailchimp both send email, but they are priced and structured for different businesses. Beehiiv's free plan runs to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited email sends, industry-leading deliverability, landing pages, a recommendation network and API access. Lite is $49 a month with yearly billing and adds paid subscriptions at a 0% take rate, ad monetization the company lists as averaging $39 a month, automations, the beehiiv MCP, audience polls and A/B testing. Pro is $95 a month yearly and adds removal of beehiiv branding, webinars and coaching, advanced analytics, AI credits, webhooks, dynamic content and custom rate limits. Enterprise is priced by contact.
TL;DR
Beehiiv is built around newsletters and monetization: Free holds up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, Lite is $49 a month yearly, Pro is $95, and Enterprise is a quote. Mailchimp is a general email platform: Free exists for small lists, and the paid tiers it shows run $13, $20 and $350 a month for the first 12 months at the selected contact level, with pricing stepping up after. Beehiiv gives away more at the free tier and charges for monetization tooling; Mailchimp has the lower entry price and a wider marketing feature set.
Mailchimp is a broader marketing platform with a smaller free entry. Its pricing page shows promotional rates for the first 12 months at whatever contact level you select: $13 a month for Essentials, $20 for Standard and $350 for Premium in the displayed tier, each with a note that pricing applies for 12 months. Above 10,000 contacts the page advertises a 15% saving on the first year. The platform spans email campaigns, SMS, automations, landing pages, forms and a built-in CRM, with a 14-day free trial on paid tiers.
The core trade is where each one spends your money. Beehiiv spends it on the newsletter as a product: the free tier is unusually generous, and the paid tiers exist to monetize the list through subscriptions, ads and recommendations. Mailchimp spends it on breadth: lower entry pricing and a marketing stack that covers email, SMS and CRM, but with contact-based pricing that climbs as the list grows and promotional rates that step up after year one.
| Feature | Beehiiv | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends | Free plan for small lists; paid tiers with a 14-day trial |
| Entry paid plan | Lite $49 a month yearly | Essentials $13 a month for 12 months in the displayed tier |
| Mid tier | Pro $95 a month yearly | Standard $20 a month for 12 months in the displayed tier |
| Top tier | Enterprise, priced by contact | Premium $350 a month for 12 months in the displayed tier |
| Pricing basis | By subscriber tier with a published free ceiling | By contact count with promotional first-year rates |
| Monetization | Paid subscriptions at 0% take rate, ad network, recommendations | Not the core offering; sells marketing tooling instead |
| Channels | Email and newsletter tooling | Email, SMS, automations, landing pages, forms, CRM |
| AI tooling | beehiiv MCP on paid tiers | AI-assisted content and campaign tools |
| Rate stability | Published list prices on the pricing page | Promotional rates that step up after 12 months |
| Best fit | Creators monetizing a newsletter | Businesses running a wider marketing stack |
Pick Beehiiv if
Beehiiv suits creators who intend to earn from the list itself. Paid subscriptions with no platform cut, an ad network and a recommendation network are the reason to pay $49 rather than a smaller sum, and they only matter if you run a publication. The free tier holding 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends also means the cost does not arrive until the list is already working.
Pick Mailchimp if
Mailchimp suits businesses that send campaigns, run automations, reach contacts over SMS and want a CRM under one bill. The entry price is lower, and the feature set is wider than a newsletter platform's. The trade-offs are contact-based pricing and promotional rates that step up after the first year, which rewards knowing your list trajectory before committing.
Mailchimp's entry tier is advertised at $13 a month for 12 months in the displayed contact level, against Beehiiv's Lite at $49 a month yearly. Beehiiv's free plan is far more generous though, holding up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends.
It offers automations on paid tiers, but it is built around the newsletter. For multi-channel campaigns, SMS and a CRM, Mailchimp's platform is the wider tool.
The rates on its pricing page are promotional for the first year, after which pricing steps up. Beehiiv lists standard rates without that structure.
No. Paid subscriptions on Beehiiv carry a 0% take rate, so the platform does not take a percentage of what readers pay you.
Beehiiv includes a recommendation network and audience polls designed for newsletter growth. Mailchimp focuses on campaign performance and channel reach rather than publication growth loops.
Mailchimp does, which is why its cost rises with list size. Beehiiv prices by subscriber tier with a published free ceiling, giving more predictable cost as the list grows.
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