Beehiiv Review (2026): My Thoughts After Earning $675 in 10 Months
They say email marketing is dead... I beg to differ!
Beehiiv is considered to be one of the premium newsletter platforms for email marketing – but should you still consider using it in 2026?
The answer is a resounding YES!
I started my email newsletter journey this year in January 2025 with absolutely no experience in email marketing.
I wasn't sure what to expect let alone what to write about.
I'm a content creator who's YouTube Channel has grown over 2,000 subscribers.
My passion has always been teaching others from my experiences: failures & successes.
In this review, I'll show you how to setup your Beehiiv newsletter from scratch, explore the various monetization tools and how to customize your Beehiiv website while building your email list and much more.
Just a heads up... This post contains some affiliate links which means if you decide to try a Beehiiv paid plan, I'll get a small commission at no cost to you!
Dashboard
This is the main dashboard where you check how your newsletter is performing – Active Subscribers, Open Rate, Click Thru Rate (CTR) and Earnings.
The reason my earnings show $514.36 on this dashboard is because they include expenses for features within Beehiiv – so think of this as your net profit earnings.
The $675 as seen in the title, we'll cover that later on that is the gross profit I've earned since the beginning of 2025.
My Personal Experience with Beehiiv
My journey started in January of 2025, as I sat here with a blank canvas and no subscribers I wondered what would people even want to read about.
I knew how much excitement & adrenaline I got when thinking about making money online with nothing more than an internet connection and my laptop.
At one point, I grew my newsletter on Beehiiv to almost 300 subscribers with zero paid ads, it was all organic traffic via social media and word of mouth.
The increase of subscribers came when I decided to try out Beehiiv Boosts, a built-in recommendation and promotion marketplace. More detail on this later on.
I learned pretty quickly that not every newsletter that promoted me was on the up & up.
What do I mean by that?
As the newsletter operator you can choose how much you're willing to pay a newsletter for every subscriber that signs up with you.
I was paying out $1.50 per subscriber, which I thought was pretty darn good since I was new and not really making any money at that point, early on in 2025.
I found out quickly that there's lots of newsletters that have spam/bots auto-subscribe and was racking up the charges I had to pay out and unfortunately the quality of these subscribers I got were horrible.
They were unengaged, didn't open emails or provide feedback on my articles.
Thankfully Beehiiv support came to the rescue and after providing documentation of the horrible experience they refunded me all my lost money.
Curious about trying Beehiiv, but want a good deal? 🐝 💰
Register for a 30-day free trial and you'll get 20% off your first 3 months!
Affiliate Marketing Cheat Sheet
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Feel free to enter your email address and download if you're interested!
My Newsletter – Mattox Minute
When I was figuring out my niche and what I wanted to write about I decided it was simple – teach people how to make money online with a full-time job.
My goal was to prove to myself I could be successful and help others improve their financial situation as well.
That is how my newsletter Mattox Minute was born.
I chose to create a weekly newsletter that could be read within 5 minutes.
I provide all the best high-quality information based on my personal experiences.
One of my favorite articles I've written is How To Create A Beehiiv Newsletter with 6 Income Streams. This really captures the essence of just how powerful Beehiiv is.
Pricing
Beehiiv's pricing structure is laid out very simple – Monthly/Yearly.
There are 4 plans to choose from:
🐝 LAUNCH - Perfect for Beginners, $0 to Start & Up to 2,5000 subscribers
🐝 SCALE - ($49/Month) Up to 1,000 subscribers + Monetization Tools & Automations
🐝 MAX - ($109/Month) Includes Scale features + Removes Beehiiv branding, Beehiiv AI, Sponsorship Storefront, Audio Newsletters & RSS campaigns
🐝 ENTERPRISE - (Custom Pricing) Includes Max features + Concierge Onboarding, Dedicated Account Manager, Dedicated IP address, VIP Human Support + Invite-Only Webinars with CEO
How To Setup
Beehiiv can be a little tricky at first if you aren't used to a email marketing/blog type platform.
However, they have a very simple drag-n-drop functionality which makes customizing your newsletter pretty easy from Day #1.
