I have made use of a great deal of different email list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a significant proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. For that reason (and the outstanding features), I have been utilizing Beehiiv Custom Pricing.
So, it is without a doubt a weird move for me to choose to utilize BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to resolve the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I would certainly additionally such as to address why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Shift In Approach, I spoke about exactly how and why I determined to turn my motor home blog into largely an e-newsletter. I determined that was business design I wanted to pursue keeping that residential or commercial property.
Yet, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Gladly recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. More on that in a little bit.
As I stated in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed into it specific to my purpose. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog site) and send out the e-mail at the same time without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, 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 pick to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features targeted at growth. The system was actually built by the individuals who developed the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At the very least, 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 EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential or commercial property to ensure that I can grow it much more purposefully also.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded individually. Gladly motor home was young, so simple to shift. Yet, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was buried 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 very own. It will obviously constantly be carefully tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a distinction between a newsletter system and simply an email list.
You can host your email list everywhere you want and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing means that it is mosting likely to your site and to your email customers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that site. Yet, you are likewise dispatching to all customers at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes management of the system much less complex.
With most email platforms, any newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is developed completely independently from your web site. So, as an example, you may release an article to WordPress however then you would need to separately develop and send out an email to your checklist to send it to clients. These are after that two separate sets of archives and 2 different actions due to the fact that article and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the same point. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong option if I wanted to remain to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the development devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally features a different collection of demands than a typical email checklist.
You don’t usually require much marketing automation. You do not usually need autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one smooth posting experience and development devices to aid you develop your customer base that are specific 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 lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I think Substack draws. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has been about much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that originally obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to e-newsletter publishers. In fact, it is actually developed by the very same folks that built the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. But, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brand names and huge publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo designers. Again, it simply tells me the client character difference between both business.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM really did not precisely draw. The only factor I would certainly ponder drinking points up is if I assumed I can expand the list quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I actually don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct competitors.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than simply the placing right here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv seems like it was developed by people that understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more geared towards makers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies custom-made areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still quite minimal in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an e-mail. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as customizing custom-made fields, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations just given that I started making use of the platform. As an example:
- Ability to trigger automations based on which details embed form they was available in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and handle individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it involves writing your e-newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is just more tailored towards newsletters. As a matter of fact, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I discover it to be a lot more instinctive, personally.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and tidy, yet it would certainly be much more comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than just form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Visibility alternatives on that particular section to reveal it just to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, conceal from customers, reveal just to subscribers, etc. Substack supplies nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs subscription design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of profits. Actually, you essentially connect as much as your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending on the amount of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, but what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv work with the outside using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra developed towards real email marketing. It was constructed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in types and the landing page develops appear much better constructed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack settings itself towards “designers” more than e-mail online marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some points tailored extra towards individuals that simply think in regards to web content production.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are treated quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … great for people that might need it.
Substack additionally has even more social capability built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host talks with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media which sustains long-form content.
Overall, Substack is also much more … minimalist. You either take care of that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it concerns actual marketing, I do not think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I searched for more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a difficult time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually via to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the same target audience and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at developers (like Substack), yet it is much more highly dealing with individuals who do it for organization. ConvertKit has nice visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is a truly great system.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is well known already. Yet, here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has more adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is just a standard feature of e-mail listings that makes it possible for segmentation in a far more adaptable means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain identifying at some time quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Custom Pricing.
ConvertKit does currently offer the capability to offer things by means of their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would always pick a more direct option anyway. For me, I prefer to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and because of that has way a lot more integration alternatives. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For instance, their plugin currently even supports member-gated content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this much more carefully puts ConvertKit into straight competition by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with benefits, but you can likewise pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are actually incredible features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this suggests for the platform going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Custom Pricing
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally implies that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed nearly weekly release of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … however big features that are rather important. Their speed of growth at this moment has gone over.
I likewise very much appreciate exactly how receptive they are. In fact, among their item news concerning some style improvements to the website design features actually contained a little problem with the content width. I just responded to that email to tell them. I quickly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the issue was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I gave them one more recommendation …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to activate automations based on the embed type utilized was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I actually value.
An additional major point of distinction here is the rate. Both platforms provide totally free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies much more ability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more beneficial. ConvertKit appears more affordable in the beginning look due to the fact that their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, however the client limitations are much reduced and your price quickly enhances as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same dimension list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally use), you can grow your checklist up to 100,000. A list of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire 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 just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally various organization when it involves pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually boost prices? They may as time takes place. But, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the important things you definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to develop rather quickly and make new product statements rather commonly, yet there are some fundamental features I actually desire they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setup on subscription types where I could pick an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be amazing for a lot of factors. Already, registration types look OK, yet there’s extremely little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would be nice to have marking at the customer level. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks need to become part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and reduce reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor administrative user interface changes that would come in handy. For example:
- Ability to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capability to bulk edit messages (for instance, to mark a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard fields as common on clients (like the name).
- Some even more modification alternatives for the site (such as more adaptable color choices, 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, yet it isn’t best and definitely not nearly as created as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I said, the objective is various so it wouldn’t much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation system. I presume you never recognize, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Enough where I decided to change my own newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting version specifically, I saw adequate value in their system to necessitate the adjustment.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv for what it is proficient at, however I deliberately have points set up so that I also keep my listing “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is just a good insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d most definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch should be rather simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a big e-mail list and are consequently being fleeced with their high monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating quickly. There’s additionally a respectable possibility you’re not even making use of several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could easily be a better and much more affordable fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very willful about growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is made to be, it is among the best video games in the area right now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the cost-free account to be fairly feature abundant.