I have made use of a great deal of different e-mail list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and having your own platform. Therefore (and the outstanding features), I have actually been using Beehiiv or Substack.
So, it is certainly a weird move for me to make a decision 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 evaluation, I wish to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d additionally such as to resolve why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Shift In Approach, I discussed just how and why I chose to turn my RV blog site right into primarily an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was the business model I wished to seek keeping that residential or commercial property.
However, to purposefully pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email listing for Happily RV, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Extra on that in a bit.
As I said in that problem of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices built into it certain to my purpose. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send out the email all at once without having it be two different activities.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click registration links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically 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 literally constructed by the people that built up the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I may indeed be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I just went for it. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own building to ensure that I can grow it more intentionally too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded independently. Happily motor home was young, so easy to shift. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will clearly constantly be closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however does not have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv because it was built for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Listing
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail checklist.
You can hold your email list anywhere you desire and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing suggests that it is mosting likely to your site and to your email clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that web site. But, you are additionally sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The web site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes management of the platform much less complex.
With most e-mail systems, any type of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed entirely independently from your website. So, for example, you could publish a short article to WordPress however after that you would require to individually build and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are after that 2 separate sets of archives and two different activities because post and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a true e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it basically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid option if I wished to remain to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you would certainly shed the development devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally comes with a various set of requirements than a typical e-mail list.
You don’t usually require much marketing automation. You don’t typically need autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless posting experience and growth devices to aid you construct your subscriber base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I selected to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I believe Substack sucks. Actually, because Substack has been around much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that initially obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to e-newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally constructed by the very same folks that built the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally means that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brand names and huge publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo creators. Once more, it just tells me the client character difference between both business.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not specifically suck. The only factor I would certainly ponder shaking points up is if I assumed I might GROW the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I in fact don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight rivals.
However, allow’s dive deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by individuals who recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems more tailored toward designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies customized 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 an aesthetic automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather limited in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers along with brand-new activities, such as changing personalized areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations simply since I started using the system. For instance:
- Capacity to trigger automations based on which specific embed form they was available in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this because the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it concerns creating your newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is just extra tailored toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I locate it to be extra user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and tidy, however it would certainly be more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and then put anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Presence options on that particular section to reveal it just to paid customers, conceal it from email, hide from subscribers, reveal only to clients, and so on. Substack offers absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs membership design, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of revenue. As a matter of fact, you essentially link approximately your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Relying on the number of customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear unpopular, but what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
Generally, I just felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more developed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page makes appear better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv add, I like the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack positions itself toward “creators” greater than e-mail marketers and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things geared much more toward people that simply believe in terms of content production.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are treated fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … cool for individuals who might require it.
Substack additionally has more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host talks with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. Generally, Substack is set up to be more like a social network which sustains long-form material.
Overall, Substack is also extra … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I don’t. However, if the objective is simplicity of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to real marketing, I do not think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I searched for more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently via to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the same target market and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at creators (like Substack), but it is far more highly catering to people that do it for service. ConvertKit has great visual automation building, it’s own business platform, and more. ConvertKit is a really nice system.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown here. ConvertKit is well known already. But, here’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly additionally claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports labeling. This is just a basic feature of email checklists that makes it possible for segmentation in a much more adaptable method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain tagging eventually soon, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv or Substack.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capability to offer points through their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly choose a more straight option anyway. For me, I choose to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and for that reason has way extra integration options. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin now even supports member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this a lot more very closely puts ConvertKit into straight competition by having you have the ability to release to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these sort of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic tackling the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, 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 also pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are really awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most well known viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface of what this implies for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv or Substack
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise suggests that they are quickly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed almost regular release of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … however big features that are rather important. Their speed of development at this moment has actually been impressive.
I likewise very much value exactly how receptive they are. Actually, one of their item announcements regarding some design enhancements to the website design features actually included a little problem with the content size. I just responded to that email to tell them. I promptly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the concern was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I provided one more tip …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based on the embed kind used was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I truly appreciate.
One more significant factor of differentiation right here is the cost. Both systems supply totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides extra capability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more beneficial. ConvertKit seems less expensive initially glance due to the fact that their pricing web page shows reduced numbers, however the client restrictions are FAR reduced and your rate rapidly raises as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same dimension listing is mosting likely 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 checklist of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different organization when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost 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 points continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you absolutely require to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to develop rather promptly and make brand-new product announcements rather commonly, however there are some basic features I really desire they had that I need to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership forms where I can select an automation to run right at the form level. That would be AWESOME for so many reasons. As of now, subscription kinds look OK, but there’s really little settings for them to assist in division.
It would be nice to have labeling at the subscriber level. This would be powerful.
I assume webhooks need to become part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and lower dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some small administrative interface adjustments that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Capability to mass edit messages (as an example, to tag a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard areas as typical on clients (like the name).
- Some more customization options for the website (such as even more adaptable shade selections, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t ideal and absolutely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It probably never will be, either. As I stated, the objective is different so it would not much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never ever understand, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Enough where I determined to switch my own newsletters over to the system in spite of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter posting version particularly, I saw enough value in their platform to warrant the modification.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique email listing. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is proficient at, however I purposefully have points set up to make sure that I likewise keep my checklist “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just a great insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d absolutely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch needs to be rather simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a big e-mail list and are for that reason being wooled with their high regular monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating swiftly. There’s likewise a pretty good possibility you’re not also making use of a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could easily be a better and a lot more economical fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really intentional regarding growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is among the best games in town now. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be fairly feature abundant.