I have utilized a lot of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. For that reason (and the amazing features), I have actually been making use of Beehiiv Email Templates.
So, it is without a doubt an odd move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to resolve the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d additionally such as to deal with why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Huge Shift In Method, I spoke about exactly how and why I decided to turn my recreational vehicle blog site into mainly an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was business version I wanted to pursue with that said residential or commercial property.
Yet, to deliberately pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Happily recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, utilizing it for newsletters is a little a waste. More on that particular in a bit.
As I stated because concern of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built right into it particular to my function. Points such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail concurrently without having it be 2 different activities.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click registration links. Great for promotion in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, 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 monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features aimed at development. The system was literally developed by the individuals who built up the technology for Early morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, 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 EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own home to make sure that I can expand it a lot more deliberately also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Happily motor home was young, so very easy to shift. But, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of things here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will clearly always be closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email List
There’s a difference in between a newsletter system and just an email list.
You can hold your e-mail list everywhere you want and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is going to your internet site and to your email subscribers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are publishing to that site. Yet, you are likewise sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The web site and it’s customers are done in one. This makes management of the system much less complex.
With many email platforms, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed entirely independently from your site. So, for instance, you might release an article to WordPress yet after that you would require to separately develop and send out an email to your listing to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and 2 separate actions since blog posts and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a true e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it basically “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and enables them to be the exact same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I intended to remain to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you would certainly lose the growth tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently includes a different collection of demands than a regular email list.
You don’t usually need much marketing automation. You do not usually require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one seamless publishing experience and development tools to assist you develop your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I picked to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I think Substack draws. Actually, since Substack has actually been about longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair points that originally got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to e-newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally built by the exact same individuals who built the innovation behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. But, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I have an interest in here.
- That branding and distinction likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some rather huge brand names and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo designers. Again, it simply informs me the customer avatar difference between the two companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t precisely suck. The only factor I would certainly consider shaking points up is if I assumed I might GROW the list much faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I actually don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the placing right here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by people who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more tailored toward creators.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies custom-made fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as modifying personalized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations just since I started making use of the platform. As an example:
- Capability to activate automations based on which specific embed kind they can be found in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with people 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 since the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it comes to writing your newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored towards newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I discover it to be much more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, however it would certainly be much more comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than simply type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and then put anything you want in it. After that, you can place Presence alternatives on that particular area to reveal it only to paid clients, hide it from email, conceal from clients, show only to clients, etc. Substack supplies absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium subscription design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of earnings. As a matter of fact, you actually attach up to your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Depending on the number of customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, but what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more developed toward real email marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page designs seem better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv add, I like the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack settings itself towards “designers” greater than e-mail marketing professionals and e-newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some points tailored much more toward people that simply think in terms of material production.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple publications, they are treated rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … awesome for individuals that may require it.
Substack likewise has even more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host chats with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. On the whole, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media network which supports long-form material.
On the whole, Substack is also a lot more … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I do not. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I searched for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently through to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the very same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at creators (like Substack), however it is far more strongly catering to people who do it for company. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly nice system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature break down below. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it concerns it’s automations. I will additionally say that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit much more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is just a fundamental function of email checklists that makes it possible for segmentation in a far more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain identifying at some time soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Email Templates.
ConvertKit does now provide the capability to market things through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always pick a much more direct option anyway. For me, I prefer to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and because of that has way extra integration choices. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For instance, their plugin now even sustains member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this a lot more carefully puts ConvertKit into direct competition by having you have the ability to release to your website and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy taking on the growth tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with perks, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are actually incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface of what this means for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Email Templates
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise means that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed almost once a week release of new features right into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … however large features that are fairly vital. Their speed of development at this moment has actually gone over.
I additionally significantly value exactly 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 tiny problem with the web content size. I merely replied to that e-mail to tell them. I quickly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That very same day, the problem was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I provided another recommendation …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to cause automations based upon the embed type used was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I really appreciate.
One more significant factor of differentiation here is the cost. Both systems offer totally free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies more capacity and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also much more beneficial. ConvertKit appears less costly at first glance because their pricing page reveals lower numbers, however the customer limitations are FAR lower and your rate promptly increases as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same size list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly use), you can expand your list as much as 100,000. A listing of that size 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 each year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in a totally various organization when it involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance prices? They could as time goes on. Yet, I’m presuming people like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how points continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the important things you absolutely require to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to progress rather promptly and make brand-new item statements rather typically, however there are some fundamental features I truly want they had that I need to just await.
One is that they require to have a setting on membership kinds where I might select an automation to run right at the form degree. That would be incredible for numerous factors. Currently, subscription forms look OK, yet there’s extremely little settings for them to aid in division.
It would behave to have identifying at the customer level. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks should be part of automations to make integrated automations simpler and minimize reliance on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor administrative interface changes that would certainly come in handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to bulk edit blog posts (as an example, to tag a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard fields as basic on clients (like the name).
- Some more modification alternatives for the web site (such as more flexible color options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t excellent and definitely not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never will be, either. As I stated, the objective is different so it would not much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation platform. I guess you never ever know, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Enough where I made a decision to change my very own newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing design especially, I saw sufficient value in their system to require the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is proficient at, however I purposefully have points establish to ensure that I additionally keep my checklist “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch needs to be rather uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay put unless you have a large e-mail list and are as a result being wooled with their high regular monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating promptly. There’s also a respectable possibility you’re not also utilizing a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can easily be a better and extra budget-friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely deliberate about expanding an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is among the most effective video games in town today. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be fairly feature rich.