I have actually made use of a lot of various e-mail list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. Therefore (and the remarkable features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Webhooks.
So, it is without a doubt an unusual move for me to choose to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I wish to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to address the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I would certainly likewise like to attend to why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Big Change In Approach, I spoke about just how and why I made a decision to turn my recreational vehicle blog site into mostly an e-newsletter. I chose that was the business model I wanted to seek keeping that building.
However, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily RV, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that particular in a bit.
As I said in that concern of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices built right into it details to my purpose. Points such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send the e-mail concurrently without having it be two separate actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features targeted at growth. The platform was literally developed by the individuals that accumulated the innovation for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might without a doubt be relocating 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 for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential property so that I can expand it more intentionally as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown individually. Happily motor home was young, so easy to change. But, The Early morning WP (formerly The Side) was buried in a sea of things here 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 undoubtedly constantly be closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email List
There’s a difference in between a newsletter system and just an e-mail list.
You can hold your e-mail listing just about anywhere you desire and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing suggests that it is mosting likely to your website and to your email clients simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that site. But, you are additionally dispatching to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s clients are done in one. This makes administration of the system much easier.
With the majority of email platforms, any newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built completely individually from your web site. So, as an example, you might release a post to WordPress but then you would require to individually develop and send an email to your listing to send it to customers. These are after that two separate sets of archives and two different activities due to the fact that post and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it virtually “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I wished to continue to self-host every little thing. However, you would certainly lose the growth tools that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally comes with a different collection of demands than a normal e-mail listing.
You do not generally require much marketing automation. You do not normally require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, however, is one seamless posting experience and growth devices to help you build your subscriber base that specify to e-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 people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I selected to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I believe Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, because Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that initially got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is literally developed by the same folks who developed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Once again, it just tells me the customer character distinction in between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only factor I would certainly consider drinking things up is if I believed I can expand the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I in fact don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight rivals.
However, let’s dive deeper than simply the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by people who comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more tailored toward designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers custom areas on customers. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still quite restricted in triggers and the only action is the ability to send out an e-mail. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have brand-new triggers in addition to new actions, such as changing custom-made areas, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations simply since I started using the platform. For instance:
- Capacity to cause automations based on which details embed form they was available in on.
- Ability to instantly do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can not do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack simply would not believe to approach this like an email marketer.
When it comes to creating your newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more geared toward e-newsletters. In fact, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I find it to be more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface behaves and tidy, but it would certainly be extra equivalent to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than just type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and after that put anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Visibility alternatives on that particular section to show it just to paid subscribers, conceal it from email, hide from customers, show just to clients, and so on. Substack provides nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium registration model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of revenue. As a matter of fact, you literally link approximately your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your revenue. Depending on how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, but what it suggests 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 at all.
In general, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was more constructed towards actual email marketing. It was built by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page designs seem much better constructed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack positions itself toward “developers” greater than e-mail marketing experts and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things geared much more towards individuals that simply think in terms of material production.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … cool for individuals that may require it.
Substack additionally has even more social capability built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host talks with customers. It additionally has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Overall, Substack is established to be extra like a social media which supports long-form material.
Overall, Substack is also more … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it involves actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better suited. I looked for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently with to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the exact same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at makers (like Substack), but it is much more strongly dealing with individuals that do it for organization. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation building, it’s very own business platform, and a lot more. ConvertKit is an actually nice system.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is well known currently. But, below’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly also say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit much more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is just a fundamental function of e-mail checklists that makes it possible for segmentation in a much more versatile way than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support marking eventually quickly, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Webhooks.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capability to offer things through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always choose a more straight alternative anyway. For me, I prefer to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and because of that has way much more integration options. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For instance, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this extra very closely places ConvertKit into direct competition by having you be able to publish to your site and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these type of third-party integrations presently. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy taking on the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with perks, however you can likewise pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most popular viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface of what this suggests for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Webhooks
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it also implies that they are quickly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed virtually once a week release of new features into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … however large features that are quite important. Their rate of advancement now has been impressive.
I additionally significantly value how receptive they are. In fact, among their item news concerning some design enhancements to the web design features actually had a little trouble with the web content size. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the issue was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I gave them an additional pointer …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based on the embed form made use of was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I actually appreciate.
An additional significant point of differentiation right here is the price. Both systems use cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan uses extra ability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more desirable. ConvertKit appears less expensive in the beginning glance since their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the customer limits are FAR lower and your price swiftly increases as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same dimension checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your checklist as much as 100,000. A list of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in a totally various organization when it concerns pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase rates? They might as time goes on. Yet, I’m guessing people like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the important things you definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to evolve instead rapidly and make brand-new item news somewhat commonly, yet there are some standard features I actually wish 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 type degree. That would be amazing for numerous factors. Currently, membership types look OK, but there’s very little settings for them to help in segmentation.
It would be nice to have marking at the customer level. This would be effective.
I believe webhooks need to be part of automations to make integrated automations easier and lower dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some small management user interface changes that would be handy. As an example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to mass edit articles (for instance, to identify a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental areas as standard on clients (like the name).
- Some even more personalization options for the internet site (such as even more adaptable shade options, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t ideal and definitely not nearly as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I said, the objective is various so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever understand, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Sufficient where I chose to switch my very own newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing version particularly, I saw adequate value in their system to require the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail list. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, but I purposefully have points set up to ensure that I additionally keep my list “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply an excellent insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and various demands. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button ought to be rather simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a huge email checklist and are consequently being wooled with their high regular monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating rapidly. There’s also a pretty good possibility you’re not even using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv might easily be a much better and much more cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really willful about expanding an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is developed to be, it is one of the most effective games in town now. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the totally free account to be fairly feature rich.