I have actually utilized a great deal of various e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. Therefore (and the remarkable features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Delete Subscribers.
So, it is without a doubt an odd move for me to decide to utilize BeeHiiv. After all, 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 look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to deal with the issue of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly additionally like to resolve why I chose to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Huge Shift In Strategy, I spoke about just how and why I made a decision to turn my RV blog site into mainly a newsletter. I decided that was business model I wished to go after with that home.
However, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email listing for Gladly recreational vehicle, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. A lot more on that particular in a little bit.
As I said in that issue of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed into it certain to my purpose. Points such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog site) and send out the email simultaneously without having it be two different actions.
- Constructed in 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 platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click registration links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I choose to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The platform was literally built by the people who accumulated the modern technology for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I may certainly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I simply went all out. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own property so that I can expand it a lot more purposefully as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown individually. Happily motor home was young, so easy to change. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will certainly constantly be very closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, but does not need to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was constructed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Listing
There’s a distinction between a newsletter platform and simply an e-mail listing.
You can host your email listing just about anywhere you desire 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 difference?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your email subscribers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that website. But, you are additionally dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s customers are done in one. This makes management of the platform much simpler.
With most e-mail platforms, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed totally individually from your internet site. So, for example, you might publish a short article to WordPress but then you would require to individually construct and send out an email to your checklist to send it to clients. These are after that 2 different collections of archives and 2 different actions since article and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it pretty much “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the exact same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong option if I intended to remain to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the growth devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally features a different set of requirements than a normal email listing.
You don’t usually require much marketing automation. You do not normally need autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one smooth publishing experience and development tools to assist you build your client base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was mosting likely to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to choose BeeHiiv, that does not imply I assume Substack sucks. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has been about longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that originally obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter publishers. Actually, it is essentially built by the very same individuals who constructed the technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some fairly huge brands and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo creators. Once more, it just tells me the consumer character difference in between both firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t exactly draw. The only reason I would certainly consider shaking points up is if I believed I could GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I in fact do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
However, let’s dive much deeper than just the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv looks like it was built by individuals that comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared towards developers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies personalized fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that works a great deal like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather limited in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send out an email. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have new triggers as well as new activities, such as modifying custom-made fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations just considering that I started using the platform. As an example:
- Ability to cause automations based on which details embed form they can be found in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and manage individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can not do this because the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it involves composing your newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I discover it to be extra user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s composing interface behaves and clean, but it would certainly be extra equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than just form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can place Visibility choices on that area to reveal it only to paid customers, hide it from e-mail, hide from subscribers, show only to clients, and so on. Substack supplies nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of profits. As a matter of fact, you essentially link as much as your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Relying on the number of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem unpopular, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
Overall, I just felt like BeeHiiv was extra developed towards actual email marketing. It was built by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page creates appear better constructed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack placements itself towards “developers” greater than e-mail marketing experts and newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points geared extra toward people who simply think in terms of content creation.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain several publications, they are dealt with fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … trendy for people who might need it.
Substack likewise has more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host chats with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is set up to be more like a social media which supports long-form web content.
On the whole, Substack is additionally much more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I do not. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it concerns real marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I looked for even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a hard time discovering 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 very same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at developers (like Substack), but it is far more highly dealing with people that do it for business. ConvertKit has nice visual automation structure, it’s own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is an actually wonderful platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature break down right here. ConvertKit is popular already. But, here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has more adaptability when it involves it’s automations. I will certainly additionally say 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 simply a fundamental function of email listings that enables division in an even more adaptable method than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some point quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Delete Subscribers.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capability to market things using their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly always choose a more straight choice anyhow. For me, I favor to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and therefore has way extra integration alternatives. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. As an example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this more carefully puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with advantages, but you can likewise pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are actually amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most popular viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface wherefore this indicates for the platform going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Delete Subscribers
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise means that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen virtually weekly release of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … yet big features that are quite important. Their rate of advancement at this point has actually been impressive.
I additionally significantly appreciate how responsive they are. Actually, one of their item news regarding some layout improvements to the website design features really included a tiny issue with the web content width. I simply replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the problem was repaired.
Few days later, I provided an additional idea …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to set off automations based on the embed form utilized was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I actually appreciate.
An additional significant point of distinction right here is the price. Both platforms provide cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers much more ability and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more beneficial. ConvertKit seems less expensive at first glimpse since their pricing web page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the customer restrictions are much reduced and your cost quickly increases as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same size listing 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 utilize), you can grow your listing as much as 100,000. A listing of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that puts 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 organization when it concerns pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately enhance costs? They might as time takes place. But, I’m guessing people like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you certainly require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to advance instead quickly and make new product news rather frequently, however there are some standard features I truly wish they had that I require to simply await.
One is that they require to have a setup on subscription kinds where I might choose an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be remarkable for numerous reasons. As of now, registration types look OK, yet there’s extremely little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would behave to have tagging at the customer degree. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks should become part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and decrease reliance on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management user interface modifications that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capability to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to mass edit posts (for instance, to mark a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard areas as common on clients (like the name).
- Some more customization choices for the website (such as more versatile shade options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I wish they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t best and absolutely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I stated, the objective is various so it would not much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never understand, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Enough where I chose to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and owning my very own platform.
Basically, for the newsletter posting design specifically, I saw adequate value in their platform to call for the change.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email listing. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is good at, but I purposefully have things set up to make sure that I likewise keep my list “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance coverage, 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 system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack today, I ‘d absolutely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be quite simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a huge email listing and are therefore being wooled with their high month-to-month expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating rapidly. There’s additionally a pretty good possibility you’re not even using a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a better and much more budget friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be extremely deliberate concerning expanding a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is created to be, it is among the best games around now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be rather feature abundant.