beehiiv vs MailerLite: which newsletter platform costs a UK small business or creator less in 2026
Affiliate note: Occono may earn a commission if you use the beehiiv, Make or Systeme.io links on this page, at no extra cost to you. The MailerLite links are not affiliate links. Occono does not earn from MailerLite. Affiliate disclosure. Website terms.
Quick summary
Use beehiiv while the letter is free and the list is past 250 people. Use MailerLite when you need a sequence, or your own name on the emails, on a smaller paid plan.
Best when the letter is a broadcast and the list is still under 2,500 people: beehiiv. The free plan is $0, with no card, up to 2,500 subscribers and unlimited sends. Past 250 people, that $0 is the whole gap against MailerLite, which leaves its free plan at 250 subscribers. We earn from beehiiv.
Best when the list is under 250 and you want a follow-up sequence before you pay, or when you will pay and you want the vendor’s logo off: MailerLite. Free is $0, up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, and the comparison table includes 3 automations. Comfort is the first paid plan. The pricing script’s first tier, up to 500 subscribers, is $12 a month in USD or €11 in EUR, or $10.80 and €9.90 a month if you pay yearly. Removing the MailerLite logo is marked yes on Comfort. We do not earn from MailerLite.
beehiiv is the smaller bill for a plain letter once the list no longer fits MailerLite’s free plan, and it stays at $0 until 2,500 subscribers. MailerLite is the smaller bill once you need the automations, or the logo off, because those sit on Comfort and beehiiv’s first verified price for automations is the Lite card. With the page set to 1,000 subscribers and yearly billing, on 2 November 2026, Lite showed $49 a month. A UK card issuer may add a conversion charge on a dollar or euro subscription. This article does not turn these prices into pounds.
| When | Named in the article |
|---|---|
| One letter, and the list is under 250 people | Either free plan is $0. MailerLite if you also want the automations on the free plan |
| One letter, and the list is past 250 and still under 2,500 | beehiiv, on the free plan |
| A short follow-up sequence, and the list is still under 250 | MailerLite, on the free plan |
| Automations, and the list is at the up-to-1,000 price this page could read | MailerLite Comfort |
| The emails and the pages have to drop the vendor’s logo, on the cheapest plan that includes that line | MailerLite Comfort. beehiiv marks logo removal on Pro |
| Readers pay for the letter, and the whole list is still in the up-to-1,000 price | MailerLite Comfort is the smaller subscription. Both state a 0% platform cut |
| The product is a sales page and a course, and the letter is only the chase | A different stack. The Kit and Systeme.io comparison is linked below |
Both tools will send a newsletter. The bill before anyone pays you is different, and so is the point at which the free plan stops. beehiiv’s free plan, on the pricing FAQ, holds 2,500 subscribers and does not cap sends. MailerLite’s free plan, on the same day’s pricing page, holds 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. A beehiiv subscriber, on beehiiv’s pricing FAQ, is a unique email address subscribed to the publication. A help article updated 1 October 2026 says the count is the whole account, across every publication. A MailerLite subscriber, on MailerLite’s pricing FAQ, is someone with an active status. Unsubscribed and bounced contacts do not count, and an address that was active at any point in the billing cycle still counts until the next anniversary, even if you delete it. This article does not treat 1,000 of one as identical to 1,000 of the other. Checked 2 November 2026.
What public reviews say
These are third-party scores, read on 2 November 2026. They are other people’s reviews. Occono has not collected them, and they will move. This article uses the www.trustpilot.com profiles. Both of those profiles say the company has not invited customers recently, so the reviews may not be representative. G2 is not in the table. The beehiiv and MailerLite review pages on G2 returned HTTP 403 and did not return a rating.
