I have actually used a great deal of various email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a substantial supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your own system. For that reason (and the remarkable features), I have been utilizing Beehiiv Hosting.
So, it is undoubtedly a strange move for me to determine to utilize BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to resolve the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d likewise such as to deal with why I chose to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Big Shift In Method, I spoke about how and why I decided to transform my motor home blog site right into mostly an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was the business model I wanted to pursue keeping that residential property.
However, to intentionally seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily RV, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Much more on that particular in a little bit.
As I claimed in that problem of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed into it certain to my function. Points such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog) and send out the e-mail simultaneously without having it be two different actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click registration links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The platform was actually developed by the people who built up the innovation for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might indeed be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went for it. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential property to ensure that I can expand it more intentionally as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded individually. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to transition. But, The Early morning WP (formerly 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 very closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv because it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Listing
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter platform and simply an email checklist.
You can organize your email listing anyplace you desire and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The primary difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing implies that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail subscribers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are publishing to that web site. Yet, you are likewise sending off to all clients at the same time. The web site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes management of the system much less complex.
With the majority of email systems, any kind of e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed entirely individually from your website. So, for instance, you may release an article to WordPress but then you would need to independently develop and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are then 2 separate sets of archives and 2 separate activities due to the fact that article and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and permits them to be the exact same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid alternative if I wanted to continue to self-host whatever. However, you would certainly lose the growth tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently features a various collection of needs than a typical e-mail list.
You don’t generally require much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one smooth posting experience and development devices to help you construct your subscriber base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was going to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I selected to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I believe Substack sucks. In fact, since Substack has been about longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that at first got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter authors. Actually, it is actually built by the very same individuals that constructed the modern technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally implies that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Once more, it simply informs me the client avatar difference in between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only reason I would certainly contemplate shaking things up is if I believed I might GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I really don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight rivals.
However, let’s dive deeper than simply the placing right here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by individuals who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more tailored toward developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies custom-made areas on clients. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send an email. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have brand-new triggers in addition to new actions, such as changing personalized fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply since I began utilizing the system. For example:
- Capability to trigger automations based on which particular embed kind they was available in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and manage people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it comes to creating your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is just more geared towards e-newsletters. In fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I find it to be a lot more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface is nice and tidy, but it would certainly be extra comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than simply kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can place Exposure choices on that area to show it only to paid clients, conceal it from e-mail, hide from clients, show just to customers, etc. Substack supplies nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs membership version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of income. As a matter of fact, you literally link as much as your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Relying on the number of clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear nerdy, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
Overall, I just felt like BeeHiiv was more developed towards genuine email marketing. It was constructed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs seem better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack placements itself towards “designers” greater than email marketing experts and newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some points tailored much more toward people that just believe in terms of content creation.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are dealt with quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … trendy for individuals that might require it.
Substack additionally has more social performance built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host talks with customers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Generally, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media network which sustains long-form content.
Generally, Substack is additionally more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack works pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it involves actual marketing, I do not assume there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I looked for even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with 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 capabilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is far more highly accommodating individuals that do it for service. ConvertKit has great visual automation building, it’s very own business platform, and extra. ConvertKit is an actually good system.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, below’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly likewise say that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is simply a basic function of email lists that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more versatile way than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support marking eventually quickly, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Hosting.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capability to offer points using their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly constantly pick an extra straight alternative anyhow. For me, I favor to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and because of that has way a lot more integration alternatives. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For instance, their plugin now also supports member-gated web content in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this extra closely places ConvertKit into direct competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with advantages, but you can also pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your listing. These are truly awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most popular viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Hosting
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise means that they are quickly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed nearly regular release of new features into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … but huge features that are quite important. Their speed of development at this moment has actually been impressive.
I likewise significantly value how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their item news regarding some style improvements to the web design features really consisted of a little issue with the content width. I merely replied to that email to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the issue was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I provided another pointer …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to trigger automations based on the embed form used was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I truly value.
One more major point of differentiation here is the price. Both systems provide free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides much more ability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more desirable. ConvertKit appears less expensive initially glance because their pricing web page shows lower numbers, nonetheless the client limitations are much lower and your rate rapidly enhances as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same dimension checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A list of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, as well, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely different league when it comes to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost rates? They might as time goes on. Yet, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you absolutely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to evolve instead promptly and make brand-new item statements rather commonly, but there are some basic features I really desire they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setting on membership types where I can select an automation to run right at the type degree. That would certainly be amazing for so many reasons. Already, subscription forms look OK, yet there’s extremely little settings for them to aid in division.
It would be nice to have labeling at the customer degree. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks need to belong to automations to make integrated automations easier and minimize reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are also some minor administrative interface changes that would come in handy. For example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Ability to bulk edit articles (as an example, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard areas as standard on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the website (such as more versatile shade selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t perfect and absolutely not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the function is different so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation system. I think you never understand, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Sufficient where I chose to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the platform despite my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my very own system.
Basically, for the newsletter posting design especially, I saw enough worth in their platform to warrant the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special email checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, however I intentionally have points establish so that I additionally keep my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance policy, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are utilizing Substack today, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and various demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button should be pretty simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a large e-mail list and are consequently being wooled with their high month-to-month costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating quickly. There’s also a respectable chance you’re not even using some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a far better and more affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be extremely deliberate concerning growing a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is made to be, it is among the most effective games around today. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the totally free account to be quite feature abundant.