I have utilized a lot of different e-mail list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your own system. Because of that (and the incredible features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Rate Limit Exceeded.
So, it is without a doubt a weird move for me to decide to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d likewise such as to attend to why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Shift In Technique, I spoke about how and why I chose to transform my RV blog site into mostly an e-newsletter. I determined that was the business design I intended to go after keeping that residential or commercial property.
Yet, to purposefully pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly RV, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that in a little bit.
As I stated because problem of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices built right into it certain to my function. Points such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send the email all at once without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The platform was literally constructed by the individuals that built up the technology for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I might without a doubt be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I simply went for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential property to ensure that I can expand it a lot more deliberately as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Happily motor home was young, so easy to change. But, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly constantly be closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not need to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and just an email listing.
You can organize your email list anyplace you want and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing means that it is mosting likely to your site and to your email subscribers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that site. However, you are also dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes management of the platform much simpler.
With many e-mail platforms, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built completely individually from your site. So, as an example, you may release a short article to WordPress however after that you would need to separately develop and send an email to your listing to send it to clients. These are then 2 different sets of archives and 2 different activities since post and your emails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a true e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and permits them to be the very same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong option if I intended to continue to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the growth devices that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally features a different set of demands than a common e-mail checklist.
You don’t typically need much marketing automation. You don’t usually need autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless posting experience and development devices to assist you develop your customer base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers that I was going to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I selected to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I think Substack sucks. In fact, since Substack has actually been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that initially got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is actually constructed by the same folks that developed the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise indicates that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and big magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo makers. Once more, it just informs me the customer character distinction between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only factor I would ponder shaking points up is if I thought I can GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I really do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight rivals.
Yet, let’s dive much deeper than just the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by people who recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems more geared toward developers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers personalized fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv supplies 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 functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an email. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers along with new actions, such as modifying custom-made areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen enhancements to their automations simply since I started making use of the platform. For instance:
- Capability to activate automations based upon which specific embed type they came in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional reasoning 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 simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it involves writing your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more geared toward newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I locate it to be a lot more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s creating interface behaves and clean, yet it would be more equivalent to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than just kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. Then, you can put Exposure choices on that section to reveal it only to paid customers, hide it from email, hide from subscribers, show just to customers, and so on. Substack supplies nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium registration design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of income. In fact, you actually attach up to your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Depending upon the number of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear nerdy, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
Overall, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was much more constructed toward real e-mail marketing. It was constructed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes seem much better developed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack positions itself towards “designers” greater than email marketing professionals and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things tailored much more towards people that just assume in terms of web content creation.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain several publications, they are treated rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … trendy for people who could require it.
Substack likewise has more social performance built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions sort of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. Generally, Substack is set up to be extra like a social network which supports long-form material.
Overall, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimal. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it involves actual marketing, I do not think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I searched for more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a difficult time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the very same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at developers (like Substack), however it is a lot more highly catering to individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation structure, it’s own business system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a really nice platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown below. ConvertKit is popular already. Yet, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will additionally state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports labeling. This is just a standard feature of email listings that makes it possible for division in a much more adaptable way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support identifying eventually quickly, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Rate Limit Exceeded.
ConvertKit does now offer the capability to market points via their very 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 always choose a more straight alternative anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and because of that has way more integration alternatives. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. As an example, their plugin now also supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this much more very closely puts ConvertKit into direct competition by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy dealing with the growth devices 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 advantages, but you can also pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are actually outstanding features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall for what this implies for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Rate Limit Exceeded
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also implies that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed nearly regular release of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … however huge features that are rather important. Their rate of development now has been impressive.
I also quite value just how responsive they are. In fact, one of their item news about some design enhancements to the web design features actually contained a small issue with the web content 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 fixed.
Couple of days later, I provided another idea …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to cause automations based upon the embed type made use of was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I truly value.
An additional significant point of distinction here is the rate. Both platforms use cost-free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies extra ability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more positive. ConvertKit seems more affordable in the beginning look because their pricing web page shows lower numbers, nonetheless the customer restrictions are FAR lower and your price swiftly enhances as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same dimension checklist 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 as much as 100,000. A checklist of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different league when it comes to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise rates? They may as time takes place. But, I’m presuming people like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the things you definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to advance instead quickly and make new product news somewhat frequently, however there are some basic features I really wish they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on registration types where I might choose an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be amazing for numerous reasons. Currently, subscription forms look OK, but there’s very little setups for them to aid in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have labeling at the customer level. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks should become part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and lower dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some small administrative interface adjustments that would certainly be handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to bulk edit posts (as an example, to identify a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental areas as common on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more personalization choices for the website (such as more adaptable color selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t best and certainly not almost as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never will be, either. As I said, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation system. I presume you never ever understand, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Enough where I decided to change my own e-newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting model particularly, I saw sufficient value in their system to necessitate the modification.
Remember, I do not use BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, however I deliberately have points establish so that I additionally keep my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button needs to be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a large e-mail checklist and are as a result being fleeced with their high monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating rapidly. There’s also a respectable possibility you’re not also using a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could quickly be a far better and a lot more inexpensive fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very willful about expanding an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about 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 games in town now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the totally free account to be quite feature abundant.