I have actually utilized a lot of different email list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own system. Because of that (and the amazing features), I have been making use of Beehiiv SPF.
So, it is without a doubt an odd move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to address the issue of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d likewise such as to resolve why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Shift In Strategy, I discussed exactly how and why I decided to turn my motor home blog site into largely a newsletter. I determined that was business model I wanted to go after with that said property.
However, to intentionally pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email list for Happily RV, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that in a little bit.
As I claimed in that problem of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed into it details to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send the email simultaneously without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click membership links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at growth. The platform was literally constructed by the individuals who built up the innovation for Early morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I might certainly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I simply went for it. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own home to make sure that I can expand it a lot more purposefully too.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded independently. Gladly motor home was young, so simple to shift. However, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was buried in a sea of stuff below 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 always be very closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not need to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email List
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter system and just an email listing.
You can host your e-mail checklist everywhere you desire and there are a variety 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 system, the act of publishing means that it is going to your website and to your email subscribers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that internet site. Yet, you are likewise dispatching to all customers at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes administration of the platform much less complex.
With a lot of email systems, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed completely independently from your internet site. So, for instance, you may release a post to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to individually construct and send out an email to your checklist to send it to customers. These are after that two different sets of archives and two separate activities since post and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it basically “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the same thing. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong choice if I intended to remain to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the development devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently comes with a different collection of demands than a regular e-mail checklist.
You do not generally need much marketing automation. You don’t generally require autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless publishing experience and growth tools to aid you build your client base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was going to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I picked to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I think Substack sucks. Actually, because Substack has been around longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that originally obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is essentially developed by the exact same folks that built the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, doesn’t matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Growth is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation also indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively big brand names and big magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo designers. Once again, it just informs me the consumer character distinction in between both companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only reason I would certainly contemplate shaking things up is if I assumed I can expand the list much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I really don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight competitors.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than simply the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv seems like it was developed by people who recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears much more geared toward makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom-made fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that functions a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send out an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as changing customized fields, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations just given that I started making use of the platform. For instance:
- Ability to set off automations based upon which particular embed type they was available in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an email marketer.
When it involves writing your e-newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra geared towards e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I find it to be extra user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface behaves and clean, however it would certainly be a lot more equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than just type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and then put anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Exposure choices on that particular section to reveal it only to paid subscribers, hide it from email, conceal from subscribers, show only to customers, etc. Substack uses nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium registration design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of profits. In fact, you literally connect as much as your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending on the number of customers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the regular monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
On the whole, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was extra built toward actual e-mail marketing. It was constructed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page makes appear better constructed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack settings itself toward “creators” more than email marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some things geared a lot more towards people that simply believe in regards to content production.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are dealt with rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … awesome for individuals that may need it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. As an example, it has a conversation function to host talks with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is established to be more like a social media network which supports long-form web content.
On the whole, Substack is likewise more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack works pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns real marketing, I don’t assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better suited. I searched for more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a difficult time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the very same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at designers (like Substack), however it is much more strongly dealing with people who do it for service. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is a truly nice platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, right here’s 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 concerns it’s automations. I will certainly additionally claim that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is simply a standard feature of email lists that enables division in an even more adaptable means than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support labeling at some time soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv SPF.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capacity to offer things via their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly always select an extra straight choice anyhow. For me, I favor to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and therefore has way much more integration choices. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For instance, their plugin now also sustains member-gated web content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this more very closely places ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with benefits, however you can additionally pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are actually remarkable features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most popular viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface wherefore this means for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv SPF
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally implies that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed practically weekly release of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … but large features that are rather important. Their speed of development at this point has been impressive.
I likewise significantly appreciate just how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product news regarding some style enhancements to the website design features actually included a little problem with the material width. I simply replied to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the issue was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I gave them an additional idea …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based on the embed kind used was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I actually value.
An additional significant point of distinction right here is the cost. Both platforms use cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers a lot more capability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more positive. ConvertKit seems more affordable in the beginning look because their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, nonetheless the client limitations are FAR reduced and your rate rapidly raises as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same size checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally make use of), you can expand your listing up to 100,000. A listing of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various organization when it comes to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point boost costs? They may as time goes on. However, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among things you most definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to advance instead rapidly and make brand-new product statements somewhat typically, but there are some basic features I actually desire they had that I require to just await.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership types where I might pick an automation to run right at the kind level. That would be incredible for a lot of factors. As of now, subscription forms look OK, yet there’s very little settings for them to aid in division.
It would certainly be nice to have tagging at the client level. This would be effective.
I think webhooks must become part of automations to make built-in automations simpler and reduce reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor administrative user interface modifications that would be handy. For instance:
- Capability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Ability to mass edit blog posts (for instance, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard areas as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the web site (such as even more flexible color selections, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t ideal and absolutely not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I said, the function is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I think you never ever understand, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Sufficient where I determined to change my own e-newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and having my very own platform.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting model especially, I saw enough worth in their system to necessitate the change.
Bear in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, however I purposefully have things 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 just a good insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d certainly think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will merely be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be pretty simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a huge e-mail list and are for that reason being wooled with their high regular monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating rapidly. There’s also a respectable chance you’re not even utilizing some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can easily be a better and more affordable fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very deliberate regarding growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is designed to be, it is just one of the very best video games in town today. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the complimentary account to be rather feature rich.