Linktree vs Beacons

Both put a list of links behind one URL and both sell the upgrade the same way: pay to take the badge off. The difference is what you hold at the end, and neither answer is the obvious one.

Which of them lets you own the URL

Linktree does not connect a domain you own on any plan. Its own account of what each paid tier adds names no custom domain, and the documented alternative is a redirect pointing at the vendor's URL. Whatever audience you build, the address stays theirs.

Beacons does attach a domain, and here the detail matters more than the feature. A domain obtained through Beacons remains the property of Beacons AI Inc: the creator is given a right to use it, with no access to its DNS records. A domain you cannot administer is a domain you cannot move, which is the exact problem a custom domain is usually bought to solve. The included one is also free for the first year only, which the pricing page does not say.

The way out of both is the same: register the domain yourself somewhere else, then point it at whichever tool you pick.

What selling costs

Linktree charges nothing on sales until the tier where the seller fee reaches zero, which is its most expensive plan — so the cut falls as you pay more, rather than being bought off in one step.

Beacons takes nine per cent of every sale on its Free and Creator plans and nothing at all on Creator Plus. That is a cleaner arithmetic problem: once nine per cent of monthly sales exceeds the difference between the plans, upgrading pays for itself. If you sell nothing, Beacons is free and Linktree is nearly so.

Which should you choose?

Choose Linktree if the page is a signpost rather than a shop, you want the fastest possible thing to look at, and you accept that the URL is rented.

Pick Beacons if you are selling from the page, because the commission is escapable and the link list is not the point — but register the domain yourself rather than through them.