I have actually used a great deal of different email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and having your own platform. Therefore (and the awesome features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Demo.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to decide 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 review, I intend to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to resolve the issue of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d likewise such as to deal with why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Change In Strategy, I spoke about just how and why I made a decision to turn my motor home blog site right into mostly a newsletter. I determined that was business version I wanted to seek keeping that residential or commercial property.
However, to deliberately pursue it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly RV, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a little a waste. Extra on that particular in a little bit.
As I stated in that problem of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices built right into it particular to my function. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog site) and send the email all at once without having it be two separate actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are essentially one-click registration web links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The platform was actually developed by the people who accumulated the innovation for Morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I might indeed be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went for it. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential or commercial property so that I can grow it much more intentionally too.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown independently. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to transition. However, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will certainly always be very closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email List
There’s a difference between a newsletter system and just an e-mail list.
You can organize your e-mail listing everywhere you desire and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your email customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are publishing to that site. However, you are also dispatching to all clients at the same time. The site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes management of the platform much easier.
With a lot of e-mail platforms, any newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed totally independently from your web site. So, for instance, you may publish a post to WordPress yet then you would require to individually construct and send out an email to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and two separate activities due to the fact that blog posts and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a true newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it basically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the exact same thing. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid alternative if I wanted to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you ‘d shed the growth devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently features a various set of requirements than a common email checklist.
You do not usually require much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless posting experience and growth devices to assist you build your client base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I think Substack draws. As a matter of fact, because Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that initially obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is actually constructed by the same individuals who built the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Once again, it just tells me the consumer avatar distinction in between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not precisely suck. The only factor I would ponder drinking points up is if I thought I can GROW the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I really don’t view 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 much more direct rivals.
However, let’s dive much deeper than simply the placing here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by people who recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared toward makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv provides personalized areas on clients. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather limited in triggers and the only action is the ability to send out an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have new triggers along with brand-new activities, such as modifying personalized areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations just given that I started utilizing the platform. As an example:
- Capacity to activate automations based upon which particular embed form they can be found in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based upon opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can not do this because the target market of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an email marketer.
When it concerns composing your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra tailored towards e-newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I locate it to be more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s creating interface behaves and tidy, but it would certainly be more comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than simply type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Presence choices on that particular area to show it just to paid customers, conceal it from email, conceal from customers, reveal just to clients, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium registration design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of earnings. In fact, you literally link as much as your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending upon the amount of customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the regular monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear unpopular, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more built toward genuine e-mail marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page creates seem far better constructed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack positions itself towards “makers” more than email marketing experts and e-newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points geared a lot more towards people who just assume in terms of web content development.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain several publications, they are dealt with quite individually. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … great for people who might require it.
Substack also has more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host talks with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which works kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. In general, Substack is established to be more like a social media which sustains long-form content.
In general, Substack is also more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions quite well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I looked for more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often through to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at developers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly dealing with people who do it for service. ConvertKit has good visual automation structure, it’s own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is a truly good system.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure right here. ConvertKit is well known already. Yet, right here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit much more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is just a basic function of e-mail lists that makes it possible for segmentation in a far more adaptable means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain identifying at some time quickly, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Demo.
ConvertKit does now supply the capacity to offer things via their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly always choose an extra direct option anyhow. For me, I favor to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and because of that has way extra integration alternatives. Tons of web-based tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For instance, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this extra very closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with rewards, yet you can also pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are truly incredible features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know 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 writing on the wall of what this suggests for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Demo
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally suggests that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed nearly regular launch of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … but huge features that are fairly important. Their rate of growth now has gone over.
I likewise very much value just how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item announcements regarding some layout improvements to the web design features really contained a tiny issue with the web content width. I just responded to that email to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the problem was fixed.
Couple of days later, I gave them one more recommendation …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based upon the embed kind utilized was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I really appreciate.
An additional significant point of differentiation below is the price. Both systems provide cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies extra capacity and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more desirable. ConvertKit seems cheaper initially glimpse since their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the client limitations are much reduced and your cost swiftly raises as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), however you can have up to 10,000 clients. 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 utilize), you can expand your listing up to 100,000. A listing of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely various league when it pertains to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase rates? They might as time takes place. Yet, I’m presuming people like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of things you definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to develop instead swiftly and make new product announcements somewhat commonly, however there are some fundamental features I really want they had that I require to simply await.
One is that they need to have a setup on membership types where I can choose an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be outstanding for numerous factors. As of now, registration forms look OK, but there’s extremely little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have tagging at the client level. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks ought to belong to automations to make integrated automations much easier and reduce dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some small management interface modifications that would be handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Ability to bulk edit blog posts (for instance, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic areas as typical on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization alternatives for the site (such as even more flexible color options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I hope they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t perfect and definitely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I said, the purpose is different so it wouldn’t much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I presume you never ever understand, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Enough where I chose to change my very own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my own platform.
Put simply, for the newsletter publishing model particularly, I saw adequate value in their platform to call for the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special email list. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is good at, however I deliberately have points set up to make sure that I also keep my listing “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is just a good insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d definitely think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different needs. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the button must be rather straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a huge email list and are therefore being wooled with their high regular monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating quickly. There’s additionally a pretty good chance you’re not even utilizing some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can easily be a far better and much more affordable fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely intentional regarding growing an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is developed to be, it is one of the very best video games in the area now. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be quite feature rich.