Email marketing · replacement recipe

Go from beehiiv to beehiiv (free tier)

The job: Creator newsletter (Newsletter sending, Hosted website). Pick where you are today and where you want to land; the move below follows your pick.

From · what you pay for now
beehiiv
beehiiv Lite · $49/mo
Year one+$576modeled
To · your pickBest fit
beehiiv (free tier)
Free plan · $0 a month
Change where you land

The money

$49/mo today $0/mo

beehiiv Lite

Year one, net+$576
Pays back in0.2 months

Modeled from public list prices, with your time at $50 an hour. Show the math

Does it do the job? 2 of 2 covered

  • Newsletter sending
  • Hosted website

The work

Setup
About 15 min
Upkeep
None
Watch out
Check first: You only rely on: Newsletter sending, Hosted website

Make the move in four steps

  1. Export from beehiiv

    Subscribers (a basic version, or the full version with more data points). Format: CSV

    Export steps

  2. Check what Free plan keeps

    Free: up to 2,500 subscribers, 1 team seat, unlimited email sends

    Details

  3. Switch to Free plan

    Change the plan in beehiiv's billing settings before your renewal date.

  4. Check the next bill

    Your next beehiiv invoice should show the lower price. Check that your data and links still work.

Open beehiivHow to cancel beehiiv
Modeled, not measured. Savings use public prices and planning assumptions: the bill you stop paying, minus the new tool, your upkeep time and your setup time at $50/hour, over the first 12 months. Paths marked Tested by Stackcut were run end to end by us on our own products. They're our tests, not customer results. Check the must-haves in each recipe before you switch.

The whole recipe: 5 ways out, best first

What you use

  • Newsletter sending
  • Hosted website

Not covered

  • Ad network monetization
  • Referral program
  • Paid subscriptions
  • Automations
  • Analytics

Check before switching

  • You only rely on: Newsletter sending, Hosted website
  • Export your data from beehiiv before canceling

Agents: get_recipe("replace-beehiiv") on the Stackcut MCP server.

5 ways out, best first

Cheaper planbeehiiv (free tier)Saves $576 in year one
$49/mo today → $0/mo · setup 0.25 h · then $588/yr · payback 0.2 mo
If your use fits the free tier (Free: up to 2,500 subscribers, 1 team seat, unlimited email sends).
Covers 100% of the core features
Launch plan is free up to 2,500 subscribers.
How we got this
You pay now: beehiiv Liteflat price$49/mo
New cost: beehiiv (free tier)free plan$0/mo
Difference each month$49 − $0+$49/mo
Over 12 months+$49 × 12+$588
Setup, once0.25 h × $50/h−$12
Year one+$588 − $12+$576
  • Not counting your time (0.25 h in year one): saves $588 in year one.

Year one = 12 × (what you pay now − the new cost − upkeep) − setup, with your time at $50/hour. Prices are public list prices; hours are Stackcut’s planning estimates. Price it for your team

Sources: beehiiv.com
Switch vendorKit (ConvertKit) (free tier)Saves $538 in year one
$49/mo today → $0/mo · setup 1 h · then $588/yr · payback 1 mo
If your use fits the free tier (Newsletter (free): up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited broadcasts, landing pages and forms, 1 user; no visual automations or automated sequences).
Covers 50% of the core features (not: Hosted website)
Kit Free covers up to 10,000 subscribers.
How we got this
You pay now: beehiiv Liteflat price$49/mo
New cost: Kit (ConvertKit) (free tier)free plan$0/mo
Difference each month$49 − $0+$49/mo
Over 12 months+$49 × 12+$588
Setup, once1 h × $50/h−$50
Year one+$588 − $50+$538
  • Not counting your time (1 h in year one): saves $588 in year one.

