The beehiiv Ad Network is a sponsorship marketplace built into beehiiv: vetted advertisers' offers appear in your dashboard, you pick the ones that fit, drop them into a post by typing /ads, and you get paid per unique open (CPM) or per verified click (CPC). It is available on any paid beehiiv plan from Lite upward for newsletters actively sending on beehiiv, it is non-exclusive, and payouts land on the 20th of the following month through Stripe.
Is it worth it? For most beehiiv newsletters, yes, as a low-effort baseline. Just set expectations: beehiiv's own pricing page labels ad monetization "Avg. $39/mo." Below: exactly how it works, what each offer type pays, a calculator for your list, and how it compares with direct sponsors and paid recommendations.
Key takeaways
- The Ad Network is available to anyone on beehiiv's Lite plan or above who is actively sending. Lite starts at $49 a month billed yearly for 1,000 subscribers.
- You are paid per unique open on CPM offers ($5 CPM pays $5 per 1,000 unique opens) or per verified unique click on CPC offers.
- Opens and clicks count for 72 hours after your send, you get a report after about 96 hours, and payouts arrive on the 20th of the next month via Stripe Express.
- beehiiv says Ad Network revenue totals doubled from 2024 to 2025, with some months paying publishers more than $1 million in total.
- It is non-exclusive. Run it alongside direct sponsors, paid subscriptions and paid recommendations.
How the beehiiv Ad Network works
The beehiiv Ad Network is beehiiv's in-house ad sales team and marketplace: it signs advertisers, matches their campaigns to newsletters, and pays publishers based on verified performance. beehiiv launched it in September 2023 and acquired the newsletter ad platform Swapstack the same month.
The workflow, from beehiiv's Ad Network FAQ:
- 1
Offers appear in your dashboard
Eligible publications see up to 15 personalized offers at a time in Monetize → Ads → Offers, with the top 3 marked as recommended. You can downvote offers that don't fit. - 2
Reserve an offer
You can hold up to 5 reserved offers at once. Each shows its model (CPM or CPC) and an estimated payout before you commit. - 3
Add it to a post
Type/adsin the editor, or add a reserved offer from the Reserved Offers tab. You have 120 hours to send once an offer is reserved. - 4
Send and get tracked
Unique opens and verified clicks within 72 hours of the send count toward your earnings. A performance recap arrives about 96 hours after sending. - 5
Get paid
Earnings for the month are paid on the 20th of the following month into your beehiiv wallet through Stripe Express, and you can withdraw at any time.
A few rules shape what you can earn:
- Up to 3 ads per post: 1 primary placement with the advertiser's logo and 2 secondary ones.
- One run per offer. After running an advertiser's ad, you won't see another offer from them for at least 7 days.
- No creative edits. You pick from the versions the advertiser supplied. Translated copy is not available yet, so non-English newsletters have fewer usable offers.
- Verified clicks only. beehiiv filters bots, duplicate clicks and instant bounces, so your paid clicks can be lower than the clicks in your post analytics.
- Reliability counts. Missing reservation deadlines can reduce the quality and number of offers you see.
Requirements and plans
| What beehiiv says (October 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Who can join | Anyone on the Lite plan or above who is actively sending on beehiiv |
| Subscriber minimum | None listed on the current Ad Network page (older beehiiv guides mentioned 1,000 active subscribers) |
| Plan cost | Lite from $49/month and Pro from $95/month, billed yearly, priced at 1,000 subscribers |
| Free plan | No Ad Network access (Free covers up to 2,500 subscribers) |
| Exclusivity | None |
| Other email providers | Not supported: ads must be sent through beehiiv |
| Payment | Stripe Express, paid on the 20th for the previous month |
Sources: beehiiv Ad Network and beehiiv pricing, checked October 19, 2026. Prices rise with list size.
In practice, eligibility and offers are two different things. beehiiv's model surfaces offers based on your content, audience and past performance, so a new newsletter in a niche few advertisers target may see little at first.
What the beehiiv Ad Network pays: CPM vs CPC
Each offer uses one of two models, set by the advertiser:
| Model | You earn | beehiiv's example |
|---|---|---|
| CPM | A fixed amount per 1,000 unique opens | $5 CPM: $5 for every 1,000 unique opens |
| CPC | A fixed amount per verified unique click | $2 CPC with 100 verified clicks: $200 |
CPM offers reward a big, engaged list with high open rates. CPC offers reward readers who click, which favors tight niches where the sponsor matches what readers already want. You cannot switch an offer's model, but you see which one it is before reserving.
Estimate your own numbers. The default open rate is the 41% average beehiiv reported for 2025 in its State of Newsletters 2026 report; the CPM and CPC defaults are beehiiv's own examples, and the click rate is a placeholder to replace with yours.
Interactive calculator
beehiiv Ad Network earnings estimator
Monthly, if all your ads were CPC offers
$164
- Unique opens per send
- 2,050
- One CPM ad pays
- $10.25
- One CPC ad pays
- $41.00
- Monthly, if all your ads were CPM offers
- $41
How much creators actually earn
beehiiv publishes totals, not averages per newsletter, so here is what is public:
- Growth of the network. In its State of Newsletters 2026 report, beehiiv says the Ad Network "generated millions in revenue across thousands of newsletters in 2025," that monthly revenue totals doubled from 2024, and that some months it contributed more than $1 million to publisher earnings. Named advertisers include HubSpot, Roku and Netflix.