| Source | beehiiv | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Capterra, read 2 November 2026 | 4.4 out of 5, 16 reviews, on Capterra UK. The filter lists 10 at 5 stars, 3 at 4, 2 at 3 and 1 at 2. The page lists a starting price of US$49.00 a month, and it labels a free version and a free trial. Those are Capterra’s labels. The vendor page, below, is the source for the plan. US$49 matches the yearly Lite card at 1,000 subscribers. It does not match the $59 monthly figure in beehiiv’s offer data. | 4.7 out of 5, 2,343 reviews, on Capterra UK. The filter lists 1,832 at 5 stars, 413 at 4, 51 at 3, 7 at 2 and 40 at 1. The sentiment block lists positive 96%, neutral 2% and negative 2%. The page lists a starting price of US$12.00 a month. That matches the monthly Comfort figure in MailerLite’s FAQ. It does not match the $10.80 yearly figure in the pricing script. The Capterra.com product page says it was last updated on 19 October 2026, and it also shows 4.7 from 2,343 reviews. Value for money on that page is 4.7 from 2,123 reviews. Customer service is 4.8 from 2,155 reviews. |
| Trustpilot, www.trustpilot.com, read 2 November 2026 | 3.9 out of 5, labelled Great, 414 reviews. On the profile, 66% are five-star, 7% four-star, 1% three-star, 3% two-star and 23% one-star. 197 reviews are from the last 12 months. The profile says beehiiv replied to 92% of negative reviews. It also says beehiiv has not invited customers recently. | 4.1 out of 5, labelled Great, 3,393 reviews. On the profile, 80% are five-star, 3% four-star, under 1% three-star, under 1% two-star and 15% one-star. 669 reviews are from the last 12 months. The profile says MailerLite replied to 48% of negative reviews, typically within 1 week. It also says MailerLite has not invited customers recently. |
| G2, read 2 November 2026 | No G2 score is listed here. The beehiiv reviews page returned HTTP 403. | No G2 score is listed here. The MailerLite reviews page returned HTTP 403. |
MailerLite’s 4.7 from 2,343 Capterra reviews and its 4.1 from 3,393 Trustpilot reviews are a much larger public record than beehiiv’s 4.4 from 16 Capterra reviews and its 3.9 from 414 Trustpilot reviews. They are not the same kind of sample. Capterra’s pages are software reviews. Trustpilot’s www profiles say neither company has invited customers recently, and both carry a large one-star share: 23% on beehiiv and 15% on MailerLite. The uk.trustpilot.com profile for beehiiv, read the same day, showed 4.2 from 335 reviews. It says the profile is claimed and that beehiiv has a paid Trustpilot subscription. This article’s table uses the www.trustpilot.com figures. The two addresses did not show the same total. Recent reviews quoted below are about a UK publisher who left beehiiv because the emails were not arriving, a UK education business that found beehiiv cost-effective and confusing, a UK arts business that had a deleted list restored, a UK writer who says the price jumps between tiers, and a UK photographer whose MailerLite account was closed before the first campaign went out.
“Overall, Beehiiv has helped me start a newsletter and get to grips with email marketing. It's fairly cost effective, especially for smaller subscription lists. I haven't found all the features available yet though, as it can be difficult and confusing to navigate the site.”
Genevieve, owner in UK education management, self-employed, Capterra UK, 29 October 2024. Used the software for 1–5 months. The same review says you cannot see the newsletter while you make it, and that you format it and then preview. Link to the beehiiv page the review was read on. Checked 2 November 2026.
“Overall, moving to beehiiv was a waste of time as we had to migrate to another platform after just a few months. It looked good initially, but ultimately we were better off with ConvertKit (now Kit).”
Alexander, owner in UK media production, self-employed, Capterra UK, 3 December 2024, on the same beehiiv page. Used the software for 1–5 months. The same review says: “Beehiiv has serious deliverability issues. We had to move off the platform as readers were no longer getting our emails. Their customer service was also quite poor, as they didn't respond when we reached out for help.” It also says the interface is well designed and that access to advertisers made it easier to build a business on the platform.
“I really like how simple and intuitive Beehiiv is to use. It feels built with creators in mind, so setting up emails, editing content, and managing my list never feels overwhelming.”
Capterra UK review titled “A smooth, creator-friendly platform with room to grow”, 13 November 2025. The reviewer block for that review was not in the text this page returned. beehiiv’s reply, dated 21 January 2026, addresses the reviewer as Inamari and says automations had been updated. The same review says some features feel limited, especially design and automation.
