How do you get sponsors for a beehiiv newsletter under 5,000 subscribers?

A beehiiv newsletter under 5,000 subscribers can run the Ad Network on any paid plan: Lite costs $49 a month at 1,000 subscribers and $95 at 5,000, billed yearly. It can sell direct sponsorships on Pro ($95 to $169), where beehiiv keeps a flat $10 a booking, and it can pitch brands itself. In our data 39% of 2,257 beehiiv newsletters ran a paid sponsor ad in 90 days against 13% of 7,812 on Substack (limits below).

By Ryan Doyle, founder of Book a Sponsor · Published 8 October 2026 · beehiiv facts read 8 October 2026

Book a Sponsor (bookasponsor.com) pitches brands to sponsor newsletters.

The routes open to a beehiiv newsletter, with what each costs

beehiiv has two sponsorship tools built in, and every other route works as it does on any email platform. The plan prices are beehiiv's, read 8 October 2026 on its pricing page, which prices both paid plans by list size; the fees are from its help center and each other provider's own pages. We make Book a Sponsor, the last row, so check it against the others.

Route	Needs	Who sets the price	What it costs you
beehiiv Ad Network	Any paid plan from Lite: $49 a month at 1,000 subscribers, $69 at 2,500, $95 at 5,000, with yearly billing	beehiiv's advertisers set the offer; you pick from up to 7 at a time	beehiiv's share isn't published. Paid per 1,000 unique opens or per verified click, on the 20th of the next month through Stripe.
beehiiv direct sponsorships	Pro: $95 a month at 1,000 subscribers, $129 at 2,500, $169 at 5,000, with yearly billing	You set the price on a storefront	A flat $10 beehiiv fee per booking, plus Stripe processing.
A marketplace (Passionfroot, Hecto, MediaPact, Paved Booker)	A free listing; brands find you	You list prices, or the platform matches you	Passionfroot 15% of deals it brings, MediaPact 10%, Hecto 5% plus Stripe; Paved Booker takes nothing but Stripe's 2.9%.
Pitching brands yourself	Time and a list of brands	You, in each email	Nothing with our free sponsor list; paid databases start at $39 a month.
Book a Sponsor (ours)	Any email platform and list size	You set the terms; we send the pitches and hand you the replies	$1 card check gets 200 emails, then 10¢/email or a plan from $49/mo, or Kit $49 or Growth $99 a month. No commission. That is $150 for 30 days at the default 50 new brands a day, up to $300 with follow-ups.

beehiiv plan prices and fees read 8 October 2026 · Passionfroot, Hecto, MediaPact and Paved read 8 October 2026 · SponsorGap, Who Sponsors Stuff and SponsorLeads on the databases page

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How often beehiiv newsletters run paid sponsor ads

39% of the 2,257 beehiiv newsletters in Book a Sponsor's data ran a paid sponsor ad in the 90 days to 8 October 2026, against 13% of 7,812 on Substack and 19% of 2,221 on other platforms. These are the newsletters Book a Sponsor found and read, not a random sample of each platform. The right-hand columns keep to newsletters under 5,000 subscribers that print a list size.

Platform	Share that ran a paid ad	Newsletters	Ran a paid ad	Under 5,000: share	Under 5,000: newsletters
beehiiv	39%	2,257	884	38%	105
Substack	13%	7,812	1,003	9%	1,823
Other platforms	19%	2,221	427	14%	435

newsletters with 5+ issues read between 10 July 2026 and 8 October 2026 · the under-5,000 columns need a printed list size, which only 413 of the 2,257 beehiiv newsletters have

Read the under-5,000 gap (38% against 9%) as an upper bound. Only 413 of the 2,257 beehiiv newsletters print a subscriber count, and the ones that print one may be the ones selling sponsorships. The first three columns don't depend on a printed count. The gap doesn't prove that beehiiv newsletters get more offers either. It could come from the built-in network, from how each platform's issues show ads in public text, or from demand, and this data can't separate them. Book a Sponsor counts only paid ads printed in the public text of an issue, so ads sold in paid-only posts are missed on every platform.

Ad Network or direct sponsorships?

Use the Ad Network when you have no brands of your own and no time to sell, and direct sponsorships when you can bring brands and want to set the price. beehiiv itself recommends using both. The Ad Network sends pre-negotiated CPM and CPC campaigns with no outreach: offers are refreshed hourly, up to 7 show at a time, each lists an estimated payout, and earnings arrive on the 20th for the month before. The advertiser sets the rate, and beehiiv's share isn't published. On beehiiv's pricing page, average ad monetization is $39 a month at 1,000 and 2,500 subscribers and $78 at 5,000. That is below what Lite costs at each size ($49, $69 and $95), so the Ad Network alone may not cover the plan (read 8 October 2026).

