AudienceBench

beehiiv Branded Links: What They Do and How to Set Them Up (2026)

What beehiiv branded links change in your emails, who can use them, how to add them with Entri or manual DNS, and what happens to click tracking if setup stalls.

By AudienceBench Editorial · Published · Pricing & docs checked

Every link in a beehiiv email goes through a tracking domain first, so beehiiv can count the click, and then forwards the reader to the real page. By default that tracking domain is one of beehiiv’s shared domains (beehiiv names bhclick.com and link.mail.beehiiv.com). Branded links swap that for a tracking domain on your own custom domain. beehiiv says this strengthens your sender reputation and builds reader trust. You need a paid plan (Lite or higher) and a custom email domain first. Setup is a short two-part DNS change, and if it’s left half-finished, links in your emails “may not work as expected.”

This guide is based on beehiiv’s two branded-link help articles, its custom domain, domains overview, DMARC, Smart Warming, domain removal, and UTM articles, and beehiiv’s public pricing page. We re-checked all of them on October 17, 2026. For the full domain setup (web domain, redirect domain, DNS records, DMARC), see our beehiiv custom domain guide. This article goes deeper on the branded-link part only.

How we researched this: Every step, limit, and price below comes from beehiiv’s help center and pricing page. We haven’t set up branded links (or a custom sending domain) on a beehiiv account ourselves, so we can’t show you real screens or tell you whether they changed anyone’s deliverability.

About our links: beehiiv links on this page are affiliate links (/go/beehiiv). That’s the only program we earn from here. Entri and Cloudflare are mentioned but not linked, and we don’t earn from either. Our recommendations would be the same either way.

The short version

QuestionAnswer from today’s official sources
What are branded links?The tracking domain your email links pass through, moved onto your own domain. Example from beehiiv: elink3gd.mail.yourbrand.com.
What’s the default?beehiiv’s shared tracking domains, such as bhclick.com or link.mail.beehiiv.com.
Which plan?Paid plans only. Both branded-link articles are labeled All Paid Plans, and custom domains are — on Free and Yes on Lite, Pro, and Enterprise in the pricing table.
What else do I need?A custom email domain that’s already verified in beehiiv. beehiiv says branded links are “available to anyone using a custom email domain.”
Can I pick the link prefix?No. beehiiv says the part before your domain (like elink3gd) is system-generated and can’t be customized.
How long does setup take?Two short DNS steps, but DNS changes can take up to 72 hours to propagate, per beehiiv.
Will I see them in a test email?No. Test emails don’t track clicks, so branded links only show in a live send.
What if setup isn’t finished?Links “may not work as expected.” beehiiv offers Disable click tracking for this post so links work, but you lose click data for that post, permanently.

Start on beehiiv

beehiiv’s FAQ breaks every publication into three domain-based pieces you can customize:

  • Web domain: where your newsletter site lives (default yourpublication.beehiiv.com).
  • Email domain: the address your newsletters come from.
  • Branded link domain: the domain the links inside your emails pass through. beehiiv says that’s “how beehiiv tracks clicks.”

So branded links don’t change where a link goes. A reader who clicks still lands on the page you linked. What changes is the address they see when they hover over or tap a link, and the domain that mailbox providers see in your links. Instead of a shared beehiiv domain, it’s a subdomain of yours.

Why beehiiv recommends them: beehiiv says branded links “strengthen your sender reputation with mailbox providers” and keep links “consistent with your brand.” Its custom domain article recommends setting them up during your first domain setup “to help improve deliverability.” Those are beehiiv’s claims. beehiiv doesn’t publish numbers on how much difference branded links make, and we haven’t measured it.

What the link looks like: beehiiv’s two articles show different examples. The setup article shows elink3gd.mail.yourbrand.com and says the first part is system-generated and can’t be changed. The FAQ illustrates it as link.yournewsletter.com/ls/click?.... We’d treat the setup article as the more precise one: expect a random-looking prefix you don’t choose, on the same subdomain as your sending address. The FAQ also says “your email and branded link domains share the same subdomain,” with one additional CNAME record for the branded links.

From beehiiv’s docs and pricing page (checked October 17, 2026):

  1. A paid beehiiv plan. Both branded-link articles say All Paid Plans. The pricing table lists custom domains on Lite, Pro, and Enterprise, not Free. There’s no separate “branded links” row on the pricing table.
  2. A custom email domain, verified in beehiiv. Branded links ride on your sending domain. If you’re still sending from beehiiv’s shared domain, set up a custom domain first: How to set up a custom domain on beehiiv.
  3. Admin access to the beehiiv workspace. beehiiv’s articles are written for the Admins role.
  4. Access to your DNS at your domain provider (Cloudflare, Namecheap, GoDaddy, and so on), or a provider that works with Entri, beehiiv’s guided setup partner.