“In early October beehiiv renamed and restructured its tiers — Launch/Scale/Max became Free/Lite/Pro — and the guest author allowance on the free plan dropped to one.”
Review titled “Bait & Switch”, on the www.beehiiv.com Trustpilot profile, read 2 November 2026. Link to the profile. The reviewer’s name and the review date were not in the text returned with that review, so they are not given here. The same review says Lite is $49 a month billed annually and caps guest authors at three, and that only Pro, at $95 a month billed annually, restores the old free-plan allowance. Those dollar figures are the reviewer’s. The pricing page read the same day showed those yearly card prices at 1,000 subscribers, and the plan-limits table showed one guest author on Free and three on Lite.
“MailerLite is useful and probably value for money. There are pros and cons, but if the support is improved it would be an excellent option.”
Danny, multimedia journalist in UK nonprofit organization management, 11–50 employees, Capterra UK, 17 June 2026. Used the software for 1+ year. The same review says the product is straightforward to set up and that it can be frustrating not being able to speak to somebody about an urgent technical issue. Link to the MailerLite page the review was read on.
“Excellent customer service when I accidentally deleted over 2000 subscribers. All back intact within a few hours.”
Carol, owner in UK arts and crafts, 2–10 employees, Capterra UK, 23 June 2026. Used the software for 6–12 months. The same review says pasting into emails is a bit glitchy.
“The cost jumps from one tier to the next. It would be nice if there was a bigger tier for us as the cost jumps quite a lot from one tier to the next.”
Michelle, author in UK writing and editing, self-employed, Capterra UK. Used the software for 6–12 months. MailerLite’s reply on that review is dated 4 June 2026. The review date itself was not in the text this page returned. The same review says the editor is drag and drop and that support gets back fairly quickly. Spelling in the quote is the review’s.
“Although my initial experience of using the platform and setting up my emails and automations was good, I wasn't even able to send my first email campaign as my attempt led to a termination of the account with no warning or explanation.”
Ansuya, director in UK photography, self-employed, Capterra UK, 25 June 2025. Used the software for 1–5 months. The same review says the free package felt generous and that support did not explain the breach. MailerLite’s reply, dated 27 June 2025, says the account was terminated after content checks because the materials did not comply with the terms of use.
“I subscribed to MailerLite to automate email marketing for my small personal training business. I imported 154 active subscribers from my previous email marketing platform, prepared automated onboarding sequences, and began scheduling a year's worth of educational newsletters using MailerLite's official integration. After investing many hours setting everything up, MailerLite suddenly terminated my account, citing a violation of its Terms of Use and/or Anti-Spam Policy. No specific violation was identified.”
Daniël N., freelancer in health, wellness and fitness, Capterra, 12 October 2026. Overall rating 1.0. Used the software for less than 6 months. This review does not say the business is in the UK. Link to the reviews page.
What you actually get
Checked 2 November 2026 on beehiiv’s pricing page and on MailerLite’s pricing page, plus the help articles linked under the table. Where a vendor’s own pages disagree, the cell says so. beehiiv’s cards and offer data are in US dollars. MailerLite’s page has a USD and EUR toggle. The script on that page defaults to USD and to yearly billing. No pound price was on either page.
