I have used a great deal of different email list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. Therefore (and the amazing features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Cup of Coffee.
So, it is indeed a weird 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 intend to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to resolve the issue of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly also like to deal with why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Change In Method, I discussed exactly how and why I chose to transform my motor home blog site right into largely a newsletter. I chose that was the business model I wished to pursue with that building.
However, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Gladly recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, using it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a little bit.
As I claimed because problem of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed right into it particular to my function. Points such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail all at once without having it be two separate activities.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in various 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.
- Built-in ad network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features aimed at development. The system was literally built by the people who developed the innovation for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I might without a doubt be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went for it. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential property so that I can grow it a lot more deliberately also.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Gladly RV was young, so easy to shift. But, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will certainly always be closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Listing
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter platform and simply an e-mail listing.
You can host your e-mail list everywhere you want and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing suggests that it is going to your site and to your e-mail clients concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that web site. Yet, you are likewise sending to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes management of the system much less complex.
With many email platforms, any type of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed entirely separately from your web site. So, for example, you might publish a post to WordPress yet then you would require to independently build and send an e-mail to your listing to send it to clients. These are then 2 separate collections of archives and 2 different activities because article and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a real e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it practically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the same thing. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong option if I intended to remain to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the development tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently comes with a various set of demands than a regular email listing.
You do not usually require much marketing automation. You do not usually require autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one seamless posting experience and development devices to help you develop your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I assume Substack draws. Actually, because Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that at first obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter publishers. Actually, it is literally developed by the exact same people that built the innovation behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. However, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and differentiation also means that BeeHiiv has some fairly huge brand names and big magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo makers. Once more, it just tells me the consumer character difference between both companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t precisely suck. The only reason I would certainly contemplate drinking things up is if I believed I could expand the list faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I actually don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight rivals.
But, let’s dive much deeper than just the positioning here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by people that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra tailored toward creators.
For instance, BeeHiiv provides customized areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, 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 rather restricted in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an email. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to brand-new activities, such as modifying customized areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations simply because I began making use of the system. As an example:
- Capacity to trigger automations based on which certain embed form they can be found in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it comes to writing your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more tailored towards e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I find it to be more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and clean, yet it would be extra comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than just form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. Then, you can put Visibility choices on that area to show it just to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, conceal from customers, reveal just to subscribers, etc. Substack offers absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any income. As a matter of fact, you actually attach approximately your very own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Depending on the amount of subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was a lot more developed towards real email marketing. It was built by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page makes seem better built for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack positions itself toward “developers” greater than e-mail online marketers and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some things tailored more toward individuals who simply believe in terms of material production.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain several publications, they are treated quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … great for individuals who may need it.
Substack likewise has even more social performance built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host chats with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” function which functions kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. Overall, Substack is established to be more like a social network which sustains long-form material.
Overall, Substack is likewise more … minimal. You either care for that or do not. Directly, I do not. Nevertheless, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it concerns actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better fit. I looked for more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a tough time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently via to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at creators (like Substack), yet it is much more highly satisfying people who do it for service. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation building, it’s own commerce platform, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a really nice platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is well known already. However, below’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit much more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is simply a standard function of email lists that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more flexible way than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling at some point soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Cup of Coffee.
ConvertKit does now offer the capacity to market points using their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly constantly choose a more straight choice anyway. For me, I prefer to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and for that reason has way much more integration alternatives. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For instance, their plugin now also supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this more closely places ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you be able to publish to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. 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 just incentivize people to share your newsletter with perks, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really remarkable features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most popular viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall for what this implies for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Cup of Coffee
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also means that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed almost weekly release of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … however huge features that are quite essential. Their rate of development at this moment has been impressive.
I likewise very much appreciate how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their item statements concerning some style improvements to the web design features really contained a small trouble with the web content size. I merely replied to that email to tell them. I quickly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the problem was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I gave them one more pointer …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to trigger automations based on the embed kind utilized was contributed to the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I truly appreciate.
An additional significant factor of differentiation right here is the cost. Both systems use free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers much more capacity and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more positive. ConvertKit appears cheaper at first look since their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nonetheless the client limitations are FAR reduced and your cost swiftly boosts as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same dimension list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly make use of), you can grow your list approximately 100,000. A listing of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely different organization when it pertains to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise rates? They might as time goes on. But, I’m presuming people like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of things you definitely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to advance rather quickly and make new item announcements rather frequently, however there are some basic features I truly want they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on registration kinds where I can pick an automation to run right at the type degree. That would be outstanding for a lot of reasons. Already, registration forms look OK, but there’s very little settings for them to help in segmentation.
It would be nice to have labeling at the client degree. This would be effective.
I assume webhooks should belong to automations to make integrated automations simpler and minimize reliance on outside tools like Zapier.
There are also some small management interface adjustments that would certainly come in handy. For instance:
- Ability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit blog posts (as an example, to label a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic areas as standard on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the site (such as more adaptable shade options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I hope they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t excellent and definitely not almost as established as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I stated, the purpose is different so it would not much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I presume you never know, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Sufficient where I determined to switch my own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and having my own platform.
Basically, for the newsletter posting version specifically, I saw sufficient worth in their system to require the modification.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail list. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, yet I purposefully have things set up to make sure that I also maintain my checklist “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance coverage, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d definitely consider switching to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and different needs. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button must be pretty simple.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a large e-mail checklist and are as a result being wooled with their high monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating quickly. There’s also a respectable opportunity you’re not even using a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can easily be a better and much more affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really intentional about expanding a newsletter, I believe 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 among the very best video games in town today. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the complimentary account to be fairly feature rich.