RunMags vs beehiiv: a fair comparison for magazine publishers
beehiiv describes itself as “The all-in-one platform helping the world's best newsletters publish, grow and earn” (beehiiv homepage, retrieved ). RunMags runs print, web and newsletter advertising sales, the flatplan, subscriptions, circulation and billing on one customer record. They overlap where a publisher sends newsletters, sells newsletter ads and takes paid subscriptions. They part on what sits at the centre: beehiiv is built around growing and earning from a newsletter list, RunMags around the magazine issue and the advertiser deal. This page sets out what beehiiv says publicly, where it is the stronger choice today, where RunMags is different and which team each one suits. It does not score either product.
Prefer a guide to evaluating a replacement, with a step-by-step plan for a bounded switch? Read the beehiiv alternative guide. Shortlisting two newsletter platforms? See beehiiv vs Ghost. To book newsletter ads and send newsletters in RunMags, follow how to sell and send newsletters in RunMags. Or explore the publishing software comparison hub.
How this comparison was made
beehiiv statements come from its own pages, each retrieved : the beehiiv homepage, the beehiiv pricing page, the beehiiv Ad Network page, the beehiiv direct sponsorships page, the beehiiv direct sponsorships help article (its page says “Updated: Jun 22, 2026”), the beehiiv Enterprise page, the beehiiv media companies page, the beehiiv product update of 2026-09-29 and the beehiiv product update of 2026-10-15. Against our earlier read in the beehiiv alternative guide (2026-10-04, and 2026-10-16 for the 10-15 update), the prices at 1,000 subscribers for Lite and Pro on yearly billing, the Ad Network and direct sponsorship descriptions and the plan restrictions are unchanged, and the beehiiv product-updates index, retrieved , still lists beehiiv product update of 2026-10-15 as its newest update.
beehiiv's comparison index, retrieved , lists no RunMags comparison, so nothing on this page is beehiiv's view of RunMags. Where a beehiiv cell says “not shown”, the pages we read do not mention it, which is not the same as not having it. Neither product was operated for this comparison. RunMags statements come from live runmags.com pages and our own capability review in October 2026, and the table also lists what RunMags does not do.
RunMags vs beehiiv at a glance
| Area | beehiiv (vendor-documented) | RunMags |
|---|---|---|
| Background | Newsletters, podcasts, digital products, community and websites on one platform, with Publish, Grow, Earn, Analyze and Connect tools (beehiiv homepage, retrieved ). | Magazine publishing software and CRM founded in 2014, with Maggie as the built-in AI assistant. |
| Sending newsletters | An editor with templates, beehiiv AI, automations, polls and A/B testing; every plan includes unlimited email sends (beehiiv homepage; beehiiv pricing page). | Subscribe forms, the built-in email editor and newsletter sends to your subscribers. Not a standalone newsletter platform or marketing-automation suite: no triggered welcome or lapsed-subscriber sequences. See newsletters in RunMags. |
| Audience growth | Recommendations, subscribe forms, pop-ups, a referral programme and magic links (beehiiv homepage). Since 2026-09-29 a marketplace of paid recommendations, where one publisher pays another per verified subscriber (beehiiv product update of 2026-09-29). | No referral programme, recommendation network or A/B tests. |
| Newsletter statistics | Analytics, plus verified clicks that filter bot traffic, duplicate clicks and immediate bounces for Ad Network payouts (beehiiv Ad Network page). | Click and bounce statistics in Production > Mass email > Stats, with clicks from link scanners removed. |
| Ad network that sells for you | The Ad Network pays per unique open (CPM) or verified click (CPC) and is available from the Lite plan (beehiiv Ad Network page). Its Enterprise page calls it “the only enterprise platform with a built-in ad network” that fills unsold inventory (beehiiv Enterprise page). | Not offered. RunMags is not an ad network; your own team sells the ads. |
