I have used a great deal of various email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a massive advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. Because of that (and the remarkable features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Best Practices.
So, it is undoubtedly an odd move for me to decide to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I would certainly also like to attend to why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Shift In Technique, I spoke about exactly how and why I made a decision to turn my RV blog right into largely an e-newsletter. I chose that was business model I wished to go after with that said residential property.
Yet, to deliberately seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email list for Happily RV, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a little bit.
As I stated in that problem of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built into it particular to my function. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog site) and send out the e-mail all at once without having it be two separate actions.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I choose to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features aimed at growth. The system was literally built by the individuals who developed the technology for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I just went all out. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s very own home to make sure that I can grow it extra intentionally also.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Happily RV was young, so easy to transition. But, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will clearly always be very closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Listing
There’s a distinction between a newsletter system and just an email listing.
You can host your e-mail list anyplace you desire and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting suggests that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are publishing to that site. But, you are additionally dispatching to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much easier.
With many email systems, any kind of e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built entirely independently from your website. So, as an example, you may release an article to WordPress but then you would certainly require to independently build and send out an email to your list to send it to clients. These are after that 2 separate sets of archives and 2 separate actions since post and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a real newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it basically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I wished to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the development tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently includes a various collection of needs than a common e-mail listing.
You don’t generally need much marketing automation. You don’t typically need autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, though, is one seamless posting experience and development devices to aid you build your subscriber base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was going to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I chose to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I think Substack sucks. Actually, because Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that initially obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally developed by the same people who built the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward 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 differentiation additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some relatively big brand names and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo makers. Again, it just tells me the consumer avatar distinction in between the two business.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only factor I would consider trembling things up is if I assumed I might GROW the list much faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I actually do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight rivals.
But, allow’s dive deeper than just the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv seems like it was developed by individuals who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more tailored towards developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv uses personalized fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an e-mail. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as new actions, such as modifying custom fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations simply given that I began making use of the system. For instance:
- Capability to set off automations based on which certain embed type they was available in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can not do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it involves writing your e-newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I locate it to be extra instinctive, directly.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and clean, however it would certainly be extra comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than simply type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and then placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Visibility choices on that particular section to show it just to paid subscribers, hide it from email, conceal from clients, show only to clients, and so on. Substack uses absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of earnings. Actually, you essentially connect up to your very own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending upon how many clients you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, but what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
In general, I just felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more developed towards real email marketing. It was built by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page develops appear much better developed 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 direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack positions itself toward “developers” more than e-mail marketing experts and newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points tailored extra toward people that simply think in terms of web content creation.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are dealt with quite individually. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … trendy for individuals who may require it.
Substack likewise has more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host talks with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which works type of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. In general, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media which sustains long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is additionally extra … minimalist. You either look after that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works pretty well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it involves real marketing, I don’t think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I tried to find more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently through to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the same target market and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at designers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly catering to people that do it for business. ConvertKit has nice visual automation building, it’s own business platform, and much more. ConvertKit is a really great system.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is popular already. Yet, here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has a lot more versatility when it involves it’s automations. I will also say that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit much more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is simply a fundamental feature of e-mail listings that makes it possible for division in an even more flexible method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support labeling eventually soon, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Best Practices.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capacity to market things using 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 constantly pick a more direct option anyhow. For me, I favor to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and therefore has way extra integration choices. Tons of web-based tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For example, their plugin currently even supports member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this more carefully places ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you be able to release to your site and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active dealing with the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, but you can additionally pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are actually outstanding features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall of what this indicates for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Best Practices
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it additionally implies that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen practically once a week release of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … yet huge features that are fairly vital. Their rate of development now has actually gone over.
I also very much value how receptive they are. In fact, among their product announcements about some layout enhancements to the web design features actually consisted of a tiny problem with the content size. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I promptly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That same day, the issue was taken care of.
Couple of days later on, I provided another tip …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to cause automations based on the embed form made use of was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I truly appreciate.
An additional significant factor of differentiation below is the price. Both systems use free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides extra capability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally much more favorable. ConvertKit seems more affordable at first glimpse because their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, nonetheless the subscriber limitations are much reduced and your rate rapidly increases as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same size listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally utilize), you can grow your list as much as 100,000. A checklist of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, also, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a completely various league when it involves pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point boost rates? They could as time goes on. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the important things you definitely require to remember is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to evolve instead rapidly and make brand-new product news rather commonly, yet there are some standard features I truly want they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on registration types where I can select an automation to run right at the type degree. That would be amazing for a lot of factors. Currently, membership kinds look OK, but there’s extremely little setups for them to assist in division.
It would certainly be nice to have tagging at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks should become part of automations to make integrated automations simpler and decrease reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor administrative user interface changes that would certainly come in handy. As an example:
- Ability to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capability to bulk edit articles (for example, to label a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as standard on customers (like the name).
- Some even more customization alternatives for the website (such as even more adaptable color choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t best and definitely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I said, the purpose is different so it wouldn’t much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I think you never ever know, though.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Enough where I made a decision to change my own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter posting version especially, I saw sufficient worth in their system to warrant the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email listing. I use BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, however I purposefully have points establish so that I likewise keep my checklist “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch ought to be rather straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a huge email checklist and are as a result being wooled with their high regular monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating rapidly. There’s additionally a respectable opportunity you’re not also making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might easily be a far better and more affordable fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really deliberate concerning expanding an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is developed to be, it is one of the most effective games in town today. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be quite feature abundant.