I have actually used a lot of different email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a substantial proponent of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Multiple Publications.
So, it is indeed an odd move for me to determine to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a held application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to deal with the issue of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d likewise like to resolve why I selected to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Shift In Technique, I talked about exactly how and why I determined to turn my motor home blog right into mostly a newsletter. I determined that was business model I wished to go after keeping that property.
But, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Happily RV, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for newsletters is a little a waste. More on that in a little bit.
As I claimed because problem of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools built right into it specific to my function. Points such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail simultaneously without having it be 2 different actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click subscription links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Ability 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 newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features aimed at growth. The system was literally constructed by the people who accumulated the innovation for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I finished off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went for it. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own home to make sure that I can expand it much more purposefully as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded independently. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to shift. Yet, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) 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 expand it on it’s own. It will obviously always be closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv because it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email List
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter platform and just an e-mail list.
You can organize your email list anyplace you want and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing indicates that it is going to your web site and to your e-mail clients simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that internet site. Yet, you are also dispatching to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s clients are done in one. This makes management of the system much easier.
With a lot of email platforms, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed completely individually from your internet site. So, for example, you could publish an article to WordPress but after that you would require to separately develop and send out an email to your checklist to send it to customers. These are after that two separate sets of archives and 2 different activities because article and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a true e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it pretty much “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and enables them to be the same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong option if I wished to remain to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the development devices that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally comes with a different collection of needs than a common email list.
You don’t generally need much marketing automation. You don’t usually require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, however, is one smooth publishing experience and development tools to help you build your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was going to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I believe Substack draws. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has been around longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that initially got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to e-newsletter publishers. In fact, it is actually built by the same folks that constructed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and differentiation also means that BeeHiiv has some fairly huge brands and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo developers. Once more, it simply tells me the customer avatar difference between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t precisely suck. The only reason I would certainly consider drinking things up is if I assumed I can expand the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I actually do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight competitors.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than just the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv appears like it was constructed by individuals who recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more geared towards designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv supplies custom fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send an e-mail. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers as well as new activities, such as changing customized fields, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply since I started utilizing the platform. As an example:
- Capability to cause automations based on which particular embed type they can be found in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and handle individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can not do this because the target market of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it comes to creating your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is just extra geared toward newsletters. Actually, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I locate it to be much more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, yet it would be extra equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than just kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Presence alternatives on that particular section to show it just to paid customers, conceal it from e-mail, hide from clients, show only to subscribers, and so on. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium subscription design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any profits. As a matter of fact, you literally connect as much as your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Depending upon how many subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the month-to-month cost of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outside using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
Overall, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more constructed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page makes seem much better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack placements itself towards “creators” greater than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things geared a lot more towards people who just believe in terms of content production.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support several magazines, they are treated quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … amazing for people that might require it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host chats with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media which sustains long-form content.
Overall, Substack is likewise more … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. However, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, honestly, features … Substack works quite well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better matched. I searched for more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently through to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the exact same target market and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at creators (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly catering to people who do it for service. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually good system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature break down below. ConvertKit is popular already. Yet, right here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more adaptability when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly likewise state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is simply a fundamental feature of email lists that enables division in an even more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain identifying eventually soon, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Multiple Publications.
ConvertKit does now provide the ability to sell points by means of their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly pick a much more direct choice anyway. For me, I prefer to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and for that reason has way extra integration choices. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For instance, their plugin now even supports member-gated web content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this extra closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy taking on the growth tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with benefits, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are actually incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most well known viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall wherefore this indicates for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Multiple Publications
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it additionally implies that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced practically once a week launch of new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … however big features that are fairly essential. Their rate of development at this moment has gone over.
I additionally significantly value just how receptive they are. In fact, one of their item news about some design enhancements to the website design features in fact included a little issue with the web content width. I simply replied to that email to tell them. I promptly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the issue was taken care of.
Couple of days later on, I gave them one more idea …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based on the embed form used was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I really value.
One more major point of distinction below is the rate. Both platforms use cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses much more capability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally much more desirable. ConvertKit appears less expensive in the beginning glimpse since their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nonetheless the customer limits are FAR lower and your cost rapidly raises as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same dimension checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly utilize), you can expand your listing approximately 100,000. A checklist of that size would certainly 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 annually, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different league when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase costs? They might as time takes place. But, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you absolutely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to evolve rather promptly and make new item statements rather typically, however there are some fundamental features I actually desire they had that I require to just await.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership kinds where I could select an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be AWESOME for numerous factors. Currently, subscription forms look OK, yet there’s really little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would be nice to have tagging at the client level. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks ought to become part of automations to make built-in automations easier and lower dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some small administrative user interface adjustments that would certainly come in handy. As an example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to mass edit blog posts (for example, to tag a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard fields as standard on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the web site (such as more flexible color choices, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t excellent and absolutely not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I stated, the purpose is different so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I guess you never understand, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Enough where I determined to change my own e-newsletters over to the system regardless of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing version especially, I saw adequate worth in their system to require the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special e-mail checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, but I intentionally have things establish so that I additionally keep my checklist “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply an excellent insurance policy, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the question is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d absolutely take into consideration switching to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various needs. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be pretty simple.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a large email listing and are for that reason being fleeced with their high month-to-month bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating quickly. There’s likewise a respectable opportunity you’re not even making use of several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a far better and more economical fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely intentional regarding growing a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is created to be, it is just one of the very best video games around today. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the complimentary account to be fairly feature rich.