I have used a lot of different email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a big supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. Therefore (and the amazing features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Open Source.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to determine to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I would certainly likewise like to attend to why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Shift In Strategy, I talked about exactly how and why I made a decision to transform my recreational vehicle blog site right into primarily an e-newsletter. I chose that was business model I intended to go after keeping that residential or commercial property.
Yet, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. Much more on that in a bit.
As I said in that problem of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices built into it particular to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog site) and send the email all at once without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click subscription links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I choose to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features aimed at growth. The platform was actually developed by the individuals that built up the innovation for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I might without a doubt be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I just went all out. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own property to ensure that I can expand it extra purposefully too.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown independently. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to change. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will clearly always be carefully linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, however does not have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email Listing
There’s a difference between a newsletter system and just an e-mail listing.
You can hold your e-mail list anyplace you desire and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting suggests that it is mosting likely to your site and to your email subscribers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that website. However, you are likewise dispatching to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s clients are all in one. This makes administration of the platform much simpler.
With a lot of email platforms, any type of newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed entirely individually from your web site. So, as an example, you might release an article to WordPress yet after that you would require to individually build and send an e-mail to your listing to send it to clients. These are after that two different sets of archives and 2 separate actions since post and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a true e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong choice if I wished to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the growth devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently includes a different set of requirements than a regular email listing.
You do not normally require much marketing automation. You don’t typically require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, however, is one seamless posting experience and development tools to assist you develop your client base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my clients that I was mosting likely 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, even besides the reality that I chose to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I assume Substack draws. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has been about longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that at first obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is essentially constructed by the very same individuals that constructed the modern technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brand names and big magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo developers. Once again, it just informs me the customer avatar distinction between the two companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t exactly draw. The only reason I would ponder drinking things up is if I thought I might GROW the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I in fact do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct rivals.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than just the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by people that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more tailored toward designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv uses custom-made fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still quite restricted in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have new triggers as well as new activities, such as customizing custom fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply given that I began using the platform. For example:
- Ability to set off automations based on which specific embed kind they was available in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and handle individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this since the target market of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it pertains to composing your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is just more geared towards newsletters. In fact, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I locate it to be a lot more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s composing interface is nice and tidy, yet it would be much more equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than simply kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and after that put anything you want in it. After that, you can put Visibility alternatives on that particular area to reveal it only to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, conceal from clients, show just to customers, and so on. Substack offers nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs membership version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any revenue. In fact, you essentially connect approximately your very own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your revenue. Depending upon how many customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, but what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
Generally, I just felt like BeeHiiv was much more constructed towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was developed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page creates seem better developed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack positions itself towards “creators” greater than email marketing professionals and newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some points tailored extra toward people who just assume in regards to content creation.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple publications, they are dealt with quite individually. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … awesome for individuals who could require it.
Substack also has more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host talks with customers. It also has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is established to be extra like a social media network which supports long-form web content.
In general, Substack is likewise more … minimalist. You either look after that or do not. Directly, I do not. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it involves real marketing, I don’t think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better matched. I looked for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually with to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the very same target market and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at designers (like Substack), but it is a lot more strongly dealing with people that do it for company. ConvertKit has nice visual automation structure, it’s own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure right here. ConvertKit is well known already. However, right here’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it involves it’s automations. I will also state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit much more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is simply a basic function of e-mail listings that enables segmentation in a far more flexible way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support marking at some point soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Open Source.
ConvertKit does currently give the capability to offer things using their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly select an extra straight choice anyhow. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and because of that has way more integration alternatives. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For instance, their plugin currently even supports member-gated web content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this more closely puts ConvertKit into straight competition by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active tackling the growth tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with rewards, yet you can also pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really remarkable features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promo platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall for what this indicates for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Open Source
BeeHiiv is much previously 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 indicates that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced almost regular launch of new features right into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … however huge features that are rather essential. Their rate of advancement at this point has actually gone over.
I likewise very much value how receptive they are. In fact, one of their product announcements concerning some design improvements to the website design features really had a little trouble with the content width. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the concern was taken care of.
Couple of days later on, I gave them one more tip …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based on the embed kind used was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I truly appreciate.
Another significant point of differentiation right here is the cost. Both platforms use totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies a lot more capability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more favorable. ConvertKit seems cheaper in the beginning glimpse since their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the subscriber restrictions are much reduced and your cost swiftly boosts as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same size listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly use), you can grow your list as much as 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in a completely different organization when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately increase costs? They could as time goes on. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how points continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you most definitely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to progress rather rapidly and make new item announcements somewhat often, however there are some basic features I really desire they had that I require to simply wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on registration types where I could pick an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be outstanding for so many factors. Already, registration kinds look OK, yet there’s really little setups for them to aid in segmentation.
It would behave to have labeling at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks should be part of automations to make integrated automations simpler and minimize reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are also some minor management user interface modifications that would certainly come in handy. For example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove customers.
- Ability to bulk edit posts (for instance, to identify a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as conventional on customers (like the name).
- Some even more modification options for the site (such as even more adaptable color choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I wish they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t perfect and absolutely not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It most likely never will certainly be, either. As I stated, the objective is different so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I think you never ever recognize, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Enough where I chose to change my very own e-newsletters over to the system regardless of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and having my very own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing design specifically, I saw adequate value in their system to call for the adjustment.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail checklist. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, however I intentionally have things set up to ensure that I likewise maintain my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d most definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be more business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and various needs. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch must be pretty simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a big email list and are as a result being fleeced with their high regular monthly costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating quickly. There’s additionally a respectable possibility you’re not even using some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might easily be a far better and a lot more cost effective fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very deliberate regarding growing a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is among the best games in the area now. This is the platform to watch.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out on your own. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be fairly feature abundant.