Kahana vs Beacons: A Destination, Not Twelve Exits
Beacons is creator link-in-bio, landing pages, media kits, and quick paths from social profiles to everything a creator offers. Kahana is profile + hubs as the destination behind the link.
Kahana is a library of curated hubs, Explore, Clubs, and optional Stripe. Beacons is creator link-in-bio, landing pages, media kits, and quick paths from social profiles to everything a creator offers. They overlap in places and diverge in others.
What each one is
Kahana is built around hubs people can open, Explore so strangers can find them, Aura as scarce daily recognition, and Clubs so discussion outlives a feed. Selling stays optional.
Beacons is a free, all-in-one platform with the best link in bio, media kit builder, online store and email marketing tool for creators on Instagram + TikTok.
Why this comparison
This article puts Kahana and Beacons side by side. It covers what each supports as a first-class product job, key features, and a few research notes so you have a clearer picture of what they are, how they compare, and what you can actually do on each one. It is not a teardown, and it is not a switch-tomorrow pitch.
Coverage: Kahana vs Beacons
Each row is a feature Kahana aims to unify in one Aura-powered library. Kahana supports all of them; Beacons shows which of those it supports as a first-class, easy product job, not something you could theoretically find if you hunt.
| Feature | Kahana | Beacons |
|---|---|---|
| Ebook | Yes | — |
| Short-form video | Yes | — |
| Long-form video | Yes | — |
| Series/Films | Yes | — |
| Courses | Yes | — |
| Newsletters | Yes | — |
| Audio | Yes | — |
| Memberships | Yes | Yes |
| Community & Messaging | Yes | — |
| Storefronts | Yes | Yes |
| Marketplaces | Yes | — |
What the rows mean
Yes means the platform has this as a first-class product job, what you open the app to do, not something you could theoretically find if you hunt.
- Ebook
- Yes if you can easily get and consume ebooks on the platform (free or paid) as a first-class product: open, buy, borrow, or read without hunting. Yes: Kindle, Goodreads, Wattpad, Project Gutenberg. No: Discord (a server might share a PDF; that is not an ebook product).
- Short-form video
- Yes if you can easily consume short-form video as a first-class surface (For You, Reels, Shorts). Yes: TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts. No: Twitch clips buried in a live-stream product.
- Long-form video
- Yes if you can easily watch creator / UGC long-form video (or specialty long video) as a core surface. Course lectures belong under Courses. Hollywood catalogs belong under Series/Films. Yes: YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch VODs, Nebula. No: Udemy lecture video (that is Courses).
- Series/Films
- Yes if you can easily watch series and films as an SVOD / catalog entertainment product. Yes: Netflix, Disney+, Crunchyroll. No: YouTube (some movies exist; it is not an SVOD catalog).
- Courses
- Yes if you can easily take or browse structured courses as a first-class product. Yes: Udemy, Coursera, Teachable, Kajabi. No: YouTube tutorials (helpful, not a course catalog).
- Newsletters
- Yes if you can easily read or subscribe to newsletters / creator writing as a first-class product. Yes: Substack, beehiiv, Medium, Ghost. No: X posts (not a newsletter product).
- Audio
- Yes if you can easily listen to music, podcasts, or audiobooks as a first-class product. Yes: Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, YouTube Music. No: Discord voice chat.
- Memberships
- Yes if a creator or seller can accept payments from others and make money through the platform: checkout, fan subscriptions, tips, ads, shop, or creator funds. Not only a classic Patreon-style membership product. Yes: YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Udemy, Gumroad, Shopify. No: Netflix, Goodreads, Slack, Wikipedia (you don’t earn as a typical creator).
- Community & Messaging
- Yes if you can create or join a group, community, or club, including group chats, Groups, subreddits, community tabs, discussion boards, or community feeds. A one-off comment on a single video or listing is not the bar; a durable place for the group to talk is. Yes: Discord, WhatsApp, Facebook Groups, YouTube Community, Reddit, LinkedIn Groups, Kajabi Community, Instagram. No: Netflix, Kindle, Spotify (no group/community space to create and talk in).
- Storefronts
- Yes if the product gives a creator a custom storefront or site that can take the place of building their own website (bio page, creator site, branded shop). Not a shop tab on someone else’s multi-seller marketplace. Yes: Linktree, Kajabi, Stan, Beacons, Shopify. No: Udemy instructor page, Etsy shop on Etsy’s marketplace.
- Marketplaces
- Yes if a typical person can search and shop a catalog of offerings from many sellers: courses, books, digital goods, etc. Storefront software (Shopify, WooCommerce) is not a marketplace unless shoppers browse many sellers there. Yes: Udemy (courses), Etsy, Gumroad, Kindle Store, Creative Market. No: Kajabi or Linktree (your site, not a public multi-seller catalog).
What you can do on each
On Kahana you can publish a hub, list it on Explore, discuss it in a Club, grant Aura, and turn on a Stripe paywall when you are ready to charge.
On Beacons you can use Memberships and Storefronts as first-class product jobs. You only need a door: route followers to many tools, or a thin storefront you already know.
Using Kahana with Beacons
You can use both. Beacons keeps doing what it already does well. Kahana is another place to package the work, get discovered, and grow an audience.
Keep Beacons as the door that routes followers to many tools. Add Kahana as what they open: a profile and hubs, listed on Explore, with optional paywalls. Put Kahana as the main learn or buy link on Beacons so the bio is not twelve exits and no room behind them.
Research notes on Beacons
The notes below are directional public signals we aggregated through Perplexity searches of company sites, press, and secondary write-ups. Treat them as context, not an audit. Products and numbers change.
Scale, in public numbers
- Designed for Instagram/TikTok creators; widely used as a monetization-focused Linktree alternative.
- Free plan available; paid plans include 0% transaction fees (creators pay processor fees only).
- Central storefront for fans to buy digital products (ebooks, guides, files, PDFs) from a Beacons page.
Strengths
- All-in-one for creator monetization. Link-in-bio, mini-storefront, media kit builder, email collection, and email marketing in one platform.
- Customizable storefront. Drag-and-drop blocks to build a storefront and profile that reflects the brand.
- Digital products and memberships. Sell ebooks, guides, files, templates, courses, memberships, and book appointments from the same page.
- No transaction fees on paid plans. Paid plans charge 0% platform fees, helps maximize earnings from digital sales.
Weaknesses
- Less powerful than full ecommerce platforms. Best for simple digital products; complex catalogs, physical inventory, or advanced shipping are out of scope.
- Limited SEO and long-form content. Primarily for social traffic, not a full website or blog.
- Learning curve for some creators. Easier than coding a site, but layout and feature choices can still overwhelm non-tech users.
Sources used for Beacons facts: beacons.ai · home.beacons.ai · fritz.ai
