I have actually utilized a lot of different e-mail list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have been making use of Beehiiv NFT.
So, it is without a doubt a strange move for me to decide to utilize BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I wish to look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to deal with the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I would certainly likewise such as to address why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Change In Method, I discussed just how and why I determined to transform my motor home blog site into mainly an e-newsletter. I determined that was business version I intended to go after with that property.
However, to intentionally seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily motor home, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. More on that in a little bit.
As I said because issue of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed into it specific to my function. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send the email at the same time without having it be two separate actions.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click registration links. Great for promotion in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I select to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The platform was actually built by the people who built up the modern technology for Early morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might indeed be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I just went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own property to make sure that I can expand it much more intentionally also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Gladly RV was young, so simple to transition. However, The Early morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of things here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will certainly constantly be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email List
There’s a distinction in between a newsletter platform and just an email listing.
You can organize your email checklist just about anywhere you want and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting means that it is mosting likely to your website and to your e-mail customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that site. But, you are likewise sending off to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are all in one. This makes management of the system much easier.
With the majority of e-mail platforms, any kind of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built completely separately from your internet site. So, for instance, you might publish a write-up to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to individually develop and send an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are then 2 separate collections of archives and two separate activities due to the fact that article and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a real newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it basically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the exact same point. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong option if I intended to continue to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the growth tools that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally features a different set of requirements than a regular email checklist.
You do not generally require much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless publishing experience and development devices to aid you construct your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I chose to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I believe Substack draws. In fact, because Substack has been about longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that originally got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter publishers. Actually, it is literally developed by the exact same people that built the modern technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and big magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo developers. Once more, it simply tells me the consumer avatar distinction between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not specifically suck. The only factor I would ponder drinking things up is if I thought I might GROW the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I actually don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than simply the placing here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by people that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared toward makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies personalized fields on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an email. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers along with new activities, such as changing custom fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations simply since I began making use of the system. For example:
- Capacity to cause automations based on which specific embed form they can be found in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this because the target market of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an email marketer.
When it involves composing your newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I discover it to be extra instinctive, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface is nice and tidy, but it would certainly be more comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than just kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and afterwards put anything you want in it. Then, you can place Presence choices on that particular area to show it just to paid subscribers, hide it from email, conceal from clients, reveal just to customers, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of revenue. Actually, you actually link approximately your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Depending on the number of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, yet what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outside using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations at all.
Overall, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was much more built towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was built by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in types and the landing page designs seem far better constructed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack placements itself toward “designers” greater than e-mail marketing experts and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points geared more towards people who just assume in terms of content production.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support numerous publications, they are treated rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … great for individuals that could require it.
Substack additionally has even more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host talks with customers. It additionally has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. On the whole, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media network which sustains long-form material.
Generally, Substack is also extra … minimal. You either care for that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to real marketing, I do not think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I looked for more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at designers (like Substack), yet it is far more highly satisfying individuals who do it for organization. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually nice platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has a lot more adaptability when it concerns it’s automations. I will additionally claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is just a fundamental feature of email lists that allows segmentation in a far more versatile way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain labeling at some time soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv NFT.
ConvertKit does currently give the ability to sell points by means of their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always pick an extra straight alternative anyhow. For me, I choose to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and for that reason has way much more integration alternatives. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. As an example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated material along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this much more carefully places ConvertKit into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with rewards, but you can additionally pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your listing. These are really awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among 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 implies for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv NFT
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also indicates that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced almost weekly release of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … yet huge features that are rather crucial. Their rate of advancement at this point has been impressive.
I likewise significantly value just how responsive they are. In fact, one of their item announcements about some design enhancements to the web design features in fact had a little issue with the material width. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the problem was repaired.
Few days later on, I gave them one more recommendation …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based upon the embed kind used was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I actually value.
An additional significant point of distinction right here is the rate. Both systems provide free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides extra ability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more desirable. ConvertKit appears less costly in the beginning glance since their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, nonetheless the client limitations are much reduced and your cost rapidly raises as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That same size list 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 expand your listing up to 100,000. A checklist 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, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely different organization when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually raise rates? They could as time takes place. Yet, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you definitely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to progress instead quickly and make new product news somewhat often, yet there are some basic features I truly want they had that I need to simply wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription types where I could choose an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be outstanding for numerous reasons. Currently, subscription types look OK, however there’s extremely little settings for them to assist in division.
It would certainly be nice to have marking at the subscriber level. This would be effective.
I believe webhooks ought to become part of automations to make integrated automations much easier and reduce reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management interface adjustments that would be handy. For instance:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to mass edit articles (as an example, to tag a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard areas as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization alternatives for the internet site (such as more adaptable color choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I hope they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t excellent and definitely not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It most likely never ever will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I think you never ever understand, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Enough where I decided to change my own newsletters over to the system in spite of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my very own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting design specifically, I saw adequate value in their platform to necessitate the change.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive email list. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is good at, however I purposefully have points set up so that I likewise keep my list “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is just a good insurance coverage, for one. Yet, 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 ever will be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be more business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and different requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch needs to be pretty straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely sit tight unless you have a huge email checklist and are as a result being fleeced with their high regular monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating rapidly. There’s additionally a respectable opportunity you’re not even utilizing some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could easily be a far better and a lot more inexpensive fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very willful concerning growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is developed to be, it is among the very best games in the area today. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth having a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be fairly feature abundant.