| Direct newsletter sponsorships | Storefront, ad calendar, flat-fee or CPM pricing, automatic reports and Stripe-integrated invoicing with a $10 flat fee (beehiiv direct sponsorships page). Pro and Enterprise plans; beehiiv is merchant of record, and bookings must be completed through beehiiv rather than invoiced separately (beehiiv direct sponsorships help article). | A newsletter placement is an order row on the advertiser's contract, next to print and web ads, and you invoice the advertiser yourself. A booked newsletter ad is not linked to a specific send or to proof of delivery. |
| Print and web ad sales, contracts and advertiser CRM | beehiiv documents web-only and email-only direct sponsorships. The pages we read do not describe print advertising, contracts that combine print with other channels, or an advertiser sales CRM (beehiiv direct sponsorships help article; beehiiv Enterprise page, retrieved ). | Contracts built from your product catalogues hold the order rows sold per issue, with package bundles, frequency discounts and agency commission; advertisers accept them online. Advertisers and subscribers share one customer record. See advertising sales in RunMags. |
| Flatplan and issue planning | Not shown on the pages we read (beehiiv homepage; beehiiv Enterprise page). | The flatplan is built from signed bookings, which appear as unplaced ads by size to drag onto pages. See the RunMags flatplan. |
| Print subscriptions and circulation | Not shown on the pages we read (beehiiv homepage; beehiiv pricing page; beehiiv Enterprise page). | Issue-based and time-based print and digital subscriptions, and a per-issue distribution list built from active subscriptions, with rules for advertiser copies, exported to Excel. See circulation. |
| Paid subscriptions | Paid subscriptions with custom tiers, paywalls and offers (beehiiv homepage). beehiiv takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue; Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction applies (beehiiv pricing page). | Partial. No verified paywall for production use, no automatic retry of failed card payments, and readers cannot yet cancel themselves. See subscription sales. |
| Advertiser invoicing and accounting | Sponsorship payments run through the beehiiv Wallet, which needs a Stripe Express account; accounting sync is not shown on the pages we read (beehiiv direct sponsorships help article). | Advertiser invoices, credit notes and payment reminders, with sync to Fortnox, QuickBooks Online or Xero per legal entity and EU VAT, and Stripe card payments. See billing in RunMags. |
| Several titles | Up to 3 publications on Lite and 10 on Pro; Enterprise has a custom limit and describes managing 90+ publications from one workspace (beehiiv pricing page; beehiiv Enterprise page). | Plans are sized by legal entities and brands: 1, 5 or 10 brands on the published plans, unlimited on Enterprise. See RunMags pricing. |
| Integrations | API, Zapier, Stripe and a WordPress plugin; on 2026-10-15 a HubSpot contact sync and a Meta Conversions API integration in limited beta by waitlist, intended for Pro and Enterprise (beehiiv Enterprise page; beehiiv product update of 2026-10-15). | Stripe, QuickBooks Online, Xero, Fortnox and WordPress, and the RunMags API. No beehiiv connector is documented. |
| AI | The beehiiv Agent, which since 2026-09-29 has memory and subagents, and the beehiiv MCP, listed as a connector in Claude and ChatGPT (beehiiv product update of 2026-09-29); a Grok connector followed on 2026-10-15 (beehiiv product update of 2026-10-15). | Maggie, built in, works across sales, CRM and editorial: she checks what needs attention, helps draft and proof stories, guides onboarding and takes support requests. No MCP or Claude or ChatGPT connector is documented. |
| Pricing model | By subscriber count, in US dollars: Free for up to 2,500 subscribers, then Lite, Pro and custom Enterprise (beehiiv pricing page, retrieved ). | Monthly plans in euros sized by legal entities and brands, excluding VAT, with no per-subscriber price. See RunMags pricing. |
| Getting started | A free plan with no credit card, free trials of Lite and Pro, self-serve onboarding on Free, Lite and Pro, and concierge onboarding on Enterprise (beehiiv pricing page). | A 14-day free trial without a credit card, or a demo. Four onboarding hours are included; extra help is EUR 125 an hour. |
Where beehiiv is stronger today
If a newsletter is your product, several things beehiiv documents are not in RunMags. Weigh them first. Every source below was retrieved .