General Info
Here in the General Info section this is where you customizing these settings:
⭐ Publication/Newsletter Name
⭐ Publication One-Line Description
⭐ Publication Logo
⭐ Default Thumbnail Preview
⭐ Publication Tags
Emails
Here in the Emails section this is where you customizing these settings:
⭐ Sender Name
⭐ Reply To Address
⭐ Email Footer Details
Content Import
Here in the Content Import section this is where you customizing these settings:
⭐ Import Newsletter from already-existing platform
Subscribers Import
Here in the Subscribers Import section this is where you customizing these settings:
⭐ Import Subscribers from another platform
⭐ Import Paid Subscriptions from Stripe
⭐ View Historical Import data
Domains
Here in the Domains section this is where you customizing these settings:
⭐ Connect to an existing domain you own
⭐ Create Web subdomain name
⭐ Create Email subdomain name
Payment Accounts
Here in the Payment Accounts section this is where you customizing these settings:
⭐ Connect Stripe Express account (allows you to monetize with Ads or Boosts)
⭐ Delete Stripe Express account
Pros of using Beehiiv
👍 It's free to sign-up for 2,500 subscribers
👍 Powerful Monetization strategies built-in
👍 Make money with small email list (less than 100 subscribers)
👍 Smooth email/website builder, no coding required
👍 Tons of resource articles/videos to help you get started
👍 Easy analytics breakdown
👍 Create built-in Referral Program
👍 Polls & Survey's built-in
👍 Customer Service is STELLAR!
Cons of using Beehiiv
👎 Frustrating when starting with no topic/niche
👎 Can't import custom fonts
👎 Automations/Segments have learning curve to understand
👎 Custom pages aren't super easy to setup at first
Who would benefit from using Beehiiv?
Literally anyone who wants to own their email audience and not rely on algorithm updates/changes destroying their views or search traffic.
With a email newsletter you have direct access to your readers who you can then turn into customers and sell digital products, courses, coaching or mentorships.
Beginners – with no experience would especially benefit from Beehiiv since they don't have any preconceived notions on how a platform is supposed to be built.
Paid plans start at $43/month and come with a 30-day free trial, which is enough to understand whether the platform works for you.
Creators with no list/small list – everyone starts at zero subscribers when you decide to create your newsletter. The best part about Beehiiv is you can choose how/when to monetize even from Day 1 if you'd like.
You can still monetize your newsletter even if you don't have any digital products or courses to sell.
How To Get Started with Beehiiv
The first thing you'll want to do is sign-up for free to the Launch plan.
I'm still working on my first 100 Subscribers but that didn't stop me from signing up with the Launch plan.
Once you get the hang of how the platform works and you setup your newsletter format the way you like it, you may want to start taking advantage of the monetization features which require the Scale Plan.
I quickly realized I needed to invest in the higher plan to start making money online which was my goal from the very beginning.
Once you're logged in, here's the Steps I would take first:
- Choose your colors/fonts for newsletter
- Create a subscribe form to capture email addresses
- Customize your newsletter design/format & make it a template
- Create a lead magnet page
- Enable monetization strategies like Ads, Boosts & Affiliate Marketing
The first couple of days/weeks/months are going to be overwhelming!
But I promise... It's ALL worth it!
If you are more of a visual learner I have created some Step-By-Step tutorial guides to setup your newsletter from scratch.
Here's a video tutorial below 👇
Beehiiv Monetization
This is the #1 Reason why I chose Beehiiv when I was looking around for a newsletter platform – monetization opportunties.
There are multiple strategies built right into the platform if you are on the Scale plan.
- Beehiiv Ads Network
- Beehiiv Boosts
- Paid Subscriptions
Beehiiv Ads Nework
You're able to monetize your beehiiv newsletter with the Ad Network by featuring ads from top brands in your newsletter.
Each Sunday, you’ll receive an email with available opportunities that you can run in your newsletter.
After a few days, you’ll receive a detailed performance report of your earnings from the week.
*Learn more about the Ads Network from Beehiiv
Beehiiv Boosts
Get paid to recommend your favorite newsletters with Beehiiv Boosts Marketplace.
Click the Explore Offers button to discover newsletters you want to promote.
You can filter by Category, Size, Language & Cost Per Subscriber.
Once you find a newsletter you want to promote, just click the Apply button and write a short description as to why you'd be a good fit to promote them.
They can choose to Accept or Reject your Boost offer.
Paid Subscriptions
Beehiiv allows you to create multiple tiers of subscription levels for your readers.
When you are just starting out it's best to keep a free tier so you can earn the trust of your audience.
As you grow and provide more value you can choose to implement paid tiers and charge monthly amounts to unlock additional content & value.
How Popular is Beehiiv?
Beehiiv is hosting some of the largest and most lucrative newsletters in the world.
- Arnold's Pump Club - Daily newsletter to live healthier & happier
- Morning Brew - Quick Business Insights Daily
- The Publish Press (Colin & Samir) - Breaking down the Business of Creators
- Milk Road - Everyday Investors with AI & Crypto
- The Hustle - Daily business news
- The Neuron - AI Trends & Tools
There is a reason these newsletter operators chose Beehiiv as their platform.
Some of them have been acquired by larger companies for 7-8 figures.
Find out which newsletters have been acquired on Beehiiv.
