How to make your publication private

To make your publication website private, you'll need to enable the Private Publication setting. This ensures that your website and all posts are placed behind an email gate, allowing access only to authenticated subscribers. 

You can choose to disable this setting at any time, and the email gate will be removed, making your content publicly accessible. You can also further customize access to your publication by adjusting the visibility settings for different sections of your posts.

How to make your beehiiv publication private

1. From the left panel Dashboard, scroll down and select Settings.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Your publication settings will open on General Info. If you have multiple publications, select one from the dropdown options.
   
   
   
   
   
    
3. Scroll down to find the Content Access section, then toggle on the Private Publication option so that it shows as checked.
   
   
   
   
   
   Note: If you are using the Boost Recommendations widget to recommend your own publications, you must have the Private Publication toggled off for each publication you wish to recommend. Only public publications can be recommended, private publications will not appear as options in the Recommendations widget.

    

4. With this option enabled, when any non-subscribers land on your site or posts, they will see a default message indicating that it is a private newsletter that they cannot access without being invited or subscribed. If any subscribers land on your publication website or posts, they will be able to access it per usual.

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Frequently asked questions about private newsletters

Can I make my private newsletter public at any time and vice versa?

Yes, when you make a publication private, all posts will be put behind an email gate that will make them accessible only to authenticated subscribers. When you toggle off Private Publication, this gating will be removed.

Can I make just the premium tier of my newsletter private?

No, the private or public toggle applies to all tiers of the publication. However, if you’d like to make certain sections in your posts only available to your premium subscribers, you can use the visibility settings within the post editor.

Also, if you'd like to run separate public and private publications, the number of publications you can have on one account varies by what plan you are on. 

• Launch and Scale plans can add up to 3 publications.
• Max plans can add up to 10 publications.
• Enterprise plans can add a custom number of publications.

Interested in adding more publications to your account? Click here to upgrade. You can learn more about how to add more publications here.

For each publication, you can choose whether or not to toggle on Private Publication.

Can I still recommend other newsletters if my newsletter is private?

No, once your newsletter is private, you will not be able to recommend any other newsletters.

Can other newsletters still recommend me if my newsletter is private?

No, once your newsletter is set to private, it will no longer be visible in the marketplace, meaning other publications cannot recommend it. Additionally, private publications cannot recommend or be recommended, even within your own publication.