- Growth tools. beehiiv lists recommendations, pop-ups, a referral programme, A/B testing and automations, and it runs a paid recommendations marketplace. RunMags has subscribe forms and sends, and none of those growth tools. Sources: beehiiv homepage and beehiiv product update of 2026-09-29.
- An ad network that sells for you. beehiiv brings advertisers and pays per open or verified click from the Lite plan. RunMags does not sell your inventory. Source: beehiiv Ad Network page.
- A sponsorship workflow built for newsletters. beehiiv offers a storefront, a calendar of sends open for sponsorship and automatic performance reports for sponsors, for email-only or web-only placements. RunMags books a newsletter ad as an order row but does not link it to a send or to proof of delivery. Sources: beehiiv direct sponsorships page and beehiiv direct sponsorships help article.
- Paid newsletters. beehiiv lists paid subscriptions with paywalls and offers and takes 0% of that revenue. RunMags has not verified a paywall for production use. Sources: beehiiv homepage and beehiiv pricing page.
- More than email. beehiiv also covers podcasts, communities, digital products and a website builder. RunMags pages do not describe podcasts, communities or digital-product sales. Source: beehiiv homepage.
- AI tooling for newsletter work. beehiiv documents an agent with memory and subagents and an MCP connector. RunMags has Maggie and no documented connector. Source: beehiiv product update of 2026-09-29.
- A free start and low published prices for a small list. beehiiv lists Free, Lite and Pro prices that rise with subscriber count. For a newsletter alone its prices are far below a RunMags plan; see the pricing section. Source: beehiiv pricing page.
Where RunMags is different
- One deal across print, web and newsletter. A newsletter placement sits on the same contract as the advertiser's print and web ads, so one proposal, one signature and one advertiser record cover every channel. You invoice the advertiser yourself. beehiiv's direct sponsorship bookings are completed and paid through beehiiv (beehiiv direct sponsorships help article).
- The issue. The flatplan is built from signed bookings, and the per-issue distribution list comes from active subscriptions, with rules for advertiser copies. We found neither on the beehiiv pages we read (beehiiv homepage; beehiiv Enterprise page).
- Advertisers and subscribers on one record. A company that both advertises and subscribes is one customer. See the RunMags CRM for magazines.
- Accounting for advertiser invoices in Europe. Fortnox, QuickBooks Online or Xero per legal entity, with EU VAT on invoices.
- Plans that do not grow with your list. Prices follow legal entities and brands, not subscriber counts.
- Try it first. A 14-day free trial without a credit card, so your team can book a real advertiser and a real issue before talking to sales.
Pricing compared (beehiiv, checked )
beehiiv publishes its prices in US dollars. For 1,000 subscribers on yearly billing, the beehiiv pricing page listed: Free, $0, for up to 2,500 subscribers; Lite, $49 a month, up to 100,000 subscribers; Pro, $95 a month, up to 250,000 subscribers; Enterprise, priced on request. Lite lists 2 team seats and 3 publications, Pro 10 seats and 10 publications. The page says every plan includes unlimited email sends and that yearly billing saves up to 20%. Prices rise with subscriber count, and the monthly-billing rates were not in the page text we read on (our 2026-10-04 read listed $59 and $109), so check the page's billing and subscriber controls. Source retrieved .
| beehiiv plan | Published price at 1,000 subscribers, yearly billing | Subscribers |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 per month | Up to 2,500 |
| Lite | $49 per month | Up to 100,000 |
| Pro | $95 per month | Up to 250,000 |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | Custom |
RunMags plans, per month excluding VAT: Pro €399 (1 legal entity, 1 brand), Team €699 (1 legal entity, 5 brands), Publisher €1,299 (2 legal entities, 10 brands), Enterprise on quote. Source: RunMags pricing.
