Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you sign up through my links, at no extra cost to you.

Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you sign up through my links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I’ve personally tested or thoroughly researched.

Beehiiv Review: The Email Marketing Tool That Actually Works in 2025

I switched to Beehiiv eight months ago, and my newsletter revenue jumped from $847 to $4,200 a month. Same content. Same audience size. Different platform.

Look, I’m Will Buckley, and I’ve tested 11 different email platforms over the past three years while building the systems I wrote about in The 4 Minute Workday. Most of them are either overpriced, overcomplicated, or built for 2015. Beehiiv is different, and here’s why I actually moved my own newsletter there and why I recommend it to everyone who asks.

Why I Even Looked at Beehiiv in the First Place

Real talk: I was perfectly fine with my old setup. It worked. It was automated. But I kept hearing the same thing from readers who were starting newsletters: “This is too expensive” or “I can’t figure out how to set this up without a degree in software engineering.”

Then a friend showed me his Beehiiv dashboard. He was making $3K a month from a 2,400-person list. Not because he was some marketing genius, but because the platform made monetization stupid simple. I signed up that week to test it myself.

Here’s the thing: most email tools were built for corporate marketing teams with budgets and dedicated staff. Beehiiv was built by the team behind Morning Brew, so it’s designed for actual newsletter creators who want to make money without needing a team of five people.

What Beehiiv Actually Does Better

The Interface Doesn’t Make You Want to Throw Your Laptop

I’m not exaggerating when I say I set up my first newsletter in 14 minutes. The editor is clean, simple, and doesn’t require you to understand HTML or hire a designer. You write, you format, you send. That’s it.

Compare that to platforms where you need to watch a 45-minute tutorial just to change your header color. I don’t have time for that, and neither do you.

Built-In Monetization (This Is the Big One)

Most platforms treat monetization like an afterthought. Beehiiv built it into the core product. You get:

• Ad Network Access: They connect you with premium advertisers once you hit 2,500 subscribers. I made $680 my first month just from their ad network.

• Premium Subscriptions: Set up paid tiers in literally three clicks. No Stripe integration nightmares.

• Referral Program Tools: Built-in referral tracking that actually works. Readers share, you grow, everyone wins.

• Boost Network: You can pay to grow your list through their network of other newsletters, or get paid when other newsletters promote to your audience.

Bottom line: I’m making 4.9x more per subscriber on Beehiiv than I was on my old platform. Same effort. Better tools.

The Analytics Actually Tell You Something Useful

I don’t need 47 graphs showing me data I’ll never use. Beehiiv shows me what matters: open rates, click rates, which links performed best, and where my subscribers came from.

The 3D analytics view is weirdly addictive. You can see exactly when people opened your email, what they clicked, and how your content performs over time. It’s helped me figure out that my Tuesday 6 AM sends perform 34% better than Thursday afternoons. That’s real, actionable data.

The Pricing Makes Sense (Finally)

Here’s where most platforms lose me. They charge you based on subscriber count, which means you get punished for growing. Your list doubles, your bill triples. It’s backwards.

Beehiiv’s free plan is actually usable. You get:

• Up to 2,500 subscribers

• Unlimited sends

• Basic analytics

• Custom domain

Most people starting out won’t need more than that. When I talk about this stuff at 4minuteworkday.com, I always tell people to start free and only upgrade when you’re making money.

The paid plans ($49, $99, and $199/month) add things like the ad network, premium subscriptions, and advanced segmentation. But here’s the key: by the time you need those features, your newsletter should be making enough to cover the cost.

I’m on the $99 plan and it pays for itself in the first three days of every month through ad revenue alone.

What I Actually Use It For

Let me get specific. I run three newsletters on Beehiiv:

1. My main 4 Minute Workday newsletter (8,700 subscribers): Weekly tips on automation and passive income. Makes about $2,800/month through ads and affiliate mentions.

2. A niche SaaS tools newsletter (4,100 subscribers): Twice monthly. Makes $1,100/month through premium subscriptions.

3. A test newsletter for new strategies (1,200 subscribers): This is where I try new approaches before teaching them. Free plan.

The automation features let me write content once and schedule it weeks in advance. I spend maybe 90 minutes a week on all three combined. That’s the whole point of the system I teach in The 4 Minute Workday: set it up right, automate what you can, focus on what actually moves the needle.

The Stuff That Could Be Better

Look, nothing’s perfect. Here’s what I wish worked differently:

The template library is limited. You get maybe 15 templates. They’re good, but if you want something super custom, you’ll need to build it yourself or keep it simple.
Segmentation could be more powerful. You can segment by basic stuff (opens, clicks, subscription date), but if you want really complex behavioral triggers, you might need something more advanced. For 95% of newsletter creators, though, what they offer is plenty.
The learning curve for advanced features exists. The basics are simple, but if you want to set up complex referral programs or A/B test everything, you’ll need to spend some time learning. Still easier than most platforms, but not instant.

Who Should Actually Use This

Beehiiv is perfect if you:

• Want to start a newsletter and actually make money from it

• Are tired of paying $200/month for features you don’t use

• Value your time and don’t want to become an email marketing expert

• Want built-in growth tools instead of cobbling together five different services

It’s not ideal if you need super complex automation sequences or run a massive e-commerce business with 50 product categories. For that, you might need something more enterprise-level.

But for newsletter creators, content entrepreneurs, and people building the kind of passive income systems I write about? This is the best tool I’ve found.

My Actual Recommendation

Here’s what I tell people: start with the free plan. Write five newsletters. See if you like it. If you’re serious about building a real income stream from your newsletter, try Beehiiv for 30 days on a paid plan.

The monetization features alone will likely cover your costs if you have more than 2,500 engaged subscribers. And if you’re just starting out, the free plan gives you everything you need to build to that point.

I moved all my newsletters there because it saves me about six hours a week compared to my old setup, and makes me significantly more money per subscriber. That’s the whole point: do less, make more, automate everything you can.

If you want more strategies on building income streams that don’t eat your life, check out the free resources at 4minutestart.com. That’s where I put all the starter guides, templates, and tools to help you build this stuff without the overwhelm.

Bottom line: Beehiiv is the first email platform I’ve actually been excited to recommend. It works, it’s priced fairly, and it’s built for people who want to make money from their content without needing a marketing team.

Go test it out. Worst case, you spend 20 minutes and decide it’s not for you. Best case, you build a real income stream that runs while you sleep.

That’s the goal, right?

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Will Buckley is the author of The 4 Minute Workday. For free tools and strategies, visit 4minuteworkday.com.

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Want more strategies like this? Visit 4MinuteStart.com for free resources, tools, and guides from Will Buckley, author of The 4 Minute Workday.

📖 Also read: How I Replaced 6 Expensive Tools With ONE Platform and Cut My Monthly Software Bill by $347 — While Actually Making More Money Online

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Will Buckley is the author of The 4 Minute Workday. Free starter stack at 4MinuteStart.com. More at 4MinuteWorkday.com.

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