AudienceBench

beehiiv Group Subscriptions: How to Sell Team and Bulk Seats (2026)

How beehiiv group subscriptions work: Pro or Enterprise, annual tiers only, seat minimums, a flat group discount, invites, and custom deals with invoices.

By AudienceBench Editorial · Published · Pricing & docs checked

A group subscription on beehiiv lets one buyer pay for many seats on one of your paid tiers in a single purchase, then hand those seats out to readers by invite. It’s built for teams, newsrooms, book clubs, families, and companies buying access as a perk. It’s a Pro and Enterprise feature, and it only works on tiers with an annual price. beehiiv offers two versions: a self-serve Group option on your upgrade page, and custom group deals you set up yourself for a specific buyer, with your own price and an invoice or off-platform payment if you want.

This guide is based on beehiiv’s four help articles on group subscriptions (all updated Aug 6, 2026), its articles on paid tiers, the Pricing block, gifts, and offers, and beehiiv’s public pricing page. We re-checked all of them on October 20, 2026. New to paid newsletters on beehiiv? Start with How to set up paid subscriptions on beehiiv.

How we researched this: Every step, limit, and price below comes from beehiiv’s help center and pricing page. We haven’t set up or sold a group subscription ourselves, so we can’t show you real screens or confirm anything beehiiv doesn’t document. beehiiv also labels three of these help articles as “currently being updated to reflect recent releases,” so a few menu names may differ in your account.

About our links: beehiiv links on this page are affiliate links (/go/beehiiv). That’s the only program we earn from here. Our recommendations would be the same either way.

The short version

QuestionAnswer (per today’s sources)
Which plans have group subscriptions?Pro and Enterprise only. Pricing table: Free —, Lite —, Pro Yes, Enterprise Yes
Which billing cadence?Annual only for self-serve groups. Custom deals can be annual or one-time
Who pays?One buyer (beehiiv calls them the group admin). Members are never billed and don’t see prices
Can I give a bulk discount?Yes, one optional flat group discount per tier. No tiered volume discounts
Do free or paid trials apply?No. Trial offers don’t apply to group purchases
How do readers get a seat?The admin invites them by email, shareable link, or CSV upload. Each claimed seat is a full paid subscriber
Can I invoice a company?Yes, with a custom group deal: credit card link, Stripe invoice, or off platform
Does beehiiv take a cut?beehiiv says 0% of paid subscription revenue. Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction

Start on beehiiv

What a group subscription is (and isn’t)

beehiiv’s paid tiers can be sold three ways, if you turn them on:

OptionWhat it is (beehiiv’s words)Best for
IndividualA reader buys one subscription for themselvesStandard paid subscribers
GiftA reader buys a subscription for one other personOne-off gifts to a known recipient
GroupA buyer purchases many seats at once and distributes them via invitesTeams, communities, families, and corporate access

The buyer gets a pool of seats. Each time someone claims an invite, one seat is used and that person becomes a full paid subscriber on the tier. beehiiv’s examples of use: a book club or community buying a block of annual subscriptions, gifting subscriptions to family, giving a whole newsroom or team access, and offering subscriptions as a corporate benefit.

Gift and group are separate toggles on the same tier, so you can offer both. If you only want readers to buy for one other person, see beehiiv comps, gift subscriptions, and trial offers. Note that beehiiv’s “complimentary access” can be granted to a group of subscribers in bulk, but that’s a free comp, not a group subscription.

Before you start

  • A Pro or Enterprise beehiiv plan. All four group subscription articles are labeled Pro and Enterprise, and the pricing table shows — for Free and Lite.
  • Stripe connected. beehiiv requires a connected Stripe account for paid subscriptions, including groups.
  • A paid tier with an annual price. beehiiv’s tiers article says group subscriptions “are not offered on a monthly or quarterly payment schedule.” beehiiv doesn’t say whether the same tier can also keep monthly or quarterly prices for individual readers, so check when you set it up.
  • Members or Admin role in your beehiiv workspace.

Option 1: Self-serve group purchases

This is the version where buyers pick Group on your upgrade page, choose how many seats they want, and pay by card at your tier’s normal price.

Step 1: Turn on Group for a tier

From beehiiv’s publisher article:

  1. Go to the Tiers tab in your Paid Subscriptions area.
  2. Click + New Tier, or open an existing tier with the 3 dots menu → Edit tier.
  3. Go to the Advanced tab and turn on the Group purchase option. (The tier needs an annual billing cadence.)
  4. Set a minimum number of seats a buyer must purchase. This is required.
  5. Optionally, set a default discount for group purchases, to reward bigger orders.
  6. Click Create (new tier) or Save (existing tier).

Step 2: Show the Group option on your site

This is the step that’s easy to miss. beehiiv says turning on Group for a tier does not add it to your upgrade page or pricing blocks.

