Linktree vs Beacons vs Carrd: An Honest Three-Way Comparison (2026)

If you're comparing Linktree, Beacons, and Carrd, you might not realize they're three fundamentally different shapes of product. Linktree is a link-in-bio tool that became a category-defining brand. Beacons is a creator-business platform with link-in-bio bundled in. Carrd is a one-page website builder where link-in-bio is one application among many.

Comparing them feature-by-feature without that framing produces a misleading scorecard. Here's the honest version. Where Linktree wins. Where Beacons wins. Where Carrd wins. The cases where none of them is the right answer. And how to actually pick between them based on what you're trying to do.

Most "Linktree vs Beacons vs Carrd" content you'll find is written by competitors trying to sell you their product. This one tries to be more useful than that.

TL;DR

Choose Linktree if you want the most established brand, broadest integration ecosystem, fastest setup (working page in under 60 seconds), and you're comfortable paying for it ($8 to $35 per month after the November 2025 price increases).

Choose Beacons if you're a creator running a real monetization business: digital products, courses, memberships, brand deals, email marketing. Beacons is meaningfully more than a link-in-bio tool. Free plan with 9% transaction fees on sales; paid plans start at $10/month and scale up.

Choose Carrd if you want full design control and the cheapest serious option in the category. $19/year for Pro Standard is one of the best deals in software. Trade-off: steeper learning curve and you build the page yourself rather than picking a template.

Choose none of them if your goal is curated public link collections (resource hubs, educator collections, recommendation libraries). All three optimize for compact bio-link surfaces; for substantive curation, Shelfy and similar curation-focused tools are better fits.

The full reasoning is below.

Key aspects of each tool

Linktree at a glance

• What it is: Category-defining link-in-bio tool, founded 2016, 70+ million users
• Core strength: Brand recognition, integration ecosystem, ease of setup
• Pricing (post-November 2025): Free / Starter $8/mo / Pro $15/mo / Premium $35/mo
• Transaction fees on digital sales: 12% Free / 9% Starter and Pro / 0% Premium
• Custom domain: Pro tier and above
• Best for: Beginners wanting fast setup, established creators paying for brand-name reliability

Beacons at a glance

• What it is: Creator-business platform with link-in-bio bundled, founded 2019 by Stanford PhD students
• Core strength: Creator monetization (storefront, courses, memberships, email marketing, AI tools)
• Pricing: Free with 9% transaction fees on sales / paid plans starting at $10/month, scaling to ~$90/month for business tier
• Transaction fees on digital sales: 9% on Free and entry paid tier / 0% on higher tiers
• Custom domain: Higher paid tiers (free for first year on entry paid tier)
• Best for: Creators running monetization-first businesses with multiple revenue streams

Carrd at a glance

• What it is: One-page website builder, founded 2015 by AJ Lykins as a solo project
• Core strength: Design flexibility, custom layouts, lowest price in the category
• Pricing: Free (3 sites with Carrd branding) / Pro Lite $9/year / Pro Standard $19/year / Pro Plus $49/year
• Transaction fees on digital sales: None directly (you integrate Stripe, PayPal, or Gumroad widgets and pay their fees)
• Custom domain: Pro Standard and above
• Best for: Design-conscious users, indie founders, freelancers wanting full layout control

Where each tool genuinely wins

Linktree's genuine wins

Brand recognition. Linktree is the household name in link-in-bio. Audiences recognize linktr.ee/yourname URLs immediately. For creators whose audience is non-technical or already familiar with the format, this matters.

Integration ecosystem. Linktree has the deepest set of integrations: Shopify, Mailchimp, Substack, Square, PayPal, Stripe, Spotify, YouTube, Calendly, and many others. If your stack is mainstream commercial tools, Linktree connects to them.

Speed of setup. Industry-standard claim: working Linktree page in under 60 seconds. Pick a template, add your links, publish. The fastest path to "I have a bio link" in the category.

Sponsored Links monetization. Linktree launched Sponsored Links in April 2025, a program where brands pay to be featured on creator pages and creators receive a cut. For some creators this is real revenue. No other tool in this comparison has equivalent monetization infrastructure.

Mature analytics on paid plans. Click tracking, geographic data, traffic source attribution, and Google Analytics integration on Pro and Premium tiers.

Enterprise-grade support on Premium. Premium ($35/month) includes a dedicated customer success manager and 4-hour support response. For business teams whose bio link is part of revenue infrastructure, this matters.

Beacons' genuine wins

Built for creator monetization end-to-end. Beacons treats your bio page as the front of a creator business: digital storefront, course platform, email marketing, brand deal media kits, AI tools to write captions and outreach messages, invoicing, calendar booking. None of the other tools cover this scope.

