I have actually utilized a great deal of various email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a substantial proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. For that reason (and the outstanding features), I have been utilizing Beehiiv Make Money.
So, it is indeed a strange move for me to make a decision to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I wish to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to address the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I would certainly also such as to resolve why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Shift In Technique, I discussed how and why I chose to turn my RV blog right into mainly an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was the business version I wanted to go after keeping that building.
But, to purposefully pursue it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a little bit.
As I stated in that problem of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools constructed into it particular to my function. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send the e-mail all at once without having it be 2 different activities.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click subscription web links. Great for promotion in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I choose to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features targeted at growth. The system was actually built by the individuals that developed the modern technology for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went for it. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential or commercial property to make sure that I can expand it a lot more deliberately too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Happily RV was young, so simple to change. Yet, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of things right here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will clearly constantly be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not have to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email Checklist
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and simply an email list.
You can hold your email list just about anywhere you desire 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 difference?
The primary difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of posting indicates that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your e-mail clients all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that site. But, you are additionally dispatching to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes management of the system much easier.
With many email platforms, any kind of newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed completely individually from your internet site. So, as an example, you could release an article to WordPress but after that you would certainly require to separately develop and send out an email to your list to send it to customers. These are then two separate collections of archives and 2 separate actions due to the fact that post and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and enables them to be the same thing. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid option if I wanted to continue to self-host every little thing. However, you would certainly lose the development tools that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally comes with a various collection of needs than a typical e-mail list.
You don’t normally need much marketing automation. You do not typically need autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one seamless posting experience and development devices to help you construct your customer base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my clients that I was going to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I assume Substack draws. Actually, since Substack has been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that initially obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter authors. Actually, it is actually developed by the same people who constructed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. Yet, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some rather large brand names and huge magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo creators. Again, it simply tells me the customer avatar difference between the two business.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t exactly draw. The only factor I would certainly ponder trembling points up is if I believed I might GROW the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I really do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct rivals.
But, let’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv seems like it was developed by individuals who understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems more tailored toward makers.
For example, BeeHiiv provides customized areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still fairly restricted in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an e-mail. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as customizing personalized areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply given that I started making use of the platform. As an example:
- Ability to cause automations based on which specific embed type they can be found in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and manage individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this because the target audience of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it concerns composing your e-newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is just extra geared towards e-newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I find it to be extra user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface is nice and clean, but it would certainly be extra comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than just form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and then placed anything you want in it. Then, you can place Visibility alternatives on that area to reveal it just to paid clients, conceal it from email, hide from clients, reveal only to subscribers, and so on. Substack offers nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs registration model, BeeHiiv does not take any profits. As a matter of fact, you essentially link up to your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your revenue. Depending on the amount of customers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, but what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I just felt like BeeHiiv was extra developed towards real e-mail marketing. It was built by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page designs appear much better constructed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack positions itself towards “makers” greater than email online marketers and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points geared a lot more toward individuals that simply assume in regards to web content creation.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are dealt with quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, yet … awesome for individuals who may require it.
Substack additionally has even more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host chats with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” function which functions kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media which supports long-form material.
Generally, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. However, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I tried to find more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a difficult time finding 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 opponents. Both are going after the very same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at designers (like Substack), however it is far more strongly accommodating individuals that do it for business. ConvertKit has good visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is an actually wonderful platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is popular already. Yet, below’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is simply a basic function of email checklists that allows segmentation in an even more adaptable method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain tagging at some time soon, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Make Money.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capacity to offer things through their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly constantly pick an extra direct alternative anyhow. For me, I like to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way a lot more integration alternatives. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin now also supports member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this much more closely places ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with advantages, however you can also pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are really awesome features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most well known viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall of what this indicates for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Make Money
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it likewise indicates that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced virtually weekly launch of new features into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … yet big features that are fairly essential. Their rate of development now has actually gone over.
I additionally very much appreciate just how receptive they are. In fact, one of their item announcements about some layout improvements to the website design features actually included a small trouble with the content width. I merely responded to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the problem was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I provided an additional recommendation …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to trigger automations based on the embed kind used was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I really appreciate.
Another major factor of distinction below is the cost. Both platforms use complimentary plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan uses a lot 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 also much more favorable. ConvertKit seems less expensive in the beginning look because their pricing page shows reduced numbers, however the client limits are much reduced and your cost quickly raises as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same dimension listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly make use of), you can expand your listing as much as 100,000. A listing of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different organization when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point enhance rates? They could as time goes on. Yet, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how points continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the important things you most definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to evolve instead swiftly and make brand-new product statements somewhat often, however there are some basic features I actually desire they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription types where I might select an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be incredible for a lot of factors. Currently, registration types look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to assist in division.
It would be nice to have labeling at the customer degree. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks ought to be part of automations to make integrated automations less complicated and decrease reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative user interface adjustments that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to mass edit articles (for instance, to label a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental areas as standard on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more customization options for the internet site (such as even more adaptable color selections, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I wish they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t ideal and absolutely not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the function is various so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I guess you never ever understand, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Enough where I determined to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter publishing design especially, I saw adequate value in their system to call for the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, however I deliberately have points establish to ensure that I likewise maintain my listing “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply an excellent insurance policy, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list 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 use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d most definitely think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button should be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a big e-mail listing and are therefore being wooled with their high month-to-month costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating rapidly. There’s likewise a pretty good opportunity you’re not even utilizing a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could easily be a far better and a lot more inexpensive fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really deliberate concerning growing a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is developed to be, it is one of the most effective video games in the area right now. This is the platform to watch.
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 discover the free account to be fairly feature abundant.