Linktree vs Beacons (2026): Plans, Fees and Features Compared

Linktree suits creators who mostly share links and want a cheaper unbranded page (Pro, $12/month billed annually) or a long analytics history. Beacons suits creators who want a store, email sends, a media kit, Instagram DMs and a custom domain in one account. Beacons includes a custom domain from its $10 Creator plan; Linktree doesn't offer custom domains. Transaction fees on what you sell will often make a bigger difference to your costs than the subscription.

Both products changed a lot this fall. Linktree launched Messaging and new YouTube tools on September 29, then added Profile Lock (beta), Audience Manager and free Insights in its October release. Beacons redesigned its link-in-bio page on August 19, added a guided website builder on August 26, and made several Smart Reply and media kit changes in early September (Beacons changelog). Every Linktree and Beacons fact below comes from their own pages, as of October 19, 2026.

Quick verdict by creator type

• You mainly need a link list. Linktree. Its free plan includes unlimited links.
• You sell digital products and want everything in one account. Beacons. Its plans bundle a store, email sends, Smart Reply and a website builder.
• You need your own domain. Beacons. Linktree's help center says it doesn't support custom domains.
• You're a US creator who wants brand affiliate offers. Both have programs, but Linktree's partner earnings are US-only. We could not find a country list for Beacons' affiliate marketplace.
• You pitch brands often. Beacons. Its media kit is on every plan; Linktree's Media Kit is US-only.

Prices as of October 19, 2026

Prices are in USD as shown on each vendor's pricing page. They may differ by region or currency.

Plan tier	Linktree	Beacons
Free	$0, "Free with restrictions"	$0, "Free forever"
Entry	Starter: $6/mo billed annually, or $8 monthly	Creator: $8.33/mo billed annually ($100/yr), or $10 monthly
Middle	Pro: $12/mo billed annually, or $15 monthly	Creator Plus: $25/mo billed annually ($300/yr), or $30 monthly
Top	Premium: $30/mo billed annually, or $35 monthly	Creator Max: $83.30/mo billed annually ($900/yr), or $100 monthly
Trial or discount	7-day free trial on Pro and Premium	Annual billing shown as "2 months free!"

Sources: Linktree pricing, Beacons pricing.

Feature by feature

Page design

On Linktree's pricing table, Free gets unlimited links, free themes and one featured link. Starter adds unlimited featured links and grid or carousel collection layouts. Pro adds advanced themes, header layouts, and custom or stock wallpaper images and videos. Linktree's September release added header layouts, more social icons, featured layouts, stickers, GIF profile images and banners, and artist themes.

Beacons lists "Unlimited Link in Bio Customization" and custom or stock background images and videos on every plan, including Free (pricing). Its August 19 update added five header styles, scrolling text and scroll-linked motion (changelog). Beacons also includes a website builder, with one website and one page on Free and up to ten websites on Creator Max.

Selling and fees

Beacons lists a 9% transaction fee on Free and Creator and 0% on Creator Plus and Creator Max. The same 9% and 0% split applies to its affiliate links (pricing). Beacons' fees help article confirms the split and lists processor fees: Stripe at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, and PayPal at 3.49% plus a fixed fee that depends on currency. That article still calls Creator Max "$90/month", which doesn't match today's $100 price. Check the pricing page for prices.

Linktree says its transaction fee "depends on your Linktree plan." Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per purchase on direct sales and $0.25 per payout on partner earnings (fees help, updated Oct 12). The pricing page conflicts with itself. The Pro plan card says "Sell and earn with 0% fees", but the comparison table on the same page lists digital products and courses at 12% on Free, 9% on Starter, 9% on Pro and 0% on Premium. Linktree also says selling digital products requires a Pro or Premium plan (Earn requirements, updated Oct 14). Confirm the fee in your dashboard before you set prices.

Where you can earn. Linktree's direct earnings (digital products, courses, Bookings) work in 35 listed countries, including most of the EU, the UK, Canada, Australia and Japan. Its partner earnings (Shops, sponsored links, affiliate opportunities) and Rewards are US-only (Earn requirements). Beacons' help says you take payments by connecting a Stripe or PayPal account (payouts help), and its pricing page lists "20+ currencies." We could not find a country list for Beacons.

Beacons Creator Plus costs $20 more per month than Creator when billed monthly. Dropping a 9% fee saves you more than that once you sell about $222 a month.

Instagram DM automation: IG Auto Reply vs Smart Reply

Linktree IG Auto Reply. Linktree's pricing table lists Instagram Auto-reply on every plan, capped at 1k sends a month on Free, 1.5k on Starter, 2.5k on Pro and unlimited on Premium. Triggers on all posts, your next post or specific keywords require Pro or Premium (pricing). Linktree's feature page says you need a public Instagram Business or Creator account and can track sends and clicks.

