I have actually used a lot of various email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own platform. Because of that (and the amazing features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Vs HubSpot.
So, it is undoubtedly a strange move for me to determine to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to resolve the issue of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly additionally like to resolve why I chose to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Shift In Technique, I talked about just how and why I decided to turn my recreational vehicle blog into mainly a newsletter. I determined that was the business design I wanted to pursue with that said home.
However, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly RV, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that particular in a bit.
As I said in that problem of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed into it details to my objective. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog site) and send the e-mail concurrently without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The platform was literally developed by the individuals who accumulated the technology for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I may without a doubt be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I just went all out. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own home to make sure that I can expand it much more purposefully too.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown separately. Happily RV was young, so easy to transition. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) 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 expand it on it’s very own. It will certainly always be carefully tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Listing
There’s a distinction in between a newsletter system and simply an e-mail listing.
You can organize your e-mail listing anywhere you want and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of posting indicates that it is going to your site and to your e-mail subscribers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that internet site. However, you are likewise sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the system much less complex.
With many email systems, any kind of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed totally independently from your internet site. So, as an example, you might publish an article to WordPress but then you would need to individually develop and send an email to your listing to send it to customers. These are then 2 separate sets of archives and two different actions due to the fact that post and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a true e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it pretty much “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and allows them to be the very same thing. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong alternative if I wished to remain to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the growth devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently comes with a various set of needs than a normal email listing.
You don’t typically require much marketing automation. You don’t usually require autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, though, is one seamless publishing experience and growth tools to help you construct your customer base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch over 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 truth that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not imply I assume Substack draws. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has been about much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that initially got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is actually constructed by the same people who constructed 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 towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I have an interest in right here.
- That branding and distinction also means that BeeHiiv has some relatively big brands and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo developers. Once again, it just informs me the consumer character difference in between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t precisely suck. The only reason I would ponder drinking things up is if I assumed I could GROW the listing faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I actually don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight rivals.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than simply the placing right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv seems like it was constructed by individuals that comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared towards makers.
For example, BeeHiiv offers custom fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still rather limited in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to new actions, such as customizing customized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations simply since I started making use of the platform. As an example:
- Capability to trigger automations based upon which details embed form they can be found in on.
- Ability to instantly do re-engagement (and take care of people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can not do this since the target audience of Substack simply would not believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it concerns composing your e-newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared toward newsletters. Actually, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I locate it to be more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s composing interface behaves and tidy, yet it would certainly be a lot more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than simply kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can place Visibility choices on that particular area to show it only to paid subscribers, hide it from email, conceal from subscribers, show just to clients, etc. Substack offers absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium membership design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of earnings. Actually, you essentially connect approximately your very own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Depending on the amount of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the regular monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem unpopular, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outside using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
On the whole, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was extra constructed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was built by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes seem better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv add, I like the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually claimed, Substack placements itself toward “creators” greater than email marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points tailored a lot more toward people who just think in regards to content development.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, 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 need, yet … trendy for individuals who may require it.
Substack likewise has more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host chats with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. Overall, Substack is set up to be more like a social media network which supports long-form content.
Generally, Substack is also a lot more … minimalist. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I do not. However, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack works quite well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better fit. I searched for more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet truthfully … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at designers (like Substack), but it is a lot more strongly dealing with people who do it for business. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation structure, it’s own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is an actually good platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature break down right here. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly also claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is just a basic feature of e-mail listings that enables segmentation in a far more adaptable means than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some point soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Vs HubSpot.
ConvertKit does now supply the ability to sell points 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 certainly constantly pick a much more direct choice anyway. For me, I choose to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and for that reason has way more integration choices. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. As an example, their plugin now even supports member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this extra very closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competition by having you have the ability to release to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these sort of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy taking on the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with benefits, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most well known viral promo platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Vs HubSpot
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it likewise indicates that they are rapidly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen nearly once a week release of new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … but huge features that are rather crucial. Their speed of development at this point has actually been impressive.
I additionally very much value how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product announcements concerning some layout improvements to the web design features in fact consisted of a tiny issue with the content size. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That very same day, the problem was fixed.
Few days later on, I provided an additional idea …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to cause automations based on the embed kind utilized was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I actually appreciate.
One more significant factor of differentiation below is the cost. Both platforms use totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides a lot more capacity and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more desirable. ConvertKit appears more affordable in the beginning glance due to the fact that their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, however the subscriber limitations are FAR lower and your cost swiftly increases as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same size listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally utilize), you can grow your listing up to 100,000. A checklist of that size 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 annually, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely various organization when it concerns pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase prices? They might as time goes on. But, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you absolutely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to progress rather quickly and make brand-new product statements rather commonly, however there are some standard features I truly want they had that I need to just await.
One is that they need to have a setup on subscription types where I might pick an automation to run right at the type degree. That would be amazing for so many reasons. As of now, membership kinds look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to assist in division.
It would certainly behave to have tagging at the subscriber level. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks ought to become part of automations to make built-in automations simpler and reduce reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are also some minor administrative interface changes that would be handy. For instance:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to bulk edit articles (for example, to identify a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as standard on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the internet site (such as more versatile color options, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t excellent and absolutely not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It probably never will be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is different so it would not a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation platform. I think you never understand, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Enough where I made a decision to switch my very own newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own system.
Put simply, for the newsletter publishing design specifically, I saw enough value in their system to require the change.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail listing. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, yet I intentionally have points set up so that I additionally keep my listing “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just a good insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration switching to BeeHiiv. It will simply be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button needs to be quite simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a large e-mail checklist and are consequently being wooled with their high month-to-month expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating rapidly. There’s additionally a pretty good opportunity you’re not also utilizing a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can easily be a much better and much more budget-friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really deliberate about expanding a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is just one of the best video games around now. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv provides 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 free account to be fairly feature abundant.