0% transaction fees on sales (paid tiers). Once you're on a higher Beacons paid plan, you keep 100% of digital product revenue (Stripe processing fees still apply). Compared to Linktree's 9% on the comparable paid tier, this saves real money for creators selling consistently.

AI tools throughout the platform. Beacons calls their AI Beam. It generates email subject lines, captions, brand outreach messages, and provides analytics interpretations. Genuinely useful for creators who don't want to write everything from scratch.

Media kit for brand deals. Beacons auto-generates a brand deal media kit from your platform stats, audience demographics, and engagement data. For creators pursuing brand partnerships, this saves hours per pitch.

Email marketing built in. Send campaigns to your audience without integrating ConvertKit, Mailchimp, or another tool. Free plan has limited send caps; paid plans scale up.

Free custom domain (first year on entry paid tier). Different from Linktree, where custom domain requires Pro at $15/month. Beacons gives it on Creator Pro at $10/month for the first year.

Carrd's genuine wins

Pricing. $19/year for Pro Standard is unbeatable in the category. $49/year for Pro Plus unlocks pretty much everything Carrd does. Compared to $15/month for Linktree Pro ($180/year) or $10/month for Beacons entry paid ($120/year), Carrd costs roughly 10% of what the others charge.

Real one-page website, not just a link list. This is the fundamental difference: Carrd builds actual websites. You can create landing pages, portfolios, contact forms, and yes, link-in-bio pages, all on the same platform. The link-in-bio use case is just one application of a more general tool.

Design flexibility. Custom layouts, custom fonts, custom CSS, custom colors, custom everything. If you want a specific aesthetic that template-based tools can't match, Carrd is the only option here that supports it.

Stripe and Gumroad payment widgets. Embed payment forms directly on your Carrd page. No platform transaction fees (Stripe and Gumroad have their own fees, but Carrd takes nothing).

Independent and bootstrapped. Carrd was built and is maintained by AJ Lykins as essentially a solo operation. No venture capital, no growth pressure forcing constant pricing changes. Hasn't significantly raised prices in years.

No "Made with Carrd" branding on Pro plans. Many free tools watermark your page with their branding. Carrd Pro removes this entirely, even on the cheapest paid tier.

Side-by-side comparison

A note on Beacons pricing: Beacons has restructured tiers multiple times. The exact tier names and prices may have shifted. Verify current details on Beacons' pricing page before committing. This comparison reflects the most recent reliable information as of May 2026.

Common use cases: which tool fits

"I'm a content creator selling digital products on Instagram"

Beacons. Built specifically for this. Storefront, courses, email marketing, brand deals, AI tools. The 9% transaction fee on the entry tier hurts at scale; upgrading to a higher tier removes it. The math works once you're earning meaningful product revenue.

"I'm a fashion or beauty influencer driving Instagram traffic to product pages"

Linktree, probably. Brand recognition with non-technical audiences is real. Linktree's e-commerce integration with Shopify is mature. Pro at $15/month is fairly priced if you're using the integrations actively.

"I'm a freelancer or consultant building a personal brand"

Carrd. A custom one-page website with a portfolio, services, contact form, and a few key links is exactly what Carrd is built for. Pro Standard at $19/year is trivial. Custom domain looks more professional than linktr.ee/yourname for client-facing work.

"I'm a podcaster sharing latest episodes plus archive plus sponsor codes"

Probably none of these. All three optimize for compact bio-link surfaces. For podcast catalog organization with proper episode previews, sponsor code management, and back-catalog browsing, dedicated curation tools work better. See Link in Bio for Podcasters for the full breakdown.

"I'm a newsletter operator routing readers to issues, archive, recommendations"

Probably none of these. Newsletter operators benefit from organized archive surfaces and recommendation collections that the bio-tool category isn't built for. See Link in Bio for Newsletter Operators for analysis.

"I run a small business and need a contact + services + booking page"

Carrd, generally. Real one-page website with contact form, embedded calendar, services list, and any necessary integrations. Beacons could work if you also need to sell digital products. Linktree is overkill if you don't need bio-link specifically.

"I'm a designer building a portfolio with a few client projects"

Carrd. This is canonical Carrd use case. Custom layout, project showcases, contact form, full design control. $19/year vs $1,000+ for proper portfolio platforms.

"I'm building a public curated collection of resources (educator, librarian, researcher)"

None of the three. All three are bio-link tools at heart. For curated public collections with proper categorization, search, voting, and audience features, Shelfy is built for this specifically. Free forever, every feature included.

