Comparison

beehiiv vs ActiveCampaign pricing

Both bill on list size. beehiiv never meters sends on paid Scale and Max. ActiveCampaign attaches a send allowance under the contact tier. ActiveCampaign Starter undercuts beehiiv Scale at the small paid stops. Until 2,500 subscribers, beehiiv Launch is free and ActiveCampaign is not. At 25,000, the top of the Starter range, Scale costs about a third of Starter.

Snapshot 3, beehiiv checked 14 September 2026, ActiveCampaign checked 25 September 2026. Monthly billing shown first.

Entry paid plans, side by side

beehiiv Scale against ActiveCampaign Starter, the cheapest paid plan each vendor sells at the eight breakpoints. Plans are not feature matched.

Prices are compiled from public vendor pages and can lag behind a change. Cells marked Der are calculated from published rules and cells marked Est are rough figures. Neither is an invoice or a quote, so confirm with the vendor before you spend.

Contacts	beehiiv Scale	ActiveCampaign Starter	Cheaper
500	$49$43 annualDer	$19$15 annualDer	ActiveCampaign by $30
1,000	$49$43 annualVer	$19$15 annualVer	ActiveCampaign by $30
2,500	$69$61 annualVer	$49$39 annualVer	ActiveCampaign by $20
5,000	$89$78 annualVer	$99$79 annualVer	beehiiv by $10
10,000	$109$96 annualVer	$189$149 annualVer	beehiiv by $80
25,000	$169$149 annualVer	$489$391 annualVer	beehiiv by $320
50,000	$249$219 annualVer	n/aNot	not comparable
100,000	$329$290 annualVer	n/aNot	not comparable

beehiiv Scale against ActiveCampaign Starter, month to month billing, with the per month cost of paying yearly underneath. The Cheaper column compares the monthly prices. Plans are not feature matched.

Where the cheaper paid plan sits

Scale at 1k: $49; Or nothing at all on Launch, which covers the same list for free
Starter at 1k: $19; Verified entry stop. No free plan on ActiveCampaign
Scale at 10k: $109; Starter is $189 at the same size

ActiveCampaign Starter is cheaper than beehiiv Scale at 500, 1,000, 2,500 contacts. From 5,000 contacts through the last overlapping monthly stop, Scale is the cheaper entry plan wherever both publish a figure.

At 500 contacts Scale is $49 against Starter at $19. At 2,500 contacts Scale is $69 against Starter at $49. At 5,000 contacts Scale is $89 against Starter at $99. At 25,000 contacts Scale is $169 against Starter at $489, or $391 a month paid yearly.

The free Launch plan covers three breakpoints

Launch holds 2,500 subscribers. ActiveCampaign has no free plan on the recorded ladder.

List size	Monthly	Confidence	Note
500 on the list	free	Verified	ActiveCampaign has no free plan. Its cheapest cell here is Starter at $19 a month.
1,000 on the list	free	Verified	ActiveCampaign has no free plan. Its cheapest cell here is Starter at $19 a month.
2,500 on the list	free	Verified	ActiveCampaign has no free plan. Its cheapest cell here is Starter at $49 a month.

beehiiv Launch at the free stops, checked 14 September 2026. ActiveCampaign dollars in the notes are Starter.

Step up plans

beehiiv Max against ActiveCampaign Plus. Neither pair is feature matched. Professional sits above Plus on the ActiveCampaign side.

Contacts	beehiiv Max	ActiveCampaign Plus	Cheaper
500	$109$96 annualDer	$59$49 annualDer	ActiveCampaign by $50
1,000	$109$96 annualVer	$59$49 annualVer	ActiveCampaign by $50
2,500	$149$131 annualVer	$119$95 annualVer	ActiveCampaign by $30
5,000	$169$149 annualVer	$179$145 annualVer	beehiiv by $10
10,000	$219$193 annualVer	$239$189 annualVer	beehiiv by $20
25,000	$289$254 annualVer	$489$389 annualVer	beehiiv by $200
50,000	$379$334 annualVer	$759$609 annualVer	beehiiv by $380
100,000	$459$404 annualVer	n/aNot	not comparable

beehiiv Max against ActiveCampaign Plus, month to month billing, with the per month cost of paying yearly underneath. The Cheaper column compares the monthly prices. Plans are not feature matched.

At 10,000 contacts Max is $219 against Plus at $239. Professional at the same size is $469. At 25,000 contacts Max is $289 against Plus at $489.

The headline price is not on the same billing terms

ActiveCampaign Starter: $19; $15 paid yearly, about 21 percent off and the figure the pricing page leads with
beehiiv Scale: $49; $43 paid yearly from the published calculator
Free plans: Launch vs none; beehiiv Launch sends free through 2,500. ActiveCampaign: There is no free plan to limit. ActiveCampaign publishes no free tier, so the entry price is the floor.

ActiveCampaign shows annual billing by default. A month to month buyer pays $19 at the entry stop, not the $15 headline. beehiiv annual dollars come from the published calculator. Comparing the two headlines therefore mixes an annual calculator default with a monthly newsletter sticker.

Sends and what each one counts

Paid beehiiv Scale and Max include unlimited email sends. ActiveCampaign attaches a send allowance under the contact tier, with overage and a hard stop above that allowance.

beehiiv. beehiiv defines an active subscriber as one who has not unsubscribed and has not been marked inactive, and the tier follows the active count. Paused, pending and inactive subscriptions are all outside it.

ActiveCampaign. One question, two answers, split by a date. Accounts created on or after 3 November 2025 are billed for every contact whatever its list status. Accounts created on or before 2 November 2025 are billed for active contacts only. ActiveCampaign publishes both answers in the same help article. Send volume sits under a ten to fifteen times contact allowance, with overage and a hard stop above that.