| beehiiv | MailerLite | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | $0. The visible card says free forever. The FAQ says no credit card, up to 2,500 subscribers, and unlimited email sends. The line above the cards says every plan includes a newsletter, a website, a podcast, a community and digital products. The FAQ says the same four products are on every plan, and that what changes is limits, support and advanced features. The Free card itself lists unlimited sends, deliverability, email templates, landing pages, the recommendation network, and API and integrations. The offer data for Free lists newsletters, a website, a podcast, custom domains, a link-in-bio and an AI website builder. It does not list a community or digital products. The Lite offer data then lists digital products and community under what you add. The visible Free card does not name a custom domain. Read both on the day you start. | $0. The Free card says 250 subscribers, 2,500 monthly emails, and knowledge-base support. The FAQ says 2 user seats, campaigns, automations, a website, a landing page, signup forms, and all three editors. The comparison table, with columns in the order Power, Comfort, Free, marks 3 active automations of up to 5 steps, 3 forms, 1 website and 1 landing page, and 1 digital product or booking. A help article says that on 16 June 2026 the free subscriber cap was cut from 500 to 250, and the send cap from 12,000 emails a month to 2,500. If you go past 250 active subscribers, the FAQ says sending locks until you upgrade or you remove people. |
| Trial | The pricing FAQ says Lite and Pro include a free trial so you can use paid features before you subscribe. No credit card is needed to get started. The trial ends when you upgrade. That FAQ does not say how many days the trial lasts. A help article, updated 1 October 2026, says a new account can start a 14-day free trial of Pro plan features, with no credit card, and that some limits apply. The pricing page says Lite and Pro. The help article says Pro features, and it states 14 days. This article reports both. The same help article says prepaid cards are not accepted. | 14 days, on the pricing page and in the FAQ. The line under the cards says “Try everything for free for 14 days” and “No credit card required”. The FAQ says every new account gets 14 days to try premium features, and that when the trial ends those features stop unless you upgrade. Subscribers, automations, forms and sites stay. The same FAQ says that during the 14 days you also have 24/7 live chat and email support. The comparison table, which is the plan rather than the trial, marks live chat on Power only. |
| Entry paid price | The visible cards, with “Pricing for 1,000 subscribers” on the page and yearly billing selected, showed Lite at $49 a month and Pro at $95 a month. The offer data on the same URL lists Lite at $59 and Pro at $109, per month, in USD. The FAQ says yearly billing saves up to 20% against paying month to month. $49 is about 17% under $59, and $95 is about 13% under $109. “Up to 20%” is the page’s own ceiling. It is not the gap at this 1,000-subscriber setting. Twelve times $49 is $588, and twelve times $59 is $708. Twelve times $95 is $1,140, and twelve times $109 is $1,308. Those yearly totals are this article’s arithmetic. The cards did not print them. Prices for other list sizes were not in the HTML this article could read. | The FAQ says Comfort starts at $12 a month and Power at $25 a month. Those are the monthly USD figures on the first tier in the pricing script, which is up to 500 subscribers. The same tier’s yearly figures are $10.80 and $22.50 a month. In EUR that tier is €11 and €19 a month, or €9.90 and €17.10 on yearly billing. The yearly toggle says “Save 10%”. $10.80 is 10% under $12. Twelve times $10.80 is $129.60, and twelve times $12 is $144. Twelve times €9.90 is €118.80. Those yearly totals are this article’s arithmetic. The page script multiplies the yearly per-month figure by 12 for the “/year” line. The script then steps the price up with the list. At up to 1,000 subscribers, Comfort is $19 a month or $17.10 yearly, and €17 or €15.30. Power is $39 or $35.10, and €35 or €31.50. At up to 2,500, Comfort is $33 or $29.70, and €29 or €26.10. Power is $49 or $44.10, and €45 or €40.50. |
| Subscribers | Free, up to 2,500. Lite, up to 100,000. Pro, up to 250,000. Enterprise is custom. The pricing FAQ says a subscriber is a unique email address subscribed to the publication. The help article says the count is the whole account, across every publication, and that the people you are sending to are the active ones. Prices for list sizes other than the 1,000-subscriber cards were not in the HTML, so no other Lite or Pro dollar price is given here. | Free, 250 active subscribers. Paid tiers in the script start at up to 500 and run, in 29 steps, to up to 200,000. Enterprise is 200,000+. There is no paid tier under 500 in that script, so a list of 300 people is billed on the 500 tier. The FAQ says unsubscribed and bounced contacts do not count, and that any address active during the billing cycle still counts until the anniversary even if you delete it. Going past the free cap locks campaigns and automations. |
