I have actually used a lot of different email list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. Because of that (and the amazing features), I have been utilizing Beehiiv For SaaS Founders.
So, it is indeed a strange move for me to make a decision to utilize BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to address the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I ‘d additionally like to deal with why I chose to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Huge Shift In Approach, I discussed just how and why I chose to turn my motor home blog right into largely an e-newsletter. I decided that was the business design I wanted to seek with that home.
However, to intentionally seek 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, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that in a bit.
As I stated in that concern of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed right into it certain to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog site) and send the email simultaneously without having it be two different actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are essentially one-click membership links. Great for promotion in 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 advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The platform was essentially constructed by the individuals who developed the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point 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 may without a doubt be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I just went all out. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own residential property so that I can grow it a lot more deliberately as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown individually. Gladly motor home was young, so simple to change. However, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was buried in a sea of things right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly constantly be carefully connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however does not need to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Listing
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter platform and simply an email list.
You can organize your email listing anywhere you want and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that website. However, you are additionally sending off to all customers at the same time. The web site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes administration of the platform much simpler.
With a lot of email systems, any e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is constructed entirely separately from your web site. So, for instance, you may publish a post to WordPress but after that you would certainly require to individually construct and send an e-mail to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 separate collections of archives and two separate activities since article and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a true newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it practically “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and permits them to be the exact same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong option if I wanted to continue to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the development tools that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently features a various set of needs than a regular email list.
You don’t normally require much marketing automation. You don’t generally require autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one seamless posting experience and growth tools to assist you develop your customer base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was going to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I picked to go with BeeHiiv, that does not suggest I assume Substack sucks. Actually, since Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that originally obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is essentially constructed by the exact same folks who built the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Growth is what I want below.
- That branding and distinction likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brand names and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo makers. Again, it just tells me the client character difference in between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM really did not precisely suck. The only factor I would consider trembling points up is if I thought I can expand the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I actually don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight competitors.
Yet, let’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv feels like it was built by people that understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra geared toward makers.
For example, BeeHiiv offers custom areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an email. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new actions, such as modifying personalized fields, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations simply because I began utilizing the system. For instance:
- Capability to cause automations based on which specific embed type they came in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and take care of people based on opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this because the target market of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it comes to writing your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more tailored towards e-newsletters. Actually, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I discover it to be a lot more instinctive, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and clean, but it would certainly be more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is more than simply type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and afterwards put anything you desire in it. Then, you can place Exposure options on that particular section to reveal it only to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, conceal from clients, show just to customers, etc. Substack provides nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs registration version, BeeHiiv does not take any type of revenue. In fact, you essentially connect up to your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending upon how many customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear nerdy, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
In general, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more constructed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page makes seem much better built for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although 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 actually said, Substack placements itself towards “developers” more than e-mail marketing experts and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some things geared extra towards people who simply believe in terms of content creation.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support several publications, they are dealt with quite individually. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … great for people that might require it.
Substack likewise has even more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host chats with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Overall, Substack is set up to be extra like a social network which supports long-form material.
Overall, Substack is also a lot more … minimal. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack works quite well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it comes to actual marketing, I do not think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I tried to find more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently through to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at creators (like Substack), however it is much more strongly dealing with individuals who do it for company. ConvertKit has great visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a really good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature break down here. ConvertKit is well known currently. But, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly also state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is simply a fundamental feature of email listings that allows segmentation in an even more versatile means than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support tagging at some time quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv For SaaS Founders.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capability to market points using their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would constantly choose a more direct alternative anyway. For me, I prefer to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and for that reason has way much more integration choices. Tons of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. As an example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this much more closely places ConvertKit right into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your site and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously lacking in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with advantages, however you can likewise pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most popular viral promo platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall of what this means for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv For SaaS Founders
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise indicates that they are quickly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed almost weekly release of new features right into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … yet big features that are fairly essential. Their rate of growth at this moment has actually been impressive.
I likewise significantly appreciate just how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their item news regarding some style enhancements to the web design features in fact had a tiny issue with the material width. I merely responded to that e-mail to tell them. I quickly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That same day, the issue was taken care of.
Couple of days later on, I gave them an additional recommendation …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to trigger automations based upon the embed form made use of was contributed to the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I actually value.
One more significant factor of differentiation right here is the cost. Both platforms offer totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides a lot more ability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more positive. ConvertKit appears more affordable in the beginning glance because their pricing web page shows lower numbers, nonetheless the customer limitations are much lower and your rate quickly increases as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same size list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally use), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different league when it pertains to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point boost costs? They could as time takes place. However, I’m guessing people like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the important things you most definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to develop rather rapidly and make brand-new item news somewhat usually, yet there are some fundamental features I actually want they had that I require to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setup on subscription kinds where I can pick an automation to run right at the kind level. That would certainly be outstanding for many reasons. Already, registration kinds look OK, but there’s extremely little setups for them to aid in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have marking at the client degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks should become part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and reduce reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small management interface adjustments that would certainly come in handy. For example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Ability to bulk edit articles (for example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental areas as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some more modification options for the web site (such as more flexible color options, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t excellent and certainly not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I said, the function is different so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation system. I presume you never ever understand, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Sufficient where I determined to switch my very own newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own system.
Basically, for the e-newsletter posting version specifically, I saw enough worth in their platform to warrant the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special email listing. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, but I deliberately have things establish to ensure that I likewise maintain my list “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance policy, 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 question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be more business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be rather straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely sit tight unless you have a large email list and are as a result being fleeced with their high regular monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating swiftly. There’s also a respectable opportunity you’re not also utilizing a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could quickly be a better and extra economical fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very intentional concerning expanding an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is made to be, it is among the most effective games in town today. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the complimentary account to be fairly feature abundant.