# Brew vs beehiiv

## The short version

Choose Brew if you want a fully agentic setup, where your AI agent drives lifecycle marketing to engage and retain customers. Brew designs every email from your brand and runs your automations agentically.

Choose beehiiv if you publish a newsletter and want a website, an ad network and paid subscriptions to earn from it, all in the same account.

Canonical: https://brew.new/compare/brew-vs-beehiiv

## Why teams switch from beehiiv to Brew

Brew is fully agentic: your agent designs on-brand emails, sends them and runs your automations. In beehiiv, AI writes inside your template and you switch on each automation.

### Key differences

| Feature | Brew | beehiiv |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Fully agentic | Yes: Your agent designs, sends and runs automations end to end | Partly: Drafts and builds; you switch on automations in the app |
| Designs finished, on-brand emails | Yes: Layout, copy and images from your brand, ready to send | Partly: AI writes copy and images inside your template |
| Your agent takes it live | Yes: Sends, schedules and runs automations; OAuth and org-scoped MCP require confirmation, brand API keys do not | Partly: Agent sends posts on Pro; the MCP cannot send |
| Remembers your brand for every email | Yes: Brand files your agent reads every time | Partly: Template styles, logo and colors you set up by hand |
| Unlimited contacts | Yes: On every plan; you pay for sends | No: Priced by subscribers |
| Unlimited team seats | Yes: No seat limits on any plan | Partly: 1 on Free, 2 on Lite, 10 on Pro |

### Creating emails

| Feature | Brew | beehiiv |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Visual editor | Yes: Infinite canvas, edit by hand or in chat | Yes: Post editor with templates and custom CSS |
| AI translation | No: Not built in | Yes: AI Translator in the editor |
| A/B testing | No: Not built in | Yes: A/B tests from Lite |

### Automation and data

| Feature | Brew | beehiiv |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Event-triggered automations | Yes: Stripe, Shopify, Clerk, Supabase or your own events | Yes: Signups, purchases and custom events; clicks on Pro |
| Automations on every plan | Yes: No step or flow limits on any plan | Partly: From Lite; Free sends a welcome email only |
| Builds an automation from a description | Yes: Emails, waits and branches together | Partly: MCP builds workflows; you activate them in the app |

### Publishing and earning

| Feature | Brew | beehiiv |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Email from your own domain | Yes: Marketing and transactional | Yes: Newsletters and automations, custom domains |
| Website builder | No: Email only | Yes: On every plan |
| Ad network | No: Not built in | Yes: beehiiv Ad Network from Lite |
| Paid subscriptions | No: Not built in | Yes: From Lite, with a 0% take rate |
| Podcasts and community | No: Email only | Yes: On every plan |

### Agents and developers

| Feature | Brew | beehiiv |
| --- | --- | --- |
| MCP server for AI agents | Yes: Every Brew tool, in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Grok | Partly: Read-only on Free; drafts and builds on paid plans |
| API | Yes: REST API, typed SDK and CLI | Yes: API and webhooks; Send API on Pro |

### Pricing

| Feature | Brew | beehiiv |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Billed on | Emails sent and AI credits | Subscribers; unlimited sends on every plan |
| Getting started | Free trial with 500 AI credits and 1,000 sends | Free plan up to 2,500 subscribers, no automations |
| First paid plan | Growth, $99/month: 10,000 AI credits and 50,000 sends | Lite, $59/month for 1,000 subscribers; $49 billed yearly |
| Next plan | Pro, $249/month: 25,000 AI credits and 200,000 sends | Pro, $109/month for 1,000 subscribers; $95 billed yearly |
| Top plan | Enterprise: custom volume and a dedicated account manager | Enterprise, custom pricing |

### Security and compliance

| Feature | Brew | beehiiv |
| --- | --- | --- |
| SOC 2 | No: Not yet; security review and DPA on request | Yes: SOC 2 Type 2 since January 2026 |

## Your agent runs your lifecycle email.

Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Grok over MCP and your agent gets every Brew tool. It designs emails from your brand, builds audiences, runs automations and schedules sends. OAuth and organization-scoped MCP connections ask you to confirm live sends and launches. Brand-scoped API keys can execute permitted calls without the MCP confirmation step.

## Every email designed from your brand.

Paste your website and Brew writes your brand into two files your agent reads for every email. Describe the email and it appears on the canvas, ready to edit by hand or in chat.

## Moving from beehiiv

Keep beehiiv sending until Brew passes your tests. We’ll do the move with you on a call if you like.

