I have utilized a lot of various email list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. Therefore (and the incredible features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Black Friday.
So, it is without a doubt an unusual move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I want to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d additionally such as to attend to why I selected to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Change In Method, I discussed how and why I chose to transform my recreational vehicle blog right into largely a newsletter. I decided that was business model I intended to seek with that said home.
Yet, to deliberately pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email listing for Happily motor home, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, utilizing it for newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that in a bit.
As I said because issue of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed right into it details to my purpose. Points such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send the email all at once without having it be two separate actions.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click subscription web links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with ads in the e-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 literally built by the individuals who accumulated the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I may without a doubt be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went for it. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own building so that I can grow it more purposefully too.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded individually. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to shift. However, The Early morning WP (formerly The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will clearly constantly be carefully linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv because it was constructed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Listing
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter system and just an email listing.
You can organize your email checklist anyplace you want and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your e-mail clients concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that website. However, you are additionally sending off to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much easier.
With most email platforms, any newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built totally independently from your web site. So, for instance, you might release a post to WordPress however after that you would need to independently build and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are after that two separate collections of archives and 2 different activities due to the fact that article and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a real e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it pretty much “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the exact same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I wanted to continue to self-host every little thing. However, you would certainly lose the development tools that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently features a various set of needs than a normal e-mail list.
You don’t usually need much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one smooth posting experience and growth tools to aid you build your client base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I picked to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I think Substack sucks. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that initially obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is actually constructed by the very same individuals who constructed the technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter development called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I have an interest in right here.
- That branding and distinction additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brands and huge publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo creators. Once more, it just informs me the client avatar difference in between both business.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only reason I would ponder trembling things up is if I assumed I can expand the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I actually don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct rivals.
However, allow’s dive much deeper than just the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv looks like it was built by people that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra tailored towards developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers personalized fields on customers. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still quite limited in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers as well as new actions, such as changing personalized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply given that I started utilizing the platform. For instance:
- Capability to activate automations based upon which specific embed kind they came in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this since the target audience of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it comes to creating your newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply more geared towards newsletters. In fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I find it to be a lot more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface behaves and tidy, however it would be extra equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than simply kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Presence choices on that particular section to reveal it just to paid customers, hide it from email, hide from subscribers, show only to subscribers, and so on. Substack uses absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium subscription design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of profits. Actually, you actually connect approximately your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your revenue. Relying on the amount of customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, but what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv deal with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
Overall, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was extra built toward genuine email marketing. It was built by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page develops seem much better constructed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv add, I like the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack settings itself towards “makers” greater than email marketing professionals and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some points geared more towards individuals who simply believe in regards to material creation.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are treated fairly individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … trendy for individuals that may require it.
Substack additionally has even more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host talks with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Overall, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media which sustains long-form web content.
On the whole, Substack is likewise a lot more … minimal. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I tried to find even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a tough time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently with to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the same target market and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at creators (like Substack), but it is much more strongly satisfying individuals who do it for business. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation building, it’s very own business platform, and more. ConvertKit is a really good platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature break down below. ConvertKit is popular already. But, right here’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it concerns it’s automations. I will additionally say that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is simply a standard feature of email checklists that enables division in a far more versatile method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain identifying eventually soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Black Friday.
ConvertKit does currently supply the ability to sell points via their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would constantly choose an extra direct option anyway. For me, I like to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way a lot more integration alternatives. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For example, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated material along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this more carefully puts ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you be able to release to your site and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy dealing with the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with benefits, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are actually outstanding features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface wherefore this implies for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Black Friday
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it likewise suggests that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced virtually weekly release of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … but big features that are fairly essential. Their rate of development at this point has been impressive.
I also quite appreciate exactly how responsive they are. Actually, one of their product announcements concerning some design enhancements to the website design features really had a tiny trouble with the material width. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That very same day, the concern was fixed.
Few days later on, I provided an additional recommendation …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to activate automations based on the embed type used was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I actually appreciate.
One more major point of differentiation right here is the rate. Both systems provide complimentary plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers more capacity and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more favorable. ConvertKit seems more affordable in the beginning glimpse since their pricing page reveals lower numbers, however the customer limits are FAR reduced and your cost swiftly raises as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same dimension checklist 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 make use of), you can expand your list approximately 100,000. A list of that size 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 yearly, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in a completely various league when it concerns pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase prices? They may as time takes place. But, I’m presuming people like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among things you certainly need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to progress instead swiftly and make new item news rather frequently, however there are some standard features I actually desire they had that I require to just await.
One is that they need to have a setup on registration forms where I might select an automation to run right at the type level. That would be remarkable for a lot of reasons. Currently, membership forms look OK, yet there’s really little settings for them to aid in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have labeling at the client degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks must belong to automations to make built-in automations much easier and reduce dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some small management user interface changes that would certainly come in handy. For example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Capability to bulk edit posts (as an example, to tag a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental fields as standard on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization options for the site (such as more adaptable shade choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I hope they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t excellent and absolutely not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I said, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I think you never understand, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Sufficient where I made a decision to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and having my very own platform.
Put simply, 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 unique e-mail listing. I make use of BeeHiiv of what it is good at, yet I deliberately have points establish so that I also keep my listing “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just a great insurance coverage, for one. Yet, 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 will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch ought to be quite simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a big e-mail 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, but they are iterating promptly. There’s also a pretty good possibility you’re not even utilizing some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a much better and more budget-friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very intentional concerning expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration 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 among the very best video games in town right now. This is the platform to watch.
BeeHiiv supplies 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 discover the free account to be quite feature abundant.