Setup101 vs Beacons
Choose Beacons
Beacons if you want one subscription covering email marketing, a digital storefront, invoicing and a media kit, and you're willing to trade depth for breadth.
Choose Setup101
Setup101 if your monetization is affiliate-led and gear-based, and you want the products themselves — not a link list — to be the thing people browse.
Feature comparison
| Capability | Setup101 | Beacons |
|---|---|---|
| Show the products inside a setupBeacons has a store, but it's oriented around selling your own products rather than presenting a kit you use. | ✓ | ◐ |
| Link products from any retailer | ✓ | ✓ |
| One link that survives product swaps | ✓ | — |
| Link-in-bio microsite | ✓ | ✓ |
| Get discovered by new followers | ✓ | — |
| Product click analytics | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free tier | ✓ | ✓ |
| Native iOS and Android apps | ✓ | ✓ |
◐ means partly, or only in some circumstances. We do not list Beacons's prices here because they change and vary by region — check their pricing page for current figures. Setup101 is free to start, with Pro at $15/mo and Pro Plus at $30/mo.
Where Beacons is better
No tool wins on everything, and a comparison that pretends otherwise is not worth reading. Here is where Beacons genuinely has the advantage.
- Far broader feature set — email marketing, invoicing, a media kit generator and brand-deal tooling that Setup101 doesn't have.
- A much larger user base and more brand-partnership infrastructure.
- Better suited if you sell your own digital products alongside affiliate links.
Moving from Beacons to Setup101
- 1Export or note the products currently listed in your Beacons store.
- 2Build the equivalent setups on Setup101, grouping products the way you actually use them.
- 3Keep Beacons for email and digital products if you use those — the two aren't mutually exclusive.
- 4Point product-focused content at your Setup101 link.
Common questions
- Does Setup101 do email marketing?
- No. Setup101 is focused on setups, products and affiliate links. If email is central to your business, keep a dedicated tool for it.
- Can I sell my own digital products?
- Setup101 is built around linking to products, including your own. It's not a digital-product checkout — Beacons and Stan are stronger there.