I have actually utilized a lot of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a significant advocate of digital sovereignty and having your own system. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have actually been making use of Beehiiv Custom Pages.
So, it is undoubtedly an unusual move for me to make a decision to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I wish to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to resolve the concern of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d likewise such as to attend to why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Big Change In Method, I spoke about just how and why I chose to turn my RV blog into mainly an e-newsletter. I decided that was business design I intended to go after with that residential property.
However, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly recreational vehicle, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, using it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. Extra on that particular in a little bit.
As I said in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed right into it certain to my function. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog) and send the e-mail all at once without having it be two different activities.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click subscription web links. Great for promotion 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 e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at growth. The system was actually constructed by the people that developed the innovation for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might certainly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I simply went all out. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own building to make sure that I can grow it more purposefully too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown independently. Gladly motor home was young, so very easy to shift. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will obviously constantly be closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Listing
There’s a distinction between a newsletter platform and simply an e-mail listing.
You can hold your email checklist just about anywhere you want and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The primary distinction is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing indicates that it is going to your web site and to your e-mail clients at the same time.
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 website and it’s customers are all in one. This makes management of the system much simpler.
With most e-mail systems, any newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is developed completely independently from your website. So, as an example, you might release a write-up to WordPress yet after that you would certainly need to independently construct and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are after that two separate sets of archives and 2 different activities since post and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it basically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid alternative if I wished to remain to self-host every little thing. However, you ‘d lose the growth tools that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally comes with a various set of demands than a normal email list.
You don’t typically require much marketing automation. You don’t generally require autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth posting experience and growth tools to help you construct your customer base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I believe Substack sucks. In fact, because Substack has been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that at first obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is essentially developed by the exact same individuals that constructed the modern technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation also implies that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brand names and huge magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo designers. Again, it just tells me the consumer character difference between both companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only factor I would certainly contemplate drinking points up is if I thought I can expand the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I actually do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct competitors.
But, allow’s dive deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv feels like it was built by people who understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more tailored towards creators.
As an example, BeeHiiv provides custom areas on clients. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that functions a whole lot 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 action is the capacity to send an e-mail. However, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers along with new activities, such as modifying customized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations simply because I started making use of the platform. For example:
- Ability to set off automations based on which certain embed kind they came in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can not do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it pertains to writing your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is just much more tailored toward e-newsletters. In fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I locate it to be more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface behaves and tidy, however it would be a lot more equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than simply type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and then put anything you want in it. After that, you can put Visibility options on that section to reveal it just to paid subscribers, hide it from email, hide from clients, show just to subscribers, and so on. Substack provides nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium subscription design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of profits. In fact, you essentially connect as much as your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Relying on how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, yet what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outside making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was much more constructed toward actual email marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page designs seem better built for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack placements itself toward “creators” more than email marketing experts and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things geared more toward people that just believe in regards to material production.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are treated fairly individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … trendy for people that could require it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. As an example, it has a chat function to host talks with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is set up to be more like a social media network which supports long-form material.
Overall, Substack is additionally more … minimalist. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns actual marketing, I do not assume there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better suited. I tried to find more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically via to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at creators (like Substack), however it is far more strongly accommodating individuals that do it for company. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation building, it’s very own business platform, and more. ConvertKit is a truly good platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown here. ConvertKit is well known currently. However, right here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will also state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is just a standard feature of e-mail lists that makes it possible for segmentation in a far more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support identifying at some point quickly, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Custom Pages.
ConvertKit does currently offer the ability to sell points through their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would constantly select a more straight alternative anyway. For me, I favor to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and for that reason has way much more integration choices. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. As an example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated web content in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this more closely places ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with benefits, however you can additionally pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your listing. These are actually remarkable features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface wherefore this indicates for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Custom Pages
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally indicates that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed practically regular launch of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … however huge features that are quite essential. Their rate of growth at this moment has actually been impressive.
I also very much value just how receptive they are. In fact, among their product statements concerning some design enhancements to the website design features actually consisted of a small problem with the content size. I just replied to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the concern was taken care of.
Few days later on, I gave them an additional idea …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based upon the embed form made use of was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I truly value.
An additional significant point of differentiation right here is the rate. Both systems use totally free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers a lot more capability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more positive. ConvertKit appears more affordable in the beginning glimpse since their pricing web page shows lower numbers, nonetheless the customer restrictions are FAR lower and your cost rapidly increases as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same dimension checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your listing up to 100,000. A checklist 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, 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 involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point enhance rates? They might as time goes on. However, I’m thinking people like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how things continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you most definitely require to remember is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to progress rather quickly and make brand-new item statements rather frequently, yet there are some basic features I actually desire they had that I require to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on registration kinds where I could choose an automation to run right at the kind level. That would certainly be outstanding for so many factors. Already, subscription forms look OK, yet there’s very little setups for them to aid in segmentation.
It would be nice to have identifying at the customer level. This would be effective.
I assume webhooks should become part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and reduce dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some small administrative user interface changes that would come in handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to mass edit posts (as an example, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as conventional on customers (like the name).
- Some even more personalization choices for the internet site (such as more flexible shade options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I hope they finish with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t excellent and absolutely not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the objective is different so it would not much a great deal of sense 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 quite a whole lot. Enough where I chose to change my very own e-newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and having my own platform.
Put simply, for the newsletter publishing model particularly, I saw enough value in their platform to warrant the change.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email list. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, yet I deliberately have things establish so that I additionally keep my list “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is simply a good insurance coverage, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d definitely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be quite uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a big email listing and are consequently being fleeced with their high monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating promptly. There’s likewise a pretty good possibility you’re not also using some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might quickly be a much better and much more cost effective fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really willful concerning growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is developed to be, it is just one of the very best games around today. This is the platform to watch.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the complimentary account to be rather feature abundant.