I have made use of a great deal of various e-mail list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a massive proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own system. Therefore (and the amazing features), I have actually been using Beehiiv 101.
So, it is without a doubt a weird move for me to make a decision to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is an organized application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to address the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I would certainly also such as to attend to why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Shift In Technique, I talked about exactly how and why I decided to turn my recreational vehicle blog right into primarily a newsletter. I made a decision that was the business version I wished to seek with that residential property.
However, to deliberately seek it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email checklist for Gladly RV, but FluentCRM is not a 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. More on that particular in a little bit.
As I said in that concern of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built right into it certain to my function. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send the email concurrently without having it be two different activities.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are essentially one-click registration web links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The system was literally built by the people that developed the innovation for Early morning Brew. They know 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 undoubtedly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I just went all out. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential property to make sure that I can expand it much more intentionally also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded independently. Gladly motor home was young, so easy to shift. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will clearly constantly be very closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Listing
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter platform and just an e-mail listing.
You can hold your e-mail checklist just about anywhere you desire and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing means that it is going to your site and to your e-mail subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that web site. Yet, you are also sending to all subscribers at the same time. The web site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes management of the platform much less complex.
With many email systems, any kind of e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed completely independently from your website. So, for instance, you might publish a write-up to WordPress however then you would require to separately construct and send an e-mail to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are then 2 different sets of archives and 2 separate actions because post and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a true e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it practically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong option if I wished to remain to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you would certainly shed the development devices that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently features a different set of demands than a typical email checklist.
You don’t usually require much marketing automation. You don’t usually need autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless publishing experience and growth devices to help you construct your client base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I picked to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I believe Substack sucks. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been about much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that initially got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized 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 life, doesn’t matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I have an interest in here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally means that BeeHiiv has some relatively big brand names and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo developers. Again, it simply tells me the client character distinction in between the two business.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t exactly suck. The only reason I would certainly consider drinking points up is if I assumed I might GROW the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I actually do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight rivals.
However, allow’s dive much deeper than just the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv looks like it was built by people that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more tailored towards makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers customized areas on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send out an email. However, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new activities, such as modifying custom-made areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply given that I began making use of the platform. As an example:
- Ability to activate automations based upon which details embed form they was available in on.
- Ability to instantly do re-engagement (and manage people based on opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it pertains to creating your newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is just extra geared towards e-newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I discover it to be a lot more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s composing interface is nice and clean, yet it would certainly be extra comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than simply form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and after that put anything you want in it. Then, you can put Exposure choices on that area to show it only to paid subscribers, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from subscribers, reveal just to clients, and so on. Substack provides nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of income. In fact, you actually link as much as your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Depending upon the amount of clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear unpopular, yet what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations at all.
On the whole, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was more built towards actual email marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page creates appear better built for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack settings itself towards “developers” greater than email online marketers and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points geared more towards people that simply think in terms of material development.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are dealt with quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … cool for people that could need it.
Substack also has even more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host chats with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media network which supports long-form material.
Generally, Substack is additionally more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Personally, I do not. Nevertheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, honestly, features … Substack works pretty well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to actual marketing, I do not think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better matched. I searched for more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually with to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the very same target audience and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at makers (like Substack), however it is much more highly accommodating people who do it for business. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation structure, it’s own commerce platform, and much more. ConvertKit is a truly nice system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is well known already. But, below’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly also say 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 just a standard function of e-mail checklists that allows segmentation in a much more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain tagging at some point soon, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv 101.
ConvertKit does now offer the ability to offer things by means of their very 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 an extra straight option anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and for that reason has way a lot more integration options. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. As an example, their plugin now even supports member-gated web content in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this much more very closely places ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active tackling 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 e-newsletter with perks, however you can additionally pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are truly outstanding features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall of what this suggests for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv 101
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise indicates that they are quickly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced virtually once a week release of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but large features that are rather crucial. Their speed of growth now has gone over.
I additionally quite value just how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item statements about some design enhancements to the website design features really consisted of a tiny problem with the content width. I merely responded to that e-mail to tell them. I quickly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That same day, the issue was taken care of.
Few days later, I provided an additional recommendation …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based on the embed kind utilized was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I truly value.
An additional significant point of differentiation here is the cost. Both systems provide complimentary plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides much more capability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more desirable. ConvertKit appears less expensive at first glance due to the fact that their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, however the subscriber restrictions are much lower and your rate quickly increases as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same size checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly make use of), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A listing of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely various organization when it concerns pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually boost costs? They may as time goes on. But, I’m presuming people like myself that are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you most definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to advance rather rapidly and make new product news somewhat commonly, but there are some standard features I truly want they had that I require to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership forms where I might pick an automation to run right at the type degree. That would be AWESOME for many factors. Currently, membership types look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to aid in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have identifying at the client degree. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks should be part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and lower dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small management user interface adjustments that would come in handy. As an example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to bulk edit blog posts (for instance, to mark a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard areas as standard on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more personalization alternatives for the internet site (such as even more adaptable color choices, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I hope they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t best and absolutely not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I said, the function is various so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I presume you never ever understand, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Sufficient where I determined to switch my own e-newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own system.
Basically, for the e-newsletter posting design especially, I saw sufficient worth in their system to warrant the change.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special email listing. I use BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, yet I intentionally have things establish to make sure that I also maintain my checklist “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply an excellent insurance plan, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and various needs. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button must be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a big email checklist and are as a result being fleeced with their high month-to-month costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating rapidly. There’s also a pretty good opportunity you’re not even utilizing some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can easily be a far better and much more budget-friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very intentional concerning growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is developed to be, it is among the most effective video games around now. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the free account to be fairly feature rich.