I have actually used a great deal of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own platform. Because of that (and the outstanding features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Merch.
So, it is without a doubt an unusual move for me to choose to make use of BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I want to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to address the concern of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d also such as to resolve why I selected to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Huge Shift In Method, I spoke about just how and why I determined to turn my RV blog site into largely an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was business version I wanted to go after with that said residential property.
Yet, to deliberately pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email listing for Gladly motor home, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that particular in a little bit.
As I said in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built into it specific to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog) and send the e-mail at the same time without having it be 2 different actions.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are essentially one-click membership links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I select to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on development. The platform was actually built by the people that built up the technology for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I may certainly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own property so that I can expand it more deliberately also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown independently. Happily RV was young, so very easy to transition. Yet, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will certainly always be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was built for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email List
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter platform and simply an email list.
You can host your email list anyplace you want and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that website. Yet, you are also sending to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much simpler.
With many email platforms, any kind of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built completely separately from your internet site. So, for instance, you might release an article to WordPress however after that you would need to independently develop and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to customers. These are after that two separate collections of archives and two separate activities because article and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it basically “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the exact same point. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong alternative if I wished to continue to self-host everything. However, you ‘d shed the growth devices that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently comes with a different collection of needs than a typical email listing.
You don’t typically need much marketing automation. You do not typically need autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, though, is one seamless posting experience and development tools to help you build 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 many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I assume Substack sucks. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has actually been around longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that initially got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to newsletter publishers. Actually, it is essentially developed by the exact same individuals that developed the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I have an interest in right here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and huge magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo designers. Once again, it just informs me the client avatar distinction between the two companies.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM really did not precisely suck. The only reason I would certainly consider drinking things up is if I assumed I could expand the list faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I actually do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight rivals.
However, allow’s dive much deeper than just the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by people that understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra geared toward developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom-made fields on clients. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an email. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to new actions, such as changing customized fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations simply considering that I began utilizing the system. For instance:
- Capability to trigger automations based upon which certain embed form they can be found in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it comes to creating your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I discover it to be much more instinctive, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, however it would be a lot more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than just form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and then put anything you desire in it. Then, you can place Presence choices on that particular section to reveal it only to paid subscribers, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from clients, reveal only to subscribers, and so on. Substack offers absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any income. In fact, you actually connect as much as your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Depending on the number of clients you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was extra built towards actual e-mail marketing. It was built by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page creates appear far better constructed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would love 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 positions itself towards “designers” more than email marketing experts and newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some things tailored extra toward people that just think in terms of content development.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are treated fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … amazing for people that could need it.
Substack also has more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host talks with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” function which works sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is established to be more like a social network which sustains long-form material.
Overall, Substack is additionally extra … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it comes to real marketing, I do not think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I looked for more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically via to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the very same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at creators (like Substack), however it is far more strongly catering to people who do it for organization. ConvertKit has good visual automation building, it’s very own commerce system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a really great system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature failure right here. ConvertKit is popular already. But, right here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is just a basic feature of email lists that enables segmentation in a much more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain identifying at some time soon, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Merch.
ConvertKit does currently provide the ability to sell points via their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly constantly select a much more direct option anyhow. For me, I favor to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and therefore has way a lot more integration alternatives. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For instance, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this a lot more closely places ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with rewards, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are actually outstanding features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall wherefore this means for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Merch
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also means that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen virtually weekly release of new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … yet huge features that are fairly crucial. Their rate of development now has been impressive.
I also very much appreciate how receptive they are. In fact, among their product statements regarding some layout improvements to the web design features actually included a tiny issue with the content size. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I quickly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the problem was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I gave them one more recommendation …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to cause automations based upon the embed type utilized was added to the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I actually appreciate.
One more major point of differentiation right here is the rate. Both platforms offer complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies more capability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally even more beneficial. ConvertKit seems cheaper in the beginning glance because their pricing web page shows lower numbers, however the client limitations are FAR reduced and your cost rapidly raises as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same dimension list 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 directly use), you can expand your checklist approximately 100,000. A list of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, 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 each year.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely different league when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point enhance prices? They might as time goes on. Yet, I’m thinking people like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the things you definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to progress rather rapidly and make brand-new product announcements rather typically, yet there are some basic features I truly want they had that I need to just await.
One is that they require to have a setup on subscription forms where I might pick an automation to run right at the type degree. That would certainly be remarkable for so many factors. As of now, registration types look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to help in division.
It would behave to have identifying at the customer degree. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks ought to belong to automations to make built-in automations easier and lower dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some small administrative interface modifications that would certainly be handy. For example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to bulk edit articles (for instance, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic fields as common on clients (like the name).
- Some more modification alternatives for the website (such as more versatile shade choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I wish they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t ideal and absolutely not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It probably never will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the objective is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I think you never know, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Enough where I made a decision to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the system regardless of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Basically, for the e-newsletter posting design specifically, I saw adequate value in their system to require the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail checklist. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, yet I purposefully have things establish to make sure that I additionally keep my checklist “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance policy, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the button should be pretty simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a large e-mail checklist and are for that reason being fleeced with their high month-to-month costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating promptly. There’s additionally a respectable possibility you’re not also utilizing a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could quickly be a better and extra economical fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really intentional about expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is made to be, it is just one of the most effective video games around now. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the totally free account to be quite feature abundant.