How to set up and use paid subscription tiers

paid plans

The Paid Subscriptions area has been redesigned. If your navigation looks different from what you remember, see How to navigate the redesigned paid subscriptions area for a full map of where everything moved. Your existing paid subscription tiers, offers, and settings will be unchanged. 

One of the many advantages to offering paid subscriptions to your audience is being able to establish multiple levels of memberships for your publication. This allows for differentiated tiers (for example, Bronze, Silver, or Gold), each offering unique price points, perks, access levels, and payment plans; creating endless opportunities for you to monetize your publication. 

Before you begin

Paid subscriptions require a connected Stripe account to process payments. If you have not connected Stripe yet, see Setting up a Stripe account for paid subscriptions and digital products before continuing.

How to enable paid subscriptions

1. From the left panel in your account, go to Subscriptions.
2. Click on the Create your first paid tier button.
   
3. If you haven’t already set up Stripe, you’ll be prompted to Enable paid subscriptions. Click on Enable, then follow the prompts to set up your Stripe account. 
   
   

Once enabled, you will be able to continue creating paid tiers following the steps below. 

How to create a paid subscription tier

Tier creation uses a three-step guided flow. You move through tier details, pricing and benefits, and advanced settings before saving.

Step 1: Enter tier details

1. From the left panel, go to Subscriptions, then click the Tiers tab. Then, click on the + New Tier button.
   
2. Fill in the following, then click Next to continue to your pricing options.
   • Name (required): The label readers see for this tier.
   • Preview Text (optional): A short description displayed to subscribers. This will be shown on your paid post paywalls and on your upgrade page. 
     
     

Step 2: Add pricing and benefits

On this page, configure the plan types available under this tier and the benefits subscribers receive. 

At the top of the page, choose your currency from the dropdown menu. You can select between these options: 

• USD: United States Dollar.
• AUD: Australian Dollar.
• BRL: Brazilian Real.
• CAD: Canadian Dollar.
• EUR: Euro (used by multiple countries including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, etc.).
• GBP: British Pound Sterling (United Kingdom).
• INR: Indian Rupee.
• MXN: Mexican Peso.
• NZD: New Zealand Dollar.

Below your currency options, there are three main toggle options that you can toggle on or off in any combination of your choosing. The only exception is Pay-what-you-want, which cannot be combined with other billing cadences in the same tier.  

Recurring subscription: Subscribers are charged on a recurring basis for access to this tier. You can choose between the following options:

• Monthly plan: Billed every month.
• Quarterly plan: Billed every three months.

• Annual plan: Billed every year. 

  If you want to offer a group subscription option (Max and Enterprise plans only), you must configure an annual billing cadence. At this time, group subscriptions are not offered on a monthly or quarterly payment schedule.

For each option, enter your Price, Button Text, and Benefits included with the tier. 

Click on + Add another to add additional benefits. Benefits appear on your Upgrade page and Pricing block tier cards. Once added, you can drag benefits to reorder them or click the X to remove one.

 

One-time payment: A single payment with no recurring billing. Set your Price, Button Text, and Benefits included with the tier. 

Click on + Add another to add additional benefits. Benefits appear on your Upgrade page and Pricing block tier cards. Once added, you can drag benefits to reorder them by clicking on the 6 dots menu or click the X to remove one.

Pay-what-you-want: Readers choose what they pay for lifetime access, starting at $1.00. Enabling this option disables all other plan types. Configure your Price, Button Text, and Benefits included with the tier. 

Click on + Add another to add additional benefits to your tier. Benefits appear on your Upgrade page and Pricing block tier cards. Once added, you can drag benefits to reorder them by clicking on the 6 dots menu or click the X to remove one.

Stripe limitations prevent the pay-what-you-want option from being used in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand.

Preview your tiers: To the right of your pricing options, you’ll see a preview of how your tier will look on your pricing blocks and upgrade page on your website. Click on Edit in website builder → to edit the look and feel of your tier. 

For more details, read Featuring subscription upgrades and pricing on your site. 

Creating a tier does not automatically make it visible on your upgrade page or in your pricing blocks. Once your tier is configured, you must click on the eye icon while editing your paid subscription tiers in the website builder to make it visible. Once you’re done, don’t forget to publish your website to push the changes live.

Once everything is set up to your liking, click on the Next button to continue to advanced settings.

Step 3: Configure optional advanced settings

In your advanced settings options, you can choose how subscribers can purchase this tier beyond the standard individual check out. 


You’ll be presented with the following options: 

• Gift subscriptions: Toggle on the Gift option to let readers buy this tier as a gift for someone else. See How to enable a gift option for your paid subscriptions for details.

• Group subscriptions (Max and Enterprise plans only):  Toggle on the Group subscriptions option to enable group access for this tier if you wish to offer group or team plans. This is only available for tiers with an annual billing cadence. For more information, read How to set up and use group subscriptions as a publisher.

  You also must enable group subscriptions on the tier in the Website Builder for group subscriptions to be visible on your pricing block or upgrade page.

• Redirect URL: Toggle on this option to add a URL to send subscribers to a specific page after completing payment, such as a thank-you page or exclusive content. 

  Redirect URL is set per tier. If you have multiple tiers, configure a redirect for each one individually.

• Discord integration: Connect a Discord role to this tier to automatically grant Discord access upon upgrade. For more information, read Integrating Discord with your beehiiv publication. 

