I have actually made use of a great deal of various e-mail list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a massive proponent of digital sovereignty and having your very own system. Therefore (and the remarkable features), I have been utilizing Beehiiv or Ghost.
So, it is without a doubt a strange move for me to make a decision to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to address the problem of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly also like to address why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Big Change In Method, I discussed how and why I made a decision to turn my RV blog site into mainly a newsletter. I decided that was business model I intended to seek keeping that residential property.
Yet, to deliberately pursue it as an e-newsletter, I wanted 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 device and, honestly, using it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a bit.
As I said because issue of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices built into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog site) and send out the email all at once without having it be two separate actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click subscription web links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I choose 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 newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The system was literally developed by the individuals that accumulated the modern technology for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I may indeed be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went for it. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential or commercial property to ensure that I can expand it more deliberately too.
The objective is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Happily motor home was young, so very easy to change. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was buried in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly constantly be closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email List
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and just an e-mail list.
You can organize your email list anywhere you want 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 distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing indicates that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that internet site. However, you are likewise sending to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much less complex.
With most e-mail systems, any kind of e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built totally individually from your site. So, for instance, you could publish an article to WordPress yet then you would certainly require to independently develop and send out an email to your listing to send it to clients. These are after that 2 different collections of archives and two separate actions because post and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a true e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it practically “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the exact same point. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong option if I intended to remain to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the development devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally includes a different collection of needs than a typical e-mail list.
You don’t generally need much marketing automation. You don’t generally require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless posting experience and development devices to aid you develop your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers that I was going to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I selected to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I assume Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, because Substack has actually been about much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that at first obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is literally built by the same folks who built the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. But, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I have an interest in here.
- That branding and differentiation also means that BeeHiiv has some fairly huge brand names and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Again, it simply informs me the consumer avatar difference in between both business.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only reason I would ponder shaking points up is if I assumed I can GROW the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I actually do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct rivals.
Yet, let’s dive much deeper than just the positioning right here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by individuals that comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more tailored towards makers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers custom-made fields on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still quite restricted in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send out an email. However, enhancements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers in addition to new activities, such as modifying custom-made fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen enhancements to their automations simply given that I began making use of the platform. For instance:
- Capacity to set off automations based on which specific embed type they was available in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this since the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it involves composing your newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is just more tailored towards newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I discover it to be a lot more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s writing interface is nice and tidy, but it would certainly be a lot more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is more than just type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and then put anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Presence alternatives on that particular area to show it just to paid subscribers, hide it from e-mail, conceal from subscribers, reveal only to subscribers, etc. Substack uses absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs membership version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of revenue. Actually, you literally link approximately your very own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Depending upon the number of customers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, yet what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations at all.
In general, I just felt like BeeHiiv was extra developed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was built by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page creates seem better developed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack placements itself toward “creators” greater than e-mail online marketers and e-newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some points geared much more towards individuals who simply think in regards to content production.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are dealt with rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … amazing for individuals who could need it.
Substack likewise has even more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a conversation function to host talks with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Overall, Substack is established to be extra like a social media network which supports long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is also more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I do not. However, if the objective is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns actual marketing, I do not assume there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I looked for more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a tough time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often via to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at designers (like Substack), but it is far more strongly accommodating people who do it for organization. ConvertKit has nice visual automation building, it’s very own business system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a truly good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is well known already. However, here’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will also claim that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is simply a standard function of email checklists that makes it possible for division in a far more flexible means than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support identifying at some point soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv or Ghost.
ConvertKit does now provide the capacity to market points through their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always pick an extra direct alternative anyhow. For me, I like to use my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and because of that has way a lot more integration alternatives. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this a lot more very closely puts ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy tackling 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 advantages, however you can likewise pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your listing. These are really awesome features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv or Ghost
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also implies that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced practically weekly release of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … however large features that are fairly crucial. Their speed of development now has been impressive.
I also quite value just how responsive they are. Actually, one of their item announcements concerning some style improvements to the web design features actually included a small problem with the content width. I just replied to that email to tell them. I swiftly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the concern was taken care of.
Couple of days later, I gave them one more suggestion …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based upon the embed kind made use of was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I truly value.
Another significant point of differentiation right here is the rate. Both systems offer complimentary plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses extra capability and 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 favorable. ConvertKit seems more affordable initially glance due to the fact that their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the client restrictions are much reduced and your price quickly increases as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same size checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly utilize), you can expand your checklist approximately 100,000. A listing of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, as well, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different league when it concerns pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise prices? They may as time takes place. However, I’m thinking people like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you certainly require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to advance instead swiftly and make new product statements rather usually, however there are some standard features I truly wish they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on subscription forms where I can pick an automation to run right at the type level. That would be AWESOME for many reasons. Currently, registration forms look OK, yet there’s extremely little settings for them to help in division.
It would be nice to have tagging at the client level. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks need to be part of automations to make integrated automations less complicated and lower dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management user interface changes that would certainly come in handy. As an example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit posts (for instance, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as basic on clients (like the name).
- Some more customization options for the website (such as more versatile shade selections, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t excellent and definitely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it would not a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation system. I think you never ever understand, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Sufficient where I decided to change my own newsletters over to the system despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and having my own platform.
Basically, for the e-newsletter publishing design especially, I saw sufficient worth in their platform to require the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special email checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, but I deliberately have things establish to make sure that I likewise keep my checklist “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance coverage, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d certainly think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button ought to be pretty uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a big email checklist and are therefore being fleeced with their high monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating rapidly. There’s also a respectable chance you’re not also making use of some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can quickly be a far better and a lot more affordable fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very intentional about growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is among the most effective video games in the area right now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the cost-free account to be rather feature abundant.