I have utilized a great deal of various email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a massive proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. Therefore (and the awesome features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Terms of Service.
So, it is without a doubt a weird move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d likewise like to deal with why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Change In Approach, I spoke about how and why I decided to turn my RV blog site into mainly an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was the business model I wished to go after with that property.
But, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Extra on that in a bit.
As I said because concern of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools developed right into it certain to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog) and send the e-mail simultaneously without having it be two separate actions.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The platform was actually developed by the people that accumulated the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I just went for it. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own property so that I can expand it more intentionally also.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Gladly motor home was young, so easy to transition. But, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of stuff below 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 always be very closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email List
There’s a distinction in between a newsletter system and simply an e-mail checklist.
You can host your email checklist just about anywhere you want and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting means that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that website. But, you are additionally sending to all clients at the same time. The site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes management of the system much less complex.
With many email systems, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is built totally separately from your internet site. So, as an example, you might publish a short article to WordPress yet after that you would certainly require to individually construct and send an email to your listing to send it to clients. These are after that two different collections of archives and two separate activities due to the fact that post and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a true newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the exact same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong choice if I wanted to remain to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the growth tools that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently comes with a different collection of demands than a normal e-mail listing.
You do not normally need much marketing automation. You don’t normally require autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one smooth publishing experience and growth tools to help you construct your client base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was going to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not imply I believe Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, because Substack has been about longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that at first obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally built by the exact same individuals that built the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. Yet, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally implies that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo designers. Again, it simply informs me the consumer avatar difference between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only factor I would consider drinking points up is if I thought I could GROW the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I actually do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight competitors.
But, let’s dive deeper than simply the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by individuals who comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra geared towards designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv uses custom-made fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a great deal like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still fairly restricted in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an email. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as modifying personalized areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations simply because I started utilizing the system. For instance:
- Capability to cause automations based on which certain embed form they was available in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and manage individuals based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it pertains to composing your e-newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared toward e-newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I find it to be a lot more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, however it would certainly be a lot more equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply kind. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Exposure alternatives on that area to reveal it just to paid customers, conceal it from email, conceal from customers, reveal just to clients, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs membership model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of income. In fact, you literally connect as much as your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Relying on the number of clients you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more money than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, however what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Overall, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was more built towards actual email marketing. It was developed by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page makes appear much better built for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want 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 toward “creators” more than e-mail marketing professionals and newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some things tailored a lot more toward individuals that simply assume in regards to content production.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are treated rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … amazing for individuals who could require it.
Substack also has even more social performance built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host talks with subscribers. 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. Overall, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media which supports long-form content.
Overall, Substack is also more … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns real marketing, I don’t think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I looked for even more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a difficult time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often through to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at makers (like Substack), yet it is much more highly dealing with people who do it for business. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation structure, it’s own business system, and more. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, here’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it involves it’s automations. I will likewise say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports labeling. This is simply a fundamental feature of e-mail lists that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more flexible way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain identifying eventually soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Terms of Service.
ConvertKit does currently supply the ability to sell things via their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly pick a more straight option anyway. For me, I favor to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and because of that has way a lot more integration choices. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For instance, their plugin now even sustains member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this much more closely puts ConvertKit into straight competition by having you be able to release to your website and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active dealing with the development devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with perks, however you can additionally pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are actually amazing features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most well known viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall wherefore this indicates for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Terms of Service
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally suggests that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed almost weekly launch of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … yet huge features that are rather essential. Their rate of development now has actually gone over.
I also very much value exactly how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their item news regarding some style enhancements to the web design features in fact contained a small issue with the web content size. I simply replied to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That same day, the problem was taken care of.
Couple of days later, I provided an additional tip …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based upon the embed type utilized was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I really appreciate.
One more major factor of distinction below is the rate. Both systems supply totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers a lot more capacity and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally much more positive. ConvertKit appears cheaper initially glimpse due to the fact that their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the client limits are FAR reduced and your price promptly boosts as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same size list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly make use of), you can grow your list approximately 100,000. A checklist of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, also, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely various league when it pertains to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase prices? They might as time takes place. But, I’m guessing people like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you certainly require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to progress rather promptly and make new item news rather usually, but there are some standard features I actually want they had that I require to simply wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription kinds where I might select an automation to run right at the kind level. That would be outstanding for a lot of reasons. As of now, membership kinds look OK, however there’s extremely little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have marking at the subscriber level. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks must belong to automations to make built-in automations much easier and minimize dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative interface modifications that would certainly come in handy. As an example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capability to bulk edit articles (as an example, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental fields as typical on clients (like the name).
- Some more customization choices for the web site (such as more flexible shade options, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t best and certainly not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the objective is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation system. I presume you never understand, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Enough where I decided to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Basically, for the e-newsletter posting version specifically, I saw enough worth in their platform to necessitate the adjustment.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email list. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, but I intentionally have points set up to ensure that I likewise keep my checklist “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will 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 make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the button must be pretty uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a huge e-mail listing and are for that reason being wooled with their high regular monthly costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating swiftly. There’s likewise a respectable opportunity you’re not also using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv might easily be a better and more budget friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very intentional about expanding an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is just one of the best games in town today. This is the platform to view.
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 rather feature abundant.