I have made use of a lot of various email list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own platform. Because of that (and the remarkable features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Silver Tier.
So, it is without a doubt a weird move for me to choose to use BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to attend to the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d also like to address why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Big Shift In Technique, I talked about how and why I decided to transform my motor home blog site right into mainly an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was the business version I wished to go after with that said home.
However, to intentionally seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily motor home, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. A lot more on that in a bit.
As I stated in that concern of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built into it particular to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog site) and send the email at the same time without having it be 2 different activities.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are essentially one-click registration web links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The platform was essentially developed by the people who built up the modern technology for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I may without a doubt be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own home so that I can expand it extra deliberately as well.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown separately. Gladly RV was young, so easy to shift. But, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff right here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will certainly constantly be closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, however does not have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Listing
There’s a difference between a newsletter platform and simply an email checklist.
You can organize your e-mail listing anyplace you desire 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 difference?
The key distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting suggests that it is going to your web site and to your email subscribers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that internet site. But, you are additionally sending to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much easier.
With a lot of email systems, any kind of e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed entirely independently from your web site. So, for instance, you may publish an article to WordPress however then you would require to independently develop and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are then 2 separate collections of archives and two different actions since blog posts and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a real newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it basically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the very same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong alternative if I intended to continue to self-host everything. However, you ‘d lose the growth devices that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently features a different set of requirements than a regular e-mail list.
You do not typically need much marketing automation. You do not usually need autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless posting experience and growth devices to help you develop your subscriber base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers that I was going 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, even besides the fact that I picked to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I assume Substack draws. As a matter of fact, because Substack has been about longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that originally got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter publishers. Actually, it is essentially built by the exact same individuals who developed the modern technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. But, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction likewise means that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brand names and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Once more, it just informs me the client avatar distinction in between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t precisely suck. The only factor I would contemplate shaking things up is if I assumed I can expand the listing faster. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I really don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight competitors.
However, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv looks like it was developed by people who understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more tailored towards designers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies custom-made fields on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still quite minimal in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an e-mail. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as brand-new actions, such as modifying customized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations simply considering that I started making use of the system. For example:
- Capacity to activate automations based on which particular embed kind they was available in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and manage people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target market of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it comes to creating your newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is just much more geared towards e-newsletters. Actually, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I locate it to be much more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and clean, however it would certainly be more equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than just type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can place Visibility options on that section to show it just to paid subscribers, hide it from e-mail, hide from customers, reveal just to customers, etc. Substack supplies nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium registration version, BeeHiiv does not take any type of profits. As a matter of fact, you essentially link approximately your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending upon the number of subscribers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, but what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was a lot more built towards genuine email marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page makes seem far better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I like the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack positions itself towards “makers” greater than email online marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points tailored much more towards people that simply assume in regards to content creation.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are dealt with rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, yet … cool for individuals who could need it.
Substack also has more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host talks with customers. It also has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is established to be more like a social media which sustains long-form content.
In general, Substack is likewise much more … minimal. You either look after that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it involves actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better fit. I searched for more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a difficult time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually through to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the very same target market and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at developers (like Substack), but it is far more strongly dealing with individuals that do it for organization. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is an actually wonderful system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature failure here. ConvertKit is well known already. Yet, below’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it involves it’s automations. I will also claim that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is just a standard feature of e-mail checklists that allows segmentation in a far more versatile method than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling eventually quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Silver Tier.
ConvertKit does currently offer the capacity to offer things through their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always choose a much more straight option anyway. For me, I like to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and because of that has way much more integration choices. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For example, their plugin now also supports member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this extra carefully puts ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these type of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy taking on the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with rewards, yet you can also pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are actually awesome features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promo platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall of what this indicates for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Silver Tier
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it likewise means that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed almost weekly launch of new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … yet huge features that are rather important. Their rate of advancement now has gone over.
I also significantly appreciate how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item announcements regarding some style enhancements to the website design features in fact had a tiny issue with the content size. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the issue was taken care of.
Few days later, I gave them one more pointer …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to activate automations based on the embed kind used was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight involvement of the group is something I actually value.
One more major factor of differentiation right here is the cost. Both platforms offer free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan uses more ability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also much more desirable. ConvertKit seems cheaper in the beginning glimpse since their pricing web page shows lower numbers, however the subscriber restrictions are FAR reduced and your price swiftly boosts as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. 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 use), you can grow your checklist approximately 100,000. A checklist of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different organization when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase rates? They could as time takes place. However, I’m presuming people like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you most definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to evolve instead quickly and make brand-new product statements somewhat frequently, but there are some basic features I actually wish they had that I need to just await.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription types where I can select an automation to run right at the form degree. That would be AWESOME for numerous factors. As of now, registration forms look OK, yet there’s really little setups for them to aid in division.
It would certainly behave to have marking at the client level. This would be effective.
I think webhooks should become part of automations to make integrated automations simpler and lower dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management user interface changes that would be handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Ability to mass edit posts (for example, to identify a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard areas as basic on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more personalization alternatives for the internet site (such as even more versatile shade options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I hope they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t best and absolutely not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It possibly never ever will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the objective is various so it would not much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I think you never ever know, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Enough where I determined to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the system in spite of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and owning my very own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting design particularly, I saw sufficient value in their platform to call for the modification.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email listing. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, yet I purposefully have things establish so that I likewise maintain my listing “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is just a good insurance coverage, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and various needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button must be quite simple.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a large email checklist and are as a result being fleeced with their high regular monthly costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating rapidly. There’s likewise a pretty good opportunity you’re not also utilizing some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a better and more budget-friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really willful concerning growing a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is made to be, it is just one of the most effective games in the area now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be fairly feature abundant.