MailerLite vs Beehiiv (2026): Which is Better?

TLDR

MailerLite (7.8/10) and Beehiiv (8.4/10) both send email, but they solve different problems. Beehiiv wins for newsletter creators who want to grow and monetize an audience through ads, paid subscriptions, and referrals. MailerLite wins for small businesses and creators who want clean, affordable email marketing with landing pages and automation and do not need a built-in revenue engine.

What They Are Built For

MailerLite is a traditional email marketing platform. You get a drag-and-drop editor, landing pages, signup forms, and automation workflows. It is built for sending campaigns, nurturing leads, and running e-commerce promos. It does the classic email marketing job well and keeps the interface simple.

Beehiiv is a newsletter-first platform built by people who ran a large newsletter. Everything centers on publishing, audience growth, and monetization. It bundles a website builder, custom domain, analytics, and growth tools like Boosts and a recommendation network. If your product is the newsletter itself, Beehiiv is built around your business model. If email is one channel in a wider marketing mix, MailerLite fits better.

Monetization

This is the biggest gap. Beehiiv has a built-in ad network that auto-matches newsletters with sponsors, and it takes 0% of paid subscription revenue on Scale and higher plans. Add the referral and Boosts tools, and Beehiiv is a genuine revenue platform, not just a sender. For a creator trying to make money from a newsletter, this is the whole point.

MailerLite does not have an ad network or sponsorship matching. You can run paid newsletters and integrate e-commerce, but monetization is something you bolt on yourself rather than a native suite. If your goal is to turn subscribers into sponsorship and subscription income, MailerLite leaves you assembling the pieces.

Editor and Automation

MailerLite is the stronger classic automation tool. Its drag-and-drop editor is intuitive, and automation workflows (welcome series, drip sequences, behavior triggers) are available across all paid tiers. If your job is nurturing leads with branching sequences, MailerLite handles it well. The template library is thinner than some rivals, and there is no SMS or WhatsApp, but for email automation it is solid.

Beehiiv’s automation is deliberately simpler. It is built for publishing a newsletter on a schedule, not for complex multi-branch funnels, and reviewers note its automation lacks the depth of enterprise tools. The editor is clean and publishing-focused. If you need sophisticated marketing automation, MailerLite is ahead; if you mostly write and send issues, Beehiiv’s simplicity is fine.

Free Plan and Growth

Both have strong free tiers, with a twist. MailerLite’s free plan covers 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month with real automation, forms, and landing pages, though it adds MailerLite branding. Beehiiv’s free plan goes up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, a custom domain, and API access, which is unusually generous for a newsletter tool and lets you launch a real publication without paying anything.

On growth, Beehiiv pulls ahead. Its recommendation network and Boosts are designed to actively grow your list, where Boosts even let you pay other newsletters for referred subscribers. MailerLite expects you to drive your own traffic through forms and landing pages. For an audience-building play, Beehiiv’s tooling does more of the work, and that growth engine is a big part of why creators pay the premium.

Pricing

MailerLite is the cheaper option by a wide margin. Paid plans start at $10 per month for Growing Business (unlimited emails, up to 3 users), and Advanced runs from $20 per month, adding an AI writer, pop-ups, and more. Annual billing knocks off 30%. For a small list it is one of the best values in email.

Beehiiv costs more. The Scale plan is $43 per month and includes the ad network and monetization features, while Max is $96 per month, removes branding, and adds podcasts and unlimited team seats. At a list of 1,000 subscribers, MailerLite is dramatically cheaper. The Beehiiv premium only makes sense if you actually use the monetization and growth tools to earn it back.

When to Choose MailerLite

• You run a small business and want affordable, classic email marketing.
• You need landing pages, forms, and automation more than monetization.
• Budget matters and you want paid plans from $10 per month.
• Email is one channel in a broader marketing strategy.
• You prefer a simple, clean interface over a feature-heavy creator suite.

When to Choose Beehiiv

• Your newsletter is the business and you want to monetize it.
• You want a built-in ad network and 0% fees on paid subscriptions.
• You care about audience growth via referrals, Boosts, and recommendations.
• You want a bundled website, custom domain, and creator analytics.
• You are a media operator or publisher, not a classic marketer.

The Bottom Line

Beehiiv earns the edge. For the audience it targets, newsletter creators and media operators, it is the best platform going, with monetization and growth tools no general email tool matches. The higher 8.4 rating reflects how completely it nails that niche. If you are building a newsletter business, Beehiiv is worth the premium.

MailerLite is not far behind at 7.8, and for a lot of people it is the smarter buy. If you run a small business, want cheap and dependable email marketing, and do not need a built-in revenue engine, MailerLite gives you more value per dollar. The decision is really about goals: monetize a newsletter, choose Beehiiv; market a business affordably, choose MailerLite. One quick gut check: if you could not name a way you plan to make money directly from the list, you probably do not need what Beehiiv charges extra for, and MailerLite will serve you well for years.