| Sends | Unlimited on every plan, including Free. The FAQ says you are not charged extra for sending more often, or for emailing the whole list. | Free, 2,500 emails a month. Comfort, 10 times the ceiling of the subscriber tier. At the up-to-1,000 tier the FAQ’s own example is 10,000 emails a month, whether you have 200 people or 900, and the script’s limit for that tier is 10,000. At up to 500 the script’s limit is 5,000. At up to 2,500 it is 25,000. Power is unlimited monthly emails, subject to a fair-use policy. The pricing page does not print the fair-use numbers, so this article does not. One send is one email to one subscriber, on the FAQ. |
| Paid newsletter and the cut | The Lite card lists paid subscriptions and a 0% take rate. The Free card does not. The FAQ says beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscription revenue and 0% of digital product revenue. You keep what you earn, minus the Stripe fee the page quotes: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. That is the figure on beehiiv’s page. It is not a UK card rate, and the page does not publish one. | The comparison table marks “Send paid newsletters” and “Sell recurring subscriptions” yes on Power and on Comfort, and no on Free. MailerLite’s Substack comparison says MailerLite charges a flat monthly fee and takes 0% commission on paid subscriptions, and that only Stripe fees apply. It also says paid plans start at $12 a month, billed monthly. The pricing page itself does not print a percentage cut, so the 0% line is from that comparison page. The Stripe integration page says Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ per successful card charge. That is the figure on MailerLite’s page. It is not a UK card rate. |
| Your name on the emails | Removing beehiiv branding is marked no on Free and on Lite, and yes on Pro and Enterprise, in the plan-limits table. Pro is the $95 yearly card at 1,000 subscribers, or $109 in the offer data. The Free offer data names custom domains. The visible Free card does not. This article does not treat a free-plan custom domain as settled. | Removing the MailerLite logo is marked yes on Power and on Comfort, and no on Free. The tooltip on that row says the logo comes off emails, landing pages, forms and websites. Custom domains are marked yes on Power and Comfort, and no on Free. Comfort is the $12 monthly tier at 500 subscribers, not a higher plan. |
| Automations | The Lite card lists automations. The Free card does not. The comparison sections below the plan-limits block were not expanded in the HTML this article could read, so no count of automations is stated here. The Lite card also lists ad monetisation as “Avg. $39/mo”. That is beehiiv’s label. The page text this article could read does not say whether that network is available in the UK, so this article does not. | The comparison table marks a visual automation builder on every plan, including Free. Active automations: unlimited on Power, 50 on Comfort, 3 on Free. Steps: 100, 100 and 5. Multiple automation triggers are marked yes on Power only. Ecommerce triggers are marked yes on every plan. The free-plan update of 16 June 2026 says free users can have up to 3 automations. That matches the table. |
| Support and where the data sits, as listed | The offer data lists human support on Lite and priority human support on Pro. The Pro card says 24/7 priority support. Those are the labels, not times this article has measured. Alexander’s review, from a UK publisher, says support did not reply. The pricing page’s organisation data gives a New York address. It does not say which country stores the subscriber list, so this article does not. The help article says a monthly plan can be paused for up to 30 days, and that an annual plan cannot be paused. | The comparison table marks knowledge base on every plan, email support on Comfort, priority email support on Power, and 24/7 live chat on Power only. The Free card says knowledge-base support. The FAQ says the 14-day trial includes live chat and email support, and that free accounts otherwise use the knowledge base. Danny’s review, from a UK nonprofit, says urgent chat support was hard to reach. Carol’s review says a deleted list was restored within a few hours. The pricing FAQ says the data centre is in the European Union and holds an ISO 27001 certificate, and that MailerLite is GDPR compliant. Those are MailerLite’s statements. |
beehiiv prices, the 1,000-subscriber cards, the plan-limits table, and the FAQ: beehiiv.com/pricing. Checked 2 November 2026. The visible yearly cards showed Lite at $49 a month and Pro at $95 a month. The offer data on that URL lists Free at $0, Lite at $59 and Pro at $109. Trial length, the account-wide subscriber count, and the pause rule: Plan types and subscriber plan tier pricing, updated 1 October 2026.
