I have used a lot of various email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a substantial proponent of digital sovereignty and having your own system. For that reason (and the remarkable features), I have been using Beehiiv Price.
So, it is undoubtedly an odd move for me to determine to utilize BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to deal with the issue of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d likewise like to attend to why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Change In Strategy, I discussed how and why I made a decision to turn my motor home blog right into largely a newsletter. I determined that was the business version I wanted to pursue with that building.
But, to intentionally seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily motor home, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. More on that particular in a little bit.
As I said in that problem of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog site) and send the e-mail all at once without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in 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 newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The system was literally constructed by the individuals that developed the modern technology for Morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I may indeed be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, 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 very own home to make sure that I can expand it much more intentionally also.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown individually. Gladly RV was young, so very easy to change. Yet, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried 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 obviously always be carefully tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email List
There’s a difference between a newsletter platform and just an email list.
You can host your e-mail checklist just about anywhere you want and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting suggests that it is mosting likely to your website and to your e-mail clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that site. But, you are additionally sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes management of the platform much easier.
With most email platforms, any newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built completely separately from your internet site. So, for example, you might release an article to WordPress but after that you would require to individually construct and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to clients. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and two separate actions due to the fact that article and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it pretty much “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and permits them to be the very same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I wanted to continue to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you ‘d shed the development devices that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently comes with a different collection of demands than a common e-mail listing.
You do not usually require much marketing automation. You do not normally need autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, though, is one smooth posting experience and development tools to help you develop your subscriber base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was going to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I selected to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I believe Substack draws. In fact, since Substack has been around much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair points that at first obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is literally developed by the exact same individuals that constructed the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and differentiation also suggests that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brands and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Again, it just informs me the client character difference between both business.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only factor I would certainly contemplate trembling things up is if I thought I could expand the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I actually do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight competitors.
But, allow’s dive deeper than simply the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv appears like it was constructed by individuals that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more geared towards developers.
As an example, BeeHiiv uses custom-made fields on clients. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an e-mail. However, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have new triggers along with brand-new activities, such as modifying custom-made fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations simply since I began using the system. For instance:
- Ability to trigger automations based upon which details embed form they can be found in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can not do this because the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it involves composing your newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is just extra tailored toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I discover it to be a lot more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, however it would be a lot more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is more than just form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and after that placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Presence options on that particular section to show it only to paid customers, conceal it from email, conceal from customers, show only to customers, and so on. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any profits. Actually, you essentially connect as much as your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending upon the amount of clients you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear nerdy, but what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Overall, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was extra constructed toward actual email marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page creates seem far better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would like 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 stated, Substack settings itself towards “developers” greater than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points geared more toward people that simply assume in regards to material development.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are dealt with quite individually. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, yet … awesome for people that may need it.
Substack likewise has more social capability built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host talks with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” function which works sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. Overall, Substack is established to be more like a social network which supports long-form material.
In general, Substack is likewise 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, frankly, features … Substack functions rather well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it involves real marketing, I don’t think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I searched for more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually through to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at designers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more strongly dealing with people who do it for organization. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation structure, it’s own commerce platform, and much more. ConvertKit is a really wonderful platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is popular already. However, right here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it comes to it’s automations. I will also state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is just a fundamental function of email lists that enables division in a far more versatile means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support tagging at some time soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Price.
ConvertKit does currently provide the capability to sell points using their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would always choose an extra straight option anyway. For me, I favor to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way extra integration choices. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For instance, their plugin currently also supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this a lot more carefully puts ConvertKit into direct competition by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy dealing with the growth devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with rewards, but you can likewise pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your listing. These are truly outstanding features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promo platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall of what this implies for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Price
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it also implies that they are rapidly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed nearly regular release of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … however big features that are quite essential. Their speed of growth at this moment has been impressive.
I likewise very much appreciate how responsive they are. In fact, one of their product statements regarding some layout improvements to the website design features really consisted of a small problem with the material size. I merely responded to that email to tell them. I quickly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the issue was fixed.
Few days later, I provided one more pointer …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to trigger automations based upon the embed type utilized was added to the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight involvement of the group is something I really appreciate.
Another significant point of distinction here is the rate. Both platforms use free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses much more capacity and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also much more desirable. ConvertKit seems less costly in the beginning glimpse due to the fact that their pricing web page shows lower numbers, however the subscriber limits are much reduced and your cost swiftly raises as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same size checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your checklist approximately 100,000. A list of that dimension would 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 every year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various league when it concerns pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point boost costs? They could as time takes place. However, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how points proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you absolutely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to progress rather quickly and make new product statements somewhat often, yet there are some standard features I really desire they had that I require to simply await.
One is that they need to have a setting on registration kinds where I can pick an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be AWESOME for many reasons. Already, registration forms look OK, but there’s very little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have labeling at the client level. This would certainly be powerful.
I believe webhooks must become part of automations to make built-in automations easier and reduce dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are also some minor administrative user interface adjustments that would certainly come in handy. For example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to bulk edit articles (for instance, to identify a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic areas as typical on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization alternatives for the web site (such as even more flexible color selections, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t ideal and definitely not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the function is different so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation system. I presume you never ever recognize, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv quite a lot. Sufficient where I determined to change my own e-newsletters over to the platform despite my personal choice for digital sovereignty and having my very own system.
Put simply, for the newsletter publishing version especially, I saw enough worth in their platform to warrant the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail listing. I make use of BeeHiiv of what it is good at, but I purposefully have things establish to ensure that I likewise maintain my list “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and different demands. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the button ought to be quite simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay put unless you have a huge e-mail listing and are for that reason being wooled with their high monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating promptly. There’s also a pretty good opportunity you’re not also utilizing several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could easily be a better and a lot more cost effective fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really willful about growing a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is developed to be, it is one of the most effective games in the area right now. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the free account to be quite feature rich.