I have made use of a lot of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge proponent of digital sovereignty and having your own platform. Therefore (and the incredible features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv What’s In The Bag.
So, it is certainly an unusual move for me to make a decision to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I wish to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d additionally such as to deal with why I selected to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Shift In Strategy, I discussed just how and why I decided to turn my RV blog site right into mainly a newsletter. I decided that was business design I wanted to go after with that said home.
Yet, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily RV, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that in a little bit.
As I stated in that concern of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed right into it particular to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog) and send out the email concurrently without having it be two different activities.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I choose to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The system was essentially developed by the individuals who accumulated the innovation for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might indeed 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 EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own building so that I can grow it more intentionally also.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded independently. Happily motor home was young, so simple to transition. But, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will certainly constantly be very closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not need to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv because it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email List
There’s a distinction between a newsletter platform and just an email listing.
You can organize your e-mail listing everywhere you desire and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing suggests that it is going to your internet site and to your email customers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that website. Yet, you are likewise sending to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much simpler.
With most e-mail systems, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed entirely separately from your website. So, as an example, you might release a write-up to WordPress however after that you would certainly need to individually build and send out an email to your checklist to send it to clients. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and 2 separate activities because blog posts and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a real newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it practically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the very same point. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong alternative if I wanted to remain to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the development tools that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally includes a different collection of requirements than a normal email listing.
You do not typically need much marketing automation. You do not generally require autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth publishing experience and development devices to assist 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 e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I selected to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I think Substack draws. In fact, since Substack has actually been around longer, it is elder and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that originally obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally constructed by the very same people that built the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Once more, it simply tells me the consumer character distinction in between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only reason I would certainly ponder trembling things up is if I assumed I might GROW the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I in fact do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct competitors.
However, allow’s dive deeper than just the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by people who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more geared towards developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv provides custom fields on customers. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an e-mail. However, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have brand-new triggers in addition to new actions, such as modifying customized fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations simply because I began making use of the system. For example:
- Ability to set off automations based upon which certain embed kind they can be found in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketer.
When it involves creating your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra tailored toward e-newsletters. Actually, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I locate it to be much more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s creating user interface behaves and clean, yet it would certainly be more equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than just type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and afterwards put anything you want in it. After that, you can put Presence options on that section to reveal it just to paid customers, conceal it from email, conceal from clients, show only to subscribers, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium registration model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of earnings. Actually, you literally link approximately your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Depending on the number of clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, however what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
On the whole, I just felt like BeeHiiv was much more built toward genuine email marketing. It was constructed by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in types and the landing page creates seem much better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack settings itself towards “makers” more than email marketing experts and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points tailored more toward people that just think in regards to material development.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are treated rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … trendy for individuals that may require it.
Substack likewise has more social performance built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host talks with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions sort of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social network which supports long-form material.
Overall, Substack is also much more … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nonetheless, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it involves actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better matched. I tried to find even more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a tough time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically via to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at makers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly satisfying people that do it for organization. ConvertKit has great visual automation structure, it’s own business platform, and extra. ConvertKit is an actually nice system.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature break down here. ConvertKit is popular already. However, here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly also state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports labeling. This is simply a standard feature of email lists that makes it possible for division in an even more versatile way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling at some point quickly, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv What’s In The Bag.
ConvertKit does currently give the capability to offer points by means of their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would always choose an extra direct option anyhow. For me, I prefer to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way extra integration choices. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For example, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated web content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this more closely places ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you be able to release to your site and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your newsletter with rewards, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are really remarkable features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most popular viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv What’s In The Bag
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise implies that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed practically once a week launch of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … yet large features that are quite important. Their rate of development at this moment has actually gone over.
I additionally quite appreciate how responsive they are. Actually, one of their item statements concerning some style enhancements to the web design features actually included a small issue with the content width. I just replied to that email to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That same day, the issue was dealt with.
Few days later, I gave them one more tip …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based upon the embed kind used was added to the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I actually value.
An additional significant factor of distinction right here is the cost. Both platforms offer free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses a lot more ability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more beneficial. ConvertKit seems less expensive in the beginning look since their pricing page shows lower numbers, nevertheless the subscriber restrictions are much reduced and your cost rapidly raises as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same dimension checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly use), you can grow your listing as much as 100,000. A checklist of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, also, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally various league when it comes to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually raise rates? They might as time goes on. But, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the important things you absolutely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to develop instead quickly and make brand-new product announcements somewhat often, yet there are some fundamental features I really wish they had that I require to just await.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription types where I can select an automation to run right at the form degree. That would be outstanding for many factors. As of now, membership forms look OK, but there’s very little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have tagging at the client level. This would be powerful.
I think webhooks need to be part of automations to make integrated automations less complicated and minimize reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some small management interface changes that would be handy. For example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capability to bulk edit blog posts (for example, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard fields as typical on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the website (such as more flexible shade options, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I wish they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t perfect and absolutely not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the function is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I think you never understand, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a great deal. Sufficient where I made a decision to change my own e-newsletters over to the system regardless of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and owning my very own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing version particularly, I saw adequate value in their system to call for the change.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail listing. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, but I deliberately have things establish to make sure that I additionally keep my listing “in home” within 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 listing will be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button must be pretty uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a big email list and are as a result being fleeced with their high regular monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating promptly. There’s also a respectable opportunity you’re not even utilizing some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a far better and extra budget friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely willful regarding growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is designed to be, it is just one of the very best games around now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the totally free account to be fairly feature rich.