I have utilized a great deal of various email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a big advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your own system. Therefore (and the incredible features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Comparison.
So, it is undoubtedly an odd move for me to choose to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying month-to-month 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 e-newsletters. I want to attend to the issue of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly also such as to deal with why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Change In Approach, I spoke about exactly how and why I made a decision to transform my motor home blog right into mainly a newsletter. I made a decision that was business design I wanted to go after keeping that building.
Yet, to deliberately pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly motor home, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. More on that particular in a bit.
As I said because problem of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools developed right into it certain to my function. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog) and send out the email all at once without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click membership links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on development. The system was literally built by the individuals who developed the innovation for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might certainly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I simply went all out. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own residential property so that I can expand it extra purposefully as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown independently. Happily motor home was young, so easy to change. However, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will obviously constantly be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Listing
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and simply an e-mail listing.
You can organize your email checklist anyplace you want 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 distinction?
The key distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting implies that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that internet site. However, you are also sending to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much less complex.
With many e-mail systems, any type of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is built totally individually from your site. So, as an example, you could release a write-up to WordPress yet after that you would certainly require to independently develop and send an email to your listing to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and two different actions due to the fact that post and your emails are not naturally connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it practically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid option if I wished to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the development devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently features a various set of needs than a common e-mail checklist.
You do not typically need much marketing automation. You do not usually need autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, though, is one seamless posting experience and growth tools to assist you build your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was going to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I think Substack sucks. In fact, because Substack has actually been about longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that initially obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is literally constructed by the exact same folks who developed the technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and differentiation also suggests that BeeHiiv has some relatively big brands and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo developers. Again, it just informs me the consumer character difference between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM really did not precisely suck. The only reason I would contemplate trembling points up is if I believed I can GROW the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I really don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv looks like it was built by individuals who understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more tailored towards makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom areas on customers. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only action is the ability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as changing customized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply given that I started using the platform. For example:
- Ability to cause automations based on which certain embed form they can be found in on.
- Ability to automatically 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 ever will. Substack simply can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply would not believe to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it involves creating your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more geared towards newsletters. Actually, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I discover it to be more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, but it would certainly be more equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than simply type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and afterwards put anything you desire in it. Then, you can place Visibility options on that area to reveal it just to paid customers, hide it from email, hide from subscribers, reveal only to subscribers, etc. Substack uses absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium membership design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of earnings. Actually, you essentially link approximately your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending on the number of clients you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
On the whole, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more constructed towards real e-mail marketing. It was built by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page designs seem far better developed for conversions. Development 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.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack placements itself towards “designers” greater than email online marketers and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things tailored much more toward people that simply believe in terms of material development.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are dealt with rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … cool for individuals who may need it.
Substack also has even more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host talks with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. Overall, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media network which sustains long-form material.
On the whole, Substack is additionally more … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. However, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions rather well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to real marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better fit. I tried to find even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a tough time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently through to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the same target audience and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at makers (like Substack), however it is much more highly dealing with people that do it for company. ConvertKit has great visual automation building, it’s own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is an actually nice system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature failure right here. ConvertKit is popular already. However, below’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is just a standard feature of email checklists that makes it possible for division in a much more flexible method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support identifying at some point quickly, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Comparison.
ConvertKit does currently offer the capability to market things by means of their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would constantly select an extra straight alternative anyhow. For me, I choose to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and because of that has way extra integration alternatives. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. As an example, their plugin now also supports member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this more very closely places ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly lacking in these type of third-party integrations presently. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic taking on the development tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with perks, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly remarkable features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most popular viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall wherefore this suggests for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Comparison
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise indicates that they are quickly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed practically regular launch of new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … yet huge features that are rather crucial. Their speed of growth at this point has gone over.
I additionally significantly value how responsive they are. In fact, one of their product news about some layout enhancements to the web design features actually had a tiny trouble with the material width. I merely responded to that email to tell them. I quickly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That same day, the problem was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I gave them an additional pointer …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based on the embed type made use of was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I truly value.
An additional significant point of differentiation right here is the cost. Both platforms use totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides a lot more capacity and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more beneficial. ConvertKit appears less costly in the beginning glance due to the fact that their pricing page shows lower numbers, however the customer limitations are much reduced and your cost rapidly enhances as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), however 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 upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally utilize), you can expand your checklist up to 100,000. A listing of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely various league when it comes to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately increase rates? They might as time takes place. Yet, I’m guessing people like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of things you absolutely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to evolve instead swiftly and make new item news rather typically, but there are some basic features I truly desire they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setup on subscription forms where I might select an automation to run right at the form degree. That would be remarkable for a lot of reasons. As of now, subscription kinds look OK, yet there’s very little settings for them to help in division.
It would behave to have marking at the client level. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks need to be part of automations to make integrated automations simpler and decrease dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor management user interface changes that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Ability to bulk edit posts (for example, to mark a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental areas as standard on customers (like the name).
- Some more modification options for the site (such as even more flexible color choices, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t perfect and absolutely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I said, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation platform. I presume you never know, though.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Enough where I chose to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform regardless of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting version specifically, I saw enough value in their system to necessitate the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email list. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, however I deliberately have points set up to make sure that I additionally keep my checklist “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just an excellent insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d definitely take into consideration switching to BeeHiiv. It will merely be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and various needs. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be rather straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a huge email list and are as a result being wooled with their high month-to-month expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating swiftly. There’s also a respectable possibility you’re not even making use of some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv might quickly be a better and much more affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very intentional regarding expanding an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform 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 designed to be, it is among the very best games in the area right now. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth having a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be fairly feature rich.