I have utilized a lot of various e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own platform. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have been utilizing Beehiiv Welcome Email.
So, it is certainly an unusual move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I would certainly likewise like to resolve why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Change In Approach, I talked about how and why I made a decision to transform my recreational vehicle blog into primarily an e-newsletter. I decided that was business version I wished to go after keeping that building.
However, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly motor home, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that in a little bit.
As I stated because concern of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices built into it certain to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog) and send out the e-mail at the same time without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I pick to monetize with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The platform was actually developed by the individuals who accumulated the technology for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I may without a doubt be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I simply went all out. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential or commercial property so that I can grow it much more purposefully too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded individually. Happily motor home was young, so simple to transition. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will clearly constantly be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, but doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Checklist
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter platform and just an e-mail listing.
You can hold your email list everywhere you want and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing suggests that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail clients simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that internet site. But, you are also sending off to all clients at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes management of the system much easier.
With the majority of email systems, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is built totally separately from your site. So, for example, you may release a post to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to independently construct and send an email to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are then 2 different collections of archives and 2 different actions because post and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it basically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I intended to remain to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you ‘d shed the growth tools that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally includes a different collection of demands than a normal e-mail checklist.
You don’t generally need much marketing automation. You do not usually need autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, however, is one smooth posting experience and development tools to help you build your client base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was mosting likely to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to go with BeeHiiv, that does not mean I believe Substack draws. Actually, because Substack has been about much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that initially got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is essentially constructed by the same people who constructed the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. However, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation also means that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo makers. Once again, it simply tells me the customer character difference in between both business.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only reason I would certainly contemplate shaking points up is if I believed I might expand the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct competitors.
However, let’s dive deeper than just the placing here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by individuals who recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more tailored toward creators.
For example, BeeHiiv uses custom areas on customers. Currently, 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 works a great deal like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send an email. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers along with new actions, such as changing custom-made fields, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations just since I started using the platform. For example:
- Capacity to activate automations based upon which specific embed form they was available in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and manage individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can not do this since the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it comes to composing your e-newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored towards newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I discover it to be extra intuitive, personally.
Substack’s writing user interface is nice and tidy, yet it would certainly be much more equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than just form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and after that put anything you want in it. After that, you can place Visibility options on that area to reveal it only to paid customers, conceal it from email, conceal from customers, reveal just to subscribers, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs registration design, BeeHiiv does not take any profits. Actually, you essentially attach as much as your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Depending upon the amount of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations at all.
Overall, I just felt like BeeHiiv was more constructed toward actual email marketing. It was constructed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page creates seem better built for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually claimed, Substack placements itself toward “designers” more than email marketing experts and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some points tailored extra towards individuals that simply believe in regards to material development.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple publications, they are dealt with rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … trendy for individuals that could require it.
Substack likewise has even more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a conversation function to host chats with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” function which functions sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Overall, Substack is established to be extra like a social media which supports long-form material.
Overall, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimal. You either look after that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack works pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear right here …
When it involves real marketing, I don’t think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I looked for more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently through to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the very same target market and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at creators (like Substack), yet it is far more highly catering to individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has nice visual automation structure, it’s own business system, and much more. ConvertKit is a really good platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown below. ConvertKit is well known already. But, here’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has more adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will likewise say that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is simply a fundamental function of e-mail listings that allows segmentation in an even more versatile way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support identifying at some point soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Welcome Email.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capability to market things via their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would constantly pick a more straight option anyway. For me, I choose to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and therefore has way much more integration choices. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For instance, their plugin currently even supports member-gated content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this more closely places ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with advantages, however you can likewise pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are really amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this implies for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Welcome Email
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it additionally suggests that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed almost regular launch of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … but big features that are fairly crucial. Their speed of development now has gone over.
I additionally significantly appreciate just how responsive they are. Actually, one of their item statements concerning some style enhancements to the website design features actually had a small issue with the web content width. I simply replied to that email to tell them. I swiftly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the issue was fixed.
Few days later, I provided one more idea …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based upon the embed type made use of was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I really appreciate.
Another significant point of distinction right here is the rate. Both systems provide free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan uses a lot more capability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more positive. ConvertKit appears cheaper in the beginning glimpse because their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nevertheless the subscriber limitations are much reduced and your price swiftly increases as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless 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 grow your list up to 100,000. A list of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different league when it concerns pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase rates? They may as time goes on. But, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among things you definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to develop instead swiftly and make brand-new product news somewhat typically, but there are some fundamental features I actually want they had that I need to just await.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership kinds where I might select an automation to run right at the type degree. That would be AWESOME for so many reasons. Already, subscription kinds look OK, yet there’s very little settings for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have marking at the customer degree. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks ought to become part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and decrease dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management interface adjustments that would certainly come in handy. As an example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Capability to mass edit blog posts (for example, to mark a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental areas as common on customers (like the name).
- Some even more modification alternatives for the site (such as even more flexible shade selections, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they finish with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t perfect and definitely not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I said, the objective is various so it would not much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation system. I presume you never ever recognize, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Sufficient where I chose to switch my own newsletters over to the system despite my personal choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing version especially, I saw sufficient value in their platform to necessitate the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, yet I intentionally have points establish to ensure that I also keep my list “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply a good insurance coverage, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist 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 inquiry is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d most definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch should be rather straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a big e-mail checklist and are for that reason being fleeced with their high monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating quickly. There’s likewise a respectable opportunity you’re not even using a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a better and more budget friendly fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very deliberate regarding expanding a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is made to be, it is one of the very best games in the area now. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be fairly feature rich.