"I just need a simple page with my links"

Linktree free, or Carrd free. Both work. Linktree free has 12% transaction fees on any digital sales and Linktree branding stays. Carrd free limits you to 3 sites with Carrd branding but otherwise has no real catches.

Already convinced? If your goal is curated public collections rather than bio-link, Shelfy is free forever, every feature included. Try it now

Or keep reading for the head-to-head breakdowns and the real cost analysis.

Head-to-head breakdowns

Linktree vs Beacons specifically

These two are the most directly comparable: both are venture-backed link-in-bio tools with creator-monetization features. The honest framing:

Linktree wins on: Brand recognition, integration breadth, speed of setup, Sponsored Links revenue program, enterprise support tier.

Beacons wins on: Built-in monetization (storefront, courses, memberships are native rather than integrated), AI tools, brand deal media kit, free custom domain on entry paid tier, more features per dollar at the entry paid tier.

The pricing math:

• Linktree Pro at $15/month with 9% transaction fees vs Beacons Creator Pro at $10/month with 9% transaction fees: Beacons is cheaper at the entry paid tier with comparable transaction fees.
• For 0% transaction fees: Linktree Premium at $35/month vs Beacons higher tier at ~$30/month: roughly comparable, with Beacons including more creator-business features.

Most analysts agree that for creators serious about monetization, Beacons offers more value per dollar than Linktree at every paid tier. Linktree's premium pricing is sustained largely by brand recognition rather than feature parity.

For deeper analysis, see Shelfy vs Linktree and Shelfy vs Beacons for the alternative comparisons.

Linktree vs Carrd specifically

These two solve overlapping problems from very different starting points. Linktree is bio-link-first. Carrd is website-first.

Linktree wins on: Built-in bio-link features (analytics, e-commerce, social integrations), brand recognition, speed of setup.

Carrd wins on: Price ($19/year vs $180/year for comparable Linktree tier), design flexibility, ownership of the page (it's a real website you can take with you), no transaction fees on sales.

The pricing math is dramatic:

• Linktree Pro: $180/year ($15/month)
• Carrd Pro Standard: $19/year
• Difference: $161/year, or roughly 10x

For most use cases that don't require Linktree's specific bio-link infrastructure (Shopify integration, Sponsored Links, mature creator-economy features), Carrd at $19/year delivers an equivalent or better outcome at one-tenth the cost.

For deeper analysis, see Shelfy vs Carrd.

Beacons vs Carrd specifically

These two compete least directly. Beacons is a creator monetization platform; Carrd is a website builder. The comparison only matters if you're trying to decide between "creator business in a box" or "DIY landing page that I'll integrate with creator tools myself."

Beacons wins on: Pre-built creator monetization, native storefront, native courses, native email, native brand deal media kit. If you want everything ready to go, Beacons saves setup time.

Carrd wins on: Price, design control, page ownership. If you're willing to integrate Stripe, Gumroad, ConvertKit, and Calendly yourself, Carrd at $19/year covers more flexible use cases.

The honest read: Beacons is for creators who want creator-business infrastructure handed to them. Carrd is for creators (or non-creators) who want full control and don't mind doing integration work themselves.

What none of these tools does well

Let's name the category gaps that creators sometimes don't notice until after they've committed:

Curated public collections. All three tools optimize for compact bio-link surfaces with a small number of buttons or items. For substantial curated collections (resource hubs, educator collections, recommendation libraries with categories and tags), none of them is built for the use case. Tools like Shelfy are designed specifically for this.

Heavy content marketing or blogging. None of the three is a content management system. If you want to publish articles, host a podcast, or run a serious blog, you need a separate platform (WordPress, Ghost, Substack).

True e-commerce at scale. Linktree and Beacons handle digital product sales. None of them is a real e-commerce platform. If you're selling physical products at scale, you need Shopify or similar.

SaaS-style websites with multiple pages and complex navigation. Carrd is one-page; Linktree and Beacons are bio-page. None handles multi-page websites with complex hierarchies.

Heavy SEO surfaces. None of these tools is designed for SEO discoverability. Custom domains help, but real SEO requires a content platform, not a bio tool.

If your needs go beyond what bio tools offer, the right answer is to use a bio tool for the bio link specifically and a different tool for the other use cases. Don't try to make Linktree, Beacons, or Carrd do something they aren't designed for.

The pricing reality

Quick honest summary of what each option actually costs over time:

Linktree:

• Free: works but 12% transaction fees on digital sales, Linktree branding visible
• Starter: $8/month = $96/year, removes branding
• Pro: $15/month = $180/year, custom domain, mature analytics, integrations
• Premium: $35/month = $420/year, 0% transaction fees, dedicated support
• Pricing volatility: raised 60 to 67% in November 2025; future increases are possible given $1.3B valuation and venture-backed growth pressure. See Why Is Linktree So Expensive? for the deeper analysis.