  1. Open your site in the Website Builder.
  2. On your upgrade page, click the Pricing block to select it.
  3. In the design panel on the right, scroll to the Group options and click Yes.
  4. Publish your changes.

Readers then see Individual and Group options in that pricing block. beehiiv’s Pricing block article is written for the Advanced Website Builder (beehiiv’s original full-featured builder, still called “Website Builder” in some accounts) and says its steps don’t apply to sites on the legacy builder. If you’re on the newer, simpler Website Builder that beehiiv started giving to publications created on or after September 21, 2026, its docs don’t spell out these steps, so check the Pricing block options there. Not sure which builder you’re on? See beehiiv Website Builder vs Advanced Website Builder.

What the buyer sees

  1. On your upgrade page, they choose Group.
  2. They pick a seat count, at or above your minimum.
  3. A live price preview updates as they change the count. beehiiv’s example: 10 annual subscriptions at $100/yr shows as a $1,000 total, with any group discount applied.
  4. They check out, then land on a seat management page with a prompt to invite readers.

Buyers can also reach group checkout through a direct link, according to beehiiv’s FAQ. The article doesn’t say where to copy that link for self-serve groups.

Option 2: Custom group deals (invoices and special pricing)

Custom deals are for a school, company, or organization that wants its own price, seat count, or payment terms, such as paying by invoice. You set it up for them instead of sending them through checkout.

From beehiiv’s custom deals article:

  1. Go to Tiers → Group subscriptions → + New custom group.
  2. Fill in the group details:
    • Group name, which the admin and members also see.
    • Tier, the paid tier the deal is for.
    • Admin email, your customer. They’re subscribed to your publication and manage payment and members.
    • Publication contact email, where the admin should send billing or support questions. That conversation happens outside beehiiv.
    • Notes, internal only.
  3. Click Next and choose a Billing method:
    • Credit card: beehiiv generates a payment link. The subscription starts when they pay.
    • Stripe invoice: beehiiv gives you an invoice link, and Stripe can email it to the admin automatically if you have automatic invoice emails turned on in Stripe. Set Payment due within (days). If the due date plus your invoice grace period pass without payment, the deal is canceled automatically. The grace period defaults to 14 days and can be changed under Subscriptions → Tiers → Settings → Invoice grace period.
    • Off platform: no payment goes through beehiiv. You set a Subscription start date and collect payment yourself.
  4. For invoice and off-platform deals, check the box confirming the group has consented to receive your emails. beehiiv says all reader groups must have given explicit consent.
  5. Pick a cadence: Annual or One-time. Those are the only two options for custom deals.
  6. Set pricing per seat or as a total price. This overrides the tier’s normal price for this deal.
  7. Click Create and generate payment link (or Create custom group for off-platform deals, which generate no link). You can copy the link again later from the 3 dots menu → Copy payment link.

Things to watch for:

  • Off-platform deals stay active until you cancel them, even if you never send an invoice or get paid. beehiiv suggests a calendar reminder to bill each year. There’s no way to mark an off-platform deal as paid later. The start date decides when it activates.
  • Invoice deals update on their own when the Stripe invoice is paid. The deal’s details page shows the expiration date (days until due plus grace period).
  • You can run the group for them. You can send the admin a link to manage it, or invite members and manage seats yourself from the deal’s details page (3 dots menu → View details). To end a deal, use 3 dots menu → Cancel deal.
  • beehiiv support won’t help your buyers directly. beehiiv says a group deal is a business arrangement between you and your subscribers. You can contact support on the admin’s behalf if they have a technical problem.

How the group admin manages seats

Self-serve and custom groups work the same way after setup. From beehiiv’s subscriber-side article:

  • The admin logs in to your publication and opens the Group subscription tab in their subscriber profile.
  • + Invite members sends invites to a comma-separated list of emails. beehiiv notes they must type a comma after each address, even if there’s only one. After that they can keep inviting by email or use Bulk update with CSV. beehiiv’s publisher article also mentions a shareable redemption link.
  • The roster shows each seat’s email, status (Invited, Active, Expired, or Revoked), and the invite date. Admins can resend or cancel an invite before it’s accepted, or remove someone afterward. Removal is immediate, and the seat is freed for someone else.
  • Adding seats charges a pro-rated amount for the rest of the billing period, due right away. New seats are usable as soon as it’s paid.
  • Removing seats takes effect at the next renewal. beehiiv says there’s no refund or partial credit for the current period.
  • Cancelling stops the next renewal. The admin and members keep access until the renewal date.
  • Change plan opens the Stripe billing portal, and Billing details shows the plan and payment info.

On your side, the admin can’t invite anyone or manage seats until the group’s Stripe Status shows Active.

