Group subscriptions overview

If you want to sell your paid subscriptions in bulk to a school, company, community, or other group, beehiiv gives you two ways to do it: letting buyers purchase and manage a group themselves, or setting up a custom deal directly on their behalf. This article covers what a group subscription is and how to decide which setup path fits your situation. For step-by-step instructions, this article links out to a dedicated how-to guide for each path.

A group subscription is a single purchase of multiple seats on one of your paid tiers. The person who buys it (the admin) receives a pool of seats and distributes access by inviting readers: by email, by a shareable redemption link, or by uploading a list. Each invite that is claimed consumes one seat and grants that reader a full paid subscription.

The admin manages the whole group from one place: how many seats exist, who has claimed them, who is still pending, and when the group renews.

• Selling a block of annual subscriptions to a book club or community.
• Gifting subscriptions to family members.
• Providing paid access to an entire newsroom or team.
• Offering subscriptions as a corporate benefit.

Your paid subscription tiers can support all three of these purchase options, if enabled:

• Self-serve group purchases: a buyer selects the Group option on your upgrade page, chooses a seat count, and checks out with a credit card using your tier's standard pricing. For setup instructions, see How to set up and use self-serve group subscriptions as a publisher.
• Custom group deals: you set the pricing, seat count, and billing method (credit card, invoice, or off-platform) directly for a specific buyer instead of routing them through self-serve checkout. For setup instructions, see How to create custom group deals for your paid subscribers.

Once a buyer has a group subscription, whether purchased self-serve or set up as a custom deal, they manage it the same way. For that experience, see How to manage a group subscription you purchased.