The Verdict: Beacons vs Linktree comes down to what you want the page to do. Beacons wins for creators selling digital products, since its free plan takes a smaller cut and captures emails. Linktree wins for the simplest setup and a TikTok-friendly link. If you want to keep every dollar and own your list, a page you host yourself beats both.

Most people land on the Beacons vs Linktree question right after they notice their “free” link-in-bio tool is quietly charging them. Both are the biggest names among the free link in bio tools, both run a free plan, and both pivoted hard into AI in 2026, so the real difference is in the fine print: fees, email capture, and who owns the audience.

I went through both the way a creator deciding between them would, focused on the things that touch your money and your list rather than the marketing copy.

By the end you will know which free plan keeps more of your sales, which one lets you build an email list, where Linktree still has a genuine edge, and why the strongest option is sometimes neither.

Beacons vs Linktree on Fees and Email

On the free plan, Beacons takes a 9 percent cut of sales and captures emails, while Linktree takes 12 percent and captures no emails at all. Those two numbers decide the matchup for most creators.

The fee gap looks small until you sell something. Linktree’s 12 percent on its free plan is the highest in the category, and it only drops to 0 percent on the $35 a month Premium tier, while Beacons sits at 9 percent free.

The bigger split is email. Beacons lets you collect subscribers on its free plan, though with a low monthly send cap of around 50 by its own pricing docs, so you outgrow it quickly. Linktree paywalls email collection entirely, which means you can send it millions of clicks and still never own a single contact.

Example scenario: Say you sell a $15 preset pack. On Linktree free, the 12 percent cut takes $1.80 a sale and you cannot keep the buyer’s email. On Beacons free, the cut is $1.65 and you can add that buyer to a small list, at least until you hit the send cap.

Beacons vs Linktree on Selling and Features

Beacons is built to sell with a native storefront, while Linktree keeps things simple and redirects buyers to an outside checkout. The right one depends on whether your page is a store or a signpost.

With Beacons, a buyer can purchase a product, course, or membership without leaving your page, which cuts friction at the moment of sale. Linktree sends people to an external page like PayPal or Stripe instead, which is lighter but adds a step.

Linktree keeps one quiet advantage worth knowing. Its domain is whitelisted by TikTok, so its links open inside the app without the “unsafe URL” warning that can hit other tools, which matters if TikTok is your main platform.

From what I have seen, that single detail is why a lot of TikTok-first creators stay on Linktree even after the fees climb. Both also leaned into AI in 2026, Linktree with a conversational analytics chat and Beacons with a wider creation and outreach suite.

Who Should Choose Beacons

Choose Beacons if you sell digital products and want one tool that handles the store, the checkout, and a starter email list for free. It is the better fit for creators running a small business off their bio.

The native store and the 9 percent free fee make it the cheaper place to sell before you upgrade. The catch I would weigh is the math at scale: selling $5,000 through the free plan would cost about $450 in fees, far more than the $10 a month Creator plan that lowers the cut.

So Beacons makes sense if you are actively selling and will move to a paid tier as soon as volume picks up. If you are only listing links, its depth is more than you need.

Who Should Choose Linktree

Choose Linktree if you want the fastest, simplest setup and you post mainly on TikTok, where its whitelisted link opens cleanly in-app. Brand recognition and ease are its real selling points.

Linktree is the safe default for a reason, it sets up in a few minutes and everyone recognizes it. The trade-offs are the 12 percent free-plan fee, the email paywall, and a 2026 price hike that pushed the Pro plan up by about 67 percent to $15 a month.

If you do not sell much and just need a clean, trusted link that behaves on TikTok, Linktree still does that job well. The moment you start selling or want a list, its free plan starts working against you.

The Free Option That Beats Both

The strongest free option is a page you host yourself, which takes no cut of sales, captures emails with no cap, and carries your name instead of a platform’s. Owned pages convert three to five times better than either tool.

Here is how I would decide in under a minute:

1. If you sell products, the lower fee wins, so Beacons beats Linktree on free.
2. If you want a list, Beacons free captures emails and Linktree free does not.
3. If you live on TikTok, Linktree’s whitelisted link opens in-app without warnings.
4. If you want to keep every dollar and truly own the list, host the page yourself.

If you mainly…	Pick
Sell digital products	Beacons
Want a simple, TikTok-friendly link	Linktree
Want to own your emails with no cut	A page you host yourself

That last option used to mean building a site from scratch. We built a page you fully own as a free link-in-bio template that captures emails and takes no cut, so you get the ownership without the setup.

Our Beacons review digs deeper if it is your pick, and our roundup of free Linktree alternatives covers the rest of the field.

Free plan	Beacons	Linktree
Cut on sales	9 percent	12 percent
Email capture	Yes, low send cap	No, paywalled
Remove branding	Creator plan, $10 a month	Starter plan, $8 a month
Selling	Native storefront	Redirect to outside checkout
TikTok link	May show a warning	Whitelisted, opens in-app

For context on how much traffic rides on this choice, more than two billion people use Instagram every month, and most of them only ever reach you through one bio link.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Beacons better than Linktree?

For creators selling digital products, usually yes, because Beacons takes a lower 9 percent cut and captures emails free. Linktree wins on simplicity and TikTok-friendliness. Your goal decides it more than the feature list.

Is Linktree really free in 2026?

The monthly fee is zero, but Linktree’s free plan takes a 12 percent cut of any sales, the highest in the category, and blocks email collection entirely. For sellers, that makes it one of the more expensive free options.

Does Linktree take a transaction fee?

Yes, 12 percent on the free plan and 9 percent on Starter and Pro. It only drops to 0 percent on the $35 a month Premium tier. Beacons charges 9 percent on its free plan.

Why does a Linktree link open inside TikTok?

Linktree’s domain is whitelisted by TikTok, so its links open in the app without an “unsafe URL” warning. Many smaller tools are not whitelisted and get pushed to an external browser, which adds friction.

Which is best for building an email list?

Beacons beats Linktree here, since its free plan captures emails while Linktree’s does not. For an uncapped list with no platform cut, a self-hosted page you own is the strongest choice.

Quick Takeaways

• On free plans, Beacons takes 9 percent of sales and Linktree takes 12 percent, the highest cut in the category.

• Beacons free captures emails with a low send cap, while Linktree free captures none, locking you out of your own audience.

• Linktree’s link is whitelisted by TikTok and opens in-app, a real edge for TikTok-first creators.

• Linktree raised its Pro plan about 67 percent in 2026 to $15 a month, pushing many sellers to look elsewhere.

• A page you host yourself beats both for ownership, no cut on sales, no email cap, and your name in the URL.