I have actually used a lot of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a big proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. Because of that (and the remarkable features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Connect My Local Community.
So, it is undoubtedly a strange move for me to make a decision to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to address the problem of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly also such as to address why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Change In Strategy, I discussed how and why I chose to turn my RV blog site into largely a newsletter. I chose that was the business design I wanted to seek keeping that home.
However, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Happily motor home, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Extra on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed because issue of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed into it specific to my function. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog site) and send the e-mail simultaneously without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are essentially one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I select to monetize with advertisements 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.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features aimed at development. The system was literally built by the people who accumulated the innovation for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own residential or commercial property to make sure that I can grow it more purposefully too.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded individually. Gladly RV was young, so very easy to change. However, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will undoubtedly constantly be closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but does not have to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email Listing
There’s a difference in between a newsletter system and just an e-mail list.
You can organize your e-mail listing anyplace you want and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting means that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your email subscribers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that internet site. But, you are also dispatching to all customers at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes administration of the system much easier.
With a lot of e-mail platforms, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed entirely independently from your site. So, as an example, you could publish an article to WordPress but after that you would need to separately develop and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are after that two different collections of archives and 2 separate activities since blog posts and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a true e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it virtually “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong choice if I wished to continue to self-host everything. Nonetheless, you would certainly lose the growth tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently comes with a different set of demands than a normal email list.
You do not usually need much marketing automation. You don’t normally need autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless publishing experience and development tools to assist you construct your customer base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was going to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that does not suggest I assume Substack draws. As a matter of fact, since Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that originally obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is actually built by the very same people who built the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I want right here.
- That branding and distinction likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brands and big magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo makers. Again, it simply informs me the customer character distinction between both companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not precisely draw. The only reason I would consider drinking points up is if I believed I could GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I in fact don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct competitors.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than simply the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv looks like it was built by individuals who comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears much more geared toward developers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers personalized fields on clients. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only action is the ability to send an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as new activities, such as changing custom-made areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations simply because I started using the platform. As an example:
- Ability to activate automations based on which certain embed type they was available in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and take care of people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this because the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it pertains to composing your newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is just more geared toward newsletters. Actually, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be extra user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s writing interface is nice and clean, but it would certainly be extra comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is more than simply type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and after that put anything you want in it. After that, you can put Visibility options on that area to show it only to paid clients, conceal it from email, conceal from subscribers, reveal just to clients, and so on. Substack provides nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any earnings. As a matter of fact, you literally link as much as your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Relying on how many subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem nerdy, but what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was extra built toward genuine e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in types and the landing page creates seem much better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack positions itself toward “developers” more than e-mail online marketers and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some things tailored a lot more towards people who just assume in regards to web content development.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support numerous publications, they are treated rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … amazing for individuals who might require it.
Substack additionally has more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host talks with customers. It also has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. Generally, Substack is established to be extra like a social network which supports long-form web content.
In general, Substack is likewise much more … minimalist. You either take care of that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns real marketing, I do not think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better suited. I looked for even more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often via to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the very same target market and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at developers (like Substack), however it is a lot more strongly catering to people who do it for service. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation building, it’s own commerce platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly wonderful system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more versatility when it concerns it’s automations. I will likewise say that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports labeling. This is just a fundamental feature of email listings that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more adaptable way than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain labeling eventually soon, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Connect My Local Community.
ConvertKit does now provide the capability to sell things through their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always select a much more straight choice anyway. For me, I choose to use my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and therefore has way much more integration options. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. As an example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this a lot more very closely places ConvertKit right into direct competition 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 type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with perks, but you can likewise pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are really amazing features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most popular viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this suggests for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Connect My Local Community
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it also implies that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed nearly once a week release of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … but large features that are fairly essential. Their rate of advancement now has gone over.
I likewise very much value just how receptive they are. Actually, one of their item announcements concerning some style improvements to the website design features really consisted of a small issue with the material width. I simply replied to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the problem was taken care of.
Couple of days later, I gave them an additional suggestion …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to set off automations based upon the embed kind utilized was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I actually value.
An additional major point of differentiation below is the cost. Both systems supply free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies extra ability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally much more desirable. ConvertKit seems cheaper initially glimpse since their pricing web page shows lower numbers, nevertheless the client restrictions are much lower and your cost rapidly enhances as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same dimension listing is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly utilize), you can grow your listing as much as 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in a completely various organization when it concerns pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise costs? 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 things proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you absolutely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to evolve rather promptly and make new item statements somewhat commonly, but there are some standard features I really want they had that I need to simply wait for.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership kinds where I can select an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be remarkable for a lot of factors. Already, registration types look OK, however there’s very little setups for them to assist in division.
It would certainly be nice to have tagging at the subscriber degree. This would be powerful.
I assume webhooks ought to be part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and minimize dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor management user interface adjustments that would be handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capability to bulk edit messages (as an example, to label a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some even more modification options for the site (such as more flexible shade selections, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t ideal and absolutely not almost as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I stated, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I guess you never understand, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Enough where I made a decision to change my own newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Basically, for the e-newsletter publishing design especially, I saw enough value in their system to call for the adjustment.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special email listing. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is efficient, yet I intentionally have things establish to ensure that I also maintain my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance policy, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d absolutely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be more business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and different needs. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch needs to be quite straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a large email list and are consequently being wooled with their high monthly costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating swiftly. There’s also a pretty good possibility you’re not also using a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could quickly be a much better and extra budget friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely intentional about growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is developed to be, it is among the very best games in town today. This is the system to enjoy.
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 find the cost-free account to be fairly feature abundant.