Beehiiv vs Mailchimp: Which Email Marketing and Newsletter Platform Is Better?

Choosing the right email marketing platform can make a big difference when you’re trying to build an audience, communicate with customers, or turn a newsletter into a business.

beehiiv and Mailchimp are both well-known platforms, but they are designed with different priorities in mind.

beehiiv is strongly focused on newsletters, publishing, audience growth, and monetization. Mailchimp is a broader marketing platform designed around email campaigns, customer relationships, automation, e-commerce, and business marketing.  

So, which one should you choose?

The answer depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

If your main goal is to build and monetize a newsletter, beehiiv is generally the stronger choice. If you need a broader marketing platform for campaigns, customer communication, automation, and e-commerce, Mailchimp may be a better fit.

Let’s compare them in detail.

beehiiv vs Mailchimp: Quick Comparison

beehiiv currently includes newsletter publishing, websites, recommendations, referral programs, paid subscriptions, digital products, advertising, podcasts, and community features. Mailchimp focuses more broadly on email marketing, automation, segmentation, customer engagement, e-commerce, and integrations.  

What Is beehiiv?

beehiiv is a publishing and newsletter platform designed for creators, publishers, media companies, and businesses that want to build an owned audience.

Its approach is different from traditional email marketing software.

Instead of treating email mainly as a marketing channel, beehiiv treats the newsletter itself as a business and publishing product.

You can use it to:

• Create newsletters

• Publish web posts

• Build a newsletter website

• Manage subscribers

• Create referral programs

• Use recommendations

• Run paid subscriptions

• Sell digital products

• Access advertising opportunities

• Create podcasts

• Build communities

• Track audience performance

beehiiv’s current plans include unlimited email sends, and its free Launch plan supports up to 2,500 subscribers. Paid plans add features such as automations, advertising, paid subscriptions, digital products, community features, and advanced analytics.  

Best for beehiiv

beehiiv is especially attractive for:

• Newsletter creators

• Independent publishers

• Bloggers

• Media companies

• Personal brands

• Content businesses

• Paid newsletter creators

• Communities

• Creators looking for multiple revenue streams

What Is Mailchimp?

Mailchimp is a broader marketing platform that helps businesses create campaigns, manage contacts, automate communication, build forms and landing pages, and analyze marketing performance.

It has evolved beyond basic email newsletters and is particularly useful for businesses that need email marketing as part of a larger customer-marketing strategy.

Mailchimp currently offers features such as:

• Email campaigns

• Marketing automation

• Customer segmentation

• Landing pages

• Signup forms

• A/B testing

• SMS marketing

• AI-powered content creation

• Predictive segmentation

• Reporting

• E-commerce marketing

• Hundreds of integrations

Its Standard plan includes automation, personalization, and optimization features, while Premium is designed for larger teams and more advanced marketing requirements.  

Best for Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a strong option for:

• Small businesses

• E-commerce companies

• Marketing teams

• Online stores

• Service businesses

• Customer marketing

• Promotional campaigns

• Businesses that need many integrations

1. Newsletter Publishing

🏆 Winner: beehiiv

This is one of the biggest differences between the two platforms.

beehiiv was built around publishing newsletters. The platform allows creators to create posts that can work as both email newsletters and web content.

This makes it possible to build a publication rather than simply sending marketing emails.

Mailchimp can certainly create newsletters, but its overall approach is more campaign-oriented.

If your business revolves around publishing content every week, beehiiv provides a more natural workflow.

Choose beehiiv if: your newsletter is the main product.

Choose Mailchimp if: your newsletter is one part of a larger marketing strategy.

2. Audience Growth

🏆 Winner: beehiiv

Audience growth is one of beehiiv’s biggest strengths.

The platform includes tools such as:

• Referral programs

• Recommendations

• Recommendation Network

• Subscriber growth tools

• Signup forms

• Audience analytics

• Magic links

These features are designed to help publishers turn existing readers into new subscribers.  

Mailchimp also provides signup forms, landing pages, segmentation, analytics, and marketing tools, but its growth strategy is more focused on customer acquisition and marketing campaigns.

