eltree vs Beacons
The short answer
Choose eltree if you want the best-looking free bio page, with tips and a simple shop built in.
Choose Beacons if you want to sell products, run an email list and pitch brands from the same dashboard.
The one-paragraph version
eltree is focused: one page, visual, free, set up in a couple of minutes. Tips and a shop for products, downloads and services are built in and free to switch on, without a separate store to configure or an upsell path through the design features.
Beacons is the most feature-dense option in this list. It bundles a link page with a store, an email tool, a media kit builder, invoicing and brand-deal tooling. That is genuinely useful if you need those things; it is a lot of product to navigate if you only wanted a good-looking bio link.
Row by row
| Dimension | eltree | Beacons |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes — the page, every design feature, tips and a shop, no watermark | Yes, with Beacons branding |
| Paid plan from | Free; Pro £2.99/mo or £24.99/yr; Seller £9.99/mo | From $10/mo |
| Page layout | Visual content grid, link rows, or both | Stacked blocks |
| Automatic thumbnails | Yes — pulled automatically from the pasted URL | Manual upload per block |
| Themes and fonts on the free plan | 7 themes, 30+ fonts, full custom colours — all free | Free themes available; best ones are paid |
| Branding on free pages | Optional badge you can switch off | Beacons branding on the free tier |
| Analytics | Views, tile clicks and reactions on your page, free | Included, deeper on paid tiers |
| Monetisation | Tips and a built-in shop (products, downloads, services) via Stripe, free to switch on, plus links to products on Amazon, Etsy or Shopify | Full store, digital products, tips and invoicing |
| Platform fee on money you take | 10% on the free plan, 5% on Pro, 0% on shop sales on Seller, plus Stripe’s processing charge | 9% on Free and Creator, 0% on Creator Plus and Max |
| Custom domain | Yes, on Pro (£2.99/mo); eltree.app/yourname keeps working too | Yes, on paid plans |
| Email / SMS capture | No built-in capture form | Yes — email marketing is built in |
| Posting to social accounts | No | Limited, via its creator tooling |
| Community features | Emoji reactions, stories, highlights and a public creator directory | No |
| Typical setup time | A couple of minutes — paste URLs and the tiles build themselves | Longer — there is a lot to configure |
Where Beacons wins
This is our site and eltree is our product. Here is the case against us anyway.
- A bigger storefront — Beacons handles larger catalogues and more selling tools; eltree’s shop suits a handful of products, downloads or services
- A lower platform fee on the free plan — 9% against eltree’s 10%, and 0% on its upper tiers
- Email marketing and subscriber capture, which eltree does not have
- Media kit generation for brand pitches
- Invoicing and brand-deal management
Where eltree wins
- Considerably more product than a link-in-bio needs, with the learning curve to match
- The free tier carries Beacons branding
- Top tiers are expensive relative to a link page
- Block-stack layout rather than a visual content grid
Before you switch to eltree
These gaps apply whichever tool you are coming from.
- Email or SMS capture: There is no built-in subscriber capture form. Link out to your own list instead.
- Link scheduling: Individual links cannot be scheduled to appear or expire on a date.
- Large catalogues: eltree’s own checkout suits a handful of products, downloads or services (up to 100 in the shop) and has no variants or checkout discount codes. For a big catalogue, sell on Shopify or Etsy and add product links to your eltree shop.
- A/B testing: No split testing of layouts or link ordering.
- Posting to social networks: eltree does not publish or schedule posts to Instagram, TikTok, X or other networks. Use a scheduler such as Buffer or Later for that.
- Fee-free monetisation: eltree takes 10% of tips and shop sales on the free plan and 5% on Pro; only the £9.99/month Seller plan takes 0%, and only on shop sales. Taplink and Stan Store take 0% platform commission, though Stan has no free plan.
Questions people ask
Is eltree better than Beacons?
Not universally. eltree is better if you want the best-looking free bio page, with tips and a simple shop built in. Beacons is better if you want to sell products, run an email list and pitch brands from the same dashboard. The largest single difference is layout: eltree builds a visual grid of thumbnails from your links, while Beacons presents stacked blocks.
Is eltree cheaper than Beacons?
The eltree page itself is free with no watermark. Beacons paid plans start at creator $10/mo ($100/yr), creator plus $30/mo, creator max $90/mo. Tips and the shop are free to switch on, and instant payouts (1% fee) are on every plan. eltree Pro costs £2.99/mo (or £24.99/year) and adds your own domain, a song under your bio, a weekly report, unlimited tiles, links and stories and a 5% fee — the page design is never behind it.
Can I move from Beacons to eltree?
Yes, manually — there is no automated import. Copy each destination URL from your Beacons page and paste it into eltree, which pulls the thumbnail and title for you. Then update the single link in your Instagram, TikTok or X bio. Your Beacons page keeps working until you delete it, so you can run both while you decide.
Beacons pricing and features last checked 2026-09-21 against their site .
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Beacons on its own terms
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