One custom domain per publication. beehiiv says you can verify several custom domains in one account, but each publication can have only one active custom domain. That one domain can serve as the web, redirect, email, and branded-link domain. If you run several publications, beehiiv recommends different subdomains for each one (like news.yoursite.com and updates.yoursite.com), because “deliverability on one may impact others.”

If you haven’t connected a custom domain yet, branded links are step 3 of 3 in beehiiv’s custom domain setup, after you add your domains and their DNS records. beehiiv labels it optional but recommends it. Our custom domain guide walks through steps 1 and 2. The branded-link step works the same way as adding them later (below).

If your custom email domain is already live, beehiiv’s branded-link article (updated Oct 1, 2026) has two routes. Use the same method you used for your custom domain: Entri if you set it up with Entri, Manual if you added records by hand.

Getting started (both routes):

  1. Click Settings in the bottom-left corner of your beehiiv dashboard.
  2. If you have more than one publication, pick the right one in the top-left corner. Then click Domains in the left panel.
  3. Under your Verified email domain, click the badge that says Branded Link Setup Available.

Route A: Entri (guided)

  1. beehiiv sends you back to Entri. Click Continue in the popup. (beehiiv notes this means agreeing to Entri’s terms and privacy policy.)
  2. Log in to your domain provider or enter a verification code if asked. Some providers skip this.
  3. Click Authorize with [your provider] (for example, Authorize with Cloudflare) so Entri can create the records.
  4. When you see “[your domain] is now configured,” click Done.
  5. Back on Domains, you may see Entri Verification in Progress. When that finishes, the branded-links badge changes to Action Required, with a banner at the top of the page.
  6. Click Action Required (or the banner link), then Verify with Entri, then Continue. Entri updates one DNS record. Click Done.
  7. The banner may linger briefly. When verification finishes, your email domain shows Live.

Route B: Manual DNS

Part 1: add two records.

  1. Log in to your domain provider in a separate tab. beehiiv suggests this so you can copy and paste.
  2. beehiiv shows two branded link records, each with a Type, Name, and Value. Add both at your DNS provider exactly as shown.
  3. Click Verify in beehiiv. If it’s correct, you move to part 2.

If you leave and come back, you may see a Configuring Email badge. beehiiv says that just means it’s still processing. When it’s ready, the badge changes to Action Required and a banner prompts you to continue.

Part 2: change one value.

  1. Click Action Required (or the banner link).
  2. Copy the Value for the final CNAME record and paste it into that record at your DNS provider. beehiiv’s warning: “Only update the Value of the CNAME record here.” Don’t add a new record or change the name.
  3. Click Verify. You may see Configuring DNS for a while. When it’s done, the Branded Links badge shows Live.

Cloudflare users: set every beehiiv record to DNS Only, not Proxied. beehiiv says it can’t see proxied records, and that proxying “can interfere with authentication and verification.” If you have to keep proxying on (for redirect rules or Workers, say), beehiiv says to open a support ticket from the Help page in your account.

Be patient with DNS. beehiiv says DNS changes can take up to 72 hours. Its custom domain article warns not to remove and re-add records while verification is pending, because that can trip blocks or rate limits with beehiiv’s SSL providers and delay things further.

  • Look for Live on the Branded Links badge under Settings → Domains.
  • Don’t judge by a test email. beehiiv says test sends don’t track clicks, so they won’t show branded links. Send a live post, then hover over (or long-press) a link in the delivered email. It should show your domain, not bhclick.com or link.mail.beehiiv.com.
  • Check the post’s click data. beehiiv’s FAQ ties click data in the Performance tab and Post Analytics report to click tracking. If a post went out with click tracking disabled, it won’t have any.

This is the part of beehiiv’s FAQ most worth knowing before you start.

  • “Your branded links verification is in progress” means setup isn’t fully verified. beehiiv says that until it is, “links in your outgoing emails may not work as expected.” To finish, click Branded Links Configuration in the banner, which takes you to the Domains page.
  • “Disable click tracking for this post” shows up when your branded-links setup is incomplete. beehiiv says turning it on keeps your links working, but you won’t see click data for that post in the Performance tab or the Post Analytics report. After sending, beehiiv shows “Click tracking disabled for this post.”
  • There’s no back-fill. If you finish branded links later, beehiiv says past posts won’t get their click data: “click activity can’t be tracked retroactively.” Future posts get click tracking automatically.

The practical takeaway: don’t start the branded-link change right before a send you care about measuring. Do it on a quiet day, and check that the badge says Live before your next issue goes out.

