I have actually made use of a lot of different e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a substantial proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. Therefore (and the awesome features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Assistant Editor.
So, it is without a doubt a weird move for me to choose to use BeeHiiv. After all, 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 look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d likewise such as to address why I picked 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 Change In Strategy, I discussed exactly how and why I chose to transform my motor home blog right into mostly a newsletter. I chose that was business design I intended to pursue with that said property.
Yet, to deliberately seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email list for Happily motor home, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Extra on that in a little bit.
As I stated because issue of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices built into it particular to my function. Things such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail concurrently without having it be two different activities.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click membership links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means 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 advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features aimed at development. The system was literally built by the people who accumulated the modern technology for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I might certainly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I just went all out. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own home to make sure that I can expand it much more purposefully also.
The objective is that each e-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. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will certainly constantly be closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Checklist
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and simply an email checklist.
You can organize your email checklist everywhere you desire and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing indicates that it is going to your internet site and to your email subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that internet site. However, you are also dispatching to all clients at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes management of the system much simpler.
With the majority of e-mail platforms, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built completely independently from your site. So, for instance, you may release a short article to WordPress but then you would need to separately build and send an e-mail to your checklist to send it to customers. These are after that two different collections of archives and two separate activities due to the fact that article and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it pretty much “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the exact same thing. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wanted to continue to self-host everything. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the development devices that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently comes with a various collection of requirements than a regular email listing.
You do not typically require much marketing automation. You do not generally require autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, however, is one smooth publishing experience and growth tools to aid you build your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers that I was going to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I picked to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not mean I assume Substack sucks. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has actually been around longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that at first obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter authors. Actually, it is actually built by the same individuals that constructed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and distinction additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brands and huge magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo creators. Once again, it just tells me the customer avatar difference in between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t exactly suck. The only reason I would certainly consider drinking things up is if I believed I can expand the listing faster. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I really do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
However, let’s dive deeper than simply the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by individuals who understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more geared toward designers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies customized fields on customers. Now, it isn’t as created 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 whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still quite restricted in triggers and the only action is the ability to send an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as modifying custom-made areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen enhancements to their automations simply considering that I started using the platform. For example:
- Capacity to cause automations based on which certain embed kind they was available in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can not do this since the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it concerns composing your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared towards e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I discover it to be extra intuitive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, but it would be a lot more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than simply type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and after that placed anything you want in it. After that, you can put Visibility alternatives on that particular section to show it only to paid customers, hide it from email, hide from subscribers, show only to subscribers, and so on. Substack uses nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs subscription model, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of revenue. As a matter of fact, you essentially link up to your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Relying on the number of customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear nerdy, but what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was much more developed toward real email marketing. It was constructed by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in types 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 wish to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack positions itself towards “designers” greater than email online marketers and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points geared a lot more toward people who simply assume in terms of content creation.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are dealt with fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … awesome for individuals that might need it.
Substack additionally has more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions sort of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is set up to be much more like a social media network which supports long-form material.
In general, Substack is also extra … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better matched. I searched for more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually with to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly satisfying people who do it for company. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s own business system, and more. ConvertKit is an actually wonderful platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more versatility when it involves it’s automations. I will also say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is just a basic feature of e-mail lists that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more adaptable means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support identifying at some time quickly, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Assistant Editor.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capacity to sell points through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always pick an extra straight option anyhow. For me, I prefer to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and because of that has way extra integration choices. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin currently also supports member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this a lot more very closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy dealing with the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with perks, however you can additionally pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are really outstanding features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most popular viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface wherefore this indicates for the platform going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Assistant Editor
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it likewise indicates that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen almost regular release of new features right into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but large features that are quite essential. Their rate of advancement at this moment has been impressive.
I likewise quite value exactly how receptive they are. In fact, one of their product news concerning some layout enhancements to the web design features in fact contained a small problem with the content size. I merely replied to that email to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the problem was taken care of.
Few days later on, I provided an additional idea …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based upon the embed type utilized was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I truly value.
One more significant point of distinction below is the rate. Both systems supply complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies extra capacity and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also much more favorable. ConvertKit seems less costly initially glance due to the fact that their pricing web page shows lower numbers, nevertheless the subscriber limitations are much reduced and your cost swiftly increases as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same size list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally utilize), you can expand your list approximately 100,000. A checklist 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 each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different league when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually boost rates? They may as time takes place. However, I’m presuming people like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of things you absolutely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to develop rather swiftly and make brand-new item announcements rather typically, yet there are some basic features I really want they had that I require to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on registration types where I could select an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be outstanding for so many reasons. Currently, subscription forms look OK, however there’s really little settings for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have labeling at the customer level. This would be effective.
I think webhooks should belong to automations to make integrated automations easier and reduce reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management interface changes that would certainly be handy. As an example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Capacity to mass edit blog posts (as an example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization options for the site (such as even more flexible shade options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I hope they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t ideal and definitely not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It probably never will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the function is different so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I presume you never ever know, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Enough where I determined to change my very own newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting model specifically, I saw enough value in their system to necessitate the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive email listing. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is good at, but I deliberately have things establish so that I likewise maintain my listing “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is simply a great insurance policy, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d certainly take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and various demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be rather straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely stay put unless you have a huge email checklist and are therefore being fleeced with their high regular monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating swiftly. There’s likewise a pretty good possibility you’re not also utilizing several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv might easily be a much better and more cost effective fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful concerning growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is made to be, it is just one of the very best video games around today. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be rather feature rich.