AWeber vs beehiiv
We give AWeber and beehiiv the same GPA: 2.4 out of 4.0. AWeber grades higher on value for money. beehiiv grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
AWeber
Email marketing for small businesses, with landing pages and a store
beehiiv
Newsletter platform with paid subscriptions, ads, website and podcast
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAAWeberFair | 2.4GPAbeehiivFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CLite is $12.50 a month for 500 subscribers on yearly billing, or $15 monthly, a little under the middle of what email tools charge. Unlimited lists, automations and pages need Plus at $20, and Lite reaches $100 a month at 10,000 subscribers. | DLite is $49 a month for 1,000 subscribers on yearly billing, or $59 monthly. That's in the dearest tenth of email tools, nearly four times the middle. Taking the beehiiv branding off needs Pro at $95. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree for up to 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails a month, with no card and no time limit. You get 1 landing page and 1 automation, and every email carries AWeber's branding. 500 people is a cap you'll reach. | BUp to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, a website, a podcast and a welcome email, free for good. One writer could live on that for a while. The wall is money: no paid subscriptions, no ad network and no custom automations. |
| Features | BA drag-and-drop editor with Canva and AI built in, a Newsletter Assistant that drafts your weekly issue, automated and RSS emails, landing pages, forms, web push and pages that sell through Stripe. That's the whole job. | BA block editor, paid tiers and paywalls, an ad network, recommendations, a website, a podcast and digital products, plus automations from Lite. It covers the newsletter job end to end. Lite caps you at 10 live automations, though; Pro lifts the cap. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record, and there's only a web app. You build the sign-up form, templates and sequences yourself, though AWeber will do it for a $79 setup fee. | CNo App Store rating on record. It's a web app where you build the newsletter, the site and the automations yourself, so there's some setting up before your first send. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, PayPal, Stripe, Canva and Zapier, and an API. On a phone you use the browser. No desktop or phone app keeps it at a B. | BWeb only, with Stripe, Zapier, Make, Shopify and Luma connections and an API. No desktop or phone app is listed. |
| Best for | newsletters and sequences with a free start | newsletters you plan to make money from |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: AWeber and beehiiv. How we grade
Price against what you get
AWeber starts at $12.50 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. beehiiv starts at $49 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and AWeber starts $36.50 a month lower. Of the other email marketing and newsletter tools on the chart, 2 score higher than AWeber for less, and 3 score higher than beehiiv for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- AWeber starts at $12.50 per month for up to 500 subscribers, billed annually. beehiiv starts at $49 per month for up to 1,000 subscribers, billed yearly ($59 monthly).
- beehiiv also covers paid newsletters.
At a glance
| AWeber | beehiiv | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $12.50 per month for up to 500 subscribers, billed annually | $49 per month for up to 1,000 subscribers, billed yearly ($59 monthly) |
| Free plan | Up to 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails a month, with 1 landing page and 1 automation. No time limit or card, but emails carry AWeber branding. | Up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, 1 seat, 1 publication, a website, a podcast and 30 days of analytics. No paid subscriptions or automations. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of Lite or Plus; the paid subscription starts automatically when it ends | Free trial of Lite and Pro, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Made by | AWeber | beehiiv |
| Price read from | aweber.com | beehiiv.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
AWeber
- Small businesses and creators with a list under 500 who want to start free
- Bloggers and YouTubers who want new posts and videos emailed automatically
- Owners who would rather pay for the setup to be done for them
beehiiv
- Writers building a newsletter they plan to charge for
- Publishers who want to earn from ads in their newsletter
- Creators who want newsletter, website and podcast in one place
Worth knowing
AWeber
- Lite allows 1 list, 3 landing pages, 3 automations and 1 saved segment; unlimited use of each needs Plus.
- Monthly sends are capped at 10 times the subscriber tier on Lite and 12 times on Plus.
- Only a web app is offered; the mobile editor works in a phone's browser.
- Lists of more than 100,000 subscribers are priced by contacting AWeber.
beehiiv
- The Free plan stops at 2,500 subscribers and has no paid subscriptions, ad network or custom automations.
