I have actually utilized a lot of various e-mail list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a substantial proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. For that reason (and the amazing features), I have actually been making use of Popehat Beehiiv.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to decide to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d likewise like to attend to why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Change In Method, I talked about just how and why I chose to transform my RV blog site right into largely an e-newsletter. I chose that was the business version I intended to pursue with that said residential or commercial property.
However, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email listing for Happily recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, using it for newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed because problem of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed into it particular to my objective. Points such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send the e-mail at the same time without having it be 2 different activities.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click membership web links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at growth. The platform was literally constructed by the individuals who accumulated the technology for Early morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I might without a doubt be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went for it. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential property to ensure that I can expand it more intentionally as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Gladly RV was young, so very easy to transition. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of things here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will obviously constantly be very closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email List
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter system and simply an email list.
You can hold your e-mail checklist everywhere you want and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting suggests that it is going to your site and to your email subscribers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that website. But, you are also sending off to all customers at the same time. The site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the system much simpler.
With many e-mail systems, any e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is built entirely independently from your website. So, for example, you might release a post to WordPress yet then you would certainly require to independently construct and send out an email to your listing to send it to clients. These are then two different collections of archives and two separate actions because post and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it basically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the very same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I wished to remain to self-host whatever. However, you would certainly shed the development devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently features a various set of requirements than a common e-mail list.
You do not typically need much marketing automation. You do not generally need autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to help you build your client base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I chose to go with BeeHiiv, that does not mean I think Substack sucks. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has actually been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that at first got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter authors. Actually, it is actually constructed by the very same folks who developed the innovation behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Once again, it just tells me the consumer avatar distinction between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only reason I would contemplate trembling things up is if I believed I might expand the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I really do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct competitors.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than simply the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv seems like it was constructed by individuals that comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared toward developers.
For example, BeeHiiv uses personalized fields on customers. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an email. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have brand-new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as modifying custom fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply considering that I began making use of the system. As an example:
- Ability to set off automations based on which particular embed form they can be found in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and handle individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it pertains to writing your newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is simply more tailored toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I discover it to be more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and tidy, but it would be extra equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than simply form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and after that placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Visibility alternatives on that particular section to reveal it only to paid subscribers, conceal it from e-mail, hide from clients, show only to subscribers, and so on. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any income. In fact, you literally link up to your very own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Depending upon how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear unpopular, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
On the whole, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra built toward real email marketing. It was built by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page creates seem much better built for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I like the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack positions itself towards “creators” greater than e-mail marketers and newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points tailored much more towards people that simply think in terms of material creation.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous magazines, they are treated fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … cool for individuals who may need it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host chats with clients. It also has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. On the whole, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media network which supports long-form content.
On the whole, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimal. You either look after that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack works rather well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it comes to actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I looked for even more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually through to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is also placed at designers (like Substack), however it is far more strongly accommodating individuals who do it for organization. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own business platform, and more. ConvertKit is a truly good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown here. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, below’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly also claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is just a fundamental function of email listings that enables segmentation in an even more versatile method than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support tagging at some point soon, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Popehat Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now supply the capability to sell things through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would constantly select a much more direct choice anyway. For me, I prefer to use my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and because of that has way much more integration options. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. As an example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated web content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this much more very closely puts ConvertKit into direct competition by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with perks, but you can likewise pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are truly awesome features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promo platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall of what this indicates for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Popehat Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it also means that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed almost once a week launch of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … but large features that are fairly vital. Their rate of development at this moment has been impressive.
I likewise very much value just how responsive they are. Actually, among their item announcements regarding some layout improvements to the website design features actually had a little problem with the web content size. I simply replied to that e-mail to tell them. I quickly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That very same day, the concern was fixed.
Couple of days later, I provided one more tip …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to set off automations based upon the embed type used was contributed to the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I really value.
Another major point of differentiation here is the rate. Both platforms supply free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers much more capacity and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also much more favorable. ConvertKit seems less expensive initially glance since their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nonetheless the subscriber restrictions are much lower and your rate promptly enhances as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same dimension checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally use), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, also, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different league when it involves pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately enhance prices? They might as time goes on. But, I’m thinking individuals like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you certainly need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to develop instead promptly and make brand-new product announcements somewhat commonly, but there are some fundamental features I truly want they had that I require to simply wait on.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership types where I could select an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be incredible for numerous factors. As of now, subscription forms look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to assist in division.
It would certainly behave to have identifying at the customer level. This would be effective.
I believe webhooks must belong to automations to make integrated automations less complicated and decrease dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small management user interface changes that would be handy. For instance:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to bulk edit messages (for instance, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental fields as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization alternatives for the website (such as more versatile color selections, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t ideal and absolutely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I think you never ever know, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Enough where I determined to switch my own newsletters over to the system despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Basically, for the e-newsletter posting model particularly, I saw sufficient value in their platform to require the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive email listing. I use BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, however I purposefully have things establish to ensure that I likewise keep my checklist “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is simply a good insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the question is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d most definitely think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different needs. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the button needs to be pretty simple.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a large e-mail checklist and are therefore being wooled with their high regular monthly costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating promptly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not also using some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a better and extra affordable fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be extremely willful regarding expanding an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is made to be, it is one of the best video games in town today. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the totally free account to be rather feature abundant.