I have utilized a great deal of various email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a substantial advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your own system. Because of that (and the outstanding features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Scam.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to decide to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I wish to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d additionally like to attend to why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Shift In Strategy, I discussed just how and why I made a decision to turn my RV blog into primarily a newsletter. I determined that was business design I wished to pursue keeping that residential or commercial property.
But, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email list for Happily motor home, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed because problem of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built into it certain to my purpose. Points such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog) and send the email simultaneously without having it be 2 different actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click membership links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features aimed at development. The platform was actually built by the individuals that developed the technology for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I may without a doubt be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went all out. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own residential property to make sure that I can expand it much more deliberately as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown independently. Happily motor home was young, so very easy to change. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will clearly always be very closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a difference between a newsletter platform and simply an email checklist.
You can organize your e-mail checklist everywhere you want and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting indicates that it is mosting likely to your website and to your e-mail customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are publishing to that internet site. Yet, you are also dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes administration of the platform much less complex.
With most email systems, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed totally separately from your web site. So, for example, you may release an article to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to independently develop and send out an email to your list to send it to customers. These are after that two separate sets of archives and two different activities due to the fact that post and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and permits them to be the exact same point. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I wanted to remain to self-host everything. Nonetheless, you would certainly shed the growth tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally includes a different set of requirements than a common email list.
You do not usually require much marketing automation. You don’t normally need autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth publishing experience and development devices to help you build your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was going to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I chose to choose BeeHiiv, that does not mean I believe Substack draws. As a matter of fact, because Substack has actually been around longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that initially obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is literally constructed by the exact same folks that constructed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I have an interest in below.
- That branding and distinction likewise means that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brand names and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo designers. Once more, it simply tells me the consumer character distinction in between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t exactly suck. The only factor I would ponder shaking things up is if I believed I might GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I actually don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
But, allow’s dive deeper than simply the placing here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by individuals that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra tailored towards creators.
For example, BeeHiiv offers custom-made areas on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still quite minimal in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as new actions, such as customizing personalized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations just since I began utilizing the platform. For example:
- Ability to cause automations based on which certain embed kind they was available in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based upon opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target audience of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it comes to writing your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra geared towards newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I discover it to be much more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and clean, however it would be extra equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than simply form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and then put anything you want in it. Then, you can place Presence alternatives on that area to show it just to paid clients, conceal it from email, hide from customers, show only to customers, and so on. Substack offers nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of earnings. Actually, you essentially connect as much as your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending on the number of clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, yet what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
On the whole, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was extra built toward real e-mail marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs appear better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack settings itself toward “developers” greater than e-mail marketing experts and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points tailored more towards individuals that just think in terms of web content production.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are treated fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … great for individuals who might need it.
Substack likewise has more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host chats with customers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Overall, Substack is set up to be more like a social media which supports long-form material.
In general, Substack is also more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nevertheless, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions rather well.
But, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t assume there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better matched. I searched for even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often with to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the very same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at developers (like Substack), but it is much more strongly accommodating people who do it for organization. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation structure, it’s own business system, and more. ConvertKit is a really nice system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, below’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is simply a standard feature of e-mail lists that enables division in a far more flexible means than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain tagging at some time quickly, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Scam.
ConvertKit does currently offer the ability to market things through their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly constantly choose a much more straight alternative anyhow. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and for that reason has way a lot more integration alternatives. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For example, their plugin now even supports member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this more closely puts ConvertKit into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic taking on the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with rewards, yet you can also pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are truly amazing features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most popular viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall of what this indicates for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Scam
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it likewise means that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed practically regular release of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … however huge features that are quite important. Their speed of growth at this moment has actually gone over.
I also quite value just how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product announcements regarding some design improvements to the website design features really contained a small problem with the content width. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the issue was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I provided another recommendation …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to activate automations based on the embed form utilized was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I actually appreciate.
Another major point of differentiation here is the cost. Both platforms offer free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers a lot more ability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more desirable. ConvertKit appears less costly at first look since their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the client restrictions are FAR reduced and your cost rapidly increases as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same size list 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 personally utilize), you can expand your checklist approximately 100,000. A checklist 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 yearly, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely different organization when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately enhance rates? They might as time goes on. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the important things you most definitely require to remember is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to evolve rather rapidly and make brand-new item news somewhat frequently, yet there are some fundamental features I actually want they had that I require to just await.
One is that they require to have a setting on registration types where I could select an automation to run right at the type degree. That would be incredible for a lot of factors. As of now, subscription forms look OK, yet there’s extremely little setups for them to aid in division.
It would certainly behave to have identifying at the customer degree. This would be powerful.
I think webhooks ought to be part of automations to make built-in automations easier and minimize dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some small management interface changes that would be handy. For example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capability to bulk edit articles (as an example, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental areas as typical on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization choices for the internet site (such as even more versatile shade options, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t perfect and absolutely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I said, the objective is various so it would not a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever know, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Enough where I determined to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the system despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own system.
Basically, for the e-newsletter posting model particularly, I saw enough worth in their system to call for the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special e-mail checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv of what it is good at, but I deliberately have things establish to ensure that I likewise keep my listing “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance coverage, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d absolutely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and different demands. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch should be quite simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a huge email list and are therefore being fleeced with their high regular monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating quickly. There’s additionally a pretty good possibility you’re not also utilizing several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a much better and a lot more economical fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really willful regarding growing an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system 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 among the most effective video games in town now. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the totally free account to be rather feature abundant.