I have actually made use of a lot of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and having your very own system. Therefore (and the awesome features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Stock.
So, it is certainly an unusual move for me to choose to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I want to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I would certainly additionally such as to resolve why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Shift In Method, I discussed exactly how and why I chose to turn my recreational vehicle blog into primarily a newsletter. I made a decision that was business model I intended to seek with that building.
But, to intentionally pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly RV, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, using it for newsletters is a little a waste. More on that particular in a little bit.
As I stated in that problem of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed into it details to my objective. Points such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog site) and send out the email concurrently without having it be two different activities.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click subscription links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features targeted at growth. The platform was essentially developed by the individuals who developed the innovation for Early morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might indeed be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own property to ensure that I can grow it a lot more purposefully also.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Gladly motor home was young, so easy to shift. But, The Early morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of things right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will obviously constantly be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, however does not have to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail listing.
You can organize your email list 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 primary distinction is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing means that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that web site. However, you are additionally sending to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much less complex.
With many e-mail systems, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed entirely individually from your site. So, for instance, you may release a short article to WordPress yet after that you would certainly require to independently construct and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to customers. These are then two different sets of archives and 2 different actions since post and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a true newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it practically “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the exact same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid alternative if I wanted to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the development devices that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently includes a different collection of demands than a regular email checklist.
You do not generally need much marketing automation. You do not typically require autoresponder sequences, event tracking, 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 aid you build your customer base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was going to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I chose to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I believe Substack draws. In fact, since Substack has been about longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that initially got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is essentially constructed by the exact same people who developed the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I have an interest in right here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brand names and huge magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Once more, it just tells me the consumer character difference between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t specifically draw. The only reason I would certainly contemplate shaking things up is if I assumed I could expand the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I really do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight rivals.
But, let’s dive deeper than simply the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by individuals that recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more tailored toward designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send out an email. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as new activities, such as changing personalized fields, sending webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations simply because I began using the system. As an example:
- Ability to set off automations based upon which specific embed kind they can be found in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can not do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it concerns writing your newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is just more tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I discover it to be more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and clean, however it would be more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than just kind. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and then put anything you want in it. Then, you can place Exposure choices on that particular area to show it just to paid clients, hide it from email, conceal from clients, show only to customers, etc. Substack offers nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium registration version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of earnings. As a matter of fact, you actually attach as much as your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending upon how many customers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more money than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, however what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in all.
Overall, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was more constructed toward genuine e-mail marketing. It was built by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page develops seem much better constructed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack settings itself towards “creators” greater than email marketing experts and newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some things geared more towards people that simply assume in regards to material creation.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are treated rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … great for individuals who may need it.
Substack likewise has more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host talks with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. In general, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media network which sustains long-form material.
Overall, Substack is also a lot more … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nonetheless, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack works quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to actual marketing, I do not assume there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I searched for even more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly via to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the very same target audience and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at developers (like Substack), but it is a lot more highly dealing with individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has great visual automation building, it’s own commerce platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly nice system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature failure right here. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, below’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit much more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is just a fundamental function of email lists that allows division in an even more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain identifying at some time quickly, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Stock.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capacity to sell points by means of their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly always pick a much more straight alternative anyway. For me, I choose to use my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and therefore has way much more integration options. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For instance, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this a lot more closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these sort of third-party integrations presently. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic taking on the development tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with advantages, however you can likewise pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are truly amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most popular viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface of what this means for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Stock
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it also means that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced virtually weekly release of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … however big features that are quite crucial. Their rate of development at this moment has gone over.
I likewise very much value exactly how responsive they are. In fact, one of their item announcements concerning some design enhancements to the web design features in fact contained a small issue with the material width. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I quickly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the problem was dealt with.
Few days later on, I gave them an additional pointer …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to trigger automations based upon the embed type used was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I really appreciate.
One more significant factor of differentiation right here is the rate. Both systems provide complimentary plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies a lot more capacity and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally even more beneficial. ConvertKit seems cheaper initially glance since their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nonetheless the customer limits are much lower and your price promptly boosts as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same dimension listing is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly utilize), you can grow your list approximately 100,000. A list of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different league when it concerns pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually raise rates? They might as time goes on. However, I’m thinking people like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you most definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to advance rather rapidly and make new item statements rather typically, however there are some basic features I truly desire they had that I require to simply wait on.
One is that they need to have a setup on subscription types where I can choose an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be outstanding for so many reasons. As of now, subscription kinds look OK, however there’s extremely little settings for them to assist in division.
It would be nice to have labeling at the client level. This would be effective.
I think webhooks should belong to automations to make integrated automations simpler and decrease dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative user interface changes that would come in handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit posts (as an example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard areas as common on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more personalization choices for the website (such as more versatile color choices, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I hope they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t ideal and definitely not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It possibly never will be, either. As I claimed, the function is various so it wouldn’t much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I think you never ever recognize, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to change my own e-newsletters over to the system despite my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my own platform.
Basically, for the newsletter posting design particularly, I saw sufficient worth in their system to warrant the modification.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail listing. I use BeeHiiv for what it is good at, yet I purposefully have points set up to make sure that I additionally keep my listing “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance coverage, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform 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 now, I ‘d certainly think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button needs to be rather simple.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a big email checklist and are for that reason being wooled with their high regular monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating quickly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not even utilizing several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could quickly be a much better and more cost effective fit.
Finally, if you plan to be extremely deliberate about expanding a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is created to be, it is just one of the most effective games in town today. This is the platform to watch.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the free account to be quite feature abundant.