Direct sponsorships put the price in your hands. The printed median for one main slot is $150 under 5,000 subscribers ($69.84 per 1,000 subscribers), and beehiiv's fee on it is a flat $10 plus Stripe. The catch is the plan: Pro costs $46 to $74 a month more than Lite on yearly billing, depending on list size ($95 against $49 at 1,000 subscribers, $169 against $95 at 5,000). One $150 booking covers that difference and the $10 fee and leaves $94 at 1,000 subscribers and $66 at 5,000, before Stripe's charge. If no direct slot sells in a month, the extra buys only Pro's other features.

What to do at your size

Under 1,000 subscribers. Brands do buy at this size (the subscribers guide has the shares), so start with the Ad Network if you are on Lite, and pitch brands from the sponsor list using the pitch template.
1,000 to 4,999. Price the main slot near $150 and put it on a storefront: beehiiv direct sponsorships if you are on Pro, a free Passionfroot, Hecto or MediaPact listing if not. At the pitch rates we measured, roughly 165 pitches to brands with a sign they buy newsletter ads got one yes, so decide how many emails you will send before you pay for a list.
Past 5,000. The median slot rises to $310 and the share running ads climbs, but beehiiv's plans cost more too: at 10,000 subscribers Lite is $119 and Pro $199 a month with yearly billing. The pillar guide has the whole ladder.

What these numbers don't show

The $150 median is the printed price of 68 newsletters on any platform, not a beehiiv figure, and it is a list price, not what a deal closes at. Most of the priced newsletters behind it (259 of 321) were read from Passionfroot storefronts.
beehiiv's Ad Network pays per open or click, so there is no median slot price to compare with. The estimated payout on each offer is the only per-offer number beehiiv shows, and the average ad monetization on its pricing page is beehiiv's own figure, which this page can't check.
The share of newsletters running ads is a floor, counts only what is printed in public text and differs by platform. It says nothing about how much a newsletter earned.
Plan prices are beehiiv's yearly-billing prices at the 1,000, 2,500 and 5,000 subscriber steps of its pricing page on 8 October 2026. Your price depends on your exact list size, and beehiiv changes them.

Questions

Can a small beehiiv newsletter join the Ad Network?

Yes, if it is on a paid plan and actively sending. beehiiv states no subscriber minimum. Lite costs $49 a month at 1,000 subscribers, $69 at 2,500, $95 at 5,000, with yearly billing (read 8 October 2026). The Free plan, which covers up to 2,500 subscribers, can't join. Offers are performance-based, paid per 1,000 unique opens (CPM) or per verified click (CPC), and the marketplace shows up to 7 at a time.

How much does beehiiv take from direct sponsorships?

A flat $10 beehiiv service fee on each booking, plus Stripe's processing fee, per beehiiv's help center (read 8 October 2026). On a $150 slot, the median printed price under 5,000 subscribers, that is $10 plus Stripe. Direct sponsorships need the Pro plan: $95 a month at 1,000 subscribers, $129 at 2,500, $169 at 5,000, with yearly billing.

Can I get sponsors on beehiiv's Free plan?

Not through beehiiv: the Ad Network and direct sponsorships both need a paid plan. You can still pitch brands yourself, list on Passionfroot, Hecto or MediaPact, or use Paved's free Booker page. The pillar guide sets out every route.

How much can a beehiiv newsletter under 5,000 subscribers charge a sponsor?

Printed main-slot prices on any platform put the median at $150 for one issue under 5,000 subscribers, and the middle half at $95 to $263 (68 newsletters, read 29 September 2026). That data isn't split by platform. The calculator prices your exact list size.

Do beehiiv newsletters run more sponsor ads than Substack ones?

In our data they do: 39% of 2,257 beehiiv newsletters ran a paid ad in the 90 days to 8 October 2026, against 13% of 7,812 on Substack. Part of that may be detection and part the built-in network, and this data can't separate the two.

Sources

beehiiv plans, the Ad Network and direct sponsorships, read 8 October 2026 on beehiiv's own pages: pricing, Ad Network page, Ad Network FAQ, direct sponsorship storefront (updated 28 July 2026).
Other providers' fees, each read 8 October 2026: Passionfroot, Hecto, MediaPact, Paved, SponsorGap.
Share of newsletters running a paid ad, by platform: Book a Sponsor's own reads of 12,313 newsletters that sent 5+ issues between 10 July 2026 and 8 October 2026 (method on the monetization guide).
Median main-slot price: the printed prices of 321 newsletters that state a list size, read 29 September 2026 (rates page); 68 of them have under 5,000 subscribers.
Cite this page: "How do you get sponsors for a beehiiv newsletter under 5,000 subscribers?", Book a Sponsor, 8 October 2026, https://bookasponsor.com/beehiiv-newsletter-sponsors.

See the brands that already buy ads in beehiiv newsletters

Paste your newsletter. Book a Sponsor lists the brands that sponsored newsletters like yours, finds the person who buys the ads, and emails them every day from its own mailboxes. You get the replies and close the deal.

$1 card check gets 200 emails, then 10¢/email or a plan from $49/mo · first sponsor reply inside 30 days or your money back