I have used a great deal of various 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 system. Because of that (and the amazing features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Net Worth.
So, it is certainly a weird move for me to decide to make use of 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 button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to deal with the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d likewise like to resolve why I selected to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Shift In Technique, I spoke about just how and why I made a decision to transform my motor home blog site right into mostly a newsletter. I made a decision that was the business version I wanted to go after with that residential or commercial property.
But, to deliberately seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily motor home, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. Much more on that in a bit.
As I claimed because problem of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices built into it particular to my objective. Points such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send out the email concurrently without having it be two separate actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I select to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The platform was literally developed by the individuals who developed the technology for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I may indeed be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At 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 in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential property to ensure that I can grow it much more deliberately also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown separately. Gladly motor home was young, so easy to change. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff 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 obviously constantly be very closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t have to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Listing
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and just an e-mail list.
You can host your email listing anyplace you desire and there are a number of them around, 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 platform, the act of publishing indicates that it is going to your internet site and to your email subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that website. But, you are also dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s customers are done in one. This makes management of the system much less complex.
With a lot of email systems, any type of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built entirely individually from your website. So, for example, you could publish an article to WordPress yet after that you would require to separately build and send an e-mail to your listing to send it to subscribers. These are then 2 different sets of archives and two separate actions because blog posts and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it practically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the very same point. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong choice if I wanted to continue to self-host every little thing. However, you ‘d lose the growth devices that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally features a different collection of demands than a regular e-mail checklist.
You do not usually require much marketing automation. You do not generally require autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, however, is one smooth publishing experience and growth devices to help you construct your customer base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was going to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I chose to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I think Substack sucks. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that at first obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter authors. Actually, it is literally built by the same people who built the innovation behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brand names and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo developers. Again, it just informs me the consumer character difference between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not specifically suck. The only factor I would certainly contemplate drinking things up is if I thought I might expand the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I actually don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct competitors.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than simply the placing right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by people who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra tailored towards makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv uses custom-made areas on customers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that functions 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 activity is the capability to send out an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have new triggers in addition to new actions, such as customizing custom areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations simply considering that I began making use of the system. For instance:
- Ability to trigger automations based upon which details embed type they came in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and manage people based on opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this because the target market of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it concerns creating your newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more tailored towards e-newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I locate it to be much more instinctive, personally.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and tidy, but it would certainly be much more comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than just type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and after that placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Exposure choices on that section to show it only to paid customers, conceal it from email, conceal from subscribers, show only to clients, etc. Substack uses nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of income. As a matter of fact, you essentially link as much as your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Relying on how many subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, yet what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv work with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more developed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in types and the landing page creates seem much better built for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack settings itself towards “creators” more than email marketing experts and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points tailored more towards individuals who just assume in regards to content development.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support several publications, they are dealt with rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … awesome for individuals who could require it.
Substack likewise has more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a conversation function to host talks with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” function which functions sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Generally, Substack is established to be extra like a social media network which supports long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is also a lot more … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I do not. However, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works rather well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to actual marketing, I do not assume there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better fit. I tried to find even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently through to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is far more strongly dealing with individuals that do it for company. ConvertKit has great visual automation structure, it’s own business system, and much more. ConvertKit is a really nice system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is well known currently. However, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more flexibility when it comes to it’s automations. I will likewise state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit much more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is simply a basic feature of email checklists that enables segmentation in an even more versatile means than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support labeling at some time soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Net Worth.
ConvertKit does currently offer the ability to sell things via their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would constantly pick a more direct choice anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and therefore has way much more integration options. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For example, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this much more closely places ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you be able to release to your site and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy taking on 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 benefits, however you can additionally pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your listing. These are truly incredible features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most popular viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall wherefore this indicates for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Net Worth
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it also means that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed virtually once a week launch of new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … but huge features that are rather important. Their rate of growth at this point has been impressive.
I also significantly value exactly how receptive they are. Actually, one of their item news regarding some style improvements to the web design features really consisted of a tiny trouble with the content size. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the problem was taken care of.
Couple of days later on, I gave them one more suggestion …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to cause automations based on the embed kind made use of was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I actually appreciate.
An additional major point of differentiation here is the price. Both systems use cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses extra capacity and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more beneficial. ConvertKit appears less expensive at first look because their pricing web page shows reduced numbers, however the customer restrictions are FAR reduced and your cost quickly enhances as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same size list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your listing as much as 100,000. A listing of that size would 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 annually, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely different league when it concerns pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise rates? They could as time takes place. However, I’m thinking people like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you most definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to develop rather promptly and make brand-new product announcements somewhat commonly, yet there are some fundamental features I truly wish they had that I require to simply await.
One is that they need to have a setting on registration types where I could select an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be amazing for numerous reasons. Currently, subscription types look OK, yet there’s extremely little settings for them to help in division.
It would certainly behave to have marking at the customer level. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks ought to become part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and minimize reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor administrative user interface changes that would certainly come in handy. For instance:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to mass edit articles (for instance, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization choices for the web site (such as even more versatile shade choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t best and definitely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never will be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is different so it would not much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never ever know, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv quite a lot. Enough where I decided to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing design especially, I saw adequate value in their system to necessitate the adjustment.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv of what it is good at, yet I purposefully have points set up so that I also maintain my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will certainly be of high usage (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 utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d definitely think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and various demands. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch must be quite uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely sit tight unless you have a huge email listing and are consequently being fleeced with their high regular monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating promptly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not even utilizing several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could quickly be a far better and a lot more inexpensive fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really intentional about growing an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is among the best video games around right now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be quite feature rich.