I have made use of a great deal of various email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a big supporter of digital sovereignty and having your very own system. For that reason (and the remarkable features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Surveys.
So, it is without a doubt a strange move for me to choose to make use of BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to deal with the issue of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d also such as to deal with why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Change In Method, I discussed exactly how and why I made a decision to transform my recreational vehicle blog right into mostly an e-newsletter. I decided that was the business version I wanted to seek with that residential or commercial property.
However, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily RV, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Extra on that in a little bit.
As I stated because issue of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices built right into it details to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send out the email simultaneously without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I choose to generate income from with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The system was literally developed by the individuals who developed the innovation for Morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential property to make sure that I can expand it a lot more intentionally also.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown individually. Gladly motor home was young, so easy to change. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will clearly always be carefully tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however does not need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email List
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail checklist.
You can host your e-mail list anywhere you desire and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices 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 mosting likely to your internet site and to your e-mail clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that internet site. Yet, you are likewise sending off to all customers at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the system much less complex.
With the majority of e-mail platforms, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed completely independently from your web site. So, for instance, you could publish a short article to WordPress but then you would require to individually build and send an email to your list to send it to subscribers. These are then two separate sets of archives and 2 different activities because post and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a true e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it pretty much “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong choice if I wished to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the development devices that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally comes with a various collection of requirements than a normal email list.
You don’t generally require much marketing automation. You don’t usually need autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, however, is one smooth publishing experience and growth tools to aid you develop your subscriber base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I selected to go with BeeHiiv, that does not mean I assume Substack draws. In fact, since Substack has actually been about longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that originally got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to e-newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is essentially built by the very same individuals who developed the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I want here.
- That branding and distinction additionally implies that BeeHiiv has some rather big brand names and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo developers. Once more, it just informs me the customer character difference between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only reason I would contemplate drinking things up is if I believed I can GROW the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I actually don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct competitors.
However, let’s dive deeper than simply the placing right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by individuals that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more geared towards designers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies custom fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send out an email. However, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to new actions, such as customizing custom fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen enhancements to their automations just because I began making use of the system. For example:
- Ability to cause automations based on which specific embed form they was available in on.
- Capability to automatically 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 similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target market of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it pertains to writing your e-newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more tailored towards e-newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I locate it to be much more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s writing interface behaves and tidy, yet it would certainly be a lot more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than just type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Visibility choices on that section to show it only to paid clients, hide it from email, hide from clients, reveal just to clients, etc. Substack uses nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium membership version, BeeHiiv does not take any income. As a matter of fact, you actually connect approximately your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Depending upon the number of clients you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear unpopular, yet what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Generally, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was much more developed toward real email marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes appear far better built for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack placements itself toward “developers” more than e-mail marketing professionals and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points geared extra towards individuals who just assume in regards to web content development.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are treated quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … cool for people who might need it.
Substack additionally has even more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with customers. It also has a “Notes” feature which works sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is established to be much more like a social media network which supports long-form content.
In general, Substack is likewise extra … minimalist. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nevertheless, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works rather well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to real marketing, I don’t assume there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I searched for even more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a difficult time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically with to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at developers (like Substack), but it is far more highly catering to individuals who do it for business. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually nice platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature failure here. ConvertKit is well known already. But, below’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has a lot more flexibility when it involves it’s automations. I will also say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports labeling. This is simply a standard function of e-mail checklists that enables division in a much more flexible means than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support tagging eventually quickly, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Surveys.
ConvertKit does currently give the capacity to offer points using their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would constantly pick a more direct option anyhow. For me, I prefer to use my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and because of that has way extra integration alternatives. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. As an example, their plugin now even supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this a lot more carefully puts ConvertKit right into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your site and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with advantages, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly amazing features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface of what this implies for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Surveys
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also suggests that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen practically once a week launch of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … but huge features that are fairly important. Their rate of advancement now has actually been impressive.
I also very much appreciate exactly how responsive they are. In fact, among their product news about some layout improvements to the web design features actually consisted of a small trouble with the content size. I just replied to that email to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That same day, the problem was repaired.
Few days later on, I provided another idea …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to activate automations based on the embed type made use of was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I actually appreciate.
Another major factor of distinction here is the price. Both platforms use complimentary plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers more capacity 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 beneficial. ConvertKit appears less expensive in the beginning look due to the fact that their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, however the customer limits are FAR lower and your price rapidly enhances as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same size checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly make use of), you can grow your checklist approximately 100,000. A checklist of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely various organization when it pertains to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point boost rates? They might as time goes on. Yet, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how things continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the important things you absolutely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to develop rather quickly and make brand-new product news rather commonly, yet there are some fundamental features I actually want they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setup on subscription types where I can pick an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be AWESOME for many reasons. As of now, registration forms look OK, however there’s very little setups for them to assist in division.
It would certainly behave to have tagging at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks need to become part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and reduce dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some small administrative user interface adjustments that would come in handy. For instance:
- Ability to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to bulk edit articles (for instance, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as typical on clients (like the name).
- Some more customization options for the site (such as even more flexible shade choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t excellent and absolutely not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It most likely never will be, either. As I stated, the objective is different so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation platform. I think you never recognize, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Enough where I determined to change my very own newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own system.
Put simply, for the newsletter publishing design especially, I saw enough value in their platform to necessitate the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail listing. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is proficient at, but I deliberately have points set up so that I also keep my checklist “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch ought to be pretty straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a large e-mail listing and are for that reason being fleeced with their high month-to-month costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating promptly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not also making use of several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a much better and more cost effective fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely willful about growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is created to be, it is among the best games in town right now. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be quite feature rich.