MailerLite prices, the tier script, the comparison table, and the FAQ: mailerlite.com/pricing. Checked 2 November 2026. The free-plan change from 500 subscribers and 12,000 emails to 250 and 2,500: Free plan update, which dates that change to 16 June 2026. The 0% commission line: MailerLite vs Substack. The card fee: Stripe integration.
The offer
beehiiv. Free plan: $0, no card, up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends. Lite and Pro have a free trial with no card, on the pricing FAQ. The FAQ does not say how many days it lasts. The help article says 14 days of Pro features, and that the trial needs no card. With 1,000 subscribers and yearly billing selected, Lite showed $49 a month and Pro showed $95 a month. The offer data lists the monthly prices as $59 and $109. Enterprise is custom. The platform cut on paid subscriptions and on digital products is stated as 0%. The Stripe figure on the page is 2.9% + $0.30. The ad line says “Avg. $39/mo”. That is beehiiv’s label, not a sum this page has checked.
MailerLite. Free plan: $0, up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, 2 seats, 3 automations. A 14-day trial of premium features, with no card. After it, the account stays on Free and the premium features stop. Comfort starts at $12 a month in USD, or €11, on the up-to-500 tier, and at $10.80 or €9.90 if you pay yearly. Power on that same tier starts at $25 or €19 a month, and $22.50 or €17.10 yearly. At the up-to-1,000 tier, Comfort is $19 or €17 a month, and $17.10 or €15.30 yearly. The page says prices may be subject to tax. It does not print a UK VAT rate. The Substack comparison says the platform cut on a paid subscription is 0%, and the Stripe page prints 2.9% + 30¢.
A worked example, Occono’s own arithmetic. It uses the prices above. It ignores tax, any currency-conversion charge a UK card issuer adds, and the card processor’s fee. A free letter to 200 people, once a month: both free plans cover it. beehiiv is $0 with unlimited sends. MailerLite is $0 inside 250 people and 2,500 emails. The difference at this size is not the bill. It is that MailerLite’s free plan includes 3 automations, and beehiiv’s free card does not list them.
A free letter to 1,000 people, once a month. That is 1,000 sends, which is inside MailerLite Comfort’s 10,000-email allowance at the up-to-1,000 tier, and inside beehiiv’s unlimited sends. beehiiv’s free plan still covers the list. MailerLite’s free plan does not. Comfort at that tier is $19 a month, which is $228 over twelve months, or $17.10 a month on yearly billing, which is $205.20 for the year. In EUR the same tier is €17 a month, which is €204 over twelve months, or €15.30 on yearly billing, which is €183.60 for the year. The gap against beehiiv is that whole MailerLite bill, until the list passes 2,500. This article does not have a verified beehiiv price at 2,500 subscribers. The only Lite and Pro dollar prices in the HTML were the 1,000-subscriber cards.
A letter that also needs automations, with the list still inside the up-to-1,000 price. MailerLite Comfort on yearly billing is $17.10 a month, which is $205.20 for the year, and it includes 50 automations and logo removal. beehiiv Lite on the yearly card is $49 a month, and twelve times $49 is $588. The gap is $382.80 over twelve months. On monthly billing the prices are $19 and $59. Twelve times $19 is $228. Twelve times $59 is $708. The gap is $480 over twelve months. In EUR, Comfort yearly is €183.60 for the year. beehiiv does not print a euro price, so this article does not subtract the two. If the sequence is only three short automations and the list is still under 250, MailerLite’s free plan is $0 and this gap does not start.
Taking the logo off is a different gap. MailerLite marks it yes on Comfort, from the $12 tier. beehiiv marks “Remove beehiiv branding” yes on Pro and on Enterprise. Pro is the $95 yearly card at 1,000 subscribers. Twelve times $95 is $1,140. $1,140 minus $205.20 is $934.80. Pro includes more than the logo. The comparison is the cheapest plan on each page that includes that vendor’s own branding line. MailerLite’s line is on Comfort. beehiiv’s line starts on Pro.
