I have used a great deal of various email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a big supporter of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. Therefore (and the remarkable features), I have actually been making use of Beehiiv Withdrawal.
So, it is without a doubt a strange move for me to determine 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 evaluation, I intend to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to attend to the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I ‘d also like to address why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Big Change In Strategy, I spoke about exactly how and why I decided to turn my RV blog right into largely a newsletter. I chose that was the business model I intended to pursue keeping that building.
However, to intentionally pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email listing for Gladly RV, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Extra on that particular in a bit.
As I stated because concern of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed into it particular to my objective. Points such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog) and send out the e-mail simultaneously without having it be 2 different activities.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click membership web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I choose to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features aimed at development. The platform was essentially developed by the individuals who built up the modern technology for Early morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I may certainly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At 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 actually, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own building to ensure that I can expand it extra purposefully also.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded independently. Happily RV was young, so very easy to change. However, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly always be very closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not need to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Listing
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter system and simply an email list.
You can hold your e-mail checklist everywhere you want and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The primary difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your site and to your email customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that website. But, you are also dispatching to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much easier.
With many email platforms, any newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed totally individually from your site. So, as an example, you might release a short article to WordPress yet then you would certainly need to separately build and send an e-mail to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 different collections of archives and two different activities due to the fact that article and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a true e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it virtually “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and allows them to be the very same thing. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong alternative if I wanted to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the development tools that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently features a various collection of requirements than a typical e-mail checklist.
You do not normally need much marketing automation. You don’t generally require autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth publishing experience and development tools to aid you develop your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers 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 reality that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I believe Substack draws. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been about longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that originally obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is essentially constructed by the exact same individuals that constructed the modern technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I have an interest in right here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brand names and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo developers. Once again, it just tells me the client character distinction between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only reason I would certainly contemplate drinking things up is if I thought I could GROW the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I in fact don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight competitors.
However, let’s dive much deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv seems like it was built by people that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears much more tailored toward developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv provides personalized areas on customers. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly restricted in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send out an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have new triggers as well as new activities, such as changing custom areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations simply considering that I began utilizing the platform. As an example:
- Capacity to activate automations based on which particular embed kind they can be found in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target audience of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it involves writing your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply more geared towards e-newsletters. In fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I find it to be a lot more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s composing interface behaves and clean, yet it would be a lot more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than simply kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and then placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Exposure choices on that area to reveal it only to paid customers, hide it from email, conceal from customers, show just to subscribers, etc. Substack provides nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium registration design, BeeHiiv does not take any type of income. In fact, you literally attach as much as your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Relying on the amount of customers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear nerdy, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outside making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Generally, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was much more built toward genuine email marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page makes appear much better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack positions itself towards “makers” more than e-mail marketing professionals and newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points tailored extra towards people who simply assume in regards to web content production.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are treated fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, yet … amazing for individuals that might require it.
Substack additionally has more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host talks with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. In general, Substack is established to be more like a social network which supports long-form content.
In general, Substack is additionally more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack works quite well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I looked for more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet truthfully … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently with to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at designers (like Substack), however it is far more highly catering to individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation structure, it’s own commerce system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a truly nice platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is popular already. However, below’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will likewise state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports labeling. This is simply a standard function of email listings that enables division in a much more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support identifying at some time quickly, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Withdrawal.
ConvertKit does currently give the capacity to market things by means of their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would constantly pick a much more straight choice anyhow. For me, I favor to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and for that reason has way extra integration choices. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For instance, their plugin now even supports member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this much more closely places ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you be able to publish to your website and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously lacking in these type of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy dealing with the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with benefits, however you can also pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your listing. These are truly outstanding features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most well known viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Withdrawal
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally implies that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced practically weekly release of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … yet huge features that are rather crucial. Their rate of development at this point has actually been impressive.
I also very much appreciate just how responsive they are. Actually, among their item statements concerning some design enhancements to the website design features in fact consisted of a small problem with the content width. I just replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That very same day, the concern was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I provided an additional tip …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based on the embed kind utilized was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I actually value.
Another major point of differentiation below is the cost. Both platforms use cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers extra ability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more beneficial. ConvertKit seems less costly in the beginning look because their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nonetheless the customer restrictions are much lower and your price quickly increases as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same dimension list 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 personally use), you can grow your checklist up to 100,000. A listing of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different league when it comes to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually boost costs? They may as time takes place. But, I’m presuming individuals like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how points continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you absolutely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to evolve rather quickly and make brand-new item statements rather commonly, however there are some basic features I truly desire they had that I require to simply wait on.
One is that they need to have a setup on membership forms where I could choose an automation to run right at the type degree. That would certainly be remarkable for numerous factors. Currently, membership kinds look OK, but there’s very little settings for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have marking at the customer level. This would be effective.
I think webhooks should become part of automations to make integrated automations easier and lower reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative user interface modifications that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove customers.
- Ability to mass edit posts (as an example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard areas as standard on subscribers (like the name).
- Some even more personalization alternatives for the website (such as more flexible shade options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I wish they finish with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t ideal and certainly not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it would not a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation system. I presume you never ever know, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Sufficient where I chose to switch my own e-newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own platform.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing model particularly, I saw adequate worth in their platform to necessitate the adjustment.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special email checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is good at, but I deliberately have points establish to ensure that I additionally maintain my checklist “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply a great insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button ought to be quite simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a huge email listing and are consequently being fleeced with their high monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating rapidly. There’s additionally a respectable chance you’re not even making use of a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a far better and more economical fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely willful concerning growing a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is created to be, it is one of the best games around today. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the complimentary account to be fairly feature rich.