- Removing beehiiv branding, dynamic content, webinars and the Send API all need Pro.
- Lite tops out at 100,000 subscribers and Pro at 250,000; larger lists go to Enterprise through sales.
- beehiiv takes no cut of paid subscriptions, but Stripe charges 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction.
Key features
AWeber
- Email editor with Canva and AI
- A drag-and-drop editor with Canva built in, a theme panel, an AI writing assistant and a subject line generator. HTML and AMP emails are also supported.
- Newsletter Assistant
- Generates a weekly newsletter draft written in your voice, ready to edit and send.
- Email automation
- Welcome and sales sequences, behavioral automations triggered by subscriber actions, tagging, and RSS emails for new blog posts, podcasts or YouTube videos.
- Landing pages and sign-up forms
- An AI page builder, templates, sign-up forms, a WordPress plugin and a link-in-bio page. Lite allows 3 landing pages; Plus has no cap.
- Ecommerce pages
- Sell products, subscriptions and payment plans through Stripe in over 100 currencies, with a fee of 1.0% per sale on Lite and 0.6% on Plus.
- Web push notifications
- Collect browser push subscribers and send them messages alongside email: up to 50,000 on Lite and unlimited on Plus.
beehiiv
- Newsletter editor
- A custom block editor with templates and unlimited sends on every plan. Lite adds A/B tests, polls, custom HTML and publishing to segments.
- Paid subscriptions and ads
- From Lite: paid tiers, metered paywalls, coupons and the beehiiv ad network. beehiiv takes 0% of subscription revenue; Stripe's fees still apply.
- Website, podcast and community
- Every plan hosts a website, a podcast feed and a member community. Custom pages, shows and private podcast feeds grow with the plan.
- Digital products
- Sell downloads and other one-time products from every plan; Lite raises the product limit to 3 and Pro removes it and adds webinars and coaching.
- Growth tools
- A recommendation network on all plans, plus a referral program, surveys and paid recommendations from Lite.
- Automations
- Welcome emails on Free. Lite allows 10 live automations triggered by sign-ups, tags, segments or purchases; Pro has no limit and adds click triggers.
Plans
AWeber
Free$0
500 subscribers, 3,000 emails a month, 1 landing page and 1 automation, with AWeber branding on emails.
Lite$12.50
per month for up to 500 subscribers, billed annually ($15 monthly)
Sends up to 10 times the tier a month, 1 list, 3 landing pages, 3 automations, 3 users. Price rises with the list: $100 a month at 10,000 subscribers.
Plus$20
per month for up to 500 subscribers, billed annually ($30 monthly)
Sends 12 times the tier, unlimited lists, pages, automations and users, no AWeber branding, priority support. $135 a month at 10,000 subscribers.
Done For You$20
per month for up to 500 subscribers, billed annually
Plus, with a one-time $79 setup fee (shown cut from $599): AWeber staff build a template, landing page and sign-up form and draft weekly newsletters.
beehiiv
Free$0
Up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends, 1 seat, 1 publication, website and podcast, beehiiv branding.
Lite$49
per month for up to 1,000 subscribers, billed yearly ($59 monthly)
Paid subscriptions, ad network, 10 automations, 2 seats, 3 publications, up to 100,000 subscribers. $119 a month at 10,000 subscribers, billed yearly.
Pro$95
per month for up to 1,000 subscribers, billed yearly ($109 monthly)
No beehiiv branding, unlimited automations, webinars, dynamic content, Send API, 10 seats, up to 250,000 subscribers. $199 a month at 10,000, billed yearly.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom subscriber volume, SSO and SAML, dedicated IPs, concierge onboarding and a customer success manager, through sales.
Ways to pay less
AWeber
- Annual discount
Up to 4 months free with yearly billing
At 500 subscribers, Plus costs $240 a year billed yearly against $30 a month billed monthly, and Lite $150 a year against $15 a month.
beehiiv
- Annual discount
Save up to 20% with yearly billing
beehiiv's pricing page says yearly billing saves up to 20%: at 1,000 subscribers Lite is $49 a month billed yearly against $59 monthly.