What members see

  • The invite email asks them to claim a subscription to your publication and says which admin invited them.
  • If they already have a free account, it’s upgraded to paid with no payment details needed. If they’re new, beehiiv creates an account and activates the subscription.
  • If all seats are taken, they see a message that no seats remain and to contact the admin.
  • They never see seat counts, prices, or billing. Their subscription page says it’s managed by the admin.
  • If a member already pays for the same tier individually, beehiiv shows an overlap notice with the option to cancel the individual subscription and avoid paying twice.

Where groups show up in your dashboard

Group subscriptions have their own section on the Tiers tab of Paid Subscriptions (beehiiv moved it there from the Overview tab’s Breakdown in its paid subscriptions redesign). It lists the admin email, seats purchased, plan and cadence, tier, seats redeemed, and a Status that mirrors the Stripe payment status.

Each claimed seat counts as its own paid subscriber, and group revenue rolls into your normal paid subscription numbers. beehiiv’s example: a 50-seat purchase shows as 50 subscribers as seats are claimed.

Discounts, trials, and other limits

  • One flat discount per tier. beehiiv’s FAQ says the optional group discount “applies regardless of how many seats are purchased,” and that tiered volume discounts (for example, 10% off 10 seats and 20% off 50) aren’t supported. For a special price for one big buyer, use a custom group deal.
  • No trials. beehiiv’s offers article says group subscriptions aren’t eligible for free trial or paid trial offers, and only get the discount set on the group option.
  • One tier per group. Every member gets the same tier and plan.
  • Moving groups from another platform: beehiiv’s docs disagree. The publisher article’s FAQ says migrating existing groups is “not at this time” and “planned as a future update.” The custom deals article says custom deals also let you “migrate existing group subscriptions from another platform.” Our reading is that you can recreate each group by hand as a custom deal, but there’s no import tool. Ask beehiiv support before you plan a migration around it. For individual paid subscribers, see How to import paid subscribers into beehiiv.

Plan prices (context)

Group subscriptions need Pro or Enterprise. From beehiiv’s pricing page, checked October 20, 2026:

SubscribersPro (billed yearly / monthly)Lite, for comparison (no group subscriptions)
1,000$95 / $109 per month$49 / $59 per month
2,500$129 / $149 per month$69 / $79 per month
5,000$169 / $199 per month$95 / $109 per month
10,000$199 / $239 per month$119 / $139 per month

The pricing table lists Group subscriptions as — on Free and Lite and Yes on Pro and Enterprise. Pro also adds unlimited paid tiers (Lite gets 1) and paid trials. beehiiv’s FAQ says it takes 0% of paid subscription revenue, you pay Stripe’s standard 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, Lite and Pro have a free trial with no credit card needed, and Enterprise is through sales. Full tables: beehiiv pricing explained.

Is Pro worth it for groups? At 1,000 subscribers, Pro costs $46 a month more than Lite on yearly billing ($95 vs $49), or about $552 a year. If you price an annual tier at $100, that’s roughly six group seats a year to cover the difference, before Stripe fees. That’s our own arithmetic, not a beehiiv figure, and Pro includes other features you may already want.

What we couldn’t confirm

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

  • Whether the group discount is a percentage or a fixed amount. beehiiv calls it a “flat discount” in one article and a “per-seat discount” in another.
  • Any maximum seat count per group.
  • How Stripe fees apply to a group checkout (presumably one transaction for the whole group), and whether Stripe Invoicing adds its own fees for invoice deals. Check Stripe’s pricing.
  • Where to copy the direct link for self-serve group checkout.
  • Whether a tier with Group turned on can also keep monthly or quarterly prices for individual readers.
  • How to show the Group option in the newer, simpler Website Builder, since the Pricing block article covers the Advanced Website Builder.
  • When an invite becomes “Expired”, and what happens to members if the admin’s renewal payment fails.
  • Whether group subscriptions work during beehiiv’s free trial of Pro.
  • Taxes or VAT on group purchases.
  • Migrating existing groups from another platform (the docs conflict, see above).

Our take

beehiiv’s group subscriptions cover the two cases most newsletter publishers run into. Self-serve works for a manager or club organizer who just wants to buy 10 seats with a card. Custom deals work for the company that wants an invoice and a negotiated price. The admin tools are solid: invites by email, link, or CSV, pro-rated seat additions, and members who never see billing. The limits are real, though. You need Pro, groups are annual only, there’s one flat discount instead of volume pricing, and no trials. If team or corporate sales are part of your plan, it’s a good reason to choose Pro. If you mainly sell to individuals, Lite plus gift subscriptions may be enough.

Try beehiiv · Set up paid subscriptions · Comps, gifts, and trials · beehiiv vs Kit for paid newsletters · beehiiv pricing explained

Sources

All sources below were re-checked October 20, 2026.