I have actually used a great deal of various e-mail list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. For that reason (and the awesome features), I have been utilizing How To Make Money with Beehiiv.
So, it is certainly a strange move for me to choose to utilize BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to address the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d also such as to address why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Shift In Approach, I spoke about how and why I decided to turn my motor home blog right into primarily an e-newsletter. I chose that was the business design I wanted to pursue keeping that property.
Yet, to deliberately pursue it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for newsletters is a little a waste. A lot more on that particular in a little bit.
As I claimed because concern of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed right into it particular to my function. Points such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog) and send the email simultaneously without having it be 2 different actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click registration web links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I select to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on development. The system was essentially constructed by the people that built up the innovation for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I might without a doubt be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I simply went all out. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own building so that I can grow it more purposefully too.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Gladly motor home was young, so very easy to shift. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was buried in a sea of stuff below at the Blog 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 site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter platform and just an email listing.
You can hold your email list everywhere you desire and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting suggests that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your email clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that website. But, you are also dispatching to all customers at the same time. The web site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much easier.
With a lot of e-mail systems, any newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed totally separately from your web site. So, for example, you may publish a post to WordPress but after that you would require to independently develop and send an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are after that two different sets of archives and 2 separate actions due to the fact that blog posts and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a true e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it basically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the same thing. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong alternative if I wanted to remain to self-host everything. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the development devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally includes a different collection of requirements than a normal email checklist.
You don’t generally need much marketing automation. You don’t typically need autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, though, is one smooth posting experience and development tools to aid you develop your customer base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was mosting likely to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I think Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been about much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that initially got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is literally built by the same individuals that built the innovation behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and differentiation additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo makers. Once more, it simply tells me the customer avatar distinction in between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t exactly draw. The only reason I would certainly ponder shaking things up is if I assumed I can GROW the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I in fact don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct rivals.
But, let’s dive deeper than just the placing right here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by people that comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more tailored toward designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers personalized areas on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic 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 rather minimal in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers as well as new activities, such as customizing custom-made fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations just because I started utilizing the system. For example:
- Ability to set off automations based on which particular embed type they was available in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and manage individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this since the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it comes to creating your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more tailored towards e-newsletters. Actually, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I find it to be a lot more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing interface is nice and tidy, but it would certainly be much more comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than just form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. After that, you can put Visibility options on that section to reveal it only to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, conceal from customers, reveal only to subscribers, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs membership design, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of profits. Actually, you actually connect up to your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Relying on the number of clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more developed towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs seem better developed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack positions itself towards “designers” more than email marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things tailored extra towards people that just assume in terms of content creation.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous magazines, 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 require, yet … amazing for people that could require it.
Substack additionally has more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a conversation function to host talks with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. Generally, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media network which sustains long-form web content.
In general, Substack is additionally much more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions rather well.
But, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns actual marketing, I do not assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better suited. I looked for more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a difficult time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently via to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at developers (like Substack), however it is a lot more strongly dealing with individuals that do it for organization. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s very own business platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly great platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is well known currently. However, below’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly also claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is simply a standard feature of e-mail checklists that makes it possible for division in a far more adaptable means than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling at some time quickly, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing How To Make Money with Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now offer the capacity to sell things through 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 an extra straight alternative anyhow. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and because of that has way extra integration alternatives. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. As an example, their plugin currently even supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this more carefully puts ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you be able to publish to your site and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just 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 list. These are actually incredible features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promo platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface for what this implies for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … How To Make Money with Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies 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 observed virtually weekly release of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … but huge features that are quite essential. Their rate of growth now has actually gone over.
I additionally significantly value just how responsive they are. In fact, among their product announcements regarding some layout improvements to the website design features actually consisted of a small trouble with the material size. I merely responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the issue was taken care of.
Couple of days later on, I gave them one more tip …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to trigger automations based upon the embed type made use of was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I truly appreciate.
Another significant point of distinction right here is the price. Both systems offer complimentary plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies more ability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more desirable. ConvertKit seems less expensive in the beginning look due to the fact that their pricing page shows reduced numbers, however the subscriber restrictions are FAR lower and your rate rapidly increases as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), however you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same dimension list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly utilize), you can expand your listing as much as 100,000. A list of that size 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 yearly, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally various league when it comes to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase costs? They could as time goes on. But, I’m thinking people like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you most definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to evolve rather rapidly and make new item news rather often, however there are some basic features I actually desire they had that I need to just await.
One is that they require to have a setting on registration kinds where I can choose an automation to run right at the type level. That would certainly be AWESOME for so many reasons. As of now, subscription forms look OK, however there’s extremely little settings for them to help in division.
It would certainly behave to have labeling at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks need to become part of automations to make integrated automations much easier and reduce reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management interface modifications that would come in handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to mass edit posts (for instance, to label a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic areas as common on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization choices for the website (such as more adaptable shade selections, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t perfect and certainly not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the objective is various so it wouldn’t much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I presume you never recognize, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv rather a lot. Sufficient where I chose to change my own e-newsletters over to the platform regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and owning my very own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting design particularly, I saw adequate value in their system to necessitate the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special email checklist. I use BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, however I intentionally have things set up to make sure that I likewise maintain my list “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d absolutely consider changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be more business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button must be quite uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a huge email checklist and are therefore being fleeced with their high regular monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating promptly. There’s additionally a respectable chance you’re not also utilizing a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv might easily be a much better and much more affordable fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely willful concerning expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is made to be, it is among the most effective games around right now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the complimentary account to be fairly feature abundant.