I have actually used a great deal of different email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your own system. Because of that (and the awesome features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv API Documentation.
So, it is undoubtedly a weird move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I want to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to resolve the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly also such as to address why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Change In Technique, I spoke about exactly how and why I decided to turn my RV blog site right into mostly a newsletter. I chose that was business version I wished to seek with that residential or commercial property.
But, to purposefully seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a little bit.
As I said because issue of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed right into it certain to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog site) and send the e-mail at the same time without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click registration links. Great for promotion in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The system was essentially constructed by the people who developed the innovation for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might certainly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went all out. And in fact, 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 extra deliberately too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to change. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will undoubtedly constantly be carefully tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Listing
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and just an e-mail listing.
You can organize your email list everywhere you desire and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The primary difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing means that it is going to your web site and to your email subscribers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that website. But, you are additionally dispatching to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much easier.
With most email platforms, any kind of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed completely individually from your site. So, as an example, you may release an article to WordPress yet then you would need to independently construct and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are then 2 different collections of archives and two different actions due to the fact that article and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a true 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 thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I intended to remain to self-host whatever. However, you ‘d shed the growth tools that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally includes a various set of needs than a regular email checklist.
You don’t typically require much marketing automation. You don’t generally require autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, though, is one smooth publishing experience and growth tools to aid you construct your customer base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I think Substack sucks. Actually, since Substack has been around longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that initially obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to e-newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally constructed by the very same people who constructed the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. But, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I want right here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally implies that BeeHiiv has some rather big brand names and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo creators. Again, it simply informs me the client avatar distinction between both business.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only reason I would ponder trembling points up is if I assumed I could GROW the list quicker. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I really do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct competitors.
However, let’s dive deeper than just the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by people who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems more geared towards designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom fields on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly restricted in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an e-mail. However, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as changing personalized fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen enhancements to their automations simply considering that I started utilizing the platform. As an example:
- Capacity to trigger automations based upon which certain embed kind they was available in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target audience of Substack simply would not believe to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it comes to composing your newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra geared towards e-newsletters. Actually, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I locate it to be extra instinctive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and clean, however it would be much more equivalent to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than just form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can put Exposure choices on that particular area to show it just to paid subscribers, conceal it from email, hide from subscribers, reveal just to subscribers, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium membership version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of revenue. In fact, you essentially link as much as your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending on the number of customers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was more built toward real e-mail marketing. It was built by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes seem much better developed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack settings itself toward “developers” more than email marketers and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points tailored a lot more toward individuals who simply believe in regards to web content production.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support several publications, they are dealt with fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … trendy for individuals that may require it.
Substack likewise has even more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host chats with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which works sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. On the whole, Substack is established to be extra like a social network which supports long-form content.
In general, Substack is also much more … minimalist. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I looked for more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often via to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the very same target market and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is also placed at makers (like Substack), but it is far more highly satisfying people who do it for business. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and much more. ConvertKit is a truly nice platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, right here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has much more adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will likewise claim that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is simply a standard feature of email checklists that makes it possible for division in a far more flexible means than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support marking eventually soon, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv API Documentation.
ConvertKit does currently supply the ability to offer points by means of their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always pick a more direct choice anyway. For me, I choose to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and therefore has way a lot more integration choices. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For instance, their plugin now even sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this extra very closely places ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with benefits, however you can likewise pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are truly awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface for what this suggests for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv API Documentation
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it additionally suggests that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced almost once a week launch of new features into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but huge features that are fairly vital. Their speed of advancement at this moment has actually been impressive.
I likewise quite appreciate exactly how receptive they are. Actually, one of their item announcements regarding some layout improvements to the website design features in fact included a small trouble with the web content size. I simply replied to that email to tell them. I swiftly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That same day, the problem was fixed.
Few days later, I gave them one more idea …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to cause automations based upon the embed kind made use of was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I really appreciate.
One more major factor of differentiation below is the cost. Both platforms provide cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses much more capacity and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally even more positive. ConvertKit appears less expensive in the beginning look because their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nonetheless the subscriber restrictions are FAR lower and your cost promptly raises as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same dimension list 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 use), you can expand your listing up to 100,000. A listing of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely various organization when it involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance prices? They may as time takes place. Yet, I’m guessing people like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you most definitely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to develop instead swiftly and make brand-new product news somewhat usually, yet there are some standard features I really want they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on registration types where I might pick an automation to run right at the form degree. That would be AWESOME for so many reasons. Already, subscription kinds look OK, however there’s very little settings for them to assist in division.
It would certainly behave to have tagging at the client level. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks ought to belong to automations to make built-in automations simpler and decrease reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor management interface modifications that would be handy. For example:
- Ability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to mass edit posts (for instance, to mark a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic areas as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some even more modification options for the internet site (such as more versatile color choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t best and definitely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It possibly never will be, either. As I stated, the objective is different so it wouldn’t much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation system. I guess you never recognize, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Enough where I decided to switch my very own newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own platform.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter publishing version especially, I saw sufficient worth in their system to call for the change.
Keep in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, however I deliberately have things set up so that I additionally keep my listing “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is simply an excellent insurance plan, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and various demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the switch needs to be quite simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a big e-mail list and are as a result being wooled with their high monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating swiftly. There’s additionally a pretty good possibility you’re not also using a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a better and much more budget friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very intentional regarding expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is just one of the best games around today. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be rather feature abundant.