I have actually made use of a lot of different email list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. Because of that (and the outstanding features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Pros and Cons.
So, it is certainly a strange move for me to decide to utilize BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I wish to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to resolve the issue of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly also like to deal with why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Shift In Technique, I talked about how and why I decided to turn my motor home blog into largely an e-newsletter. I determined that was the business model I wished to go after with that said home.
But, to intentionally pursue it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. More on that in a little bit.
As I claimed in that concern of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices constructed right into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send the email concurrently 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.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click registration web links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at growth. The system was essentially constructed by the people that accumulated the technology for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I may certainly be relocating The Side 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 in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own residential or commercial property to ensure that I can expand it a lot more deliberately too.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded individually. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to transition. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of things here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will clearly constantly be closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email List
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and simply an email list.
You can organize your e-mail list anyplace 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 distinction?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing means that it is going to your web site and to your email subscribers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that web site. However, you are likewise dispatching to all customers at the same time. The web site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes management of the system much simpler.
With a lot of e-mail platforms, any e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built entirely individually from your website. So, for instance, you may release a write-up to WordPress however then you would certainly need to separately build and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are then two different sets of archives and 2 different activities since article and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a real e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I intended to continue to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you would certainly shed the growth devices that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently features a various set of requirements than a regular email listing.
You don’t typically require much marketing automation. You don’t typically require autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless posting experience and growth devices to aid you develop your client base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was going to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I selected to select BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I believe Substack sucks. Actually, because Substack has been around longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that at first got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is essentially built by the exact same folks who developed the technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brands and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo developers. Once again, it just tells me the consumer avatar distinction between the two firms.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t specifically draw. The only factor I would certainly contemplate shaking things up is if I thought I can GROW the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I really don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct rivals.
But, allow’s dive deeper than just the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by individuals who understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears much more tailored toward creators.
For example, BeeHiiv offers custom-made areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather limited in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send out an e-mail. However, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new activities, such as customizing customized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations just since I began using the system. For example:
- Ability to activate automations based on which certain embed kind they came in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity 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 since the target audience of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it concerns creating your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is just more geared toward newsletters. In fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I discover it to be a lot more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s composing interface is nice and clean, however it would certainly be a lot more equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is more than just form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can put Exposure choices on that particular section to show it just to paid subscribers, conceal it from email, hide from subscribers, reveal just to subscribers, etc. Substack provides nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs registration design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of earnings. Actually, you essentially connect as much as your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Depending on the amount of subscribers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was more developed toward real e-mail marketing. It was constructed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in types and the landing page designs seem much better developed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I like the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack placements itself towards “makers” greater than e-mail marketing experts and newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some things geared extra toward people who just believe in regards to material creation.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous magazines, they are dealt with rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … trendy for people that might need it.
Substack also has more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host chats with customers. It also has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Generally, Substack is established to be extra like a social network which sustains long-form material.
Generally, Substack is also much more … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I do not. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works rather well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to real marketing, I don’t believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I looked for even more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually with to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at creators (like Substack), but it is far more strongly dealing with people who do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s own business platform, and much more. ConvertKit is a truly good system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, below’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has a lot more adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will likewise state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit much more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is simply a standard function of e-mail checklists that allows division in a far more adaptable way than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support marking at some time quickly, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Pros and Cons.
ConvertKit does now provide the capacity to market points using their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would always select a much more direct choice anyhow. For me, I prefer to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and therefore has way extra integration options. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this much more very closely puts ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you be able to publish to your site and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly lacking in these sort of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with benefits, but you can additionally pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really remarkable features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this means for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Pros and Cons
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it likewise suggests that they are quickly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced virtually once a week release of new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … however large features that are quite important. Their speed of growth at this point has been impressive.
I also very much value just how receptive they are. In fact, among their item news about some layout improvements to the web design features actually included a small problem with the web content size. I merely replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the problem was taken care of.
Couple of days later, I provided one more recommendation …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based upon the embed form used was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight involvement of the group is something I really appreciate.
Another major factor of differentiation right here is the cost. Both systems supply cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies much more capacity and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more beneficial. ConvertKit appears more affordable at first glance due to the fact that their pricing web page shows lower numbers, however the subscriber limitations are much reduced and your price swiftly boosts as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That very same size checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally use), you can grow your listing approximately 100,000. A list of that dimension would 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 each year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely various organization when it pertains to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately enhance prices? They could as time goes on. However, I’m guessing people like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how things continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of things you certainly need to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to develop rather swiftly and make brand-new item statements rather often, however there are some basic features I actually wish they had that I need to just await.
One is that they require to have a setup on registration kinds where I might choose an automation to run right at the type degree. That would certainly be remarkable for numerous factors. As of now, membership types look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have tagging at the customer degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks must become part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and reduce reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some small management interface adjustments that would certainly come in handy. For instance:
- Ability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Ability to bulk edit messages (for example, to identify a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental fields as common on subscribers (like the name).
- Some even more modification choices for the site (such as even more versatile shade choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t perfect and certainly not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the objective is different so it would not much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I think you never ever know, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv fairly a great deal. Sufficient where I determined to switch my own newsletters over to the platform despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my very own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting model specifically, I saw enough value in their platform to require the change.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email checklist. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, however I purposefully have points set up so that I likewise keep my list “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just a good insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch ought to be rather uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a large e-mail listing and are for that reason being wooled with their high regular monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating promptly. There’s additionally a respectable possibility you’re not even using some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could easily be a better and much more cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really deliberate concerning growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is created to be, it is just one of the very best video games in town right now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth having a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be rather feature abundant.