How To Write A Newsletter
The first step to creating your newsletter is writing your first post.
In the Dashboard, you'll find a 'START WRITING' button all the way to the top right of the screen.
Hit that and you'll be prompted to start with either a Blank Draft or Use Template.
If you are a complete beginner I would stay away from the Blank Draft because you'll literally get a blank page with no guide or any type of layout at all.
Instead if you select the Use Template selection you will be brought to the post template library. Here's where you can select the layout of post you'd like to create.
The Default Template is the best choice to start with in my opinion.
It gives you everything you need to start writing an article and you can customize it as you go along and get more experience.
If you click the Style button to the far right this is where you'll be able to change your font, colors, spacing, borders and really start to create your own template.
Beehiiv has dozens of ways to customize your newsletter post. By typing a forward slash ( / ) you'll be prompted with a menu that displays all the options to add to your post.
There is a LOT here but once you start playing around with the settings you'll start using the same features as you build out your posts.
How To Grow Email List
One of the most underrated yet crucial parts of starting and scaling a email newsletter is being able to grow subscribers from multiple methods.
Besides the usual avenues such as leveraging your social media audiences you'll want to expand your marketing far and wide.
LinkedIn is a great a phenomenal way to grow your newsletter.
Since it's free to join and you're directly connecting with your network the opportunities are endless to reach new viewers.
Let's checkout 3 features within Beehiiv centered around growth:
- Referral Program
- Recommendations
- Boosts
Referral Program
One of the coolest features on Beehiiv is the ability to create your own referral program – you get to customize all the rewards!
The more subscribers my viewer refer the more rewards they can earn.
Referring 1 person they'll receive my Affiliate Marketing Cheat Sheet.
Referring 5 people they'll receive 20% off my Merch store.
Referring 20 people they'll receive a Shout-Out in my weekly newsletter.
If you're curious what tools I use to run my business I wrote an article about them on my newsletter, these help me scale my business and I personally recommend.
Ryan Mattox
Creating A Referral Reward
It's super easy to create a reward for your referral program.
Click on the New Referral button at the top right corner.
Here's where you customize your reward:
- Name your reward
- Select Physical or Digital reward
- Decided how many referrals needed for milestone
- Description of the reward
- Disclaimers listed, if any
- Images of the reward
Recommendations
Team up with other publications to grow your subscriber list together!
Here you can choose your Top 4 newsletters you think your audience would love.
It shows you how many subscribers you've referred to other publications and who has recommended your newsletter to their audience.
Boosts
We talked a little about Boosts earlier when it comes to monetization, but they can also be used as a form of growth for your newsletter.
You can create an offer to find potential partners who may want to promote your newsletter.
You set the price per subscriber you'll pay out and then you set & forget it.
Soon you'll have newsletter publications knocking on your door to apply to boost.
There's no limit to how many boosts you can have running at once.
That means unlimited avenues of growth for your newsletter.
Passive Income Opportunities
Everyone wants to take advantage of making money on auto-pilot – while you sleep.
There are some additional passive income methods you can integrate into your newsletter such as affiliate marketing.
I recommend using Amazon Associates for all your affiliate links when you start.
There's plenty of opportunities to cash in on Amazon including How To Make Money in the Amazon Bounty Programs.
Everyone shops at Amazon already so you don't have to do much convincing.
Promoting Amazon's Most Wished For List especially around Black Friday is a Win/Win.
Website Builder
In addition to the other features, there's a built-in Website Builder that will automatically create a website version of your newsletter.
You're able to customize the Top/Bottom Navigation bars with your own set of links. Then copy/paste the url you'd like to be redirected to and just like that you have built in backlinks.
Everything on your website can be changed to give it your own branded image.
This however is pretty limited, there's no custom coding or custom HTML involved. Which can be a deal-breaker for more advanced users.
But the simplicity of the layout & drag-n-drop type integration were perfect for my as a beginner who has no idea what goes past <html></html>.
I've separated my website into main logo image at the top, then a subscribe field, then some of my YouTube tutorial videos.
Towards the middle is where my newsletter articles begin which are all neatly laid out. Once you have the layout set it's all automated from there.
You don't have to add your newsletter posts manually, they just get added once you publish the next article.
Video Tutorials
Here's a couple more of my YouTube video tutorials to help guide you through setup of your newsletter and how to start monetizing from Day #1.
Final Thoughts
If you're a beginner who has NO experience with email marketing or writing a newsletter like me – Beehiiv is 100% for you.
You don't know what kind of success you're capable of unless you give it a try.
I would recommend this platform to my family, friends and anyone that will listen.
It's free to sign-up, you have NOTHING to lose and MONEY to Gain 🤑
Also, I hope you'll join my newsletter Mattox Minute and come make some money.
