MailCheap vs Beehiiv
Beehiiv has more ways to grow and earn. MailCheap costs $39 a month at 10,000 subscribers, Beehiiv $139, and your AI agent runs it.
Monthly billing. Beehiiv's price from its pricing page, October 13, 2026.
01 · Features
Side by side
From Beehiiv's pricing page and MailCheap's, on October 13, 2026. Where Beehiiv does more, the table says so.
| Feature | MailCheapMailCheap | Beehiiv |
|---|---|---|
| Run by your AI agent (MCP) | Every plan, every action, sending included | Lite and Pro |
| REST API | Every action | Every plan |
| Open source | AGPL-3.0, free to self-host | No |
| Free plan | No, free when you self-host | Up to 2,500 subscribers |
| Platform branding in your emails | None | On Free and Lite |
| Paid subscriptions | No | Lite and Pro, 0% of revenue |
| Referral program | No | Yes |
| Ad network and recommendations | No | Yes |
| Podcasts | No | Yes |
| Website and landing pages | Web archive and signup form | Yes |
| Automations | Welcome email | Lite and Pro |
| A/B tests | No | Lite and Pro |
02 · Price
What it costs a month
The cheapest plan with room for your list, sending one issue a week: about 4.3 emails per subscriber a month. Monthly billing, in US dollars.
Every MailCheap plan has every feature. Paying yearly costs 10 months: 2 months free.
| Subscribers | MailCheap | Beehiiv |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $19Starter | Free Free on Beehiiv. |
| 10,000 | $39Growth | $139Lite $100 a month less with MailCheap. |
| 50,000 | $149Scale | $299Lite $150 a month less with MailCheap. |
| 100,000 | $149Scale | $469Lite $320 a month less with MailCheap. |
- Free up to 2,500 subscribers. Paid subscriptions, automations and beehiiv MCP start on Lite, $59 a month at 1,000 subscribers.
- Paying yearly, Lite is $119 a month at 10,000 subscribers. MailCheap gives 2 months free on yearly plans.
- Beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscriptions; Stripe's fee applies.
Source: beehiiv.com/pricing, checked October 13, 2026. MailCheap: pricing, from $19 a month.
03 · AI agents
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Cursor
- Codex
- Grok Bot
Your AI agent writes, schedules and sends each issue, reads the stats and imports your list
Beehiiv has an MCP server, on Lite and Pro: from $59 a month at 1,000 subscribers.
04 · Open source
Self-host it free, or let us run it
MailCheap is open source under the AGPL-3.0: the code that runs mailcheap.ai is the code you can run. Beehiiv isn't open source: you can't run it on your own server.
Self-host
FreeRun MailCheap on your own server, at no cost. No support: you keep it up to date yourself.
MailCheap Cloud
From $19 a monthWe run it: sending, your archive, your domain setup and updates, with support by email.
Moving from Beehiiv?
Export your subscribers, import the file as it is, and send. People who unsubscribed or bounced stay out.
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Beehiiv is a trademark of its owner, shown here to name the product compared. MailCheap isn't affiliated with Beehiiv. Prices and features come from beehiiv.com on October 13, 2026 and may have changed since.