I have actually made use of a lot of different email list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a substantial supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. For that reason (and the remarkable features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Launch Tier.
So, it is undoubtedly an unusual move for me to determine to utilize BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized 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 e-newsletters. I wish to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d likewise such as to attend to why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Shift In Strategy, I spoke about exactly how and why I chose to turn my recreational vehicle blog into mainly an e-newsletter. I determined that was the business design I wished to pursue keeping that home.
But, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly recreational vehicle, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that particular in a little bit.
As I stated because problem of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed right into it specific to my objective. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send out the email at the same time without having it be two separate actions.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I select to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The platform was actually constructed by the individuals that accumulated the modern technology for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I might indeed be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I simply went all out. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own property to make sure that I can expand it extra deliberately also.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown individually. Gladly motor home was young, so very easy to transition. However, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was buried in a sea of things right here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will obviously always be very closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv because it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Listing
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter platform and just an email checklist.
You can hold your e-mail list anywhere you want and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The primary difference is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing indicates that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that website. But, you are also sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes administration of the platform much simpler.
With most e-mail systems, any type of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed totally individually from your site. So, for instance, you could publish a short article to WordPress but after that you would certainly need to individually build and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are after that two different collections of archives and two separate actions since blog posts and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a true e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it practically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I intended to continue to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the development tools that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally includes a different set of needs than a common email list.
You do not generally require much marketing automation. You don’t usually need autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to help you construct your customer base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I chose to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I assume Substack draws. In fact, because Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that originally got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is essentially developed by the exact same folks that built the innovation behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, doesn’t matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I want right here.
- That branding and distinction likewise means that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brand names and huge publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Again, it simply tells me the customer character difference in between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM really did not precisely draw. The only reason I would certainly contemplate trembling things up is if I believed I can GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I actually do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than simply the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by individuals that recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra geared towards creators.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers personalized areas on customers. Currently, 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 works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still quite restricted in triggers and the only action is the ability to send out an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new activities, such as changing customized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations simply because I started using the system. For instance:
- Capacity to trigger automations based upon which certain embed form they was available in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this since the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it comes to composing your e-newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra tailored toward newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I find it to be a lot more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s writing interface behaves and clean, however it would certainly be much more comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than simply form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and after that put anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Exposure choices on that area to reveal it just to paid customers, conceal it from e-mail, hide from customers, show only to clients, and so on. Substack supplies nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any profits. Actually, you essentially connect up to your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending upon the number of subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear nerdy, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outside utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in all.
Overall, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was much more constructed toward genuine e-mail marketing. It was built by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs appear much better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack placements itself towards “designers” more than e-mail online marketers and e-newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points tailored a lot more toward individuals that just think in regards to web content creation.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous magazines, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … amazing for people who might require it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host talks with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is set up to be more like a social network which supports long-form material.
Generally, Substack is likewise extra … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Personally, I do not. Nevertheless, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works quite well.
But, I’ll be clear right here …
When it involves real marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I tried to find even more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a difficult time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often through to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at creators (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly dealing with individuals that do it for business. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and extra. ConvertKit is a really good platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. However, right here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has a lot more adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly also claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is just a basic function of e-mail listings that enables division in an even more flexible means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain labeling at some time quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Launch Tier.
ConvertKit does now offer the capacity to offer things through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would constantly choose an extra direct option anyhow. For me, I favor to use my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and therefore has way a lot more integration alternatives. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. As an example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this more carefully places ConvertKit into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these sort of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic tackling the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, however you can likewise pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are actually outstanding features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most popular viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface of what this means for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Launch Tier
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it also suggests that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed virtually regular release of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … yet large features that are fairly vital. Their speed of advancement now has actually been impressive.
I additionally significantly appreciate exactly how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item news about some layout improvements to the web design features in fact included a small trouble with the material size. I just responded to that email to tell them. I quickly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the problem was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I provided an additional idea …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to trigger automations based upon the embed type used was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I actually appreciate.
An additional significant point of differentiation here is the rate. Both platforms supply totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides extra ability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more desirable. ConvertKit seems less costly in the beginning glimpse because their pricing page shows lower numbers, nevertheless the customer limitations are FAR lower and your cost swiftly raises as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same size checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly use), you can grow your list as much as 100,000. A list of that dimension would certainly 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 every year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely different league when it pertains to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance rates? They might as time goes on. However, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of things you certainly require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to develop rather swiftly and make brand-new item statements somewhat typically, yet there are some fundamental features I truly want they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription forms where I could choose an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be remarkable for many reasons. Currently, membership types look OK, yet there’s very little settings for them to help in division.
It would certainly be nice to have marking at the customer degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks should belong to automations to make integrated automations easier and reduce dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor management user interface modifications that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to bulk edit blog posts (for instance, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some even more modification alternatives for the web site (such as more versatile color selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I hope they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t excellent and definitely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I said, the purpose is different so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I guess you never understand, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Sufficient where I chose to change my own newsletters over to the platform despite my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing design especially, I saw sufficient value in their system to necessitate the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special email list. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, however I purposefully have things establish so that I also maintain my list “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply an excellent insurance plan, for one. But, 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 will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the switch needs to be pretty simple.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a large email list and are therefore being wooled with their high month-to-month bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s additionally a respectable possibility you’re not even making use of several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv might quickly be a better and more inexpensive fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very intentional about growing 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 about what it is designed to be, it is one of the very best games around now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the cost-free account to be quite feature abundant.