I have made use of a lot of different email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a massive advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. For that reason (and the awesome features), I have been utilizing Beehiiv Benefits.
So, it is undoubtedly a strange move for me to decide to make use of BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to resolve the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d also like to resolve why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Shift In Technique, I discussed exactly how and why I determined to transform my motor home blog site right into mostly a newsletter. I decided that was business version I wished to pursue with that said residential or commercial property.
However, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email list for Happily recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that particular in a bit.
As I said because issue of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog) and send the e-mail all at once without having it be two separate actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click membership links. Great for promotion in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The platform was essentially developed by the people who accumulated the modern technology for Early morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I might without a doubt be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m highly 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 Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential property to ensure that I can grow it more purposefully too.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Gladly motor home was young, so simple to transition. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will obviously always be very closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Listing
There’s a difference in between a newsletter system and simply an email list.
You can hold your e-mail checklist everywhere you desire and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting implies that it is going to your website and to your e-mail clients all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that site. But, you are likewise sending off to all customers at the same time. The web site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much less complex.
With a lot of email platforms, any newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed totally independently from your site. So, as an example, you could release a post to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to individually develop and send out an email to your listing to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 separate collections of archives and two different actions due to the fact that article and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it virtually “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and permits them to be the very same thing. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I wanted to continue to self-host whatever. However, you ‘d lose the development tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently features a different set of demands than a common e-mail checklist.
You do not typically need much marketing automation. You don’t normally need autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, however, is one smooth publishing experience and development devices to aid you develop your client base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was going to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to choose BeeHiiv, that does not mean I believe Substack draws. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been around 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 attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to e-newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is essentially developed by the same folks that constructed the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. However, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and distinction additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo makers. Again, it simply informs me the consumer avatar distinction in between the two companies.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only factor I would certainly ponder shaking points up is if I believed I can expand the list quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I in fact don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight rivals.
But, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv seems like it was built by individuals that recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more tailored toward designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv provides custom fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
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 quite restricted in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send out an email. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to new actions, such as modifying custom fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations simply considering that I began making use of the system. For example:
- Capacity to cause automations based upon which specific embed type they came in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack just would not think to approach this like an email marketer.
When it involves composing your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is just extra tailored towards newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I locate it to be more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s composing interface is nice and clean, however it would be much more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than simply form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and afterwards placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Visibility choices on that particular section to show it only to paid clients, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from customers, reveal only to clients, and so on. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of revenue. In fact, you literally attach approximately your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Depending on the number of customers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations at all.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more built toward real email marketing. It was developed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page creates seem better constructed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I like the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack positions itself toward “creators” greater than email online marketers and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things geared much more towards individuals who simply assume in regards to content creation.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous magazines, they are dealt with quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … amazing for individuals who could need it.
Substack likewise has even more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a conversation function to host talks with customers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. Overall, Substack is established to be more like a social media network which supports long-form content.
In general, Substack is likewise much more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Personally, I do not. However, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to real marketing, I do not believe there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I searched for more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is much more strongly satisfying people that do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation building, it’s own business system, and more. ConvertKit is a really good platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, right here’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has a lot more flexibility when it concerns it’s automations. I will additionally state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit much more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is just a fundamental feature of email checklists that allows division in a far more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support tagging at some time quickly, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Benefits.
ConvertKit does currently provide the capacity to sell points through their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly always pick an extra direct alternative anyhow. For me, I choose to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and for that reason has way much more integration choices. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For instance, their plugin currently even supports member-gated web content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this extra very closely places ConvertKit into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy dealing with the growth devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your newsletter with advantages, however you can additionally pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly incredible features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface wherefore this implies for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Benefits
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it also implies that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen virtually regular launch of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … but huge features that are rather important. Their speed of growth at this moment has gone over.
I additionally very much appreciate how responsive they are. Actually, among their item announcements regarding some style enhancements to the web design features actually consisted of a little issue with the content size. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the concern was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I gave them an additional recommendation …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to trigger automations based upon the embed form made use of was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I really appreciate.
An additional significant factor of distinction below is the rate. Both systems provide cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers more ability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more desirable. ConvertKit appears less costly at first glance since their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the subscriber limitations are FAR lower and your rate quickly boosts as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid annually), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That same size list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally utilize), you can expand your listing up to 100,000. A list of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, 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 simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different organization when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase costs? They could as time goes on. However, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to progress rather quickly and make new product statements somewhat frequently, but there are some fundamental features I actually wish they had that I require to simply wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership types where I could pick an automation to run right at the type level. That would be incredible for a lot of factors. As of now, subscription types look OK, yet there’s very little setups for them to assist in division.
It would be nice to have identifying at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks should become part of automations to make integrated automations easier and reduce reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some small management user interface modifications that would certainly be handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Ability to bulk edit messages (as an example, to mark a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as common on customers (like the name).
- Some even more customization alternatives for the website (such as even more adaptable shade choices, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t perfect and certainly not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It most likely never will certainly be, either. As I said, the objective is various so it would not much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation platform. I think you never know, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Sufficient where I chose to change my very own newsletters over to the platform regardless of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and having my very own system.
Basically, for the e-newsletter publishing design especially, I saw adequate value in their platform to warrant the change.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special email list. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, however I purposefully have points set up so that I likewise maintain my listing “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very 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 usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d definitely consider switching to BeeHiiv. It will simply be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button should be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a large e-mail listing and are for that reason being wooled with their high monthly costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating swiftly. There’s also a respectable chance you’re not even making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv might easily be a much better and more economical fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely intentional concerning expanding an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep 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 platform to view.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the complimentary account to be rather feature abundant.