The models differ, so compare totals rather than headline rates. beehiiv Pro at 1,000 subscribers is $95 × 12 = $1,140 a year on yearly billing, and the figure moves with your list. RunMags Pro is €399 × 12 = €4,788 a year excluding VAT for one legal entity and one brand. The figures use different currencies, units and scope, so neither is a saving claim. If newsletters are all you need, beehiiv's published price is a fraction of a RunMags plan. RunMags is worth the difference only if you would otherwise run separate systems for advertising sales, the flatplan, subscriptions and billing. Ask both vendors for a written first-year total for the same publisher, including services. Our guide to magazine software pricing shows how.
When beehiiv is the better fit
- You are a newsletter-first, digital-only publisher and the list is the business (beehiiv homepage).
- You want built-in growth tools: recommendations, a referral programme, A/B tests and automations (beehiiv homepage; beehiiv product update of 2026-09-29).
- You want an ad network to sell placements for you, or a storefront and calendar built for newsletter sponsorships (beehiiv Ad Network page; beehiiv direct sponsorships page).
- You want paid newsletter subscriptions with paywalls, with beehiiv taking 0% of that revenue (beehiiv homepage; beehiiv pricing page).
- You want podcasts, a community and a website in the same tool (beehiiv homepage).
- Your advertising is newsletter-only, so no print contract, flatplan or multi-channel invoice is needed (beehiiv direct sponsorships page).
- You are starting with up to 2,500 subscribers and want the Free plan; if your list is larger, compare the paid price at your actual subscriber count (beehiiv pricing page).
When RunMags is the better fit
- You publish a magazine and sell advertising across print, web and newsletter on one contract.
- You build the issue from booked ads and want the flatplan to come from signed bookings.
- You mail a print issue and want the distribution list to come from active subscriptions.
- You invoice advertisers yourself, in Europe, and need EU VAT and Fortnox, QuickBooks Online or Xero per legal entity.
- You want advertisers and subscribers on one record rather than a newsletter platform beside a CRM and a billing tool.
- You run several brands with a small team and prefer plans sized by brands and legal entities to a subscriber-count tier.
Newsletter growth or the magazine workflow?
The question is where your revenue is decided. If it is decided in the newsletter list, by how fast it grows, how well it converts to paid and which sponsors an ad network brings, beehiiv is built for that (beehiiv homepage; beehiiv Ad Network page). If it is decided in the advertiser deal that covers an issue, a web campaign and a newsletter slot, and in the invoice that follows, a system that holds the contract, the flatplan and the invoice is the point. Some publishers need both and keep them apart, which the next section covers.
Can you use beehiiv and RunMags together?
Yes, if that suits your team: RunMags can hold advertisers, contracts, subscriptions and invoicing while beehiiv sends a newsletter. No connector between the two is documented. beehiiv's own integration news is a HubSpot contact sync, in limited beta, not a link to a magazine system (beehiiv product update of 2026-10-15). Agree with the RunMags team how recipients, consent and statistics will move before you rely on the split. If you sell the same sponsor a beehiiv direct sponsorship and a RunMags print contract, expect two bookings and two invoices.
How to decide
Give both vendors the same brief. Take one real advertiser who buys print and newsletter space from you. Ask each to show the proposal, the signed contract, the newsletter placement with its statistics, and the advertiser invoice in your accounting system, then move the placement to a later date and watch which records change. Separately, run one growth task: how a new subscriber arrives, is welcomed and is offered a paid tier. Have your own sales, editorial and finance people do the work rather than watch a demo. Moving a list either way? The beehiiv alternative guide has a bounded switching plan, and data migration to RunMags explains onboarding imports.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main difference between RunMags and beehiiv?
