SellB.io vs Beacons 2026: Funnels & Conversion vs All-in-One Creator Suite

Beacons has grown from a simple link-in-bio tool into a full creator business platform. It now bundles a storefront, email marketing, media kits for brand deals, an AI assistant, and even an affiliate marketplace — all from one dashboard. It's an ambitious product with a lot of surface area.

SellB.io takes a different approach. Instead of trying to be every tool a creator might need, it focuses on what happens between a visitor landing on your bio link and becoming a customer: interactive funnels with conditional logic, a visual flow builder, advanced analytics with heatmaps, and lead qualification — the conversion layer that Beacons doesn't have.

This comparison breaks down where each platform actually delivers, the hidden costs to watch for, and which one fits your specific use case.

Quick verdict

The short version: Beacons is a broader platform — it covers email, brand deals, and media kits alongside a storefront. SellB.io is the better choice if your priority is converting visitors into customers through interactive funnels, deeper analytics, and lead qualification — without giving up 9% of your sales.

What each platform offers

Beacons positions itself as "the all-in-one creator platform." It started as a link-in-bio tool and expanded into a full business suite: storefront, email marketing, auto-updating media kits, brand deal management, an affiliate marketplace, and an AI assistant called Beam. The philosophy is to replace the five or six tools a creator typically juggles. It's broad — covering everything from DM automation to brand pitches — but that breadth means each individual feature is built to be functional rather than best-in-class.

SellB.io starts from the same bio link concept but focuses specifically on the conversion problem: how do you turn a profile visitor into a lead, a booking, or a sale? Instead of building a media kit generator or an email broadcaster, SellB.io invested in a visual flow builder with conditional logic, multi-step lead qualification forms, advanced analytics with heatmaps and engagement metrics, and a native CRM. The result is a platform that does fewer things, but goes deeper on the things that directly drive revenue.

The core philosophical difference: Beacons tries to be your entire creator business stack. SellB.io focuses on making your bio link convert.

Product types compared

Both platforms let you sell digital products, but the approach differs.

Beacons products

Beacons supports digital downloads, online courses (with modules), memberships (recurring subscriptions), appointments (built-in scheduling), and custom requests. The storefront is well-designed and supports order bumps on higher plans. Courses got a significant upgrade — you can now build multi-module courses with drip content on the Store Pro plan. Beacons also offers "Buy Now, Pay Later" through Klarna on Creator Pro and above.

The catch: on the Free and Creator Pro plans, Beacons takes a 9% commission on every sale. That means if you sell a $100 product, Beacons keeps $9 on top of Stripe's processing fee. The 9% fee only drops to 0% on the Store Pro plan ($30/month).

SellB.io products

SellB.io offers six product types through a step-by-step wizard: Digital Downloads (PDFs, ebooks, design packs, presets), Coaching (1:1 sessions via Calendar or Calendly integration), Services (async custom work with delivery), Memberships (recurring community access), Webinars (live or recorded events), and Donations/Tips (pay-what-you-want). Payments go directly to your Stripe account via Stripe Connect — SellB.io charges 0% transaction fees on all plans. You only pay Stripe's standard processing fee.

SellB.io doesn't have a course builder with modules and progress tracking. If you sell structured courses with drip content, Beacons has the more mature product there. But for downloads, coaching, services, and memberships, SellB.io covers those without taking a cut of your revenue.

Funnels & conversion tools

This is where the two platforms diverge most.

Beacons doesn't have a funnel builder. Your bio page lists your links, products, and content blocks — visitors browse and either click or leave. You can add email capture forms and link to products, but there's no way to create a multi-step qualification flow that adapts to visitor responses. Every visitor sees the same static page regardless of who they are or what they need.

SellB.io includes a full visual flow builder with two modes. In Basic mode, you create a linear sequence of screens: Hook (grab attention) → Capture (collect information) → Confirm (deliver value or direct to next step). In Advanced mode, you design branching funnels on a drag-and-drop canvas — connecting screens with edges and adding split path nodes that send visitors down different paths based on their answers.

For example, a fitness coach could build a flow where visitors first see a hook screen ("Get Your Free Personalized Workout Plan"), then answer qualifying questions ("What's your fitness goal?" → Weight Loss / Muscle Gain / General Fitness), and based on the answer, see different offers — a group program for beginners, a 1:1 coaching package for serious athletes, or a downloadable meal plan for general fitness. This kind of personalized conversion path doesn't exist in Beacons.

Email marketing & outreach

This is where Beacons has a genuine advantage.

Beacons includes built-in email marketing with audience segmentation, automated sequences, and AI-generated copy. You can build a subscriber list directly from your bio page, send broadcast emails, set up automated welcome sequences, and use Beam (their AI) to draft subject lines and body copy. On higher plans, you also get Smart Reply for auto-DMs on Instagram. Email marketing is deeply integrated into the platform — it's not a bolt-on.

