Grace Sullivan
Beacons started as a link-in-bio page and now bundles a store, email marketing, a media kit for brand deals and Instagram auto-DMs under one login. The free plan is genuinely usable, but it takes 9% of every sale, and Instagram now covers the simplest use case itself. Prices and fees below are as read on 11 November 2026.
We didn’t sign up for or pay for Beacons; this is based on its pricing page and FAQ, Instagram’s Help Center and Trustpilot.
Quick answer: Beacons is an active creator platform with a free-forever plan and three paid plans: Creator at $10 a month ($8.33 billed yearly), Creator Plus at $30 ($25 yearly) and Creator Max at $100 ($83.30 yearly). Free and Creator charge a 9% seller fee on sales; Creator Plus and Max charge 0%. Instagram itself now lets you add up to five links to your profile, so you only need Beacons if you want its store, email or media kit tools.
Status: active. Price from: $0, then $8.33 a month billed yearly. Safety: a link page you paste into your bio; the auto-DM feature works through Instagram messages.
What Beacons is
Beacons AI Inc. describes the product as an “AI-powered business platform” for creators, with an AI assistant called Beam that helps design pages, write emails and read your analytics. In practice you get one link to paste into your Instagram, TikTok or YouTube bio, and that link opens a page where you can sell digital products, collect email addresses, show a media kit and share affiliate links. Our Content & Scheduling hub covers the other creator tools in this area.
What you get
Even the free plan includes the link-in-bio page, a media kit that updates itself from your linked social accounts, unlimited digital product sales, affiliate links, 50 email sends a month and Smart Reply, Beacons’ Instagram auto-DM. The pricing table says keyword-triggered Instagram DM automations from Reels, posts and Stories are unlimited on every plan, while the “advanced” two-way DM flows carry Beacons branding until you reach Creator Plus. If DM automation is the main reason you’re looking, compare it with a dedicated tool like ManyChat.
Paid plans add a custom domain (from Creator), more AI credits, more email sends, memberships and courses with video hosting (Creator Plus), Buy Now Pay Later through Klarna or Affirm (Creator Plus) and faster support. Beacons says its affiliate network has more than 12,000 brand partners, and sales cash out to Stripe or PayPal.
Pricing and seller fees
Prices are in US dollars from Beacons’ pricing page on 11 November 2026. Yearly billing is sold as “2 months free”.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Seller fee | Main additions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 9% | Link in bio, media kit, store, 50 emails a month, IG auto-DM, 30 daily AI credits |
| Creator | $10 a month | $8.33 a month ($100 a year) | 9% | Free custom domain, 500 emails a month, 300 daily AI credits, SEO tools |
| Creator Plus | $30 a month | $25 a month ($300 a year) | 0% | Unlimited emails and AI credits, Buy Now Pay Later, courses with video, memberships |
| Creator Max | $100 a month | $83.30 a month ($1,000 a year) | 0% | Google Workspace, white-glove onboarding, NFC card, faster support |
Beacons’ FAQ puts the fee plainly: “We charge a 9% commission on all sales as part of the Free and Creator plans”, and 0% on Creator Plus and Creator Max. The same 9% applies to affiliate link commissions on the lower plans. Stated support response times run from under 48 hours on Free to under 6 hours on Creator Max.
When the 9% fee matters
Creator Plus costs $20 a month more than Creator on monthly billing, and it removes a 9% cut, so it pays for itself once your Beacons sales pass roughly $222 a month. If you sell less than that, or nothing at all, the free plan or Creator is the cheaper choice. That’s simple arithmetic on Beacons’ published prices. The pricing page doesn’t say whether Stripe or PayPal processing fees apply on top, so check that before you compare.
What Instagram already gives you
You may not need a link-in-bio tool at all. Instagram’s Help Center says you can add up to five websites to your profile under Edit Profile, then Links, and reorder or remove them. For a handful of links, that’s free and keeps people on Instagram’s own profile. Beacons earns its place when you want a store, an email list or a media kit behind the link. Our link-in-bio guide walks through both routes.
What users say
The Trustpilot profile for beacons.ai is unclaimed and shows 1.9 out of 5 from 44 reviews (read 11 November 2026), and Trustpilot notes the company hasn’t invited reviews, so the sample is small and self-selected. The most recent review, from 26 October 2026, is from a former fan who says they couldn’t reach customer service through the listed email address. Others complain about bugs and confusing error messages; an older positive review praises how easy it is to build a page and the value for the price. The reviews are on Trustpilot.
Pros and cons
Pros
- A free-forever plan with a store, media kit, email and auto-DM.
- Clear published prices and fees.
- 0% seller fees from $25 a month on yearly billing.
- Instagram keyword auto-DMs included on every plan.
Cons
- 9% of every sale on Free and Creator, including affiliate commissions.
- Advanced DM flows carry Beacons branding below Creator Plus.
- Low Trustpilot score and reports of hard-to-reach support.
- Instagram’s five free profile links cover the basic use case.
Who it suits
Beacons fits creators who want to sell guides, presets or courses, collect emails and pitch brands from one link without paying for three separate tools. If you only need to point people to a few pages, Instagram’s own links are enough, and Linktree is the better-known single-purpose option.
Alternatives
Linktree covers link-in-bio pages on their own, and ManyChat goes deeper on Instagram DM automation. Check each tool’s pricing page on the day you decide, since fees and plan names change.
Beacons FAQ
Is Beacons free?
There’s a free-forever plan, but it takes 9% of your sales. Paid plans start at $10 a month, or $8.33 billed yearly.
What fee does Beacons take on sales?
9% on the Free and Creator plans and 0% on Creator Plus and Creator Max, according to its FAQ.
Which Beacons plan removes seller fees?
Creator Plus, at $30 a month or $25 billed yearly, is the cheapest plan with 0% fees.
Is Beacons better than Instagram’s own links?
For a few links, Instagram’s profile allows up to five at no cost. Beacons adds a store, email marketing and a media kit.
Does Beacons do Instagram auto-DMs?
Its Smart Reply feature sends keyword-triggered DMs from Reels, posts and Stories on every plan. Two-way advanced flows show Beacons branding until Creator Plus.