I have made use of a great deal of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a big advocate of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. For that reason (and the outstanding features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Nicholas Agardy.
So, it is without a doubt an odd move for me to choose to utilize BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I want to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to address the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly additionally such as to resolve why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Change In Strategy, I discussed exactly how and why I chose to transform my RV blog site into largely an e-newsletter. I determined that was the business design I intended to go after keeping that building.
Yet, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Gladly motor home, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, using it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a little bit.
As I said because concern of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools built into it details to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog site) and send the email all at once without having it be 2 different activities.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The system was literally constructed by the people who built up the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I may indeed be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I simply went for it. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own building to ensure that I can expand it a lot more purposefully too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Happily motor home was young, so simple to change. However, The Early morning WP (formerly The Side) was buried in a sea of things here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will certainly always be very closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not need to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Listing
There’s a difference between a newsletter platform and just an e-mail listing.
You can host your email list anywhere you want and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing implies that it is going to your internet site and to your email customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that web site. But, you are additionally sending off to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s customers are all in one. This makes administration of the system much less complex.
With a lot of e-mail systems, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built totally independently from your site. So, as an example, you might release a post to WordPress but then you would certainly need to independently develop and send an e-mail to your listing to send it to customers. These are then 2 separate collections of archives and two different actions due to the fact that article and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and allows them to be the same point. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid alternative if I wished to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the growth tools that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally includes a various set of needs than a regular email listing.
You don’t usually need much marketing automation. You do not usually need autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one seamless posting experience and development tools to aid you build your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I picked to go with BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I think Substack sucks. Actually, because Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that originally got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter authors. Actually, it is actually developed by the exact same individuals who developed the technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brands and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo developers. Once more, it simply tells me the consumer character distinction in between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not specifically suck. The only factor I would certainly consider shaking things up is if I thought I might GROW the list quicker. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I in fact do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct competitors.
Yet, let’s dive much deeper than just the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv seems like it was developed by individuals that recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more tailored toward makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies custom-made fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. Actually, it is a visual 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 rather minimal in triggers and the only action is the ability to send an e-mail. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to new activities, such as customizing customized areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations simply since I began making use of the system. For instance:
- Capacity to trigger automations based upon which details embed kind they was available in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to 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 creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared towards e-newsletters. In fact, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I discover it to be much more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and clean, yet it would certainly be much more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than simply type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Presence alternatives on that area to show it just to paid customers, hide it from email, hide from subscribers, reveal just to subscribers, and so on. Substack uses nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs subscription model, BeeHiiv does not take any earnings. Actually, you essentially link approximately your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending on the number of customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem unpopular, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outside making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations at all.
In general, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more constructed toward actual email marketing. It was constructed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page develops appear much better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack placements itself towards “designers” greater than email online marketers and newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some things geared extra toward people that simply think in terms of material development.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support several publications, they are dealt with quite individually. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … awesome for individuals that may need it.
Substack additionally has even more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a chat function to host talks with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which works sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is established to be much more like a social media network which sustains long-form content.
In general, Substack is also a lot more … minimalist. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions quite well.
But, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to real marketing, I don’t think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I tried to find even more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually with to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the very same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at designers (like Substack), yet it is much more highly satisfying people who do it for service. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation building, it’s own business platform, and much more. ConvertKit is a truly wonderful platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature break down right here. ConvertKit is popular already. But, here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will likewise state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is just a fundamental function of email lists that allows segmentation in a much more flexible way than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support identifying at some time quickly, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Nicholas Agardy.
ConvertKit does currently offer the capacity to market things using their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would constantly pick a more direct option anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and for that reason has way much more integration alternatives. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this a lot more closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic taking on the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are really outstanding features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface wherefore this indicates for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Nicholas Agardy
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it additionally means that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed almost regular release of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … yet large features that are quite vital. Their rate of growth at this moment has actually gone over.
I likewise significantly appreciate just how receptive they are. In fact, among their item statements concerning some design improvements to the web design features actually contained a tiny problem with the material size. I just responded to that email to tell them. I promptly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the issue was taken care of.
Couple of days later on, I provided one more recommendation …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to set off automations based upon the embed type made use of was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I truly appreciate.
Another major point of distinction here is the cost. Both platforms offer free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers much more ability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally even more positive. ConvertKit appears less costly at first glance because their pricing page shows lower numbers, however the client limitations are FAR reduced and your price rapidly enhances as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same size list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally utilize), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A checklist 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 each year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in a totally various league when it concerns pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance prices? They may as time goes on. Yet, I’m thinking individuals like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you absolutely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to advance instead swiftly and make new product news somewhat commonly, but there are some standard features I really desire they had that I require to simply await.
One is that they need to have a setting on registration forms where I can pick an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be remarkable for numerous factors. Currently, membership forms look OK, yet there’s really little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would be nice to have identifying at the client degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks must belong to automations to make integrated automations much easier and minimize dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some small management interface changes that would come in handy. For instance:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capability to bulk edit blog posts (as an example, to label a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic areas as typical on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more modification choices for the internet site (such as even more versatile color choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t best and absolutely not almost as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I stated, the function is various so it wouldn’t much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation system. I think you never understand, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Sufficient where I made a decision to change my very own newsletters over to the platform despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and having my very own platform.
Basically, for the e-newsletter publishing version especially, I saw sufficient value in their system to necessitate the modification.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail listing. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, but I purposefully have points set up so that I additionally maintain my checklist “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is just an excellent insurance policy, 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 system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the question is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely consider changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button must be quite straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a huge email list and are consequently being fleeced with their high month-to-month expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating promptly. There’s also a pretty good chance 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 can conveniently be a better and extra cost effective fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful regarding growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is one of the very best games in the area today. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the cost-free account to be rather feature abundant.