beehiiv vs ActiveCampaign: newsletter monetization or CRM automation?

How are beehiiv and ActiveCampaign really different?

What will beehiiv or ActiveCampaign cost for your setup?

The cheapest plan that covers each setup, add-ons included. Prices exclude VAT.

beehiiv vs ActiveCampaign side by side

I compare email/CRM platforms on: Real cost per list size, both billing bases; Free-tier contact ceiling before you must pay anything; Team seats included, and the seat price past that; List segmentation depth; Automation workflow depth and any step/action limits; Deliverability and sending limits (emails per month, per day, or per rolling window); CRM and ecommerce integration depth; What happens past your plan's contact ceiling (overage pricing vs a forced upgrade).

Who should pick beehiiv, and who should pick ActiveCampaign?

beehiiv

Desk research

• Best for solo marketers and small businesses

beehiiv is a newsletter platform with a free plan up to 2,500 subscribers, but that plan is a starter kit: no paid subscriptions, no custom domain and no automations. Lite, from $59/month billed monthly, adds all three, and beehiiv takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue on top of Stripe's fees. It suits a creator who wants to grow and charge readers without running their own site.

Best for: Creators who want growth and monetization tools beyond a plain newsletter, and expect to pay for Lite once they charge readers or want their own domain.

Strengths

• A permanent free plan up to 2,500 subscribers, enough to test the editor and grow a first list.
• 0% take rate on paid subscriptions on every paid plan; only Stripe's processing fee applies.
• Lite ($59/month billed monthly, or $49/month billed annually) already includes paid subscriptions, a custom domain, automations and 3 publications.

Limits

• Free stops at 2,500 subscribers, 1 seat and 1 publication, with no paid subscriptions, no custom domain and no automations.
• Lite includes 2 seats and caps live automations; a team of three or unlimited automations means Pro, from $109/month billed monthly.
• Lite and Pro are priced by subscriber count, so the entry price only covers the smallest list band and the bill rises in steps as the list grows.

Skip it if you want to charge readers or use your own domain without paying anything; beehiiv's Free plan allows neither, so Substack's free model fits better.

beehiiv reviewbeehiiv pricingbeehiiv alternatives

ActiveCampaign

Desk research

• Best for growing lists sending regularly
• Best for small teams sharing one account

ActiveCampaign prices by contact list size on top of the plan tier, and the plan cards only show the annual rate. Month-to-month billing shows up at checkout for Starter and Plus only (Starter from $19/month billed monthly); Pro and Enterprise need a yearly commitment. Starter caps you at 5 actions per automation and one seat, so it reads more like a taste of the platform than a real working plan.

Best for: A small business that wants CRM and ecommerce integrations bundled with email marketing from the entry tier.

Strengths

• API and webhook access on every plan, including Starter.
• Zapier is available on every plan, not gated to the top tier.
• A 14-day trial with no card, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first paid subscription.

Limits

• Starter automations are capped at 5 actions per automation; Plus and up remove the cap.
• Full white-labeling (custom domain, CSS/HTML rebrand) is Enterprise-only.
• The Enhanced CRM add-on (pipelines, sales engagement) isn't offered on Starter at all.

Skip it if you need more than 5 actions per automation or a second seat without upgrading past Starter.

ActiveCampaign reviewActiveCampaign pricingActiveCampaign alternatives

Neither beehiiv nor ActiveCampaign? Try these

• 

  MailerLite

  From $10.80/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you want general marketing-automation pricing closer to beehiiv's than ActiveCampaign's, without needing beehiiv's publishing-specific tools or ActiveCampaign's CRM depth.

  MailerLite reviewMailerLite alternatives

• 

  Brevo

  From $8.08/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you want SMS and transactional email bundled with marketing email under one account, a use case neither beehiiv nor ActiveCampaign covers directly.

  Brevo reviewBrevo alternatives

• 

  Klaviyo

  From $20/mo billed monthly

  Pick it if ecommerce-specific segmentation and revenue attribution are the actual requirement; it leans harder into online-store data than ActiveCampaign's general CRM and much harder than beehiiv's publishing focus.

  Klaviyo reviewKlaviyo alternatives

Buying guides that rank beehiiv or ActiveCampaign

• Best Marketing Automation Software

  ActiveCampaign is #1 of 9

• Best Email Marketing Software for Agencies

  ActiveCampaign is #2 of 6

• 11 Best Newsletter Platforms for Creators and Writers

  beehiiv is #2 of 11

beehiiv vs ActiveCampaign: questions people ask

Is beehiiv cheaper than ActiveCampaign?

Only while your list fits beehiiv's Free plan, up to 2,500 subscribers. ActiveCampaign has no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and Starter is $19/month billed monthly. Past the free tier, ActiveCampaign is cheaper: at 5,000 contacts, ActiveCampaign Starter is $99/month billed monthly, and beehiiv Lite is $109/month billed monthly.

Does beehiiv have CRM features like ActiveCampaign?

No. beehiiv doesn't offer CRM or sales-pipeline tools at any tier. ActiveCampaign bundles Standard CRM & ecommerce integrations from its Starter tier, with an Enhanced CRM add-on available from Plus up.

Is beehiiv a real substitute for ActiveCampaign?

Not for a CRM or sales-pipeline job. beehiiv is a publishing platform built for newsletters, a hosted site and paid subscriptions. ActiveCampaign is a CRM and marketing-automation tool with no native publishing or monetization layer. If your business needs a pipeline next to your inbox, ActiveCampaign's category is the closer fit; if it needs to grow and monetize a readership, beehiiv's is.

Does either tool take a cut of my revenue?

Only through payment processing. beehiiv takes no platform fee on paid subscriptions, on every plan that includes them (Lite and up): Stripe's standard processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction applies; beehiiv takes 0%. ActiveCampaign doesn't run a paid-subscription or publishing model at all, so there's no comparable revenue share to state.

Which plan do I need for a 3-person team?

On beehiiv, Lite includes only 2 seats, so a team of three needs Pro ($109/month billed monthly, or $95/month billed annually), which includes 10. On ActiveCampaign, Starter and Plus both cap you at 1 seat, so three seats means Pro at $79/month billed annually.

Does ActiveCampaign have a free plan?

No. ActiveCampaign only offers a 14-day trial with no card required. After that you're on a paid plan or your account stops working.

What will this cost me at 50,000 subscribers?

beehiiv publishes Lite prices up to 100,000 subscribers and Pro prices up to 250,000, so a 50,000-subscriber list is priced on both billing bases. ActiveCampaign publishes Plus prices up to 50,000 contacts on both bases, and Pro and Enterprise on annual billing only, and says to talk to sales above that.