For a creator whose main KPI is newsletter subscriber growth, beehiiv has the clearer advantage.

3. Monetization

🏆 Winner: beehiiv

This is another major difference.

beehiiv is designed to help newsletter owners turn their audience into revenue.

Depending on the plan, monetization options include:

• Paid subscriptions

• Advertising

• Programmatic ads

• Paid recommendations

• Digital products

• Group subscriptions

• Sponsorship opportunities

beehiiv states that it takes a 0% platform fee on paid subscriptions, although payment-processing fees still apply.  

Mailchimp can help businesses generate revenue through marketing campaigns and e-commerce, but it isn’t primarily designed as a paid newsletter monetization platform.

Winner: beehiiv

If you want your newsletter to become a business, beehiiv has a much stronger built-in monetization ecosystem.

4. Email Marketing

🏆 Winner: Mailchimp

Mailchimp has a long history in email marketing and provides a mature set of tools for traditional marketing campaigns.

Businesses can create:

• Promotional emails

• Customer campaigns

• Automated journeys

• Product-focused campaigns

• Segmented campaigns

• Personalized messages

• Marketing workflows

Its current platform also includes AI-powered content creation, send-time optimization, predictive segmentation, and recommendations.  

beehiiv is also capable of email marketing, but its philosophy is more centered around publishing and audience development.

Winner: Mailchimp

For traditional business email marketing, Mailchimp has the advantage.

5. Marketing Automation

🏆 Winner: Mailchimp

Automation is an important part of modern email marketing.

Mailchimp provides marketing automation flows for businesses that want to trigger communications based on customer behavior and marketing activity. Its higher-tier plans provide more advanced automation capabilities.  

beehiiv also provides automations, but its automation features are primarily designed around newsletter audiences and publishing workflows.

For a sophisticated customer-marketing operation, Mailchimp is generally the better option.

Winner: Mailchimp

6. Paid Newsletters

🏆 Winner: beehiiv

If you want to create a newsletter where readers pay for premium content, beehiiv is the stronger choice.

You can build a free audience and introduce premium content as your publication grows.

For example:

Free Tier

• Weekly newsletter

• Industry updates

• Basic tips

Paid Tier

• Premium reports

• Exclusive research

• Advanced tutorials

• Members-only content

This makes beehiiv particularly attractive for independent publishers and creators.

7. E-Commerce Marketing

🏆 Winner: Mailchimp

If you’re running an online store, Mailchimp is likely to be more useful.

Its marketing platform is designed to support customer journeys, promotional campaigns, segmentation, automation, and e-commerce-related marketing.

For example, an online store might use email automation for:

• Abandoned carts

• Product promotions

• Customer re-engagement

• Product recommendations

• Purchase follow-ups

• Seasonal campaigns

Mailchimp’s broader marketing ecosystem makes it a better fit for this type of operation.  

8. Website and Publishing

🏆 Winner: beehiiv

beehiiv provides web hosting, custom domains, subscribe forms, website templates, link-in-bio functionality, and newsletter-focused website features. Higher plans add more advanced website capabilities.  

Mailchimp also provides landing pages and website tools, but it doesn’t have the same publication-first approach.

If your website exists primarily to support your newsletter, beehiiv makes more sense.

9. Podcasts

🏆 Winner: beehiiv

beehiiv has expanded beyond traditional newsletters and now includes podcast functionality.

Its plans provide different podcast capabilities depending on the subscription level.  

This can be useful if you want to combine:

Newsletter + Podcast + Website + Community

under one publishing ecosystem.

Mailchimp is not primarily a podcast publishing platform.

10. AI Features

🤝 Winner: Tie

Both platforms are incorporating AI into their workflows.

beehiiv offers AI functionality within its newsletter and publishing ecosystem, while Mailchimp uses AI for areas such as content creation, subject-line assistance, send-time optimization, predictive segmentation, and marketing recommendations.  

The difference is less about whether AI exists and more about where the AI is being used.

beehiiv’s AI supports content and publishing workflows.

