Welcome to beehiiv! We’re thrilled that you’ve chosen to publish with us. 

This Publisher Agreement (“Agreement”) is a binding contract between you and beehiiv Inc. (“we”, “us”, “our”). It contains the rules and restrictions that govern your use of beehiiv’s products and services (referred to below simply as “beehiiv”) to distribute your newsletters and any content therein. If you use beehiiv for this purpose, you are a Publisher and will need to create a Publisher account. In this Agreement, we refer to people that subscribe to your newsletters as Readers. 

Using beehiiv in any way means that you agree to this Agreement, and this Agreement will remain in effect while you use beehiiv. This Agreement includes everything in this document, as well as those in the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and all other rules and procedures that may be published from time to time by us on beehiiv. In the event of any conflict between this Agreement and any other terms and conditions you have agreed to with beehiiv, this Agreement will prevail with respect to its subject matter. 

You must be of legal age to form a binding contract to use beehiiv. If you aren’t, you need to get your parent’s or guardian’s permission to use beehiiv, and your parent or guardian will agree to this Agreement on your behalf. 

If you’re agreeing to this Agreement on behalf of an organization or entity, you must be  authorized to agree to this Agreement on that organization or entity’s behalf and bind them to this Agreement (in which case, the references to “you” and “your” throughout this document refer to that organization or entity).

If you don’t agree to all of the following, you may not use or access beehiiv in any manner. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the Agreement or our products and services, please contact us at [email protected].

Ownership

First and foremost, you own what you create. Any original content you post, upload, share, store, or otherwise provide to beehiiv remains yours and is protected by copyright and any other applicable intellectual property laws.

However, please note that you agree to grant us a limited license to your content in order to enable us to operate beehiiv. This license allows us to promote your content and help you succeed on beehiiv. 

You agree that this limited license includes a worldwide, nonexclusive, sublicensable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferable right (a) to market your newsletters and to permit others to use, access, and download your newsletters through beehiiv, and (b) to use your tradename(s), trademark(s), and logo(s) in connection with the distribution and marketing of newsletters. For further details on this license, please see “Posting Content on beehiiv” in the Terms of Use, which is incorporated into this Agreement by reference. 

Pricing and Payments

You may offer your newsletters for free, or for a subscription fee, to be determined at your discretion. You may set and change the prices for your newsletter at your discretion through your Publisher account, though no price changes will apply retroactively.

If you choose to charge a subscription fee for your newsletter, you agree to the following:

• No Circumvention: You agree to process payments from Readers only in the manner determined by us. This includes using the third-party payment processing platform (“Payment Processor”) we choose, and following any other rules we specify. You may not circumvent your payment obligations to us by soliciting payment from a Reader outside of beehiiv or by using any alternative method to collect subscription payments. This includes receiving payments for your newsletter through links to Paypal or a separate Patreon page. You agree to notify us immediately if you receive any such offer or solicitation to circumvent your payment obligations by contacting [email protected].
• Taxes: You agree that you shall bear and be responsible for any and all applicable federal, state, local, and foreign taxes, duties, tariffs, levies, withholdings, and similar assessments (including without limitation, sales, use, and value added taxes) related to your newsletter.
• Payment Processor: During the term of this Agreement, you agree that the Payment Processor may deduct any applicable Payment Processor fees on a rolling basis as you process subscription payments from Readers. You agree to these payments and further agree that all such payments are non-refundable.  
• Information Upon Request: You will provide us with all requested data or information about you and your newsletters. This includes all payment and tax identification information, and you will ensure this information is accurate and up-to-date.

Relationships with Readers

You agree to the following rules around your relationships with Readers and other users of beehiiv:

• Sole Responsibility: You agree that you are solely responsible for (and that we have no responsibility to you or to any third party for) any newsletters you distribute through beehiiv and for the consequences of your actions by doing so. This means that you acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for ensuring distribution of your newsletters, our actions under this Agreement are solely to assist you in facilitating distribution. 
• Stopping Publication or Deleting a Newsletter: You may delete one or more of your newsletters from beehiiv at your discretion. However, please note that if you delete or stop publishing a newsletter before the end of a paid subscription term of a Reader, any and all obligations – including any refund obligations for the remaining portion of the subscription term – are solely your responsibility. We are under no obligation to issue any refunds to you or your Readers. 
• Disputes: If there is a dispute between you and a user about payments or any other issue, you agree we are under no obligation to become involved and that we will not be held liable for any such dispute. We are not liable for your relationship with users, and we won’t provide you with any legal advice regarding such matters. 
• Reporting a User: You can flag that a user that is violating our Terms of Use by sending an email to[email protected]. After you provide us with written notice of this violation, we will determine whether this user’s access to some or all of your newsletters should be suspended or terminated. We will also decide at our sole discretion whether this user’s access to the rest of beehiiv will be suspended or terminated. 
• Support: You shall provide to us a current email address to which we may direct inquiries from Readers and other beehiiv users regarding your newsletters.

Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

Please be sure to review our “Acceptable Use Policy” for a complete list of platform requirements, prohibited behavior, and prohibited content, as those rules are also incorporated into this Agreement by reference.

A Note About Content Guidelines

beehiiv is a place for independent writing. We host and celebrate a diverse range of thought and discussion. Our “Acceptable Use Policy” outlines what is and is not acceptable on beehiiv. We have the exclusive right to interpret and enforce these guidelines, although we may consult outside experts, research, and industry best practices in doing so. If you encounter content that may be in breach of these guidelines or have any questions about them, you can email us at [email protected].

If we determine that any content is in breach of these guidelines, we may remove it, hide it from public view, or impose other restrictions. Our “Acceptable Use Policy” is an evolving document: we reserve the right to update our policies at our discretion and without notice.

Stripe

beehiiv’s payments are processed through Stripe, which excludes certain types of businesses from using their service. Please refer to the Stripe Service Agreement (see the US agreement here) and Stripe’s restricted businesses for more information about restricted business categories and practices.

In General

We want beehiiv to be a safe place for discussion and expression. At the same time, we believe that critique and discussion of controversial issues are part of robust discourse, so we work to find a reasonable balance between these two priorities. In all cases, beehiiv does not allow harassment or threats.