I have actually used a great deal of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a big advocate of digital sovereignty and having your own system. Therefore (and the amazing features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Vs ActiveCampaign.
So, it is indeed an odd move for me to make a decision to make use of 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 testimonial, I intend to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to attend to the issue of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d also like to address why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Shift In Technique, I spoke about exactly how and why I made a decision to transform my RV blog site right into primarily an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was business version I wished to pursue keeping that residential property.
Yet, to purposefully pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily RV, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. Extra on that in a little bit.
As I said in that problem of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed right into it specific to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog site) and send the e-mail simultaneously without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click registration links. Great for promotion in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features aimed at development. The system was actually developed by the individuals that accumulated the innovation for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I might indeed be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went all out. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own home so that I can grow it a lot more purposefully too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown individually. Happily motor home was young, so simple to transition. But, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of things below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will undoubtedly always be very closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and just an email checklist.
You can organize your e-mail checklist everywhere you want and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing indicates that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your email clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that website. Yet, you are additionally dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes management of the system much easier.
With a lot of e-mail systems, any newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed entirely separately from your web site. So, for example, you could publish a write-up to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to individually develop and send out an email to your listing to send it to subscribers. These are after that two different collections of archives and 2 separate activities since article and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it practically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and enables them to be the same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong alternative if I wanted to remain to self-host everything. However, you ‘d shed the development devices that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally includes a different set of needs than a typical e-mail listing.
You don’t normally need much marketing automation. You don’t typically require autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, though, is one seamless publishing experience and development devices to assist you build your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I chose to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I assume Substack sucks. Actually, due to the fact that 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 originally got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is literally constructed by the exact same individuals who built the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some rather large brands and big publications using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo creators. Once again, it simply tells me the customer avatar difference between the two companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not precisely suck. The only reason I would certainly consider shaking things up is if I believed I could GROW the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I in fact do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct competitors.
But, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning right here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by individuals that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more geared toward creators.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies customized areas on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still quite restricted in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new actions, such as customizing customized areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations simply because I began utilizing the system. As an example:
- Ability to trigger automations based upon which specific embed form they was available in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and handle individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply would not believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it pertains to composing your newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is just much more tailored toward newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I find it to be a lot more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and tidy, yet it would certainly be much more equivalent to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than simply form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and after that put anything you want in it. After that, you can put Visibility alternatives on that particular section to show it only to paid customers, conceal it from e-mail, hide from clients, show just to customers, etc. Substack offers absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any type of profits. In fact, you essentially attach approximately your very own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your revenue. Depending on the number of clients you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the regular monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear nerdy, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in all.
Generally, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was more built towards actual e-mail marketing. It was constructed by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in types and the landing page designs appear far better developed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack settings itself towards “makers” greater than email online marketers and e-newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points tailored more toward people who simply think in regards to material production.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are treated fairly individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … trendy for individuals who could require it.
Substack also has even more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a conversation function to host talks with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. Overall, Substack is established to be more like a social network which supports long-form content.
On the whole, Substack is likewise a lot more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns real marketing, I do not believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I searched for even more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually through to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the very same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at creators (like Substack), yet it is much more strongly dealing with people that do it for organization. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce platform, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown below. ConvertKit is popular currently. However, here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is just a fundamental function of e-mail lists that allows segmentation in an even more adaptable means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain tagging at some point soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Vs ActiveCampaign.
ConvertKit does now supply the capacity to sell things using their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly pick a much more direct alternative anyway. For me, I like to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and because of that has way extra integration choices. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this a lot more very closely places ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic dealing with the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with benefits, yet you can also pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are truly amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most popular viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface for what this indicates for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Vs ActiveCampaign
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise means that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed nearly regular launch of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … but huge features that are fairly important. Their speed of development at this point has been impressive.
I likewise significantly appreciate exactly how responsive they are. Actually, among their item news concerning some design improvements to the web design features actually included a small issue with the content size. I merely responded to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the issue was dealt with.
Few days later, I provided one more idea …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based on the embed kind utilized was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I truly value.
Another major point of differentiation right here is the cost. Both systems use cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers extra capacity and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally even more desirable. ConvertKit appears less costly initially look because their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nevertheless the subscriber limitations are much lower and your rate quickly increases as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), however you can have up to 10,000 clients. That very 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 personally utilize), you can expand your list up to 100,000. A list of that dimension would certainly 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 every year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various league when it concerns pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase rates? They could as time takes place. However, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the important things you definitely require to remember is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to develop rather swiftly and make new product news somewhat frequently, yet there are some fundamental features I truly wish they had that I need to simply wait for.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership kinds where I could select an automation to run right at the type level. That would certainly be outstanding for so many factors. Already, membership forms look OK, yet there’s extremely little setups for them to assist in division.
It would certainly behave to have labeling at the client level. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks ought to become part of automations to make built-in automations simpler and decrease dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are also some small administrative interface changes that would certainly be handy. As an example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capacity to bulk edit messages (as an example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard fields as standard on clients (like the name).
- Some more modification choices for the web site (such as even more versatile color options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t perfect and definitely not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It probably never will certainly be, either. As I stated, the purpose is different so it would not much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I guess you never ever recognize, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Sufficient where I chose to change my very own e-newsletters over to the platform regardless of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing design specifically, I saw enough worth in their system to necessitate the modification.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive email list. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, yet I purposefully have points set up to ensure that I also keep my checklist “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply a great insurance policy, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d definitely think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch should be pretty simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay put unless you have a large e-mail checklist and are as a result being fleeced with their high monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating swiftly. There’s likewise a respectable chance you’re not also making use of several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a far better and extra inexpensive fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really willful about growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is developed to be, it is one of the most effective games around today. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the free account to be fairly feature abundant.