Mailchimp’s AI is more focused on marketing optimization and customer engagement.

11. Analytics

🏆 Winner: Tie

Both platforms provide analytics that help you understand audience and campaign performance.

You can monitor metrics such as:

• Opens

• Clicks

• Subscriber activity

• Campaign performance

• Audience growth

• Engagement

beehiiv places particular emphasis on publication and subscriber growth analytics, while Mailchimp provides broader marketing and customer analytics.  

The better choice depends on what you’re measuring.

Newsletter growth → beehiiv

Marketing performance → Mailchimp

12. Integrations

🏆 Winner: Mailchimp

Mailchimp has a mature integration ecosystem and currently advertises 300+ integrations across its platform.  

This can be important for businesses that already use multiple systems.

For example, a company may need its email platform to work with:

• E-commerce software

• CRM systems

• Website platforms

• Analytics tools

• Customer support systems

• Advertising platforms

beehiiv also provides API access and integrations, but Mailchimp has the advantage when integration breadth is the priority.

13. Pricing

🏆 Winner: Depends on Your Use Case

Pricing works differently between the two platforms.

beehiiv currently offers a free Launch plan for up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited email sends. Its Scale plan is currently listed at $43/month when billed annually, while Max is listed at $96/month when billed annually.  

Mailchimp has a free plan for up to 250 contacts, while its paid plans increase the available contacts and marketing capabilities. Its current pricing page lists Essentials from $13/month and Standard from $20/month under the displayed annual promotional pricing, with pricing varying by contact volume.  

The important point is that the two platforms have different pricing philosophies.

beehiiv is particularly attractive for newsletter publishers because unlimited email sending is included across its plans.

Mailchimp’s pricing is more closely tied to contacts and email-send limits.

beehiiv vs Mailchimp: Pricing Snapshot

Prices and plan limits can change, so it’s worth checking the current plan details before making a purchase decision.  

beehiiv vs Mailchimp: Which One Is Easier to Use?

🏆 Winner: beehiiv for newsletter creators

beehiiv’s interface is designed around the workflow of a publisher.

You can think about your work in a simple sequence:

Create → Publish → Grow → Monetize

Mailchimp has a broader collection of marketing tools, which can be useful but may feel more complex when you only want to run a newsletter.

For a creator starting a publication, beehiiv’s focused approach can feel more natural.

Who Should Choose beehiiv?

Choose beehiiv if you:

• Want to build a newsletter-first business

• Want to grow subscribers

• Want referral tools

• Want recommendations

• Want paid subscriptions

• Want advertising opportunities

• Want to sell digital products

• Want to combine newsletters and podcasts

• Want a publishing-focused platform

• Want unlimited email sends

beehiiv is particularly compelling when the newsletter itself is your main business asset.

Who Should Choose Mailchimp?

Choose Mailchimp if you:

• Run an established business

• Need traditional email marketing

• Sell products online

• Need advanced marketing automation

• Want extensive integrations

• Need customer segmentation

• Want broader marketing functionality

• Need email and e-commerce campaigns

• Have a marketing team managing multiple campaigns

Mailchimp is better suited to businesses where email is one component of a larger marketing strategy.

beehiiv vs Mailchimp: Final Verdict

🏆 Overall Winner for Newsletter Creators: beehiiv

🏆 Overall Winner for Business Marketing: Mailchimp

There isn’t one universal winner.

beehiiv wins for newsletter publishing, audience growth, creator-focused monetization, paid subscriptions, referrals, recommendations, and publication-based businesses.

Mailchimp wins for traditional email marketing, marketing automation, e-commerce campaigns, customer segmentation, and a broad integration ecosystem.

The simplest way to decide is to ask yourself one question:

Is my newsletter the business, or is email marketing supporting my business?

If the newsletter is the business, choose beehiiv.

If email is supporting a broader business and marketing strategy, choose Mailchimp.

For creators, publishers, and people building a media business around an email audience, beehiiv is the more specialized and compelling option. For businesses that need a complete marketing platform with email at its core, Mailchimp remains a strong choice.

Final Scorecard