A paid letter, with the whole list still inside the up-to-1,000 price. Comfort on yearly billing is $205.20 for the year. Lite on the yearly card is $588. The subscription gap is the same $382.80. Both state a 0% cut of the reader payments once you are on that paid plan. You still pay the processor. beehiiv prints 2.9% + $0.30. MailerLite’s Stripe page prints 2.9% + 30¢. Neither figure is a UK card rate. The $382.80 is the subscription gap only. It is not a claim about which tool leaves you more after the card fee. A weekly letter to 1,000 people is four campaigns in 28 days, which is 4,000 emails, or five campaigns in 35 days, which is 5,000. Both sit inside Comfort’s 10,000-email cap at that tier. A letter every day for 30 days is 30,000 emails, which does not. That volume is Power, at $39 a month or $35.10 on yearly billing at the 1,000 tier. Twelve times $35.10 is $421.20. beehiiv’s free plan still lists unlimited sends at that list size. If the only reason to leave Free is the number of sends, beehiiv’s free plan is the one that does not charge for them.
Which one fits you?
Genevieve’s October 2024 review is a UK education business that wanted a newsletter and found beehiiv cost-effective, and confusing. Alexander’s December 2024 review is a UK media business that left because the emails were not arriving. Danny’s June 2026 review is a UK nonprofit that finds MailerLite good value and hard to get a human for when something is urgent. Carol’s June 2026 review is a UK arts business that had 2,000 deleted subscribers put back. Michelle’s review, from a UK writer, is about the jump between price tiers. Ansuya’s June 2025 review is a UK photographer whose account was closed before a campaign went out. Those six are closer to a one-person business than a software-buyer average is.
A tutor, bookkeeper or shop with fewer than 250 customers, sending one letter and one short follow-up. Both free plans are $0. MailerLite’s free plan is the one that includes the sequence: 3 automations, 5 steps each, inside 2,500 emails a month. beehiiv’s free card does not list automations. The first Lite price this article could read is the 1,000-subscriber card, at $49 a month on yearly billing, even if a smaller list might be billed on that same card. This article does not have a verified Lite price below 1,000 subscribers, so it does not invent one. For this job, MailerLite’s free plan is the one that names the automation before you pay. Genevieve’s review is the UK case for beehiiv if the job is only the letter and you can live with a busy screen. If the enquiry should also land on a sheet you already keep, Make can connect the form to the sheet. That is a second product, and a second bill once you leave Make’s free plan.
The same shop once the list reaches 400 people. MailerLite’s free plan stops at 250. The next published tier is up to 500, at $12 a month or $10.80 on yearly billing, and €11 or €9.90. Twelve times $10.80 is $129.60. beehiiv’s free plan still holds 400 people, with unlimited sends, at $0. Michelle’s point about the jump between tiers is this step: you do not buy a 400-person plan. You buy the 500 tier. If the letter is all you send, beehiiv is the smaller bill by the whole of that $129.60, until the list passes 2,500. If you also need the three automations you were using on MailerLite’s free plan, Comfort is the plan that keeps them, and it is still the $12 tier rather than beehiiv Lite at the $49 card. The Mailchimp alternatives page on this site puts MailerLite in a wider set. The prices there were checked on 20 October 2026. This page is the recheck.
A freelance writer charging for the letter. At the 1,000-subscriber step, MailerLite Comfort on yearly billing is $205.20 for the year. beehiiv Lite on the yearly card is $588. Both state a 0% platform cut once paid subscriptions are switched on. beehiiv’s free plan does not list them. MailerLite’s free plan marks them no. You still pay Stripe at the rate each vendor prints, and neither rate is a UK one. Comfort also takes the MailerLite logo off. beehiiv’s logo comes off on Pro, at $95 a month on that same yearly card. Crystal’s Capterra review of 30 June 2026, from a freelance writer in the US, says the point of beehiiv was selling products on the site as well as sending the letter, and that the editor was still hard to learn. If being found inside another company’s reading app is the point, the beehiiv and Substack comparison is that page. If the publication has to be a site you host, the beehiiv and Ghost comparison is that page. Those prices were not rechecked for this article.