1. **Export your contacts**: In beehiiv, go to Settings, then Export Data, and choose Export All Subscribers. beehiiv emails you a link when the CSV is ready, with each subscriber’s status, tier and custom fields; the link lasts 24 hours. Before importing, prepare a Subscribed column: true for opted-in contacts, false for unsubscribed, cleaned or suppressed contacts. Invert any Unsubscribed true/false flag first. Map the column to Subscribed and review the opt-out preview; new contacts default to subscribed if this value is missing.
2. **Bring or redesign your emails**: Most teams have Brew redesign their emails from their brand, which is faster and looks better. You can also forward a sent beehiiv post to hello@email.brew.new; imports are free.
3. **Rebuild your flows**: Connect Stripe, Shopify, Clerk or Supabase, or send your own events over the API, then describe each automation. Brew builds the emails, waits and branches, usually simpler than the original.
4. **Connect your sending domain**: Connect and verify your sending domain, then review its health and inbox placement. For a new domain, select Gradual send to ramp the campaign in configurable batches before a large send. Gradual send is off by default; connecting a domain does not automatically warm it up.

## Questions

### Is Brew a good beehiiv alternative?

Yes, if your email is lifecycle and marketing email and you want an agent to run it. Brew designs finished, on-brand emails from your brand, sends them and runs your automations from your AI agent, with unlimited contacts and seats on every plan. Brew is email only, with no website, ad network or paid subscriptions, so a newsletter business that earns from those keeps them in another tool.

### Can I use Brew alongside beehiiv?

Yes. Keep your newsletter, website and paid subscriptions in beehiiv, and send your lifecycle and transactional email from Brew on your own domain. Brew does not export to beehiiv directly.

### How is Brew’s agent different from beehiiv Agent?

In Brew, your agent designs the finished email from your brand, builds audiences, runs automations and sends. The beehiiv MCP lets Claude, Cursor and other clients draft posts and build automation workflows on paid plans, but it cannot send, and you activate each automation in the beehiiv app. beehiiv Agent, inside the app, also schedules and sends posts on Pro and Enterprise. On Free, both are read-only.
OAuth and organization-scoped MCP connections ask you to confirm live sends and launches. Brand-scoped API keys can execute permitted calls without the MCP confirmation step.

### Do beehiiv’s AI emails come out on-brand?

Not as finished designs. beehiiv’s AI writes copy and makes images inside your existing template, which carries the fonts, colors and logo you set up, and you lay out each post. Teams that move to Brew tell us these drafts rarely look like their brand, so someone still redesigns them. Brew designs the whole email, layout, copy and images, from brand files your agent reads every time, so it goes out on-brand.

### Will Brew cost more or less than beehiiv?

It depends on your list and how much you send. beehiiv bills on subscribers, counted as unique email addresses, with unlimited sends on every plan; automations start on Lite. Brew bills on sends and AI credits with unlimited contacts and seats. Start with the free trial and compare at your own numbers.

### Does Brew have a website, ad network or paid subscriptions?

No. Brew is email only: marketing and transactional email from your own domain. Publishers who earn from ads, paid subscriptions or a website keep those in beehiiv or another tool.

### Is Brew SOC 2 certified?

Not yet. We complete security reviews and sign a DPA on request, and our privacy policy, DPA, GDPR page and subprocessor list are public at docs.brew.new/legal.

### How long does it take to move from beehiiv?

Your first on-brand email is ready the day you start the trial. The rest depends on how many automations you run: contacts and their status import from beehiiv’s CSV export, most teams have Brew redesign their emails rather than import them, and each automation is rebuilt by describing it. Keep beehiiv sending until Brew passes your tests.
Before importing, prepare a Subscribed column: true for opted-in contacts, false for unsubscribed, cleaned or suppressed contacts. Invert any Unsubscribed true/false flag first. Map the column to Subscribed and review the opt-out preview; new contacts default to subscribed if this value is missing.

### Do you help with the move?

Yes. We get on a call to import your contacts and unsubscribe list, bring over or redesign your emails, rebuild your flows and connect your sending domain.

## Sources and review

Brew publishes this comparison. Brew Team reviewed the linked first-party documentation. This is a documentation review, not a claim of hands-on testing of every product. Pricing and plan limits can change.

Work at beehiiv? If anything on this page is wrong or out of date, email support@brew.new and we will correct it. We want to compete on the product, not on a mistaken comparison.

Updated October 2026

- [beehiiv pricing](https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing)
- [beehiiv plans and pricing, October 2026](https://www.beehiiv.com/blog/beehiiv-pricing-2026)
- [beehiiv AI](https://www.beehiiv.com/features/artificial-intelligence)
- [Getting started with the beehiiv MCP](https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/39255979546263-getting-started-with-the-beehiiv-mcp)
- [What you can do with beehiiv Agent](https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/42007566162455)
- [Exporting subscriber data from beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/12258595483543-exporting-post-content-or-subscriber-data-from-beehiiv)
- [beehiiv Trust Center](https://security.beehiiv.com/)
- [Brew MCP server](https://brew.new/mcp)
- [Public email templates](https://brew.new/browse/templates)
- [Brew pricing](https://brew.new/pricing)