I have utilized a great deal of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. Therefore (and the amazing features), I have been using Beehiiv Showcase.
So, it is without a doubt an odd move for me to decide to make use of BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to attend to the issue of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly additionally like to attend to why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Shift In Approach, I discussed just how and why I determined to turn my recreational vehicle blog into largely a newsletter. I determined that was the business version I wanted to go after with that building.
However, to purposefully seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily motor home, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Extra on that in a little bit.
As I claimed because concern of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed into it particular to my function. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog site) and send the email concurrently without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click registration links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features aimed at growth. The platform was essentially constructed by the people that accumulated the technology for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is developed 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 undoubtedly be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went for it. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential property so that I can grow it extra deliberately as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown independently. Gladly RV was young, so very easy to change. However, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) 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 obviously constantly be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, however does not have to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email List
There’s a difference in between a newsletter system and simply an email listing.
You can organize your e-mail checklist everywhere you desire and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing suggests that it is mosting likely to your site 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. However, you are also sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much easier.
With the majority of email platforms, any newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed totally individually from your site. So, as an example, you could release a short article to WordPress yet after that you would require to individually develop and send an e-mail to your listing to send it to customers. These are after that two different sets of archives and 2 separate actions because blog posts and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it basically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I wished to remain to self-host everything. Nonetheless, you ‘d shed the growth devices that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently features a different collection of demands than a regular e-mail listing.
You don’t generally require much marketing automation. You do not usually require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, though, is one smooth posting experience and growth tools to assist you construct your subscriber base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was going to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I selected to go with BeeHiiv, that does not mean I believe Substack draws. In fact, because Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that initially obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is literally built by the exact same individuals who developed the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation also indicates that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brand names and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo designers. Once again, it simply informs me the consumer character difference in between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t precisely suck. The only factor I would certainly ponder shaking things up is if I assumed I could GROW the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I in fact do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight rivals.
But, let’s dive much deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv seems like it was developed by individuals who comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more tailored toward creators.
As an example, BeeHiiv provides customized areas on customers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still rather limited in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send an email. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers along with new activities, such as modifying customized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations simply considering that I started using the platform. As an example:
- Capacity to activate automations based upon which particular embed type they came in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and handle people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target market of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it comes to creating your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra geared towards e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I find it to be more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, yet it would certainly be more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than just type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and after that put anything you want in it. After that, you can place Exposure alternatives on that particular area to show it just to paid customers, hide it from email, conceal from customers, reveal just to subscribers, and so on. Substack provides nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium registration model, BeeHiiv does not take any revenue. In fact, you actually connect approximately your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Relying on how many customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outside making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in all.
Generally, I just felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more built towards genuine email marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes appear far better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack placements itself toward “makers” more than email online marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things geared extra toward people that simply believe in terms of material production.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are dealt with quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … trendy for people that might require it.
Substack also has more social performance built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host talks with clients. It also has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. In general, Substack is established to be extra like a social network which supports long-form web content.
On the whole, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nevertheless, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I tried to find more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often through to be the closest competitors, 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 likewise placed at designers (like Substack), but it is far more highly accommodating individuals who do it for organization. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is a really great system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is well known already. But, below’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will additionally claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is simply a standard function of email checklists that enables segmentation in a far more versatile means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain labeling at some time soon, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Showcase.
ConvertKit does currently provide the ability to sell points by means of their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would always choose a more straight option anyway. For me, I prefer to use my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and therefore has way extra integration options. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated material along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this extra closely places ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these sort of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with benefits, however you can likewise pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are actually awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just 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 indicates for the platform going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Showcase
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it likewise suggests that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced practically weekly launch of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … however large features that are fairly crucial. Their speed of development at this point has been impressive.
I also quite value exactly how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their item news regarding some design improvements to the web design features actually included a small problem with the material size. I just replied to that email to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the issue was taken care of.
Couple of days later, I provided one more pointer …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based upon the embed type made use of was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I really appreciate.
An additional significant factor of distinction below is the cost. Both platforms supply totally free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan provides more ability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more desirable. ConvertKit seems less expensive at first glimpse due to the fact that their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, however the subscriber limits are much lower and your cost promptly enhances as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same size checklist is going 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 expand your listing as much as 100,000. A checklist of that size would certainly 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 annually, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely different league when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase costs? They could as time takes place. However, I’m guessing people like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you absolutely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to advance rather promptly and make brand-new product statements somewhat commonly, however there are some standard features I actually desire they had that I require to just await.
One is that they require to have a setup on registration kinds where I could select an automation to run right at the kind level. That would be incredible for so many factors. Already, registration kinds look OK, but there’s extremely little settings for them to assist in division.
It would certainly behave to have labeling at the customer degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks must belong to automations to make integrated automations simpler and lower reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some small management interface adjustments that would come in handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Ability to bulk edit messages (for example, to label a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as conventional on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more customization alternatives for the web site (such as more flexible shade choices, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I wish they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t perfect and certainly not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It probably never will be, either. As I said, the function is different so it wouldn’t much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never understand, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Sufficient where I made a decision to switch my very own newsletters over to the system regardless of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting design especially, I saw adequate value in their system to necessitate the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special e-mail checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv of what it is good at, but I intentionally have points establish to ensure that I additionally maintain my checklist “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d certainly think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will merely be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and different needs. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch must be quite straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a big e-mail 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 repeating quickly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not even using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could easily be a much better and extra inexpensive fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful regarding expanding an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is developed to be, it is among the very best games around now. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out on your own. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be rather feature abundant.