I have made use of a great deal of various email list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a massive proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. For that reason (and the remarkable features), I have actually been using Does Beehiiv Have A Mobile App.
So, it is undoubtedly a strange move for me to decide to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I wish to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to attend to the issue of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly likewise like to resolve why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Shift In Strategy, I spoke about just how and why I chose to turn my recreational vehicle blog into mostly a newsletter. I decided that was the business version I intended to seek with that said residential property.
Yet, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email checklist for Gladly RV, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Extra on that particular in a little bit.
As I stated in that concern of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed right into it details to my function. Points such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send the email concurrently without having it be two separate activities.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click registration links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are methods 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 ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability 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 publishers with features aimed at growth. The system was essentially developed by the people that built up the modern technology for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I just went all out. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own building to make sure that I can grow it more intentionally also.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown individually. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to change. However, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was buried in a sea of things right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will certainly always be very closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was built for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Listing
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail listing.
You can host your e-mail list anywhere you want and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is going to your web site and to your email clients concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that site. However, you are also sending off to all clients at the same time. The site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes monitoring of the system much simpler.
With the majority of email systems, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed completely independently from your website. So, for example, you could publish a post to WordPress however after that you would certainly need to separately construct and send out an email to your listing to send it to subscribers. These are after that two separate sets of archives and 2 different activities since article and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it virtually “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and permits them to be the exact same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I wanted to remain to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you would certainly lose the growth devices that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally features a different set of requirements than a normal e-mail checklist.
You don’t generally require much marketing automation. You don’t typically need autoresponder series, 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 assist you build your subscriber base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was going to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I chose to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I assume Substack draws. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that originally got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is actually developed by the same folks who constructed the innovation behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and distinction additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some relatively big brand names and large publications using it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo developers. Once more, it simply tells me the consumer avatar difference between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only factor I would ponder trembling points up is if I assumed I might expand the list quicker. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I really don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight competitors.
Yet, let’s dive much deeper than just the placing right here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv looks like it was built by individuals that understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems more geared toward creators.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers personalized 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 an aesthetic automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still quite minimal in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send out an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have brand-new triggers along with new activities, such as customizing custom-made fields, sending webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations simply considering that I started using the system. For example:
- Capacity to trigger automations based upon which specific embed kind they can be found in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can not do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it pertains to composing your e-newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored towards e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I discover it to be more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and clean, but it would certainly be more equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than just type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and then placed anything you want in it. After that, you can put Exposure alternatives on that area to reveal it just to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, conceal from clients, reveal just to subscribers, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs registration version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of revenue. In fact, you essentially link as much as your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Relying on how many clients you get, that 10% can be a fair bit even more money than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, but what it suggests 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 actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
Generally, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was much more developed towards real e-mail marketing. It was developed by people who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes seem much better developed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually claimed, Substack settings itself towards “creators” greater than e-mail online marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some things geared a lot more toward individuals who simply assume in regards to web content creation.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are treated quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … awesome for individuals who may require it.
Substack additionally has more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host chats with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is established to be extra like a social network which sustains long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is likewise extra … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I do not. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it involves real marketing, I do not believe there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better matched. I searched for even more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically via to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the same target market and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at developers (like Substack), but it is a lot more strongly dealing with individuals that do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own business system, and extra. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature break down here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly additionally state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is simply a standard function of email checklists that allows segmentation in an even more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support identifying eventually soon, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Does Beehiiv Have A Mobile App.
ConvertKit does now give the ability to market points through their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always pick a more straight option anyway. For me, I like to use my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and therefore has way a lot more integration options. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. As an example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this more carefully puts ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically 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 taking on the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with perks, however you can also pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are really awesome features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall wherefore this indicates for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Does Beehiiv Have A Mobile App
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise indicates that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced practically once a week release of new features into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … but large features that are fairly essential. Their rate of growth now has been impressive.
I also very much appreciate just how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product statements regarding some design enhancements to the web design features really consisted of a small trouble with the content size. I simply replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the issue was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I provided one more idea …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based on the embed type made use of was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I truly value.
One more significant factor of differentiation right here is the cost. Both platforms provide totally free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies much more capacity and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more positive. ConvertKit seems more affordable initially glimpse due to the fact that their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nonetheless the subscriber restrictions are FAR lower and your cost promptly boosts as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), however you can have up to 10,000 clients. That very same dimension list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” 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 dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a totally various organization when it comes to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost costs? They might as time goes on. But, I’m thinking individuals like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you absolutely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to progress instead quickly and make brand-new product announcements rather commonly, however there are some fundamental features I truly desire they had that I need to simply await.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription types where I might pick an automation to run right at the form degree. That would be incredible for many reasons. Already, membership types look OK, yet there’s very little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have identifying at the client level. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks ought to belong to automations to make built-in automations simpler and reduce reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some small administrative user interface adjustments that would certainly come in handy. As an example:
- Ability to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capacity to mass edit posts (for instance, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental fields as common on clients (like the name).
- Some more modification alternatives for the website (such as more adaptable shade selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t ideal and absolutely not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never ever will certainly be, either. As I stated, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I think you never understand, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Sufficient where I decided to switch my own e-newsletters over to the platform despite my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting model especially, I saw enough worth in their platform to necessitate the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, but I purposefully have things establish to make sure that I likewise keep my list “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is just a great insurance coverage, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and various needs. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the switch ought to be pretty simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a huge e-mail listing and are for that reason being wooled with their high month-to-month bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating swiftly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not also using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might quickly be a far better and more cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be extremely deliberate regarding expanding an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to consider 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 very best video games in town now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the complimentary account to be fairly feature rich.