Year one = 12 × (what you pay now − the new cost − upkeep) − setup, with your time at $50/hour. Prices are public list prices; hours are Stackcut’s planning estimates. Price it for your team

Sources: beehiiv.comkit.com
Replace with AIBuild it: your own newsletter on Amazon SESCosts $17 more in year one
$49/mo today → $0.43/mo + 0.5 h upkeep · setup 6 h · then $283/yr · payback 12.7 mo
Covers 100% of the core features (not: Ad network monetization, Referral program, Paid subscriptions)
A list that keeps growing: beehiiv prices by subscribers, Amazon SES by emails sent ($0.10 per 1,000). You keep the list in your own database, write and archive issues in your own app, and stop emailing dormant subscribers on your own schedule. Pays off with a bigger list, not at 1,000 subscribers if your hour is worth $50.
Porting: Export subscribers (and posts, if you keep an archive) from beehiiv as CSV, import them into your own table, verify your sending domain in SES and request production access before the first send. Send one last issue from beehiiv pointing to the new archive.
How we got this
You pay now: beehiiv Liteflat price$49/mo
New cost: Build it: your own newsletter on Amazon SEShosting and API costs (modeled)$0.43/mo
Your upkeep time0.5 h/mo × $50/h$25/mo
Difference each month$49 − $0.43 − $25+$23.57/mo
Over 12 months+$23.57 × 12+$283
Setup, once6 h × $50/h−$300
Year one+$283 − $300−$17
  • Not counting your time (12 h in year one): saves $583 in year one.

Year one = 12 × (what you pay now − the new cost − upkeep) − setup, with your time at $50/hour. Prices are public list prices; hours are Stackcut’s planning estimates. Price it for your team

  • You pay per email sent, not per subscriber on the list
  • Dormant subscribers can be paused on your own rules, which also protects deliverability
  • Your own editor, archive pages and API, changed with a prompt
  • You own deliverability: domain authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), bounces, complaints and unsubscribe links
  • New SES accounts start in a sandbox (200 messages a day, verified recipients only) until AWS approves production access
  • No ad network, referral program or paid subscriptions unless you build them
  • Hosting and a database: modeled as ones you already run
Sources: aws.amazon.comdocs.aws.amazon.combeehiiv.comx.com
Open sourceGhostCosts $872 more in year one
$49/mo today → $5/mo + 2 h upkeep · setup 4 h
Covers 100% of the core features
Open-source publishing with memberships; self-host free.
License: open_source
How we got this
You pay now: beehiiv Liteflat price$49/mo
New cost: Ghosta small server (modeled)$5/mo
Your upkeep time2 h/mo × $50/h$100/mo
Difference each month$49 − $5 − $100−$56/mo
Over 12 months−$56 × 12−$672
Setup, once4 h × $50/h−$200
Year one−$672 − $200−$872
  • Not counting your time (28 h in year one): saves $528 in year one.

Year one = 12 × (what you pay now − the new cost − upkeep) − setup, with your time at $50/hour. Prices are public list prices; hours are Stackcut’s planning estimates. Price it for your team

Sources: beehiiv.comghost.org
Agent skillResend skills (incl. agent-email-inbox)Priced by usage
Free to install; needs Resend (Pro: 50,000 emails/mo, no daily limit, 10 domains, 5 webhook endpoints; overage $0.90 per 1,000; Scale: 100,000 emails/mo, 1,000 domains, 10 webhook endpoints; overage $0.90 per 1,000; SSO and dedicated IP add-ons)
Agent inboxes and email-triggered workflows on Resend inbound email, instead of a separate agent-inbox service; broadcasts for small lists.
Covers 50% of the core features (not: Hosted website)
Assumes you already pay for an agent that runs skills (an agent that supports Agent Skills (e.g. Claude Code/Cowork, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI); the agent's own subscription is not counted); that agent's cost isn't counted. Needs Resend: priced by usage, so this way isn't priced here. Setup (2 h) and upkeep (0.5 h a month) are Stackcut's estimates; not tested by Stackcut.
License: MIT
Install: npx skills add resend/resend-skills
Sources: github.comraw.githubusercontent.combeehiiv.com

Compare before you switch

Read the checked comparisons and workload guides for the tools this recipe replaces.

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