Beacons Alternative: A Free, Simpler Option Compared (2026)
October 3, 2026 · 7 min read
Looking for a Beacons alternative? We compare Beacons and lit.bio on free plans, prices, fees and features as of October 2026, including where Beacons wins.
Quick answer: If you sell digital products, courses or memberships, send email newsletters, or want AI tools and a custom domain, Beacons is the stronger platform and you should probably stay. Its free plan already includes unlimited links, a store and a media kit, and Creator Plus ($30 a month) drops seller fees to 0%. If you mostly need a clean link page, a free Save contact card and tracking pixels without a $30 monthly bill, lit.bio is the simpler option: free for up to 10 links, with Pro at $9 a month or $49 once. lit.bio is a newer, smaller product with far fewer tools, so choose it for simplicity and price, not breadth.
Beacons vs lit.bio at a glance
Prices are as of October 2026, taken from Beacons' pricing page and help center. Beacons can change them at any time, so check its live pricing page before you decide.
| Beacons | lit.bio | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Unlimited links, a store with unlimited digital products, a daily-updating media kit, 50 email sends a month, 30 AI credits a day, one 1-page website | Up to 10 links, all 12 themes and 12 fonts, Save contact button, QR code, background music, music smart links, no ads |
| Paid plans | Creator $10/mo ($100/yr), Creator Plus $30/mo ($300/yr), Creator Max $100/mo ($900/yr) | Pro $9/mo or $49 once (lifetime) |
| Fees on sales | 9% on Free and Creator, 0% on Creator Plus and Max, plus payment processing | 10% on tips and locked content, plus Stripe processing; no platform fee on paid subscriptions or on links to your own shop |
| Custom domain | Included from Creator ($10/mo); the help center says it is free for the first year | Not yet (on the roadmap) |
| Remove platform branding | Creator Plus ($30/mo) | Pro ($9/mo or $49 once) |
| Tracking pixels | Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest on Creator Plus and Max | Meta, TikTok, Google Analytics 4, LinkedIn, Pinterest, X and Snapchat on Pro |
| Analytics | Real-time analytics on every plan (history window not stated) | 7 days free, 90 days on Pro |
| Standout features | Beam AI assistant, email marketing, courses and memberships (Plus), Instagram auto-DM, media kit with rate cards and invoices, affiliate marketplace | Save contact vCard, background music, music smart links, one-click Linktree importer, lifetime pricing |
| App | iOS app | iOS app (Android on the roadmap) |
One pricing quirk: Beacons' pricing page lists Creator Max at $100 a month, while its help center article on plans lists it at $90 a month. Both say $900 a year when billed annually. Confirm the current figure at checkout.
Where Beacons is better
- Unlimited free links. Beacons' free plan has no link cap. lit.bio stops at 10 links on Free, and you need Pro for more.
- A real store on the free plan. You can sell unlimited digital products from day one, paying a 9% seller fee. lit.bio has no storefront. On Pro you can take tips and sell locked content, or link out to a shop you run elsewhere.
- Lower fees. Creator Plus and Max carry 0% seller fees. Even Beacons' 9% on Free and Creator is a point lower than lit.bio's 10% on tips and locked content.
- Custom domains. Beacons includes one from $10 a month. lit.bio does not offer custom domains yet.
- Email marketing. Beacons sends emails for you (50, 500, then unlimited sends a month) with automation sequences. lit.bio's email capture collects addresses but does not send campaigns.
- Breadth. Courses with video hosting, memberships, a brand-deal media kit with invoices, an AI assistant, Instagram auto-DM, multi-page websites and a physical NFC card on Max. lit.bio has none of these.
If you earn from brand deals or sell a catalogue of products, Beacons was built for you, and lit.bio will feel thin.
Where lit.bio is better
- One payment instead of a subscription. lit.bio Pro is $49 once. Beacons Creator Plus, the plan that removes the Beacons logo, costs $300 a year billed annually. Over two years that is $600 against $49.
- Pixels at $9. Beacons' plan comparison puts its Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest pixels on Creator Plus and Max. lit.bio Pro includes those three plus Google Analytics 4, LinkedIn, X and Snapchat. (No Google Tag Manager, though.)
- A Save contact card on the free plan. You fill in your name, title, company, phone, email, website and address, and visitors tap once to save a vCard with your photo, no app needed. Beacons' pricing page lists a QR code and an Apple Wallet card, but no Save contact button. If your page doubles as a business card, see our guide to the best free digital business cards.
- 0% on subscriptions at a lower price. lit.bio charges no platform fee on paid subscription tiers, available on the $9 Pro plan. Beacons memberships start at Creator Plus.
- Simpler. Beacons is a business suite with AI credits, websites, email, a store and a media kit. If you just want a link page, lit.bio has far fewer screens to learn, and no ads on any plan.
- Music and personality for free. Background music (MP3, M4A or OGG) with an optional tap-to-enter screen, a "listen anywhere" block from one Spotify or Apple Music link, a frosted glass panel and glowing social icons all come with the free plan.
What reviewers say about Beacons
As of October 2026, Beacons has a 2.0 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot from 42 reviews, and its iOS app is rated 3.2 from 97 ratings. The five most recent Trustpilot reviews, from May to August 2026, are one-star. Those reviewers report that customer service did not reply, that they could not downgrade, that email automation broke with no answer for about two weeks, and that fees were high and payouts delayed. One reviewer says Beacons did not release their artist website address after they canceled. That is a small sample for a platform Beacons says millions of creators use, so read the reviews yourself and weigh them accordingly.
lit.bio's limits, plainly
- The free plan caps you at 10 links.
- No custom domains yet. They are on the roadmap, but your page lives at lit.bio/yourname for now.
- Tips and locked content carry a flat 10% platform fee plus Stripe processing.
- No courses, email sending, AI assistant, social scheduling, team plans or NFC cards.
- Free pages show a small "Create your own free page" link at the bottom. Pro removes it.
- It is a newer, smaller product, with an iOS app only (Android is on the roadmap).
How to switch from Beacons to lit.bio
- Open your Beacons analytics and note which links actually get clicks. On lit.bio Free you get 10, so start with those.
- Sign up and claim lit.bio/yourname.
- Add your links, social icons, profile photo and header, then pick a theme and layout. lit.bio's importer only works with Linktree, so moving from Beacons is manual, but a typical page takes a few minutes.
- Fill in your Save contact details if you want the page to work as a business card, and print the free QR code if you use one.
- Upgrade to Pro only if you need more links, pixels, branding removal, booking, email capture, tips or subscriptions.
- Swap the URL in your Instagram, TikTok and other bios. Keep Beacons live until everything has moved.
What you lose: your Beacons store and its checkout, email sending and automations, courses, the media kit, your custom domain and the AI tools. Export your audience contacts before you cancel, and host products somewhere else (lit.bio takes no fee on links to your own shop). If you rely on several of these, switching probably is not worth it. Our Linktree vs Beacons comparison may be a better next read.
Which should you choose?
Stay on Beacons if it is your store, email list and brand-deal hub. Try lit.bio if Beacons feels like more software than you need and you want pixels, branding removal and a Save contact card for a single $49 payment instead of $30 a month. If avoiding monthly bills is the main goal, read our guide to a link in bio with no monthly fee, or compare plans on the pricing page. The free plan costs nothing to try. Start free