I have used a great deal of different email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a significant proponent of digital sovereignty and having your own platform. Therefore (and the amazing features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Community.
So, it is certainly a strange move for me to choose to use BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I intend to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I ‘d likewise like to attend to why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Shift In Method, I discussed exactly how and why I determined to turn my motor home blog into mainly a newsletter. I made a decision that was business design I wished to go after with that said residential property.
But, to purposefully seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email listing for Happily motor home, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. More on that in a bit.
As I stated in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed right into it specific to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog site) and send the email at the same time without having it be two separate actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click membership links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The platform was essentially built by the individuals that built up the technology for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I might indeed be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went all out. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential or commercial property so that I can grow it extra deliberately also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown separately. Happily RV was young, so simple to transition. But, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was buried in a sea of things below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will certainly always be closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a difference between a newsletter platform and simply an email checklist.
You can organize your e-mail listing just about anywhere you want and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting indicates that it is going to your web site and to your email subscribers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that internet site. But, you are additionally dispatching to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes administration of the system much less complex.
With the majority of e-mail platforms, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed totally independently from your web site. So, as an example, you could release an article to WordPress but after that you would certainly need to individually build and send an email to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are then 2 different collections of archives and two different actions since post 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 suitable name because it virtually “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wanted to continue to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the growth tools that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently features a different set of requirements than a regular e-mail listing.
You don’t normally require much marketing automation. You don’t typically require autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one seamless posting experience and development tools to assist you develop your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was going to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I chose to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I think Substack sucks. In fact, since Substack has actually been around much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that originally got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is essentially built by the same people who developed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. Yet, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and big publications using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo creators. Once more, it simply informs me the customer character distinction between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t exactly draw. The only factor I would certainly consider shaking points up is if I thought I could GROW the list quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I really do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
But, allow’s dive deeper than just the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv feels like it was built by people that comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra geared towards designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv supplies personalized fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send an email. However, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as changing customized areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply considering that I began making use of the system. For example:
- Capacity to trigger automations based upon which specific embed form they was available in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and manage individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as 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 concerns composing your newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra geared towards e-newsletters. In fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be a lot more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s creating interface behaves and clean, but it would certainly be a lot more equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than simply form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and then put anything you desire in it. Then, you can place Presence choices on that section to reveal it just to paid customers, conceal it from e-mail, hide from clients, reveal only to customers, and so on. Substack provides absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs registration design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of profits. In fact, you actually attach up to your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Depending on the amount of customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the month-to-month cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was more built towards real e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page creates appear better built for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although 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 actually said, Substack settings itself toward “creators” more than e-mail marketers and newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points geared more toward people who simply think in regards to content development.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are dealt with fairly individually. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, yet … trendy for individuals who may need it.
Substack additionally has even more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host talks with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which works type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Generally, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media network which supports long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is also much more … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions quite well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t assume there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I searched for even more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a difficult time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently via to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at makers (like Substack), however it is a lot more strongly satisfying people that do it for company. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is a truly good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, below’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it concerns it’s automations. I will additionally state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is just a basic function of email checklists that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more flexible method than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support tagging at some point quickly, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Community.
ConvertKit does currently give the capability to sell points by means of their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always select a much more straight alternative anyway. For me, I like to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and for that reason has way a lot more integration alternatives. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. As an example, their plugin currently also supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this much more closely places ConvertKit into straight competition by having you be able to release to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with benefits, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall wherefore this suggests for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Community
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it also indicates that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen nearly regular launch of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … however huge features that are fairly vital. Their speed of advancement at this point has actually gone over.
I likewise very much value exactly how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, among their product statements regarding some style enhancements to the website design features really consisted of a small problem with the material size. I merely responded to that email to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the problem was fixed.
Few days later, I provided one more tip …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based upon the embed kind made use of was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I truly value.
Another major factor of distinction here is the cost. Both platforms supply totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers more capacity and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more beneficial. ConvertKit appears less expensive initially glance due to the fact that their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the client limits are FAR reduced and your cost promptly boosts as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid annually), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same dimension list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your list approximately 100,000. A list of that size would 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 annually, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various league when it pertains to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise prices? They might as time takes place. However, I’m thinking people like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among things you certainly require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to progress rather swiftly and make new item announcements rather often, yet there are some standard features I truly desire they had that I need to just wait for.
One is that they need to have a setting on registration types where I might select an automation to run right at the type degree. That would be AWESOME for many reasons. Currently, membership forms look OK, however there’s extremely little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would behave to have labeling at the customer level. This would be effective.
I believe webhooks need to belong to automations to make built-in automations less complicated and minimize reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are also some small administrative user interface changes that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to mass edit messages (for example, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic fields as common on customers (like the name).
- Some even more personalization alternatives for the website (such as more adaptable color options, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I wish they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t excellent and definitely not nearly as created as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I stated, the purpose is different so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I think you never ever know, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Sufficient where I chose to switch my own e-newsletters over to the system despite my personal choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing version particularly, I saw adequate worth in their system to necessitate the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my exclusive email listing. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is good at, however I purposefully have things establish to ensure that I likewise keep my list “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is just a great insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch must be rather uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a huge email checklist and are as a result being fleeced with their high monthly costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating rapidly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not also making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can easily be a better and much more economical fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very deliberate concerning expanding an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize 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 platform to view.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be rather feature rich.