SellB.io has a native CRM that captures and organizes leads from your flows and store, tracking visitor details and interaction history. For email broadcasts and automated sequences, you'd integrate with an external email tool. SellB.io's strength is in capturing and qualifying leads through multi-step forms — the data flows into the CRM, but the actual email sending happens through integrations.

If email marketing is central to your business and you want everything in one platform, Beacons has the edge here. If your priority is lead qualification (knowing who's a good fit before they hit your inbox), SellB.io's flow builder + CRM combination gives you better data to work with.

Analytics & tracking

Beacons provides analytics covering clicks, traffic sources, sales data, and audience demographics. You can see which links get the most clicks, where your traffic comes from, and basic conversion metrics for your store. The analytics are functional but stay at the aggregate level — you know how many people clicked, but not how they behaved on the page.

SellB.io offers a comprehensive analytics dashboard with seven tabs: Overview (store views, link clicks, shares), Store, Links, Screens, Flows, Events, and Engagement. The standout features include activity heatmaps showing interaction patterns by hour and day, engagement metrics (average time on screen, scroll depth, click-through rate), individual event tracking with session IDs, UTM parameter support, period-over-period comparison, and device and country breakdown.

The difference matters for optimization. Beacons tells you that 500 people visited your page and 20 bought something. SellB.io tells you that visitors from Instagram spend 45 seconds on your hook screen, 60% scroll past the fold, and visitors who come through your lead qualification flow convert at 3x the rate of those who go directly to the product page. That level of insight is what lets you iterate and improve.

Pricing & the 9% fee question

Beacons pricing

The 9% transaction fee on Free and Creator Pro is the number to watch. It's not just Stripe's processing fee — it's an additional 9% that Beacons takes from every sale. This can add up fast.

SellB.io pricing

SellB.io charges 0% transaction fees on all plans. You only pay Stripe's standard processing fee (~3%).

Who should use which

Use Beacons if:

You want an all-in-one platform that covers everything from storefront to email marketing to brand deals. Beacons makes sense if you're a content creator who earns revenue from brand partnerships and needs an auto-updating media kit, if built-in email marketing with automations is essential to your workflow, if you sell courses with modules and drip content (Store Pro plan), or if you want a single dashboard for your entire creator business including DM automation and affiliate management.

Beacons is genuinely good for creators who earn primarily through brand deals and sponsorships — the media kit and partnership tools are features SellB.io doesn't offer.

Use SellB.io if:

You need to convert visitors before they buy — qualifying leads, routing different visitors to different offers, and tracking exactly how people interact with your content. SellB.io is the better fit for coaches and consultants who qualify before they sell, creators selling downloads, services, or memberships who don't want a 9% fee eating into their margins, anyone who wants visual funnels with conditional logic, data-driven creators who want heatmaps and engagement metrics (not just click counts), and anyone who wants to start free and scale costs without worrying about transaction fees at any level.

The pricing structure alone makes SellB.io worth testing if you sell digital products — at $1,000/month in sales, the 9% Beacons fee costs more than a SellB.io subscription.

FAQ

Can SellB.io replace Beacons completely?

For selling digital products, coaching, and services — yes. SellB.io handles all of that plus adds funnels and deeper analytics without taking a percentage of your sales. The features Beacons has that SellB.io doesn't are built-in email marketing, auto-updating media kits, and brand deal management. If those are central to how you earn, you'd need to supplement SellB.io with external tools.

Which platform is better for coaches?

SellB.io. The flow builder lets you qualify leads before they book — asking about their goals, budget, and timeline — so you only get on calls with people who are a good fit. Beacons lets you sell coaching sessions, but every visitor sees the same booking page regardless of whether they're your ideal client.

Is Beacons' 9% fee worth it?

It depends on your sales volume. At low volumes (under $100/month), the 9% is negligible and you get a lot of features for free. Once you're consistently selling $500+/month, the math shifts — you're paying $45+/month in fees alone, which is more than SellB.io's paid plans cost. At $2,000/month in sales, you're giving Beacons $180/month on the Creator Pro plan.

Does Beacons have better AI features?

Beacons has more AI surface area — their Beam assistant helps with email copy, product descriptions, and data insights. SellB.io's AI features are more focused: generating your entire store page from a description and creating optimized SEO metadata. Different strengths for different needs.

Can I migrate from Beacons to SellB.io?

There's no one-click migration tool, but the switch is straightforward. Create your SellB.io account, set up your products using the wizard, build a lead qualification flow, and update your bio link. Your Beacons page can stay active during the transition while you test SellB.io's conversion tools.

What about community features?

Neither platform has a built-in community feature comparable to dedicated community platforms. Beacons supports memberships with recurring access, as does SellB.io. For full community features, both platforms would require integration with an external tool.