I have made use of a lot of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and having your own system. For that reason (and the remarkable features), I have actually been making use of Beehiiv Examples.
So, it is without a doubt a weird move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is an organized application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I want to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d also like to attend to why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Change In Method, I spoke about just how and why I chose to turn my motor home blog right into primarily an e-newsletter. I decided that was business model I intended to seek keeping that building.
Yet, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Gladly RV, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, using it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. Much more on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed in that problem of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools constructed into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send out the e-mail simultaneously without having it be 2 different activities.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click registration links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are means to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features aimed at growth. The system was essentially constructed by the people who accumulated the technology for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went all out. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own residential property to ensure that I can grow it extra purposefully too.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded individually. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to change. However, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly constantly be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Listing
There’s a distinction in between a newsletter system and simply an email checklist.
You can hold your e-mail listing just about anywhere you desire and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting suggests that it is going to your site and to your email customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that internet site. Yet, you are additionally dispatching to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s clients are done in one. This makes administration of the system much easier.
With a lot of e-mail systems, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed totally separately from your internet site. So, for instance, you might publish a post to WordPress but after that you would need to individually develop and send out an email to your list to send it to clients. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and two different actions since post and your emails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and allows them to be the same thing. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong option if I wished to continue to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you ‘d shed the development tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently includes a various collection of requirements than a regular email list.
You do not typically need much marketing automation. You do not typically require autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless posting experience and growth tools to aid you build your customer base that specify to e-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 many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I chose to select BeeHiiv, that does not imply I believe Substack draws. As a matter of fact, since Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that at first obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to newsletter authors. In fact, it is actually developed by the exact same people that developed the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brand names and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo makers. Once again, it just tells me the customer character distinction in between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM really did not precisely draw. The only factor I would certainly ponder trembling points up is if I assumed I could expand the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I actually do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct competitors.
But, let’s dive deeper than just the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv seems like it was developed by individuals who understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more geared toward makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom-made areas on clients. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. Actually, it is a visual 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 quite limited in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as changing personalized fields, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations simply because I began making use of the system. For instance:
- Capability to activate automations based on which particular embed form they can be found in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it pertains to writing your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored toward e-newsletters. In fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I discover it to be extra instinctive, directly.
Substack’s creating interface behaves and clean, but it would certainly be more equivalent to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than simply kind. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can put Presence alternatives on that particular section to reveal it just to paid clients, conceal it from e-mail, hide from subscribers, reveal just to subscribers, etc. Substack offers nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium membership design, BeeHiiv does not take any type of profits. As a matter of fact, you actually link approximately your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending on the amount of customers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear nerdy, but what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more built toward real e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes seem better developed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually claimed, Substack positions itself towards “developers” more than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things geared more toward people who simply think in terms of web content production.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are treated rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, yet … trendy for individuals who may require it.
Substack also has more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host talks with customers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. In general, Substack is established to be more like a social media which supports long-form web content.
In general, Substack is also much more … minimal. You either take care of that or don’t. Personally, I do not. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I looked for more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly via to be the closest competitors, 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 positioned at creators (like Substack), however it is far more strongly dealing with individuals who do it for company. ConvertKit has good visual automation structure, it’s very own business system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a truly good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, below’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will also say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is just a fundamental function of email lists that allows division in a far more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support tagging at some time soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Examples.
ConvertKit does now give the ability to market points by means of their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly constantly pick a more direct option anyhow. For me, I favor to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and for that reason has way extra integration choices. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this much more carefully puts ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly doing not have in these type of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with rewards, however you can additionally pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are truly outstanding features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall wherefore this suggests for the platform going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Examples
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 stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise means that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed nearly regular release of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … but large features that are quite vital. Their speed of advancement now has actually been impressive.
I additionally significantly value how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their item announcements concerning some style enhancements to the website design features really contained a tiny problem with the web content size. I just replied to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the concern was taken care of.
Couple of days later, I gave them an additional recommendation …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to activate automations based upon the embed kind used was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I actually value.
Another significant point of distinction below is the cost. Both systems offer totally free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies much more capability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more positive. ConvertKit seems cheaper at first glimpse since their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nonetheless the client limitations are FAR lower and your price swiftly raises as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same size listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally make use of), you can expand your list approximately 100,000. A list of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in a completely various league when it concerns pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately increase prices? They could as time goes on. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you certainly need to remember is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to evolve instead rapidly and make new item statements somewhat usually, but there are some basic features I truly wish they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setup on subscription forms where I can select an automation to run right at the type degree. That would be remarkable for many reasons. Already, subscription kinds look OK, yet there’s very little setups for them to aid in division.
It would certainly behave to have marking at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks ought to become part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and minimize reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor management interface adjustments that would come in handy. For instance:
- Capability to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to bulk edit posts (as an example, to label a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as basic on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization choices for the internet site (such as more adaptable shade selections, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t best and absolutely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I said, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation platform. I think you never ever know, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Sufficient where I decided to switch my own e-newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and having my very own system.
Put simply, for the newsletter publishing model especially, I saw enough value in their system to call for the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my exclusive email list. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, but I purposefully have points set up to ensure that I also keep my checklist “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply a good 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 inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d certainly consider switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the button should be rather uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a huge email checklist and are for that reason being wooled with their high month-to-month costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating rapidly. There’s also a respectable chance you’re not even making use of some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could easily be a much better and much more budget friendly fit.
Finally, if you plan to be extremely intentional regarding growing a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is developed to be, it is just one of the most effective video games in town today. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the complimentary account to be fairly feature rich.