Beehiiv announced a suite of new creator tools in 2026, including webinars, metered paywalls, paid trials, and AI-powered podcast analytics, as the Los Angeles-based newsletter platform expands beyond its original function to become an all-in-one creator hub.
The company revealed the updates on Thursday, positioning itself against platforms including Patreon, Substack, Zoom, Kit, and Ghost. The webinar feature allows creators to host live events for up to 10,000 people directly inside Beehiiv, with video, screen sharing, and chat capabilities. Creators can charge for access in multiple currencies or offer free events to grow their audience.
The new metered paywalls let creators control how much content readers can access before seeing a subscription prompt — ranging from one post to 10 posts — with customizable reset periods including daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or never. Paid trials give creators control over trial length, price, and billing cycle, such as $1 for 30 days or $5 per month for three months.
For podcasting, Beehiiv added AI analytics that allow creators to ask questions about their data and receive answers without navigating dashboards. Creators must opt in and can choose which AI tools to connect, including Claude and ChatGPT. The platform added native podcast hosting last month and reports that 50% of existing users have migrated existing podcasts to the platform, while 25% have launched entirely new podcasts.
Beehiiv told TechCrunch it plans to add video support for podcasts in Q2, with ads expected later this year. The nearly five-year-old company is attempting to reduce the need for creators to juggle multiple tools and services to run their businesses.
Separately, Beehiiv reported first-quarter results it described as the best in company history, reaching 400 million unique readers, crossing 50,000 active users, sending 10 billion emails, and surpassing $28 million in annual recurring revenue this month.
Source: TechCrunch