Keep the DNS records in place

beehiiv’s FAQ says web, redirect, and branded link domains all need an SSL certificate, and those certificates are renewed often. If beehiiv’s SSL providers can’t renew a certificate for more than 7 days, beehiiv removes those domains from your account. beehiiv says this “often occurs” when the domain owner deletes the DNS records. If it happens, you set the domain up again through the normal flow.

So if you tidy up your DNS later, or move DNS hosts, carry the beehiiv records over. beehiiv’s domain removal article lets you view and copy your DNS records from Settings → Domains before you make changes. Keep a copy somewhere safe.

People mix these up. They do different jobs:

  • Branded links change the tracking domain a click passes through on its way to the destination. They’re about beehiiv’s own click tracking, how links look, and sender reputation.
  • UTM tags are added to the destination URL so tools like Google Analytics can see the visit came from your newsletter. beehiiv’s UTM article (updated Aug 13, 2026; All Plans) says beehiiv adds them automatically by default: utm_source (your publication domain), utm_medium (email, or referral on the web version), and utm_campaign (a URL version of the post title). You can change them under Settings → General Info → UTM Analytics, or switch off Automatic UTM Tagging. If you add your own utm_source, utm_medium, or utm_campaign to a link, beehiiv says yours take precedence.

You can have UTM tags without branded links (even on Free), and branded links don’t replace UTM tags.

  • DMARC is required on a custom domain. beehiiv’s DMARC article (updated Oct 9, 2026) says all users on a custom domain must set it up. It also says your sender and reply-to addresses should use the same authenticated domain, or receiving servers may flag them. You change the sender under Settings → Emails → Sending Details. Steps are in our custom domain guide.
  • Smart Warming. When you connect a custom domain, beehiiv gradually shifts sending onto it. At first, some subscribers get your emails from your domain and the rest from beehiiv’s shared domain. beehiiv says it starts above 100 subscribers (or at 200 if you connected your domain earlier) and typically takes 6–8 weeks for publications sending more than once a week. beehiiv’s older domains overview says 4–8 weeks. beehiiv’s docs don’t say whether emails still sent from the shared domain during warming use your branded links. Big imports can stretch warming too (see How to import free subscribers into beehiiv).
  • Changing your sending username (the part before the @) on a custom domain: Settings → Domains → Email username → ⋯ → Edit Username, per beehiiv’s article (updated Oct 1, 2026; All Paid Plans).
  • Removing a domain is under Settings → Domains → Verified Web Domain → ⋯ → Disconnect Domain. beehiiv says it can’t be undone, redirect domains stop working, and you go back to your beehiiv subdomain. You also have to delete the DNS records at your provider yourself.

New to sending from your own domain? Our free Newsletter Launch Checklist covers domain authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and the other basics to check before your first send.

Plan prices (context)

Branded links come with the custom domain feature, so the real question is whether you need a paid plan. From beehiiv’s pricing page, checked October 17, 2026:

SubscribersLite (billed yearly / monthly)Pro (billed yearly / monthly)
1,000$49 / $59 per month$95 / $109 per month
2,500$69 / $79 per month$129 / $149 per month
5,000$95 / $109 per month$169 / $199 per month
10,000$119 / $139 per month$199 / $239 per month

Free is $0 up to 2,500 subscribers but has no custom domains, so no branded links. beehiiv’s pricing FAQ says Lite and Pro include a free trial with no credit card needed. Full tables: beehiiv pricing explained.

What we couldn’t confirm

These aren’t answered in today’s official docs. Ask beehiiv support if they matter to you:

  • How much branded links help deliverability. beehiiv says they help but publishes no figures.
  • Whether old emails keep working if you later remove branded links or your domain. The docs cover what happens to web and redirect domains, not links in emails already delivered.
  • Branded links during Smart Warming, for the share of mail still sent from beehiiv’s shared domain.
  • The exact link format. beehiiv’s two articles show different examples (see above).
  • Whether you can switch from Entri to Manual (or the reverse) just for the branded-link step. The articles assume you use the same method as your original setup.

Our take

Branded links are a small job if you already have a custom email domain on beehiiv: two records, one value change, and some waiting. beehiiv recommends them, and they make your email links show your own domain instead of a shared one. The risk is the in-between state. beehiiv says links may not behave while verification is pending, and if you send with click tracking disabled, that post’s click data is gone for good. Do it between issues, wait for Live, and keep the DNS records in place afterward. If you’re on Free, branded links are one more reason to weigh Lite, alongside custom domains, redirects, and paid subscriptions.

Try beehiiv · Custom domain setup · beehiiv pricing explained · Import free subscribers · Import your newsletter archive · Migrate Substack → beehiiv

Sources

All sources below were re-checked October 17, 2026.