Beacons Smart Reply. Beacons lists "Smart Reply IG auto-DM" on the Free plan and unlimited Instagram DM automations on every plan (pricing). It shipped several updates in August and September (changelog):

• DMs can point to any URL or be text-only.
• Automations can be paused and switched between post, global and DM triggers.
• An optional follow-up goes only to people who didn't click.
• A DM can ask for an email address.
• Since September 2, every plan can turn off the opening DM. With it on, Free and Creator messages carry a "Sent with Beacons" line.

Email and audience

Linktree collects email and phone sign-ups on every plan. Syncing them to Mailchimp, Google Sheets, Kit or Klaviyo requires Pro or Premium (pricing). Its October release added Audience Manager, which groups contacts "by interest, intent or signup source" (Treetop, Oct 2026). Linktree Messaging is free for all Linkers. It adds visitors who message you to Audience Manager if they approve (Sep 29 post).

Beacons sends the emails itself: 50 email sends a month on Free, 500 on Creator and unlimited on Creator Plus and Creator Max, with unlimited contacts on every plan (pricing). If you want to email your list without a separate newsletter tool, Beacons includes email sends; Linktree connects to email tools on Pro and Premium.

Media kit

Beacons lists a daily-updating media kit, media kit analytics and an optional email gate on every plan. A custom media kit domain starts on Creator (pricing). Since September 9, brands who enter their email to open your kit are added to Audience Manager as media kit leads (changelog).

Linktree's Media Kit refreshes daily and covers a rolling 28-day period. It is "available to Linkers based in the United States", and PDF download requires Pro or Premium (help).

Analytics history

Linktree's pricing table lists analytics history as the last 28 days on Free, 90 days on Starter, 365 days on Pro and all time on Premium. Data export is Premium-only (pricing). Its October release also says "Insights and data answers come free with your account" (Treetop).

Beacons lists "Advanced Traffic Analytics" on every plan and "Real-time analytics" on Free (pricing). We could not find a documented history limit for any Beacons plan.

Custom domain

Linktree: "Linktree doesn't support custom domains." It suggests a Redirect, available on Starter and up, if you want visitors sent to your own site (help, updated Oct 12).

Beacons: a free custom domain from the Creator plan. It has supported separate domains for your website and link in bio since April 29, and you can buy more from settings since August 21 (pricing, changelog).

Removing the branding

Linktree removes its footer logo on Pro and Premium. Beacons removes its branding on Creator Plus and Creator Max (Linktree pricing, Beacons pricing). The cheapest unbranded page costs $12/month on Linktree and $25/month on Beacons, both billed annually.

At a glance

	Linktree	Beacons
Custom domain	Not supported	Creator and up
Remove branding	Pro and up	Creator Plus and up
Seller fee	Depends on plan; pricing page conflicts on Pro	9% Free/Creator, 0% Plus/Max
Instagram auto-DM	All plans, capped sends below Premium	All plans, unlimited automations
Built-in email sends	Integrations on Pro and up	50/mo Free, unlimited from Creator Plus
Media kit	US-only	All plans
Analytics history	28 days Free, all time on Premium	Not documented

Where each one falls short

Linktree: you can't use your own domain on any plan. Partner earnings and the Media Kit are US-only. The Pro fee is unclear from the pricing page.

Beacons: you only lose the branding at $25/month or more. Free and Creator pay a 9% fee on sales and affiliate links. The plans pack in many tools (AI credits, websites, invoicing), which is a lot if you only need links.

A third option: ManyLinks

If you don't sell or automate DMs and mostly want a page people enjoy looking at, ManyLinks takes a different approach. We make it, so weigh this section with that in mind.

• Layout. A ManyLinks page is a grid of blocks in several sizes: links, images, text, titles and maps.
• Live social blocks. Social blocks for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Threads, Bluesky and others show details such as follower counts and recent posts where the platform makes them available. The data refreshes every 7 days on Free and every 24 hours on Pro, so it isn't real-time.
• Free plan. Unlimited links and blocks, every block type, and analytics for the last 30 days.
• Pro. €10.82/month or €99.99/year as of October 19, 2026. It adds a custom domain, removes the ManyLinks branding, and adds unlimited analytics history and UTM campaign reports.

ManyLinks is the wrong tool if you need what Linktree and Beacons are built for. There's no checkout or product sales, no Instagram DM automation, no visitor inbox and no email sign-up form. It also can't import a Linktree or Beacons page, so you'd rebuild your links by hand. Our guide to switching from Linktree walks through that. You can compare Free and Pro before deciding.

Which should you pick?

• Pick Linktree if you want a simple link page, you're in the US and want brand affiliate offers, or you want long analytics history on a paid plan.
• Pick Beacons if you want a custom domain, sell digital products at volume (0% fee from Creator Plus), or want email sends, a media kit and Smart Reply in one account.
• Pick neither if you mainly want a visual page with analytics on the free plan. Our link-in-bio alternatives comparison covers the wider field.

Check both pricing pages on the day you sign up.