Selva Mail vs
beehiiv
Billed per subscriber, free up to 2,500.
What beehiiv does well
The best newsletter growth toolkit available — referral programs, recommendation networks, a real ad marketplace and clean analytics. If your business model is a newsletter, these are features nothing else bundles.
Where the pricing model hurts
It is a newsletter platform, not a sending platform. There is no transactional API for your application, and the subscriber-based pricing climbs as your list does.
What it costs at 5k, 10k and 25k
Assumes four emails per contact per month. Selva Mail is a one-time $497 license, then AWS bills you for what you actually send.
| Contacts | beehiiv | Selva Mail (AWS) | Annual saving | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | $59/mo | ≈$2/mo | $684 | ~8.7 months |
| 10,000 | $109/mo | ≈$5/mo | $1,248 | ~4.8 months |
| 25,000 | $179/mo | ≈$12/mo | $2,004 | ~3.0 months |
Public list prices, 2026. Where a competitor is free software, the saving column is blank on purpose — the cost you are comparing is your own server and your own hours, not a license fee.
Selva Mail costs $497 once, then AWS at cost — about $6/mo at 50,000 emails. It is priced per email sent, not per contact, so it does not grow with your list.
Migrating from beehiiv
Export subscribers as CSV from the audience view. Publications map to Selva Mail lists; if you also need transactional sending you were going to add a second vendor anyway, which Selva Mail removes.
Stop paying for the same contacts
every month.
$497 once. Runs on your infrastructure, sends through your own AWS SES account. Launch buyers get agency rights permanently — unlimited client workspaces. First 100 licenses.