I have made use of a lot of different email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge proponent of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. Therefore (and the incredible features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Impressions.
So, it is undoubtedly an odd move for me to determine 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 review, I want to look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to resolve the concern of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d additionally such as to attend to why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Shift In Method, I talked about how and why I determined to turn my motor home blog site right into largely a newsletter. I determined that was business design I wished to pursue keeping that home.
Yet, to purposefully seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, using it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a bit.
As I said in that concern of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices constructed right into it particular to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog site) and send the e-mail concurrently without having it be 2 different actions.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, 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 pick to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features focused on growth. The system was essentially built by the individuals who developed the innovation for Early morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I simply went for it. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own property to make sure that I can expand it more purposefully as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Happily RV was young, so simple to transition. Yet, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will undoubtedly always be carefully tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, but does not need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was built for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email List
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter system and simply an email listing.
You can organize your e-mail listing just about anywhere you desire and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The primary distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing indicates that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your email clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that website. But, you are additionally sending to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much less complex.
With the majority of e-mail platforms, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built completely independently from your internet site. So, for instance, you might publish an article to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to separately develop and send out an email to your listing to send it to customers. These are after that 2 separate sets of archives and 2 different activities because article and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the exact same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I intended to continue to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the growth devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally comes with a different collection of requirements than a typical email checklist.
You do not generally need much marketing automation. You do not normally require autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, however, is one seamless publishing experience and growth tools to assist you construct your subscriber base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch over 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 choose BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I think Substack draws. Actually, because Substack has been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that initially got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter authors. Actually, it is actually built by the exact same people who constructed the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. Yet, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I want below.
- That branding and distinction also means that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brands and large publications using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Again, it simply informs me the customer avatar distinction between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t precisely suck. The only reason I would certainly ponder shaking points up is if I believed I could GROW the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight competitors.
However, let’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning right here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv looks like it was built by individuals who comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra tailored towards creators.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers personalized areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. In fact, it is a visual 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 quite limited in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an email. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as modifying custom fields, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen enhancements to their automations just considering that I started using the system. As an example:
- Ability to activate automations based upon which certain embed kind they came in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and handle people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can not do this because the target market of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it comes to creating your e-newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply more tailored toward e-newsletters. Actually, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I discover it to be much more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s composing interface behaves and tidy, however it would be much more equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than simply kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and after that put anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Visibility options on that particular section to reveal it just to paid customers, hide it from e-mail, conceal from subscribers, show just to subscribers, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium membership design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any earnings. In fact, you essentially connect approximately your very own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your revenue. Depending on the number of customers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the month-to-month cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, but what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
On the whole, I just felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more built towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was built by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in types and the landing page creates seem better developed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would love 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 stated, Substack positions itself toward “makers” more than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things geared much more towards people that simply believe in regards to material creation.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support several publications, they are treated fairly individually. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … amazing for individuals who could need it.
Substack likewise has more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host talks with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Generally, Substack is set up to be more like a social media network which sustains long-form material.
Overall, Substack is likewise a lot more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works quite well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better fit. I looked for more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly through to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the very same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at designers (like Substack), but it is much more highly satisfying individuals who do it for company. ConvertKit has great visual automation structure, it’s own business system, and more. ConvertKit is a truly nice system.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature break down below. ConvertKit is popular already. Yet, here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly also state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is simply a fundamental function of e-mail lists that enables division in a much more flexible way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some time soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Impressions.
ConvertKit does now offer the capability to sell points through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly always pick a much more direct alternative anyhow. For me, I favor to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way much more integration options. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. As an example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated material along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this much more very closely places ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with perks, yet you can also pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly amazing features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface for what this indicates for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Impressions
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 phase of the cycle. However, it also implies that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced nearly weekly release of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but large features that are quite vital. Their speed of growth now has been impressive.
I also very much appreciate exactly how receptive they are. Actually, among their product news about some layout improvements to the website design features in fact consisted of a tiny problem with the web content width. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I quickly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the problem was fixed.
Few days later on, I provided one more pointer …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to trigger automations based on the embed form used was contributed to the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I actually value.
Another major point of differentiation right here is the price. Both systems offer free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies much more ability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more positive. ConvertKit seems less costly initially look because their pricing page shows reduced numbers, however the client restrictions are much reduced and your cost swiftly enhances as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same dimension listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally utilize), you can grow your checklist as much as 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, also, 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 every year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various organization when it pertains to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost costs? They may as time goes on. But, I’m presuming people like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the important things you most definitely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to evolve rather promptly and make new item news somewhat frequently, yet there are some standard features I actually wish they had that I need to simply await.
One is that they need to have a setup on subscription forms where I can pick an automation to run right at the type level. That would certainly be outstanding for numerous reasons. As of now, subscription kinds look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to assist in division.
It would certainly be nice to have marking at the subscriber level. This would certainly be powerful.
I believe webhooks must be part of automations to make built-in automations easier and minimize reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small management interface adjustments that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit articles (for instance, to label a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental areas as standard on clients (like the name).
- Some even more customization options for the internet site (such as even more flexible color selections, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t ideal and certainly not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It most likely never will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the function is various so it wouldn’t much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never understand, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv quite a lot. Sufficient where I determined to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Put simply, for the newsletter posting model especially, I saw enough value in their platform to warrant the change.
Bear in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique email list. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is good at, but I deliberately have things set up to ensure that I also keep my list “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is just a good 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 ever will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack right now, I ‘d definitely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch ought to be quite simple.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a big e-mail checklist and are therefore being fleeced with their high month-to-month costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating promptly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not also utilizing a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a much better and more affordable fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really intentional about growing a 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 about what it is created to be, it is one of the very best video games around now. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be rather feature abundant.