I have made use of a great deal of different email list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a big supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your own system. Therefore (and the awesome features), I have actually been making use of What Is The Story Behind Beehiiv.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to make a decision to utilize BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I wish to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I would certainly likewise like to resolve why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Change In Technique, I spoke about just how and why I determined to transform my RV blog into largely a newsletter. I decided that was business model I wanted to seek with that said building.
Yet, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email checklist for Gladly recreational vehicle, but 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 bit of a waste. More on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed in that problem of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools developed right into it particular to my objective. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send out the email at the same time without having it be two separate actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are essentially one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I choose to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The system was essentially developed by the people that accumulated the modern technology for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might indeed be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went all out. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own property to make sure that I can grow it extra purposefully too.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded independently. Happily motor home was young, so very easy to change. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of things right here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will obviously constantly be carefully tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, but does not have to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email List
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter platform and just an e-mail list.
You can host your email list everywhere you desire and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing indicates that it is going to your website and to your email subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that site. However, you are likewise sending to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes management of the system much less complex.
With most e-mail systems, any type of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed entirely individually from your internet site. So, for instance, you might publish a post to WordPress but then you would require to independently develop and send out an email to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are after that two different collections of archives and 2 separate activities due to the fact that article and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a real newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the very same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wanted to remain to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you ‘d shed the development tools that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently features a various set of demands than a regular e-mail checklist.
You do not typically require much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless publishing experience and development tools to assist you construct your client base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I chose to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I think Substack sucks. Actually, since Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that at first got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter publishers. Actually, it is essentially built by the very same folks who constructed the innovation behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Once more, it just tells me the customer character distinction between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t exactly suck. The only reason I would certainly consider trembling things up is if I assumed I can GROW the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I actually don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive much deeper than just the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by individuals that comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more geared towards makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers personalized areas on customers. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as changing custom areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations just considering that I started making use of the platform. For example:
- Capacity to activate automations based on which particular embed type they came in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can not do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it pertains to composing your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is just more tailored towards e-newsletters. Actually, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I discover it to be a lot more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s composing interface is nice and tidy, however it would certainly be more equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than just type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Presence choices on that area to reveal it just to paid clients, conceal it from email, conceal from customers, reveal only to subscribers, and so on. Substack uses absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs registration model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any profits. In fact, you literally attach up to your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Relying on the number of subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, but what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
Generally, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was extra constructed toward genuine e-mail marketing. It was developed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page makes appear better built for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually claimed, Substack placements itself towards “developers” more than email marketing professionals and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things geared extra toward people that just assume in regards to content development.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are dealt with fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, yet … cool for individuals who may need it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” function which functions sort of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. Generally, Substack is established to be extra like a social network which supports long-form material.
In general, Substack is likewise extra … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions rather well.
But, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to real marketing, I don’t think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I tried to find more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly through to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at designers (like Substack), however it is far more highly dealing with people that do it for company. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation building, it’s own business platform, and more. ConvertKit is a truly great platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has a lot more versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will likewise claim that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is just a standard function of email checklists that allows division in a far more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain tagging eventually quickly, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing What Is The Story Behind Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now offer the ability to market things via their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always choose an extra direct alternative anyway. For me, I like to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and for that reason has way more integration choices. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For example, their plugin currently even supports member-gated content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this a lot more very closely places ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you be able to publish to your site and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy dealing with the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with perks, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly outstanding features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most popular viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … What Is The Story Behind Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it also suggests that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced almost once a week release of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … but huge features that are fairly essential. Their speed of growth at this point has gone over.
I likewise very much appreciate exactly how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item statements concerning some design enhancements to the web design features actually had a tiny issue with the web content width. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the concern was repaired.
Few days later, I gave them one more suggestion …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to activate automations based upon the embed form utilized was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I really value.
One more significant point of distinction below is the rate. Both platforms use complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses a lot more ability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more positive. ConvertKit appears less expensive in the beginning look because their pricing web page shows lower numbers, nevertheless the customer restrictions are much reduced and your rate quickly raises as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same dimension list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly make use of), you can grow your checklist approximately 100,000. A listing of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different league when it comes to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost rates? They could as time goes on. Yet, I’m thinking individuals like myself that are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you absolutely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to advance rather rapidly and make brand-new product announcements rather typically, yet there are some standard features I actually desire they had that I require to simply wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on registration forms where I could choose an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be amazing for a lot of factors. Currently, subscription types look OK, but there’s really little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have labeling at the subscriber level. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks should belong to automations to make built-in automations less complicated and reduce reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are also some minor administrative user interface adjustments that would certainly be handy. As an example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to mass edit messages (for instance, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as typical on clients (like the name).
- Some even more personalization alternatives for the web site (such as even more flexible color choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I wish they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t excellent and absolutely not almost as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It possibly never will be, either. As I said, the function is different so it would not much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never ever understand, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Enough where I made a decision to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform despite my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing model specifically, I saw sufficient value in their system to call for the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special email listing. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, however I intentionally have things establish to ensure that I additionally keep my checklist “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just a great insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d definitely consider switching to BeeHiiv. It will merely be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the switch should be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a huge e-mail checklist and are consequently being fleeced with their high regular monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating promptly. There’s additionally a respectable chance you’re not also using a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv might quickly be a much better and more economical fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely intentional regarding expanding a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is created to be, it is one of the very best video games in town now. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the complimentary account to be rather feature abundant.