Updated: Jul 15, 2025
Getting started with templates in the Website Builder
This article covers the onboarding flow for our new Website Builder, which is available to all beehiiv users. While the Website Builder (Legacy) remains fully accessible to users who created an account before July 15th, 2025, our new builder introduces enhanced flexibility, a modern drag-and-drop interface, and a growing collection of templates, making it easier than ever to build a high-performing, beautifully designed website directly within beehiiv.
New Website Builder onboarding experience
To access the new Website Builder, go to Website > Builder from the left panel of your dashboard. (This is the same location as the legacy builder.)
Step 1: Select a template
The first time you open the Website Builder, you’ll be prompted to choose a template. Your selection will apply a preconfigured theme to your site, which you can fully customize at any time.
Available Templates
Basic Templates:
- Flow 2
- Uno
- Framework
Advanced Templates:
- Standard
- Capital
- Putty
- Wireframe
- Tradecast
- Alpha
- Aura
- The Atlas Collective
- Newsroom
To preview a template, hover over it and use the icon tools to enlarge or scroll through its design. Click the tool icon to open a larger preview in a popup window.
Once you've reviewed the options, select your template and click Next to continue.
Step 2: Choose your color palette
After selecting a template, you’ll be prompted to choose a color palette. Each template comes with a default set of theme colors designed to create a cohesive and polished look out of the box.
You can customize these colors to better match your brand, or quickly apply one of the Sample Color Palette Presets with a single click.
Theme colors include:
- Core Color: The background color of your site.
- Primary Color: Used for text on the background, typically applied to buttons, links, and other key elements.
- Secondary Color: Accent color for text elements like hyperlinks.
- Tertiary Color: Used for borders and dividers.
- Accent Color: Highlights key elements like buttons and callouts.
Once your color palette is selected, it will be applied to different elements of your site upon finalizing your template selection.
If you're happy with the default colors, click Next to move forward without making any changes. Or to customize them, click on any color swatch to open the color picker.
Within the color picker you can manually adjust the color or enter a 6-digit hex code. You can also adjust the opacity of the color by using the slider.
At the top of the left panel Color Palette, you can click the shuffle icon to quickly rearrange color roles in the template.
You can also use the Undo or Redo arrows to go back or forward in your selections.
Once you're happy with your palette, click Next to continue.
Step 3: Choose your typography
Next, you’ll select your site’s typography or theme fonts. A set of default fonts will be preselected to match your chosen template, helping to ensure a clean, cohesive design.
You can use these defaults as-is, select from Sample Font Combination Presets, or manually select fonts that better match your brand.
Fonts can be applied to the following elements:
- Heading Font: Used for titles and section headers.
- Text Font : Applied to paragraphs and general body content.
- Button Font: Used for call-to-action buttons.
If you're happy with the default fonts, simply click Next to move forward.
Otherwise, you can choose from a set of curated font pairings or manually select fonts that better reflect your brand by clicking on the font names.
When you're ready, click Next to proceed.
Step 4: Select your website pages (for paid plans)
If you’re on a paid plan, in this final onboarding step, you’ll choose which pages to include on your website. The default pages of your website template will be displayed with the colors and fonts you just selected.
Scroll through the preview to decide which pages to activate and make visible to visitors. You can enable or disable pages at any time from the navigation panel in the Website Builder.
Once you’ve made your selections, click Start Building to launch the Website Builder where you can further customize your site.