beehiiv describes itself as the all-in-one platform helping newsletters publish, grow and earn, with an ad network, direct sponsorships, paid subscriptions, podcasts, community and websites (https://www.beehiiv.com/, retrieved 2026-10-23). RunMags runs print, web and newsletter advertising sales, the flatplan, subscriptions, circulation and billing on one customer record. beehiiv documents more on newsletter growth and monetisation. RunMags documents print and multi-channel ad sales, the flatplan and publisher-issued advertiser invoices with accounting sync. beehiiv documents Stripe-integrated sponsorship invoicing with beehiiv as merchant of record; the pages we read do not describe print-inclusive contracts, a print flatplan or publisher-issued invoices synced to accounting (https://www.beehiiv.com/features/direct-sponsorships and https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/31674987552535, retrieved 2026-10-23).
Is beehiiv or RunMags better for a newsletter-first publisher?
beehiiv, if the newsletter is the whole business. It lists growth tools such as recommendations, a referral programme and A/B tests (https://www.beehiiv.com/), an ad network that sells placements from the Lite plan (https://www.beehiiv.com/features/ad-network), paid subscriptions at 0% beehiiv take rate and a free plan (https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing), all retrieved 2026-10-23. RunMags is not an ad network, has no referral programme, A/B tests or triggered email sequences, and has not verified a paywall for production use. RunMags fits when the same team also sells print and web advertising, builds an issue and invoices advertisers.
Can RunMags sell newsletter sponsorships like the beehiiv Ad Network?
Not like the Ad Network. beehiiv's Ad Network brings advertisers and pays per open or verified click (https://www.beehiiv.com/features/ad-network, retrieved 2026-10-23). RunMags does not sell your inventory. It books a newsletter placement as an order row on the advertiser's contract, next to print and web ads, and you invoice the advertiser yourself. A booked newsletter ad is not yet linked to a specific send or to proof of delivery.
Does beehiiv handle print advertising, a flatplan or advertiser invoicing outside its platform?
The beehiiv pages we read on 2026-10-23 do not describe print advertising, a flatplan or accounting sync (https://www.beehiiv.com/, https://www.beehiiv.com/enterprise), which is not proof that it lacks them, so ask beehiiv if you need them. Its direct sponsorships help article says sponsorship bookings must be completed through beehiiv, which acts as merchant of record, so they cannot be invoiced through your own system (https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/31674987552535, retrieved 2026-10-23). RunMags holds print, web and newsletter rows on one contract, builds the flatplan from signed bookings and syncs advertiser invoices to Fortnox, QuickBooks Online or Xero.
How does beehiiv pricing compare with RunMags?
beehiiv prices by subscriber count. For 1,000 subscribers on yearly billing, its pricing page (https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing, retrieved 2026-10-23) listed Free at $0 for up to 2,500 subscribers, Lite at $49 a month, Pro at $95 a month and custom Enterprise pricing, in US dollars. RunMags plans are EUR 399, EUR 699 or EUR 1,299 per month excluding VAT, sized by legal entities and brands, with Enterprise on quote. For a newsletter alone beehiiv's published price is far lower. The units and scope differ, so ask both vendors for a written first-year total.
Can I use beehiiv and RunMags together?
Yes, if that suits your team: RunMags can hold advertisers, contracts, subscriptions and invoicing while beehiiv sends a newsletter. No connector between the two is documented, so agree with the RunMags team how recipients, consent and statistics will move before you rely on it. beehiiv's own integration news is a HubSpot contact sync in limited beta (https://product.beehiiv.com/p/connect-your-whole-stack, retrieved 2026-10-23).
Can I move a newsletter list from beehiiv to RunMags?
With help from the team, yes: subscriber and advertiser imports are part of RunMags onboarding. Agree field mapping, consent handling and duplicates, and import a small sample first. Send history and templates need a separate decision with the RunMags team. The beehiiv alternative guide has a bounded switching plan.
Try RunMags with your own titles
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