- The typical figure. beehiiv's pricing page shows "Avg. $39/mo" next to ad monetization on its paid plans. That is a sensible expectation for a small or mid-size newsletter running a few ads a month.
- The bigger money elsewhere. The same report says paid subscriptions on beehiiv generated $19 million in 2025, up from $8 million in 2024, and calls them the strongest-performing revenue channel.
The pattern: the Ad Network is a reliable baseline that pays from your first eligible send, but newsletters that earn real money combine it with direct sponsors or paid subscriptions.
Ad Network vs direct sponsorships vs paid recommendations
| Option | How you earn | Effort | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv Ad Network | CPM or CPC on offers beehiiv sells | Low: pick offers, insert, send | Any paid-plan newsletter, as a baseline or to fill empty slots |
| Direct Sponsorships (beehiiv tool) | Your own rate, sold to your own sponsors | Medium to high: you sell | You have a defined niche advertisers want to reach |
| Paid recommendations (formerly Boosts) | A fee per verified subscriber you send to another newsletter | Low | Readers who like similar newsletters |
| Paid subscriptions | Recurring reader payments | High: premium content | You have expertise readers will pay for |
beehiiv's Direct Sponsorships tool adds an ad calendar, verified click reporting, a sponsor storefront and Stripe invoicing with a $10 flat fee per invoice, so selling your own ads doesn't mean spreadsheets. Boosts now live under Recommendations in the Grow tab, and paid recommendations are available on Lite and Pro. For pricing your own placements, see our guide to blog and newsletter advertising rates.
beehiiv vs Substack for newsletter ads
Substack has no open ad network like beehiiv's. In June 2026 it announced a native sponsorship program built around brand partnerships, with "Creator Kits" available at first only to Bestsellers, publications with at least 100 paid subscribers. If ad income from a free newsletter is your plan, beehiiv's marketplace is the more direct route. Our Ghost vs Substack comparison and Substack vs blog guide cover the wider platform choice.
beehiiv Ad Network pros and cons
Pros
- No selling, invoicing or creative work: beehiiv supplies vetted advertisers and assets
- Available on every paid plan, with no exclusivity
- Clear terms: estimated payout shown before you reserve, paid on the 20th
- Verified clicks keep advertisers coming back
Cons
- Modest earnings for most lists; beehiiv itself shows an average of $39 a month
- Offer volume depends on your niche, language and track record
- Strict windows: 120 hours to send, 72 hours of tracked engagement
- Only for newsletters sent through beehiiv, and payouts require Stripe
The real lever: more subscribers
Every model above scales with the size and engagement of your list. A CPM offer on 20,000 engaged subscribers pays four times what it pays on 5,000. The cheapest durable way to grow a list is a website that ranks in Google and asks readers to subscribe: each article that ranks keeps sending new readers for months.
That is the job Outrank automates. It researches keywords your site can rank for, writes and publishes an SEO article every day to WordPress, Webflow, Ghost and other platforms, and builds backlinks through its exchange; see the integrations. If you are starting from zero, our guide to growing website traffic organically covers the manual route. If you also run display ads on a blog, the AdSense alternatives guide shows which networks fit your traffic.
FAQ
How many subscribers do you need for the beehiiv Ad Network?
beehiiv's current Ad Network page does not list a subscriber minimum: the network is available to anyone on the Lite plan or above who is actively sending on beehiiv. Older beehiiv guides mentioned 1,000 active subscribers. How many offers you see depends on your audience, content and performance.
How much does the beehiiv Ad Network pay?
Offers pay either a CPM, a fixed amount per 1,000 unique opens, or a CPC, a fixed amount per verified unique click. beehiiv's own examples are a $5 CPM and a $2 CPC, and its pricing page shows an average of $39 a month for ad monetization. Earnings rise with list size, open rate and click rate.
When does beehiiv pay ad earnings?
beehiiv pays Ad Network earnings on the 20th of each month for the previous month's ads. Payments go through Stripe Express into your beehiiv wallet, which requires Stripe identity verification, and you can withdraw from the wallet at any time without fees.
Is the beehiiv Ad Network exclusive?
No. You can run beehiiv Ad Network offers alongside your own direct sponsors, affiliate links, paid subscriptions and paid recommendations, and even place a beehiiv ad next to another partner's ad in the same send.
What is the difference between beehiiv Boosts and the Ad Network?
The Ad Network pays you to place brand ads in your newsletter, per unique open or verified click. Boosts, now part of beehiiv's Recommendations, pay you for each verified subscriber you send to another newsletter. Many creators use both.
Is the beehiiv Ad Network worth it for a small newsletter?
Yes, as a supplement. It takes minutes per send and pays from your first eligible ad, but small lists typically earn tens of dollars a month, not hundreds. Turn it on, keep reservation deadlines, and put most of your effort into growing the list and finding direct sponsors.
