I have utilized a lot of different email list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a substantial advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. Because of that (and the amazing features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Vs SendFox.
So, it is certainly a strange move for me to decide to make use of BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I want to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly also such as to attend to why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Huge Shift In Technique, I spoke about just how and why I decided to transform my RV blog into largely an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was the business version I wished to seek with that home.
But, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Happily motor home, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, using it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a little bit.
As I said because issue of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed right into it certain to my function. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send the email concurrently without having it be 2 different activities.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The platform was actually built by the people that developed the technology for Morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might without a doubt be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went all out. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own property so that I can grow it much more purposefully as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Gladly motor home was young, so very easy to shift. However, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff 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 certainly constantly be carefully connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv because it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email List
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter platform and just an email listing.
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 an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your website and to your email clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that site. However, you are additionally dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes management of the platform much easier.
With the majority of email systems, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is developed totally separately from your web site. So, for instance, you could publish an article to WordPress yet after that you would certainly require to independently develop and send out an email to your listing to send it to clients. These are then 2 different collections of archives and 2 separate actions due to the fact that article and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it basically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and permits them to be the very same point. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid alternative if I wished to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the growth devices that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently features a different set of demands than a common e-mail list.
You don’t usually need much marketing automation. You do not normally need autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, however, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to assist you build your customer base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I believe Substack sucks. In fact, because Substack has actually been around longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that at first obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is actually built by the exact same individuals who built the modern technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. However, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and distinction also implies that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo creators. Again, it simply informs me the customer avatar distinction in between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only factor I would certainly contemplate drinking points up is if I assumed I could expand the list quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I actually don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct competitors.
Yet, let’s dive much deeper than just the placing right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by people who comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more geared toward makers.
As an example, BeeHiiv uses customized areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, 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 fairly limited in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an e-mail. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers in addition to new actions, such as customizing personalized fields, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations just given that I began making use of the system. For instance:
- Capacity to trigger automations based upon which certain embed type they was available in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and manage individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this because the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it involves creating your e-newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is just much more geared towards newsletters. In fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I discover it to be more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing interface is nice and tidy, yet it would be more equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and then placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Exposure alternatives on that section to reveal it just to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, hide from customers, reveal just to subscribers, and so on. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs membership design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of income. Actually, you essentially link up to your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Depending on how many subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, yet what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv deal with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
Overall, I just felt like BeeHiiv was more constructed towards actual email marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs seem much better developed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty 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.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack positions itself towards “makers” more than email marketing experts and newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some points geared much more towards individuals that just assume in regards to web content development.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support several magazines, they are dealt with rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … great for people that might need it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host chats with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which functions sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is established to be much more like a social media which supports long-form material.
On the whole, Substack is likewise a lot more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Personally, I don’t. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better fit. I looked for more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a difficult time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often through to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at designers (like Substack), however it is far more strongly dealing with individuals who do it for organization. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is a really good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown below. ConvertKit is popular currently. However, right here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly also state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is just a basic function of email checklists that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain labeling at some time quickly, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Vs SendFox.
ConvertKit does now give the capability to sell things through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly always choose a more straight alternative anyhow. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and because of that has way more integration alternatives. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. As an example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this more carefully places ConvertKit into direct competition by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active tackling the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with perks, however you can additionally pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your listing. These are really awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most popular viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall of what this suggests for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Vs SendFox
BeeHiiv is a lot previously 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. However, it likewise indicates that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced almost regular launch of new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … yet large features that are quite important. Their speed of growth now has actually been impressive.
I also significantly value exactly how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item news concerning some layout enhancements to the website design features in fact included a tiny issue with the content size. I simply replied to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That very same day, the problem was fixed.
Few days later, I gave them an additional idea …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to trigger automations based upon the embed form used was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I really appreciate.
One more significant point of differentiation here is the price. Both platforms use cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers more ability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more favorable. ConvertKit appears less costly initially look since their pricing page shows lower numbers, nonetheless the client limitations are FAR reduced and your rate quickly enhances as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same size listing is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally utilize), you can grow your checklist 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 yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different league when it involves pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance rates? They might as time goes on. Yet, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you most definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to progress rather swiftly and make new item announcements somewhat usually, but there are some basic features I truly want they had that I require to simply await.
One is that they require to have a setup on registration kinds where I can select an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be AWESOME for so many reasons. Currently, membership types look OK, yet there’s extremely little setups for them to aid in segmentation.
It would behave to have marking at the customer level. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks must be part of automations to make built-in automations simpler and minimize dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor management user interface changes that would be handy. As an example:
- Ability to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capability to bulk edit messages (for example, to identify a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard areas as conventional on customers (like the name).
- Some even more customization options for the website (such as even more versatile color choices, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t ideal and absolutely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the function is various so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation system. I guess you never ever recognize, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Enough where I chose to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing design especially, I saw enough worth in their system to necessitate the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail list. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, however I purposefully have things establish to ensure that I also keep my checklist “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance policy, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d absolutely consider changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button must be pretty straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a large e-mail list and are therefore being fleeced with their high monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating swiftly. There’s also a pretty good possibility you’re not also making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can quickly be a far better and much more budget friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely intentional about expanding an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain 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 in the area right now. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the free account to be rather feature rich.