Step 4: Save your tier

Click on Create to save the tier. It will appear in your active tiers list on the Tiers tab.

You can create up to five tiers per publication.

How to manage existing tiers

You can easily edit, delete, or archive your tier directly in the Tiers tab of the paid subscription area.

Edit a tier

1. From the left panel, go to Subscriptions, then click the Tiers tab. The tiers Overview tab will open. 
   
   
    
2. Find the tier in the active list and click its 3 dots menu. Select Edit to re-enter the tier creation flow. 
   
   
3. When you’re done making your updates, click Save to finalize. 

Changing the price of a tier only applies to new subscribers. Existing subscribers remain at their current price unless they cancel and re-subscribe.

Archive a tier

1. From the Tiers tab, click the 3 dots menu for the tier, then select Archive tier. 
   
   

2. A confirmation modal will pop up for you to confirm that you want to archive the tier. If yes, click on Archive. 
   

   Subscribers who are already subscribed to an archived tier will keep their access. New subscribers will no longer be able to subscribe to the archived tier.

Archived tiers appear in the Archived section of the Tiers tab and are no longer available to new subscribers. You can restore an archived tier from that section, by clicking on the 3 dots menu > Unarchive tier. 

Delete a tier

1. From the Tiers tab, click the 3 dots menu for the tier, then select Delete tier. 
   
   
2. A confirmation modal will pop up to confirm that you want to permanently delete the tier. You cannot undo this action. If you are sure, click on Delete. 
   
   

How to view tier activity

The Tiers tab shows subscriber activity and purchase history across your tiers. In addition to the active tiers list, which displays the subscriber count for each tier, you have access to the following sections:

• Gift purchases: A record of every gift subscription purchased, including the buyer, recipient, and tier.
• Group subscriptions: A list of all group subscription records and their details.

How to edit your Upgrade page or Pricing block

After creating tiers, you can control how they appear on your publication site in the Website Builder.

New Website Builder

For publications using the new Website Builder, see Featuring subscription upgrades and pricing on your site for step-by-step instructions on customizing the Pricing block and Upgrade page.

Legacy Website Builder

These instructions are for publications using the legacy Website Builder, which will no longer be updated. Please migrate your site to the new Website Builder for the best use of beehiiv.

After creating paid subscription tiers, you can further customize them using the legacy Website Builder where you’ll also have access to the Layout tab. However, only Admin or Owner user roles will be able to access the Layout tab of the legacy builder.

1. From the left panel dashboard, go to Website > Builder (Legacy). 
2. The Website Builder will open on the Home Page, click into the dropdown menu options at the top of the builder and select Upgrade Page instead. Then switch the left panel options to the Layout tab. 
   
   
   The subscription tier aspects that you can edit include: 

• The plan card colors
• The page color 
• The headline text
• The tier benefits on each card

Where to access paid subscriptions in your account

In addition to the dedicated Subscriptions tab where you create and manage your tiers, there are several places throughout the app where you can view or access your tier-specific audiences.

From the Post Builder, you can:

Specify the audience for email and web. 

1. Go to the Audience page of the Post Builder.
2. Under Email Audience, click into the dropdown options and make a selection. 
3. Under Web Audience, click into the dropdown options and make a selection. 
4. On the right you’ll see a Summary of your choices. 
   
   

Create content to only be seen by your paid tiers

• While creating your newsletter and using the Post Builder, you can add content visibility settings to display certain sections to specific paid tiers. 
• To access these in the post editor, click on the 6 dots icon next to the + sign for the section, and then select Visibility from the menu options. You’ll be presented with several visibility options that you can toggle on or off. 
  
  

From Segments, you can: 

When using the Segmentation tool, you can create segments for your paid tiers.

From Automations, you can: 

When creating or editing your Automation workflows, you can select specific tiers using the Upgraded trigger. 

From an individual subscriber profile page, you can: 

While you can’t change a subscriber’s status, you can view and confirm the exact tier and plan that they are currently on via their subscriber profile dashboard, which you can access from your Subscribers list.

Troubleshooting paid tiers not appearing in the pricing block

If your paid tiers don't appear in the Pricing block after you've created them, check the following.

Newly created tiers are hidden by default 

When you create a new paid tier, it will not automatically appear in your Pricing block. You must manually enable its visibility using the eye icon in the Tiers modal (see step 6 under "Customize your subscriber tiers" below). This applies to all tiers, including paid trial tiers.

Your website must be set up

If you just migrated from another platform or haven't completed website onboarding yet, your Upgrade page may not be active. Go to Website in your left navigation, and if you see a prompt to start onboarding, complete the setup flow. Once your website is published, you can customize the Pricing block on your Upgrade page.

Paid Subscriptions must be enabled 

Navigate to the Tiers tab of your paid subscription dashboard, then click on the Settings section, and make sure Enable paid subscriptions is toggled on. 

Check that you're viewing live tiers, not placeholder content 

When editing the Pricing block, click Tiers in the design panel, then confirm the Placeholder data toggle at the bottom of the modal is off. Placeholder content displays sample tiers to help you visualize your layout, but it won't pull in your actual paid subscription tiers. Turn off the placeholder toggle to see your real tiers.

To turn off placeholder data: Click on Settings, then toggle off placeholder data. 

FAQ about paid subscriptions in beehiiv