I have made use of a great deal of different email list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a significant supporter of digital sovereignty and having your own system. Because of that (and the incredible features), I have been making use of Ken White Beehiiv.
So, it is indeed a strange move for me to choose to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I would certainly also like to deal with why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Shift In Strategy, I spoke about just how and why I made a decision to transform my motor home blog site right into mostly a newsletter. I determined that was business model I wished to go after keeping that building.
But, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email checklist for Gladly recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Extra on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed because problem of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed into it details to my purpose. Points such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send the email all at once without having it be 2 different actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are essentially one-click registration links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I choose to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features targeted at growth. The system was literally built by the individuals who accumulated the technology for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I may without a doubt be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I simply went all out. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own residential or commercial property to ensure that I can expand it a lot more intentionally as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Gladly RV was young, so simple to transition. But, The Early morning WP (formerly 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 obviously constantly be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but does not have to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv because it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email List
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and just an e-mail list.
You can organize your email list anyplace you want and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail subscribers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that site. However, you are likewise sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes management of the platform much less complex.
With the majority of email platforms, any newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built completely independently from your web site. So, as an example, you might publish a short article to WordPress but after that you would require to separately construct and send out an email to your checklist to send it to customers. These are then 2 separate collections of archives and 2 different activities since article and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it pretty much “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and permits them to be the exact same thing. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I intended to remain to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the development devices that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally features a various collection of requirements than a normal e-mail listing.
You don’t generally need much marketing automation. You do not generally require autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one seamless posting experience and growth tools to help you construct your subscriber base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I assume Substack sucks. Actually, because Substack has been about longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that initially obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is literally built by the very same people who developed the technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. Yet, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “maker”. Growth is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and differentiation additionally means that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brands and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo creators. Again, it just tells me the customer character difference between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not specifically suck. The only reason I would ponder drinking things up is if I assumed I could GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I really don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight rivals.
However, allow’s dive deeper than simply the positioning here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by people who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared towards developers.
As an example, BeeHiiv uses custom-made areas on customers. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send an email. However, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as customizing personalized fields, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen enhancements to their automations just because I began using the platform. For example:
- Ability to set off automations based upon which certain embed form they can be found in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it concerns writing your newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I locate it to be much more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s composing interface is nice and clean, however it would be a lot more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than just type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and afterwards put anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Visibility choices on that area to show it only to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, conceal from clients, reveal just to subscribers, etc. Substack provides nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of earnings. In fact, you literally connect up to your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Depending on how many subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear unpopular, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
On the whole, I just felt like BeeHiiv was extra developed towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes appear better constructed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack settings itself towards “designers” greater than email marketing experts and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some things geared more toward people who just assume in terms of material production.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are dealt with quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … awesome for people that may require it.
Substack also has more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. In general, Substack is set up to be much more like a social network which supports long-form web content.
Generally, Substack is likewise more … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. However, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, frankly, features … Substack works quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it involves actual marketing, I do not think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better fit. I searched for even more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically with to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the same target market and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at creators (like Substack), however it is a lot more strongly catering to people who do it for company. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation structure, it’s own business system, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly good system.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is well known already. However, here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it involves it’s automations. I will certainly also claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is simply a basic function of e-mail checklists that enables segmentation in a far more flexible way than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some time soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Ken White Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now give the capacity to sell things through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly always select a more direct alternative anyhow. For me, I like to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and for that reason has way extra integration options. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For example, their plugin currently also supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this a lot more very closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to release to your site and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously lacking in these sort of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy tackling the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with perks, but you can also pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really amazing features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface for what this indicates for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Ken White Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it likewise means that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen almost regular launch of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … however large features that are rather important. Their rate of advancement now has actually gone over.
I likewise significantly value how responsive they are. In fact, one of their item announcements concerning some design improvements to the website design features in fact consisted of a small issue with the material width. I merely replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the issue was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I provided one more tip …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based on the embed type made use of was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I actually appreciate.
An additional major point of distinction below is the cost. Both platforms offer totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides extra capability and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise FAR more positive. ConvertKit appears more affordable in the beginning glimpse due to the fact that their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the customer limits are much reduced and your rate swiftly raises as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same size checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your checklist as much as 100,000. A listing 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 every year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various organization when it concerns pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately raise costs? They could as time takes place. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself that are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you absolutely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to progress instead swiftly and make brand-new product news somewhat often, but there are some fundamental features I actually desire they had that I need to just await.
One is that they need to have a setup on membership forms where I could pick an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be incredible for many factors. Already, registration forms look OK, yet there’s really little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would behave to have marking at the client degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks need to become part of automations to make built-in automations simpler and minimize dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management user interface adjustments that would be handy. As an example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to bulk edit messages (for instance, to identify a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some even more customization choices for the internet site (such as more versatile shade choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t perfect and certainly not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I said, the objective is different so it would not much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation system. I guess you never ever recognize, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Enough where I decided to change my own newsletters over to the system despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my very own platform.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter posting version especially, I saw adequate worth in their system to necessitate the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is proficient at, however I deliberately have things set up to make sure that I likewise maintain my list “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is just a good insurance plan, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d certainly consider switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be more business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch needs to be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay put unless you have a large e-mail checklist and are as a result being fleeced with their high monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating promptly. There’s additionally a pretty good possibility you’re not even using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a far better and more budget friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very intentional regarding growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is made to be, it is just one of the most effective video games in the area now. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into on your own. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be rather feature abundant.