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beehiiv vs HeyNews

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors. beehiiv starts at $43, HeyNews at $39. Only beehiiv has a free tier. Only beehiiv ships a public API.

beehiivNewsletter platform with its own ad network, paid subscriptions and daily-credit AI writing toolsHeyNewsLearns a newsletter's past voice, curates stories from hundreds of sources, and drafts the next issue.

Side by side

FactbeehiivHeyNews
CategoryEmail Marketing & NewslettersEmail Marketing & Newsletters
Pricing modelFreemiumPaid
Starts at$43 month$39 month
Public APIYesNo
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb
Companybeehiiv, Inc.HeyNews
Launched2021—
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 1, 2026

What our research says

beehiiv

The monetisation stack is what separates it from a plain email tool: an ad network that sells your inventory for you, paid subscriptions, digital products and a referral engine, all in the same account. The free tier is real at 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, but it deliberately withholds the money-making features, so serious publishing starts at $43. AI here is a set of writing helpers on a daily ration, not a content engine.

Pros

  • Free tier up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends
  • Built-in ad network, paid subscriptions, digital products and referral program
  • Public API, send API and an MCP server for integrations
  • Flat subscriber ceiling of 100,000 on both paid tiers rather than per-contact pricing

Cons

  • Automations, ad network and paid subscriptions are all withheld from the free plan
  • AI is capped at 10 to 50 credits a day depending on tier
  • Max at $96 mostly buys team seats and extra publications, not more subscribers

HeyNews

HeyNews is narrower than a general writing assistant - it is specifically for people who already publish a newsletter and want the weekly draft done from curated sources in their existing voice. The catch is there is no permanent free tier, only a short trial, and pricing jumps steeply between tiers ($39 to $499/month) based on volume.

Pros

  • trains its drafting on a publication's own past issues rather than a generic tone
  • curates candidate stories from many sources instead of just generating text from a prompt
  • produces a full publish-ready draft, not just bullet points

Cons

  • no permanent free tier, only a 14-day or 5-issue trial
  • pricing tiers jump sharply by volume, from $39 to $499 per month
  • no company name or country is disclosed anywhere on the site

Which one fits

Choose beehiiv if you need

  • Newsletter operators who want ad revenue without selling sponsorships themselves
  • Creators bundling paid subscriptions, digital products and a site in one place
  • Media teams needing segmentation, A/B testing and an API to wire it up

Choose HeyNews if you need

  • newsletter operators who already have back issues for the AI to learn from
  • publishers who want story curation, not just a writing tool

More comparisons

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