A coach who needs one follow-up sequence, and then a sales page. Under 250 people, MailerLite’s free plan is the sequence. Past that, Comfort at the matching tier is the smaller subscription than beehiiv Lite, on the prices this page could read. If the sequence is attached to a sales page and a course, a newsletter tool is the wrong stack. The Kit and Systeme.io comparison is that page, and Systeme.io is the all-in-one this site uses for a page, email and a course. The beehiiv and Kit comparison is the page for two email tools, including a pound fee on a Kit sale. Those prices were not rechecked for this article.
Where MailerLite is the better buy
MailerLite wins when the work is a sequence, or a set of pages with your name on them, and the list is still the size of a UK customer book. The free plan includes the automation builder, 3 automations, a landing page and a form, at $0, up to 250 people. beehiiv’s free card does not list automations, and it holds the logo removal for Pro. Comfort, from $12 a month at the 500-person tier, is where MailerLite marks the logo off, paid newsletters on, and 50 automations. At the 1,000-person yearly price that is $205.20 for the year, against $588 for beehiiv Lite on this article’s arithmetic from the $49 card. Danny, writing from a UK nonprofit in June 2026, calls it value for money and then says urgent support is the weak point. Carol, the same month, had a deleted list put back in a few hours. Capterra’s 4.7 from 2,343 reviews, and the 4.8 for customer service from 2,155 reviews on the .com page, are the kinder public scores. Trustpilot’s 4.1 from 3,393 reviews is the larger one, with a 15% one-star share and a profile that says MailerLite has not invited customers recently.
MailerLite is also the plan that publishes a euro price. A UK business that already pays other tools in euros can read €11, €17 and €29 on the tiers above without this article converting anything. beehiiv’s pricing page is dollars only. MailerLite’s FAQ says the data sits in the EU. That is a statement on the pricing page, not a legal opinion from Occono. The reasons to hesitate are also on the public record. The free plan was cut on 16 June 2026, from 500 subscribers and 12,000 emails to 250 and 2,500. Ansuya’s 2025 review and Daniël N.’s October 2026 review both describe an account closed over a terms breach that the reviewer says was not explained. MailerLite’s reply to Ansuya says the content check failed. Read that reply on the day you import a list. There is no pound price, and the tax line does not state a UK VAT rate.
Where beehiiv is the cheaper buy
beehiiv wins when the list is the job and the monthly plan is the thing you are trying to avoid. The free plan is a real account: 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends, no card. MailerLite’s free plan stops at 250 people and 2,500 emails a month. For a shop’s monthly letter to 400 or 1,000 customers, that is $0 against Comfort. At 1,000 people the Comfort yearly total is $205.20, or €183.60, and beehiiv is still inside the free cap. Genevieve, writing from UK education in October 2024, calls beehiiv fairly cost-effective for a smaller list, and hard to learn. The November 2025 Capterra review, the one beehiiv’s reply addresses as Inamari, says the editor feels built for creators and that design and automation still feel limited. beehiiv replied on 21 January 2026 and said automations had been updated.
Pay beehiiv when you also want the automations on the Lite card and you have already decided the free plan is not enough. Lite at $49 a month on yearly billing, for the 1,000-subscriber cards, is the first paid price this article could read. The monthly offer price is $59. That is more than Comfort at the same list size. It is the price of unlimited sends, the ad line, and the paid-subscription tools on one card. You still pay Stripe at the rate beehiiv prints. Removing the beehiiv branding waits until Pro. The trial length is 14 days in the help article and unstated on the pricing FAQ. Capterra UK’s 4.4 from 16 reviews is a small count. Trustpilot’s 3.9 from 414 reviews is the larger public score, with a 23% one-star share, a reply rate the profile puts at 92% of negative reviews, and a warning that beehiiv has not invited customers recently. Alexander’s review is the deliverability warning from a UK publisher. The Trustpilot review titled “Bait & Switch” is the October limit change, from a free plan that allowed more guest authors to a free plan capped at one. The plan-limits table read on 2 November 2026 shows that one guest author on Free.
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