I have utilized a lot of different email list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. For that reason (and the outstanding features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Notion.
So, it is undoubtedly an odd move for me to determine to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I want to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to resolve the issue of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly additionally such as to attend to why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Change In Method, I spoke about exactly how and why I determined to transform my recreational vehicle blog into primarily a newsletter. I made a decision that was the business design I intended to pursue keeping that residential or commercial property.
But, to deliberately seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Gladly RV, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. More on that particular in a bit.
As I said in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed into it specific to my objective. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send out the email simultaneously without having it be two different activities.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click registration links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features targeted at growth. The platform was actually built by the individuals who developed the innovation for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may indeed be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I simply went all out. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential or commercial property to make sure that I can grow it a lot more deliberately too.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded individually. Happily motor home was young, so very easy to change. But, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of things right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly always be very closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email List
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter platform and just an e-mail checklist.
You can host your email checklist everywhere you desire and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main distinction is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing suggests that it is mosting likely to your website and to your e-mail clients all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are publishing to that internet site. However, you are likewise dispatching to all customers at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes management of the platform much less complex.
With many e-mail platforms, any type of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is developed completely individually from your site. So, for instance, you could release an article to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to individually build and send an email to your checklist to send it to customers. These are then 2 different sets of archives and two different actions due to the fact that post and your emails are not naturally connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a true e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it pretty much “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the exact same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong alternative if I wanted to remain to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the growth tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally includes a different set of needs than a normal email checklist.
You don’t normally need much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one smooth posting experience and development tools to aid you develop your client base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was going to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that does not mean I believe Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, since Substack has been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that at first obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is essentially developed by the same people that constructed the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and distinction likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and big magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo creators. Once more, it simply informs me the customer avatar difference in between both firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not precisely draw. The only reason I would certainly contemplate trembling things up is if I believed I might expand the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct competitors.
However, allow’s dive deeper than simply the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by individuals that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears much more geared towards developers.
For example, BeeHiiv uses custom fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that functions a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly restricted in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an email. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have new triggers in addition to brand-new activities, such as changing customized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations just given that I started making use of the platform. For example:
- Capability to activate automations based upon which specific embed kind they was available in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and manage individuals based upon opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this since the target market of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it comes to writing your e-newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is just more geared towards newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I discover it to be more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s creating interface behaves and clean, yet it would certainly be more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Visibility choices on that section to reveal it only to paid subscribers, hide it from e-mail, hide from clients, show just to subscribers, and so on. Substack offers nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium subscription model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of income. As a matter of fact, you essentially connect approximately your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Relying on how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the regular monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, but what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations at all.
Generally, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was extra constructed toward real e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page makes seem far better constructed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv add, 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 toward “creators” more than email marketing experts and newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points tailored much more toward people who simply believe in regards to web content production.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain several publications, they are treated quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … amazing for people that might need it.
Substack also has more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host talks with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which works sort of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. Generally, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media which sustains long-form material.
In general, Substack is also more … minimalist. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. However, if the objective is simplicity of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack works rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns real marketing, I do not believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I searched for even more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually via to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at makers (like Substack), yet it is far more strongly catering to people that do it for organization. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly nice system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown below. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, below’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it involves it’s automations. I will certainly likewise say that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit much more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is just a fundamental feature of e-mail lists that allows segmentation in a much more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support identifying at some time quickly, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Notion.
ConvertKit does now give the capability to offer things using 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 straight option anyhow. For me, I like to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and for that reason has way extra integration choices. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this extra closely places ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you be able to publish to your site and your e-mail listing 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 also active dealing with the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with advantages, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your listing. These are really outstanding features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most popular viral promo platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall wherefore this means for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Notion
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise means that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen nearly weekly launch of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … yet big features that are quite crucial. Their rate of development now has been impressive.
I also very much appreciate how responsive they are. In fact, among their item statements regarding some layout enhancements to the web design features really included a little issue with the web content width. I simply replied to that email to tell them. I quickly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the problem was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I gave them another suggestion …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to activate automations based upon the embed type used was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I actually value.
One more major point of distinction here is the price. Both platforms provide complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies extra ability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more desirable. ConvertKit appears less expensive at first glimpse due to the fact that their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the customer limitations are FAR reduced and your price promptly boosts as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), however 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 make use of), you can grow your checklist up to 100,000. A listing of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different organization when it concerns pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise prices? They could as time takes place. However, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you most definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to progress instead swiftly and make brand-new product news somewhat commonly, yet there are some fundamental features I actually desire they had that I need to just await.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership forms where I could select an automation to run right at the form degree. That would be incredible for many reasons. Currently, registration kinds look OK, however there’s very little settings for them to help in division.
It would be nice to have labeling at the client degree. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks must belong to automations to make built-in automations less complicated and minimize dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are also some minor management interface changes that would come in handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to bulk edit posts (for instance, to label a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as standard on clients (like the name).
- Some even more customization alternatives for the internet site (such as even more flexible color options, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t best and certainly not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I stated, the function is different so it would not a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation system. I think you never ever know, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Enough where I chose to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the platform regardless of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing version specifically, I saw enough worth in their platform to require the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail listing. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, however I intentionally have points set up to ensure that I likewise maintain my listing “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is just a good insurance policy, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform 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 make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and various demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button should be rather uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a big email list and are as a result being fleeced with their high regular monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating swiftly. There’s likewise a respectable chance you’re not even utilizing some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could quickly be a far better and extra affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really intentional about expanding an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is made to be, it is among the very best video games around right now. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the complimentary account to be quite feature abundant.