I have actually made use of a great deal of various email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. For that reason (and the amazing features), I have actually been using Beehiiv API Script.
So, it is without a doubt a strange move for me to make a decision to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to resolve the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d likewise like to deal with why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Shift In Technique, I spoke about just how and why I chose to turn my RV blog right into mainly a newsletter. I determined that was the business model I wanted to go after with that said building.
But, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly recreational vehicle, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. Extra on that in a little bit.
As I stated because concern of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools built into it particular to my function. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog) and send out the email concurrently without having it be two separate actions.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click registration web links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are means to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The platform was literally constructed by the individuals that accumulated the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I finished off with this:.
I might certainly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went for it. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own building to make sure that I can grow it a lot more purposefully too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Happily motor home was young, so easy to shift. However, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly always be closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was built for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Checklist
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail list.
You can hold your e-mail checklist everywhere you desire and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing indicates that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that website. But, you are likewise dispatching to all clients at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much simpler.
With most e-mail systems, any newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is developed entirely independently from your website. So, for instance, you might publish a short article to WordPress yet then you would need to individually construct and send out an email to your list to send it to customers. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and 2 different activities due to the fact that post and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a real e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it pretty much “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and permits them to be the exact same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid option if I intended to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the development tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently comes with a different collection of requirements than a normal email checklist.
You do not generally need much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one seamless publishing experience and growth devices to aid you develop your client base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was mosting likely to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I selected to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I think Substack draws. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been about much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that initially obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter publishers. Actually, it is actually developed by the very same individuals that built the modern technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. But, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and differentiation also indicates that BeeHiiv has some fairly huge brands and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo developers. Once more, it simply informs me the client avatar difference in between the two firms.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t precisely suck. The only reason I would ponder trembling points up is if I believed I might expand the listing faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I really do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight competitors.
But, let’s dive much deeper than simply the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by people that understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more tailored toward developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers customized fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send out an email. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers along with brand-new activities, such as modifying custom-made areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations just considering that I started utilizing the system. For instance:
- Ability to activate automations based on which specific embed kind they was available in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and manage people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can not do this since the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it concerns composing your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply more tailored towards e-newsletters. In fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I locate it to be a lot more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface is nice and clean, yet it would certainly be a lot more comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than simply form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and after that placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Presence choices on that particular section to show it only to paid customers, hide it from e-mail, conceal from subscribers, show just to clients, etc. Substack uses nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium membership version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any revenue. In fact, you essentially link approximately your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Depending on how many clients you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Overall, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was a lot more built towards actual email marketing. It was built by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page develops appear far better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish 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 said, Substack placements itself towards “creators” more than email marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some points tailored much more towards individuals that just assume in regards to material development.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are treated fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … amazing for individuals who could need it.
Substack likewise has even more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host chats with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is established to be much more like a social network which sustains long-form web content.
In general, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimal. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I do not. However, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it comes to real marketing, I do not think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better fit. I tried to find more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently with to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at designers (like Substack), yet it is far more highly satisfying people that do it for company. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation building, it’s own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is a truly good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is popular currently. However, below’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has a lot more adaptability when it involves it’s automations. I will also say that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit much more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is just a fundamental function of e-mail checklists that enables division in a much more flexible means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support marking at some time soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv API Script.
ConvertKit does currently supply the ability to market points by means of their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly pick a much more direct choice anyway. For me, I like to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and because of that has way much more integration choices. Tons of web-based tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For instance, their plugin currently also supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this a lot more closely puts ConvertKit into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with perks, but you can likewise pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are actually awesome features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface of what this suggests for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv API Script
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise implies that they are quickly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed almost regular launch of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … yet big features that are fairly important. Their speed of growth now has been impressive.
I additionally very much appreciate exactly how receptive they are. Actually, one of their item news concerning some layout improvements to the website design features in fact consisted of a small trouble with the web content width. I merely replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the issue was repaired.
Couple of days later, I provided another idea …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to activate automations based on the embed kind used was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I really appreciate.
Another significant point of distinction right here is the price. Both systems offer free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies a lot more ability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more positive. ConvertKit appears cheaper at first glimpse since their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nevertheless the subscriber limits are FAR lower and your cost rapidly boosts as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same size list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly make use of), you can grow your listing as much as 100,000. A checklist of that size 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 annually, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in a completely different organization when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase prices? They might as time takes place. Yet, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of things you definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to advance rather swiftly and make brand-new item statements rather often, but there are some basic features I truly want they had that I need to just await.
One is that they require to have a setting on membership forms where I could select an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be amazing for so many reasons. Currently, membership kinds look OK, however there’s very little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have tagging at the subscriber degree. This would be effective.
I think webhooks must belong to automations to make built-in automations simpler and minimize dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor administrative user interface changes that would certainly come in handy. For instance:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to bulk edit articles (as an example, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard areas as conventional on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization choices for the website (such as even more versatile color options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they finish with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t ideal and absolutely not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It possibly never ever will certainly be, either. As I said, the objective is different so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever recognize, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Enough where I decided to change my own e-newsletters over to the platform despite my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting version specifically, I saw enough worth in their platform to necessitate the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail list. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is good at, but I purposefully have things set up to ensure that I also keep my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply a good insurance plan, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d certainly take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and various needs. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch ought to be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely stay put unless you have a large email checklist and are therefore being fleeced with their high monthly costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating promptly. There’s also a respectable possibility you’re not even making use of several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can quickly be a better and a lot more cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very willful concerning growing a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is developed to be, it is one of the best video games in the area right now. This is the platform to watch.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the free account to be quite feature abundant.