I have actually utilized a great deal of various email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a significant supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own platform. For that reason (and the awesome features), I have actually been making use of Beehiiv Acceptable Use Policy.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to choose to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I wish to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to address the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d also like to resolve why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Change In Method, I discussed just how and why I decided to transform my recreational vehicle blog into mainly an e-newsletter. I determined that was the business version I intended to go after keeping that building.
But, to intentionally seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email list for Happily recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. More on that particular in a little bit.
As I claimed because problem of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed into it specific to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog site) and send out the email concurrently without having it be two different actions.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click membership links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I pick to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The system was literally constructed by the individuals that developed the modern technology for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went for it. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own building to make sure that I can grow it much more deliberately as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to transition. However, The Early morning WP (formerly The Side) was buried 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 undoubtedly always be carefully linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email List
There’s a difference between a newsletter platform and just an e-mail checklist.
You can host your email listing everywhere you want and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is going to your site and to your email customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that internet site. Yet, you are also dispatching to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes management of the system much simpler.
With many email platforms, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is developed totally independently from your internet site. So, as an example, you may publish a write-up to WordPress however then you would certainly need to independently develop and send an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are then 2 different sets of archives and two different activities because blog posts and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a real e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it practically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and allows them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I wanted to continue to self-host whatever. However, you would certainly lose the growth devices that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently features a different set of requirements than a typical e-mail listing.
You do not typically require much marketing automation. You do not generally need autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, however, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to assist you build your client base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I chose to choose BeeHiiv, that does not imply I think Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that originally got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to e-newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally developed by the exact same folks who constructed the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. Yet, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I want right here.
- That branding and distinction also means that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo developers. Again, it simply informs me the client avatar difference in between the two firms.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only factor I would certainly consider trembling points up is if I assumed I can expand the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I in fact don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct competitors.
But, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv looks like it was developed by people who comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more tailored toward designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv provides custom fields on clients. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send an email. However, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers along with brand-new activities, such as customizing custom-made fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply given that I began utilizing the system. As an example:
- Capacity to set off automations based on which certain embed type they was available in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it involves creating your newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I discover it to be much more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface behaves and clean, however it would be a lot more comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than just kind. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and then put anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Visibility choices on that particular section to show it only to paid clients, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from clients, reveal just to subscribers, and so on. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium subscription model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of income. As a matter of fact, you actually connect up to your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending on the number of clients you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the month-to-month cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, but what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outside utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
On the whole, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was extra constructed toward actual e-mail marketing. It was built by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page creates appear far better built for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv include, I like the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack positions itself towards “creators” more than e-mail marketing professionals and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things tailored much more towards individuals that simply assume in regards to web content production.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are treated quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … great for people that may need it.
Substack likewise has even more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host chats with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. In general, Substack is established to be much more like a social media network which sustains long-form material.
In general, Substack is additionally much more … minimalist. You either take care of that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack works quite well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it comes to actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I searched for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently with to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at makers (like Substack), but it is far more strongly dealing with individuals who do it for organization. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a really wonderful platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is well known already. But, here’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally claim that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is just a fundamental feature of e-mail checklists that makes it possible for division in an even more versatile means than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling at some point soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Acceptable Use Policy.
ConvertKit does currently provide the capacity to sell things by means of their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always select a much more direct alternative anyway. For me, I like to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and for that reason has way more integration choices. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For instance, their plugin now even supports member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this extra carefully places ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you be able to publish to your website and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these sort of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. But, 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 only incentivize people to share your newsletter with perks, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are truly incredible features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most well known viral promo platforms for 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 Better At … Beehiiv Acceptable Use Policy
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it also implies that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed almost once a week release of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … but big features that are fairly vital. Their rate of growth now has been impressive.
I additionally quite value how responsive they are. In fact, one of their item announcements regarding some design enhancements to the website design features actually consisted of a little issue with the material size. I merely replied to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That very same day, the problem was taken care of.
Few days later, I gave them an additional suggestion …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to cause automations based on the embed form made use of was contributed to the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I really appreciate.
Another significant factor of differentiation below is the price. Both systems supply free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies extra ability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally much more desirable. ConvertKit appears less expensive initially glance since their pricing web page shows reduced numbers, however the client restrictions are FAR reduced and your rate swiftly raises as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same size checklist 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 directly use), you can expand your checklist as much as 100,000. A list of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, as well, 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 every year.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different league when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance rates? They might as time goes on. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you certainly need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to evolve instead rapidly and make brand-new item announcements rather usually, however there are some standard features I really wish they had that I require to simply await.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership kinds where I can pick an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be incredible for many reasons. Already, registration kinds look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to aid in segmentation.
It would behave to have identifying at the subscriber level. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks must be part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and reduce dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small management user interface modifications that would certainly be handy. For example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to mass edit blog posts (for instance, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic areas as typical on customers (like the name).
- Some more modification choices for the internet site (such as even more versatile color selections, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I wish they finish with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t perfect and absolutely not almost as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It possibly never ever will certainly be, either. As I said, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation system. I think you never understand, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv fairly a great deal. Sufficient where I decided to change my very own e-newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing design particularly, I saw enough value in their system to require the adjustment.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail listing. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, however I intentionally have things establish to make sure that I additionally keep my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply an excellent insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d most definitely consider changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and different needs. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch should be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely sit tight unless you have a huge email list and are for that reason being fleeced with their high regular monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating swiftly. There’s additionally a pretty good opportunity you’re not also using some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can quickly be a far better and a lot more inexpensive fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really intentional regarding expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is one of the most effective video games in town right now. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be rather feature abundant.