I have utilized a great deal of different email list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. Because of that (and the amazing features), I have been utilizing Beehiiv Headquarters.
So, it is indeed a weird move for me to make a decision to make use of BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I wish to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly additionally like to resolve why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Change In Strategy, I talked about exactly how and why I chose to transform my recreational vehicle blog site right into mostly an e-newsletter. I determined that was business version I intended to seek with that property.
But, to purposefully pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email listing for Happily RV, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, utilizing it for newsletters is a little a waste. A lot more on that in a bit.
As I stated in that issue of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed into it specific to my function. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send out the email simultaneously without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click subscription web links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at growth. The platform was literally built by the people that built up the innovation for Early morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I may without a doubt be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went all out. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential or commercial property so that I can expand it much 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 separately. Gladly RV was young, so very easy to transition. But, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) 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 grow it on it’s very own. It will obviously always be closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not have to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email Checklist
There’s a distinction in between a newsletter system and just an e-mail listing.
You can host your e-mail checklist anywhere you desire and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting suggests that it is going to your site and to your e-mail clients concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that internet site. But, you are also dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s customers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much less complex.
With most e-mail systems, any kind of newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built entirely independently from your web site. So, as an example, you might release a post to WordPress but after that you would certainly need to separately construct and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to customers. These are then 2 different sets of archives and 2 different actions because post and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and permits them to be the very same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wished to remain to self-host whatever. However, you would certainly shed the development tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently features a different set of needs than a typical e-mail checklist.
You don’t typically need much marketing automation. You don’t usually need autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, though, is one smooth posting experience and development tools to aid you construct your customer base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I chose to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not suggest I believe Substack sucks. In fact, since Substack has actually been about much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that originally obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is actually built by the same individuals who constructed the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and distinction likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some rather huge brands and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo designers. Once again, it simply tells me the client character difference between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only factor I would consider trembling things up is if I thought I can GROW the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I actually do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct competitors.
But, allow’s dive deeper than just the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by individuals who understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more tailored towards creators.
As an example, BeeHiiv supplies custom areas on clients. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a great deal 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 activity is the capability to send an e-mail. However, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have new triggers as well as new activities, such as changing customized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations simply since I started utilizing the platform. As an example:
- Ability to cause automations based on which particular embed kind they can be found in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and manage individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it involves composing your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored toward newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I find it to be more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and tidy, yet it would certainly be more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than simply type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and afterwards put anything you want in it. After that, you can place Exposure alternatives on that particular section to show it only to paid subscribers, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from subscribers, reveal only to clients, and so on. Substack offers nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any type of profits. In fact, you essentially connect up to your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending upon how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv work with the outside making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra developed toward real email marketing. It was developed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs seem far better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack placements itself towards “developers” greater than e-mail online marketers and newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some points geared a lot more towards people who just believe in regards to web content development.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are treated quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … cool for people who could need it.
Substack likewise has more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host chats with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which works sort of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. In general, Substack is set up to be more like a social media which sustains long-form material.
Overall, Substack is also a lot more … minimalist. You either look after that or do not. Personally, I do not. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions rather well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it comes to real marketing, I do not think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I looked for even more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often with to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the very same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at developers (like Substack), however it is a lot more highly accommodating individuals that do it for business. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation structure, it’s own business platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly great platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will also state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is just a basic feature of e-mail listings that enables division in a much more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain identifying eventually quickly, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Headquarters.
ConvertKit does now give the capability to offer points via their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly choose a much more straight choice anyway. For me, I prefer to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and for that reason has way much more integration alternatives. Tons of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated web content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this a lot more carefully places ConvertKit into direct competition by having you have the ability to release to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active dealing with the development tools 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 benefits, however you can additionally pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are really outstanding features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most popular viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall for what this indicates for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Headquarters
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it likewise means that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen nearly once a week release of new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … yet huge features that are fairly essential. Their speed of advancement now has actually been impressive.
I additionally quite appreciate exactly how receptive they are. Actually, one of their product announcements regarding some design improvements to the web design features really consisted of a small issue with the material width. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That same day, the problem was repaired.
Few days later, I provided one more idea …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to cause automations based on the embed form utilized was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I truly appreciate.
One more major factor of distinction here is the cost. Both platforms use cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides more capability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more favorable. ConvertKit appears less expensive in the beginning glimpse since their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, however the subscriber limits are much reduced and your rate promptly raises as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same size checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly utilize), you can grow your list as much as 100,000. A checklist of that size would 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, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various league when it pertains to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually raise costs? They might as time goes on. But, I’m thinking individuals like myself that are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you most definitely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to advance rather rapidly and make new item news rather frequently, however there are some fundamental features I actually desire they had that I require to just await.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership forms where I can pick an automation to run right at the type level. That would be outstanding for so many factors. As of now, registration kinds look OK, however there’s really little setups for them to aid in division.
It would be nice to have labeling at the client level. This would be effective.
I think webhooks need to become part of automations to make integrated automations simpler and minimize dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor management interface modifications that would be handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to mass edit messages (for instance, to tag a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic areas as standard on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more personalization choices for the site (such as more adaptable color choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t excellent and certainly not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the function is various so it would not a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever recognize, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Enough where I decided to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform despite my individual choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own system.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter publishing model specifically, I saw adequate value in their platform to necessitate the change.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is proficient at, but I purposefully have things set up to make sure that I likewise keep my listing “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just a great insurance coverage, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d most definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button should be pretty uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a large email listing and are as a result being wooled with their high month-to-month bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating swiftly. There’s additionally a respectable opportunity you’re not even using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a far better and much more budget-friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very willful regarding expanding a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is among the very best games in the area now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be quite feature rich.