Beacons:

• Free: works but 9% transaction fees on digital sales, branding visible
• Creator Pro (entry paid tier): $10/month = $100 to $120/year (annual billing saves ~17%), free custom domain first year
• Higher tiers (~$30 to $90/month): 0% transaction fees, more advanced features
• Pricing volatility: tier names and structures have shifted multiple times; check current pricing before committing

Carrd:

• Free: 3 sites with Carrd branding
• Pro Lite: $9/year, branding removal
• Pro Standard: $19/year, custom domain, most features (the value sweet spot)
• Pro Plus: $49/year, advanced features (large icon sets, more sites, premium templates)
• Pricing volatility: very low; rarely raises prices, hasn't restructured tiers significantly

The break-even points worth knowing:

• If you're on Linktree Pro paying $180/year purely for the bio link with no Shopify integration or Sponsored Links revenue, you're overpaying vs Carrd Pro Standard at $19/year delivering equivalent core functionality.
• If you're on Beacons Creator Pro paying $120/year and not actively using the storefront, courses, email marketing, or media kit features, you're overpaying vs Carrd Pro Standard with widget integrations.
• If you ARE actively using Beacons' creator-monetization features (selling products, running email campaigns, pitching brands), $120/year is fair pricing for what you're getting.

Quick answers to common questions

Is Linktree, Beacons, or Carrd best for free use?

For free use specifically: Carrd's free plan (3 sites with branding) is the most flexible because Carrd doesn't take transaction fees on anything. Linktree's free plan has 12% transaction fees on digital sales. Beacons' free plan has 9% transaction fees on sales. If you're not selling anything, Carrd free wins on flexibility; Linktree free wins on speed of setup.

Which is cheapest overall?

Carrd, by a wide margin. Pro Standard at $19/year is roughly 10% the cost of comparable Linktree or Beacons paid tiers. The trade-off is design and integration work you do yourself.

Which has the best free plan?

Depends on definition. Linktree's free plan is most feature-complete for pure bio-link use (unlimited links, basic analytics, most integrations). Beacons' free plan is most feature-complete for creator monetization (storefront, AI tools, basic email). Carrd's free plan is most flexible (you can build any one-page website, not just bio-link). All three have meaningful catches: Linktree branding stays, Beacons charges 9% on sales, Carrd has a 3-site limit.

Which makes selling digital products easiest?

Beacons. Native storefront, native course platform, native email marketing for upsells, AI tools for product descriptions. The downside is the 9% transaction fee on Free and Creator Pro tiers; upgrading to a higher tier removes it. For creators serious about digital sales, Beacons is the most cohesive option.

Can I run a real online business on Linktree?

For digital products and content creator monetization, yes, especially on Premium tier with 0% transaction fees. For physical product e-commerce at scale, no. Linktree is bio-link-first; even with their commerce features, you'll outgrow it before serious physical product sales scale.

What about Linktree's Sponsored Links program?

Linktree's Sponsored Links launched April 2025 and lets brands pay to be featured on creator pages with creators receiving a cut. For some creators this is real revenue. Neither Beacons nor Carrd has equivalent programs. If Sponsored Links is a meaningful revenue source for you, Linktree wins.

Can I migrate between these tools easily?

Yes. None of them locks you in. Setting up a new tool and updating your social bios takes 1 to 3 hours. The harder part is rebuilding any custom design (especially from Carrd to Linktree, where you lose the custom layout). Audience equity transfers when you update your social bios; SEO equity (if any) transfers if you use a custom domain on both old and new platforms.

Which has the best long-term pricing stability?

Carrd, clearly. Bootstrapped solo operation with no venture-capital growth pressure. Linktree raised prices 60 to 67% in November 2025; future increases are likely. Beacons has restructured tiers multiple times. Carrd has been at roughly the same pricing for years.

Should I use Shelfy for any of these use cases?

Shelfy is built for public-facing curated collections rather than bio-link surfaces. If you're trying to build a comprehensive resource hub, classroom collection, recommendation library, or research source library, Shelfy is genuinely better than the three tools above for that specific use case. For compact social media bio links, Linktree, Beacons, or Carrd fit better. For broader curation, Shelfy is a different category of tool.

What about other alternatives?

