I have used a lot of various email list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a massive proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your own system. For that reason (and the outstanding features), I have been utilizing Beehiiv App Marketplace.
So, it is certainly a weird move for me to decide to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to address the problem of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly also like to attend to why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Shift In Approach, I discussed just how and why I determined to turn my motor home blog site right into mainly a newsletter. I decided that was business version I intended to pursue with that residential or commercial property.
Yet, to deliberately pursue it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email listing for Happily motor home, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Much more on that in a little bit.
As I claimed in that concern of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools built right into it specific to my function. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send out the email all at once without having it be two separate activities.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t 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 subscription web links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I select to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The system was literally developed by the people who accumulated the technology for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I simply went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own home to make sure that I can expand it extra intentionally too.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded independently. Happily motor home was young, so simple to transition. Yet, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will clearly always be closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but does not have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Listing
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and just an email checklist.
You can host your e-mail listing everywhere you want and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is going to your web site and to your email clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that website. However, you are additionally sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes management of the system much easier.
With many email systems, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is developed completely separately from your web site. So, for example, you might publish a short article to WordPress however then you would need to individually develop and send out an email to your list to send it to clients. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and two different activities because blog posts and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it virtually “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the exact same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong alternative if I wished to remain to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the growth tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently comes with a different collection of requirements than a regular email listing.
You don’t usually need much marketing automation. You don’t typically require autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth publishing experience and growth tools to aid you develop your customer base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was going to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not mean I think Substack draws. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has actually been around longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that initially obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is essentially developed by the very same individuals that developed the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I have an interest in below.
- That branding and distinction also indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively big brands and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo designers. Once again, it simply tells me the client character difference between the two firms.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t exactly draw. The only factor I would certainly contemplate shaking points up is if I assumed I might GROW the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I actually do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct competitors.
However, let’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv seems like it was constructed by people who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra tailored towards makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv uses custom-made areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather limited in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an email. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new actions, such as modifying custom areas, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations simply given that I started using the platform. For instance:
- Capability to set off automations based on which specific embed type they came in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and take care of people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it involves creating your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored toward e-newsletters. Actually, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I discover it to be much more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and clean, but it would be more equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than just kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Exposure options on that section to show it only to paid customers, conceal it from e-mail, hide from subscribers, reveal only to subscribers, and so on. Substack uses absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of earnings. Actually, you essentially link as much as your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Relying on the number of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra built toward actual email marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page creates seem far better developed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack settings itself toward “developers” greater than e-mail marketers and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points tailored more towards people who simply assume in regards to material creation.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are treated quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … amazing for individuals that could require it.
Substack additionally has even more social capability built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. In general, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social network which sustains long-form web content.
In general, Substack is additionally more … minimal. You either look after that or do not. Directly, I do not. However, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns actual marketing, I don’t assume there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better suited. I searched for even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often with to be the closest rivals, 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 additionally placed at designers (like Substack), however it is a lot more highly accommodating individuals who do it for company. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is a really great system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, below’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more adaptability when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly additionally claim that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is just a standard feature of e-mail listings that enables division in a much more adaptable way than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain tagging at some point soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv App Marketplace.
ConvertKit does now offer the capability to offer things using their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly constantly choose a more straight option anyhow. For me, I choose to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and because of that has way extra integration choices. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For instance, their plugin now also sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this more carefully places ConvertKit into direct competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your newsletter with benefits, but you can additionally pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are actually awesome features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface wherefore this means for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv App Marketplace
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it additionally means that they are quickly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen virtually weekly launch of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … yet large features that are quite essential. Their speed of advancement at this point has actually gone over.
I additionally very much appreciate exactly how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item statements regarding some style improvements to the web design features in fact included a tiny trouble with the web content size. I merely responded to that email to tell them. I quickly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the issue was fixed.
Few days later on, I provided another suggestion …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based upon the embed type utilized was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight involvement of the group is something I actually appreciate.
An additional major factor of differentiation below is the rate. Both platforms offer free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers more ability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more desirable. ConvertKit appears more affordable in the beginning glance since their pricing page shows lower numbers, nevertheless the client restrictions are much lower and your rate rapidly boosts as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same size list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly utilize), you can grow your list as much as 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would 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 annually, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in a totally various organization when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost costs? They might as time takes place. But, I’m thinking people like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the important things you definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to develop rather swiftly and make new item announcements somewhat usually, but there are some standard features I truly wish they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership types where I might select an automation to run right at the form level. That would be incredible for numerous reasons. Already, subscription types look OK, yet there’s really little settings for them to aid in segmentation.
It would behave to have labeling at the client level. This would be effective.
I assume webhooks should belong to automations to make built-in automations much easier and decrease dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor management interface changes that would be handy. As an example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Ability to mass edit blog posts (for example, to identify a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard areas as standard on customers (like the name).
- Some even more personalization alternatives for the web site (such as even more adaptable color options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t ideal and certainly not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I stated, the function is various so it wouldn’t much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never know, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Sufficient where I chose to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the platform despite my personal choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting model specifically, I saw enough value in their system to call for the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email list. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, however I purposefully have points set up so that I additionally keep my listing “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance coverage, 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 system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d certainly think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch needs to be quite simple.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a big email checklist and are therefore being wooled with their high month-to-month bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating swiftly. There’s also a pretty good possibility you’re not even utilizing some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv might easily be a far better and much more affordable fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very willful regarding expanding an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is made to be, it is one of the most effective video games around today. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv supplies 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 find the cost-free account to be rather feature abundant.