I have made use of a great deal of different email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. Therefore (and the incredible features), I have been utilizing Beehiiv Growth Rate.
So, it is certainly an unusual move for me to choose to use BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I want to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to resolve the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d likewise like to attend to why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Huge Shift In Approach, I discussed how and why I made a decision to transform my motor home blog site right into largely a newsletter. I chose that was the business design I wished to pursue keeping that property.
Yet, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Happily motor home, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that in a bit.
As I claimed in that issue of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built right into it particular to my purpose. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send out the email at the same time without having it be two separate activities.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click membership links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on development. The platform was literally built by the people that developed the technology for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I might without a doubt be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I just went for it. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own home to make sure that I can grow it extra intentionally also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded individually. Happily RV was young, so easy to transition. Yet, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff 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 clearly constantly be carefully linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and just an email listing.
You can hold your e-mail checklist just about anywhere you desire and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting means that it is mosting likely to your website and to your email subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that internet site. However, you are also sending to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much less complex.
With the majority of email systems, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is built entirely separately from your website. So, for instance, you may publish a short article to WordPress yet then you would certainly need to independently build and send an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are then two separate collections of archives and 2 separate activities since blog posts and your emails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a real newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it pretty much “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the very same thing. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wished to remain to self-host whatever. However, you ‘d lose the development tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently includes a different collection of demands than a normal e-mail listing.
You don’t typically need much marketing automation. You do not usually need autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, though, is one seamless publishing experience and growth devices to assist you build your subscriber base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I believe Substack draws. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that initially obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is essentially developed by the exact same individuals who constructed the modern technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, doesn’t matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise means that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and huge publications using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo makers. Once more, it simply informs me the customer avatar distinction between both firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only factor I would consider trembling things up is if I believed I might GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I really do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight competitors.
But, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv looks like it was built by individuals who recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more tailored toward creators.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies customized areas on clients. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that functions a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have new triggers in addition to new actions, such as changing custom-made areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations just since I started utilizing the system. For example:
- Capability to set off automations based on which specific embed kind they came in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this since the target market of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it concerns composing your newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is just much more tailored toward newsletters. In fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I find it to be much more instinctive, personally.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and clean, however it would certainly be more comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than simply kind. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and then put anything you want in it. After that, you can put Visibility alternatives on that section to show it only to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, conceal from subscribers, show only to clients, etc. Substack uses absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs membership version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of income. In fact, you actually attach up to your very own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Depending upon the number of customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, however what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
Generally, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was a lot more constructed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was constructed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes seem far better built for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would love 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 said, Substack positions itself towards “developers” greater than email online marketers and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some things tailored extra towards people who just believe in terms of web content development.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support several publications, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … great for people who might need it.
Substack additionally has more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with customers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works sort of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. In general, Substack is established to be extra like a social media network which sustains long-form content.
Overall, Substack is likewise extra … minimal. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I do not. However, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I tried to find more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly through to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the exact same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at developers (like Substack), but it is a lot more highly satisfying individuals who do it for company. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own business system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a really great platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure here. ConvertKit is popular already. However, here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has more versatility when it involves it’s automations. I will certainly also say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is simply a standard function of email checklists that allows segmentation in an even more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support identifying at some time quickly, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Growth Rate.
ConvertKit does currently give the capacity to offer things by means of their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would always select a much more direct option anyway. For me, I favor to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and therefore has way a lot more integration options. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For instance, their plugin currently also supports member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this more very closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you be able to release to your site and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic taking on the growth tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with benefits, however you can likewise pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are really remarkable features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you understand ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface of what this suggests for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Growth Rate
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it also means that they are quickly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen virtually once a week launch of new features into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … however large features that are quite important. Their rate of growth at this moment has actually been impressive.
I likewise very much value exactly how responsive they are. In fact, among their product statements about some style enhancements to the web design features actually consisted of a small issue with the web content size. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the concern was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I gave them another suggestion …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based on the embed kind used was contributed to the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I actually value.
One more significant point of differentiation below is the cost. Both systems supply complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses more ability and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more desirable. ConvertKit seems more affordable initially look due to the fact that their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the customer limits are much lower and your rate rapidly boosts as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That very same dimension checklist 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 personally utilize), you can grow your listing approximately 100,000. A list of that size would 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 every year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely different league when it involves pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually boost costs? They could as time takes place. However, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the things you absolutely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to develop instead rapidly and make brand-new product announcements rather often, but there are some basic features I actually wish they had that I require to simply await.
One is that they require to have a setup on subscription kinds where I could select an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be incredible for numerous factors. Already, membership forms look OK, however there’s extremely little settings for them to assist in division.
It would certainly behave to have identifying at the customer degree. This would be effective.
I assume webhooks should belong to automations to make built-in automations less complicated and minimize reliance on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor administrative interface adjustments that would come in handy. For instance:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Capacity to mass edit posts (for instance, to identify a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic areas as basic on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more customization choices for the site (such as more adaptable shade choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I hope they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t perfect and definitely not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never will be, either. As I claimed, the objective is different so it would not much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation system. I guess you never understand, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to change my very own newsletters over to the platform regardless of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting model specifically, I saw adequate worth in their system to necessitate the change.
Keep in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special e-mail checklist. I use BeeHiiv for what it is good at, yet I intentionally have things establish so that I additionally maintain my checklist “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is just a good insurance coverage, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack today, I ‘d absolutely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the button should be pretty simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay put unless you have a big email checklist and are therefore being fleeced with their high month-to-month bill. 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 several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could easily be a much better and much more budget friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really intentional 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 about what it is created to be, it is just one of the most effective games in the area today. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be rather feature abundant.