The link-in-bio category has dozens of tools beyond these three. Stan Store, Bio.link, Lnk.Bio, Bio Sites (Squarespace), Linkin.bio (Later), Taplink, and many others. For comprehensive alternative comparisons:

• Shelfy vs Linktree
• Shelfy vs Beacons
• Shelfy vs Carrd
• Shelfy vs Stan Store
• Shelfy vs Linkin.bio
• Bento Alternatives (Bento shut down February 2026)
• Koji Alternatives (Koji shut down January 2024)

How to actually decide

Three questions in order:

Question 1: Are you running a creator monetization business?

If yes (you're selling digital products, courses, memberships, or pursuing brand deals as your main income), Beacons is built for you. Move to Question 3 for confirmation.

If no, continue to Question 2.

Question 2: Do you want full design control or fast setup?

If you want full design control and can spend a few hours building your page (and you want to save 90% on cost), Carrd. Move to Question 3.

If you want the fastest path to "page exists and works" with brand-name credibility, Linktree. Move to Question 3.

Question 3: Does your use case actually need a bio-link tool, or are you trying to make a bio-link tool do something else?

If your use case is genuinely a social media bio link with a small number of destinations, your Q1/Q2 answer is correct.

If your use case is building substantial curated collections (educator resource hubs, podcast back-catalog organization, research source libraries, newsletter operator archives), none of Linktree, Beacons, or Carrd is built for it. Consider Shelfy or another curation-focused tool.

Try Shelfy free if your use case is curation

Linktree, Beacons, and Carrd are good tools for what they're built for. None of them is built for substantial curated public collections. If that's your use case, Shelfy is free forever, every feature included.

Build your first collection in 60 seconds

For other use cases, the verdicts above are honest. Pick the right tool for what you actually need.

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, Linktree, Beacons, or Carrd?

There's no single winner; each is built for different use cases. Linktree wins on brand recognition and integration ecosystem. Beacons wins on creator monetization features. Carrd wins on price and design flexibility. The right answer depends on whether you're pursuing creator income, want fast setup, or want design control at low cost.

Is Beacons better than Linktree?

For creators running monetization-first businesses (selling digital products, courses, brand deals), Beacons offers more value per dollar than Linktree. For creators who primarily want a fast-setup bio link with strong integrations, Linktree's brand and ecosystem advantages still hold. The honest answer depends on use case.

Is Carrd cheaper than Linktree?

Yes, dramatically. Carrd Pro Standard at $19/year is roughly 10% the cost of Linktree Pro at $180/year. The trade-off is that Carrd requires more setup work (you build the page rather than picking a template) and has no built-in bio-link-specific features.

Why is Linktree so expensive?

Linktree raised prices 60 to 67% in November 2025 across all paid tiers. The structural reasons relate to their $1.3 billion valuation and $166M in venture funding, which require continued revenue growth to justify. For a deeper analysis, see Why Is Linktree So Expensive?.

Can I use Beacons without selling anything?

Yes. Beacons works fine as a pure bio-link tool without using the monetization features. But you're paying for capabilities you aren't using, which makes Beacons over-priced relative to a simpler tool like Carrd or Linktree's free plan. If you're not selling, Beacons isn't the right fit.

Does Carrd have analytics?

Limited built-in analytics. For real analytics, integrate Google Analytics, Plausible, or Fathom. The DIY approach is harder than Linktree's built-in analytics but the integration is straightforward and the analytics tool you choose is independent of Carrd.

Can I have a custom domain on the free plan?

Linktree free: No, Pro tier ($15/month) required. Beacons free: No, free for first year on Creator Pro entry paid tier ($10/month). Carrd free: No, requires Pro Standard ($19/year). For custom domain on a true free plan, Shelfy includes free custom domains on its free plan.

Which has the best customer support?

Linktree Premium ($35/month) has the best support tier (4-hour response, dedicated success manager) but you're paying for it. Beacons and Carrd have standard email support across all tiers. For most use cases, none of them needs heavy support, so this matters less than the marketing implies.

Which is best for SEO?

None of the three is built for SEO discoverability as a primary concern. Custom domains help (audience equity accumulates on the domain you control), and Beacons specifically advertises SEO tools on Creator Pro, but for serious SEO strategy you need a content platform (WordPress, Ghost, Webflow), not a bio-link tool.

Can I test all three before committing?

Yes. All three have free plans. Spend an hour or two with each. The setup workflow tells you a lot about whether you'll enjoy maintaining your page on that platform long-term.

Last reviewed: May 2026. All three tools update pricing and features periodically. Verify current details on each tool's pricing page before making a final decision.

Linktree pricing reflects post-November 2025 increases verified across multiple sources. Beacons tier names and prices may have shifted; verify on beacons.ai before committing. Carrd pricing has been stable for years.