beehiiv MCP Server: Setup, What It Can Do, Plans and Alternatives

Short answer: yes, beehiiv has an official MCP server. It's hosted at https://mcp.beehiiv.com/mcp, you connect with an OAuth sign-in, and it's listed in Claude's connector directory and the ChatGPT and Codex plugin directory. Free plans get read-only access. Paid plans can also write. By design, the agent drafts posts and builds automations, but publishing, sending and switching an automation on stay in your hands, inside beehiiv.

beehiiv launched a read-only version in March 2026, opened it to everyone in April, and added write access for paid plans in June. This guide covers what it does today, as of October 2026.

We run Audienceful, a newsletter and email platform with its own MCP server, so we have a point of view. We've kept the beehiiv sections to what beehiiv documents.

What the beehiiv MCP can do

beehiiv's server reaches more of its product than most newsletter platforms' servers do. In beehiiv's own words, the agent can:

Posts: draft, edit and duplicate posts and post templates, and read post content, stats, clicks, comments and engagement for each subscriber.
Automations: build journeys, steps, triggers and automation emails, including A/B variants.
Audience: manage subscriptions, segments, tags, custom fields, newsletter lists and signup flows.
Monetization: work with products, tiers, premium offers, paywalls, and the ad and sponsor networks.
Growth and analytics: recommendations, referral programs, polls, surveys and reporting.
Communities and podcasts: manage channels and members, and create and schedule podcast episodes.

What stays manual: beehiiv says "publishing and sending stay human actions in beehiiv, so the agent prepares the post and you press send". The same goes for automations: "activating an automation stays a human action in the editor." That's a deliberate safety choice. It also means you can't finish the job from the chat.

How to set it up

Claude: add beehiiv from Claude's connector directory, or open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector and enter https://mcp.beehiiv.com/mcp.
ChatGPT and Codex: install beehiiv from the plugin directory.
Claude Code or Cursor: /plugin marketplace add beehiiv/agents, then /plugin install beehiiv@beehiiv.
Gemini CLI: gemini extensions install https://github.com/beehiiv/agents.

Sign in to beehiiv when prompted. MCP access also has to be switched on under Settings → Workspace → MCP. Otherwise tool calls return a permission error.

Plans

Free: read-only access. Good for asking questions about your newsletter.
Paid plans: write access, at no extra cost.

beehiiv renamed its plans on October 1, 2026. Launch is now Free, Scale is now Lite and Max is now Pro. Existing customers move over at their first renewal after November 1. Some groups of tools are gated separately, so what your agent sees depends on your plan and settings.

beehiiv MCP vs Audienceful MCP

	beehiiv	Audienceful
Official MCP server	Yes	Yes
Hosted, nothing to install	Yes (`mcp.beehiiv.com/mcp`)	Yes (`api.audienceful.com/v2/mcp`)
Sign-in	OAuth	OAuth, with a workspace and permission picker (view, edit or send)
Free plan	Read-only	Full access, including sending with your approval (within the Free plan's sending limit)
Draft newsletters	Yes	Yes, in a collaborative block editor
Build automations	Yes, you activate them in beehiiv	Yes, always created paused, and you turn them on
Send or schedule from chat	No, you press send in beehiiv	Yes, after a required preview of recipients and timing, with a single-use approval
Reports	Yes	Opens, clicks, top links, deliverability and revenue

Switching from beehiiv?

Send from the chat. Your assistant can schedule this week's issue once you've approved the exact recipients, instead of handing you a draft to send yourself.
Full MCP access on the free plan. beehiiv's Free plan is read-only. Audienceful's MCP server can write and send on every plan.
Automations you can switch on from the chat. New automations start paused, and your assistant can turn them on after you've checked them.
An editor your whole team can use. Drafts land in a collaborative block editor with reusable themes, so a marketer can polish what the assistant wrote without touching code.

Start free: the free plan covers up to 1,000 contacts. Then bring your list over with our migration guide.

When to use which

Stay with beehiiv if your newsletter makes money through beehiiv's ad network, boosts or paywalls. Its MCP gives an assistant wide access to all of that, and pressing send yourself is a small price.

Look at Audienceful if you want the assistant to finish the job, or want full MCP access on a free plan. Your assistant can turn your notes into this week's issue, send you a test, and schedule it for Tuesday at 9am once you've approved the exact recipients. It can also build the welcome sequence and tell you which links got clicked. Your newsletter archive publishes to the web automatically, and the built-in AI agent can do all of this inside Audienceful too.

For more, see beehiiv vs Audienceful, the best beehiiv alternatives and email marketing for newsletter creators.

FAQs

Does beehiiv have an MCP server?

Yes. beehiiv's official MCP server is hosted at https://mcp.beehiiv.com/mcp and listed in Claude's connector directory, the ChatGPT and Codex plugin directory, and the official MCP Registry.

Can the beehiiv MCP send newsletters?

No. It can draft and edit posts and build automations, but publishing, sending and activating automations are done by you in beehiiv.

Is the beehiiv MCP free?

Read-only access is free. Write access, such as drafting posts and building automations, needs a paid beehiiv plan.

What's a good beehiiv MCP alternative?

If you want to write, schedule and send your newsletter from Claude or ChatGPT, with your approval for each send, Audienceful's email marketing MCP server does it on every plan, including Free.

beehiiv MCP: What You Can Automate Today (and What You Can't)