I have made use of a lot of various e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your own system. Therefore (and the remarkable features), I have actually been using Matt Mcgarry Newsletter.
So, it is certainly an unusual move for me to choose to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying month-to-month 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 issue of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d likewise like to resolve why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Shift In Method, I talked about exactly how and why I decided to transform my motor home blog site right into mostly a newsletter. I chose that was the business model I intended to seek with that said residential or commercial property.
But, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Gladly recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. More on that particular in a bit.
As I stated because concern of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices built into it certain to my objective. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send out the email concurrently without having it be two separate actions.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click membership links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I pick to generate income from with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The system was essentially built by the people that built up the innovation for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I finished off with this:.
I might certainly be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I just went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential or commercial property to ensure that I can grow it more deliberately as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Gladly RV was young, so easy to change. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of things below 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 clearly always be carefully tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Listing
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter platform and just an e-mail list.
You can hold your email listing everywhere you want and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing indicates that it is going to your internet site and to your email customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that web site. Yet, you are also sending off to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much simpler.
With the majority of e-mail platforms, any type of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built completely individually from your site. So, as an example, you could release a short article to WordPress but after that you would need to separately develop and send out an email to your listing to send it to customers. These are after that two different sets of archives and 2 different activities due to the fact that post and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it basically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the very same thing. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong alternative if I wished to continue to self-host everything. However, you would certainly lose the growth tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently features a various collection of needs than a normal email checklist.
You do not typically need much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, though, is one seamless publishing experience and growth tools to assist you develop your customer base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was going to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I chose to select BeeHiiv, that does not imply I assume Substack draws. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has been about longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair points that at first got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to e-newsletter publishers. In fact, it is literally developed by the exact same individuals who constructed the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter development called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction also means that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brand names and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo makers. Once again, it simply informs me the customer avatar difference in between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t specifically draw. The only factor I would certainly ponder drinking things up is if I believed I might expand the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I in fact do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct rivals.
However, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by individuals who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more geared toward developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers customized fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an e-mail. However, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to new activities, such as changing customized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations just because I started utilizing the system. As an example:
- Capability to cause automations based upon which certain embed type they was available in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and handle people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this because the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it comes to creating your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I discover it to be more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and clean, however it would certainly be extra equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Exposure alternatives on that section to reveal it just to paid clients, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from customers, reveal only to customers, etc. Substack provides nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium registration model, BeeHiiv does not take any revenue. In fact, you actually link approximately your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Relying on how many subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, however what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outside using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations at all.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more developed toward actual email marketing. It was built by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page designs appear far better developed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack positions itself towards “makers” greater than email marketing experts and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things tailored extra toward people who just believe in regards to content creation.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support numerous publications, they are dealt with rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … amazing for individuals that may require it.
Substack additionally has even more social capability built-in. For example, it has a chat feature to host chats with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. In general, Substack is established to be much more like a social media which supports long-form material.
In general, Substack is additionally extra … minimal. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I do not. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it concerns actual marketing, I do not assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better matched. I looked for more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a tough time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically through to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at developers (like Substack), however it is far more highly accommodating individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation building, it’s own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually good system.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is popular already. But, here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has much more adaptability when it concerns it’s automations. I will additionally claim that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is simply a fundamental function of email checklists that makes it possible for division in a far more flexible way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some time soon, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Matt Mcgarry Newsletter.
ConvertKit does currently provide the capability to market things using their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary 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 own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and because of that has way much more integration alternatives. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For instance, their plugin now even supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this extra carefully puts ConvertKit right into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously doing not have in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic tackling the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, but you can additionally pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are really amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most popular viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this implies for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Matt Mcgarry Newsletter
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise implies that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed virtually once a week launch of new features into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … yet huge features that are quite essential. Their speed of development at this moment has gone over.
I additionally very much appreciate just how responsive they are. Actually, among their item news regarding some style enhancements to the website design features really consisted of a tiny issue with the web content size. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That very same day, the issue was repaired.
Few days later on, I gave them an additional pointer …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based upon the embed type utilized was added to the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I truly value.
An additional major factor of distinction here is the rate. Both platforms offer complimentary plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers a lot more ability and even more subscribers (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 since their pricing web page shows lower numbers, however the subscriber limitations are much reduced and your rate swiftly increases as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid annually), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same dimension list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your checklist as much as 100,000. A listing of that dimension 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 yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally various league when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance prices? They might as time takes place. However, I’m thinking people like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of things you most definitely require to remember is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to advance rather quickly and make brand-new item statements somewhat frequently, however there are some fundamental features I truly want they had that I need to simply wait for.
One is that they need to have a setup on membership forms where I could pick an automation to run right at the type degree. That would certainly be incredible for many factors. Currently, membership kinds look OK, yet there’s extremely little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would behave to have labeling at the customer degree. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks ought to become part of automations to make built-in automations easier and decrease dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some small administrative interface changes that would certainly be handy. For example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to bulk edit articles (for instance, to label a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental areas as standard on subscribers (like the name).
- Some even more modification options for the site (such as even more adaptable color choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I hope they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t ideal and definitely not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I said, the purpose is various so it would not a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever understand, though.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Sufficient where I decided to switch my own e-newsletters over to the system despite my personal choice for digital sovereignty and having my very own system.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter publishing model specifically, I saw adequate value in their platform to require the change.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email listing. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, however I intentionally have points set up to make sure that I additionally keep my checklist “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just an excellent insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d absolutely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and different demands. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button ought to be rather straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a large e-mail checklist and are therefore being fleeced with their high month-to-month bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating quickly. There’s likewise a pretty good possibility you’re not even utilizing a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could easily be a far better and much more affordable fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely deliberate regarding expanding an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is developed to be, it is one of the most effective games in the area today. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth having a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be fairly feature abundant.