I have utilized a great deal of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. For that reason (and the remarkable features), I have been using Beehiiv Teammates.
So, it is undoubtedly a weird move for me to make a decision to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held 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 wish to deal with the issue of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d also like to address why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Change In Strategy, I spoke about just how and why I chose to transform my motor home blog site right into primarily a newsletter. I made a decision that was business design I wished to pursue with that said residential or commercial property.
But, to purposefully pursue it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly RV, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that particular in a little bit.
As I claimed in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed right into it particular to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send the e-mail simultaneously without having it be two different activities.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click registration links. Great for promo in various other e-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 select to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The platform was essentially constructed by the individuals who built up the modern technology for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went all out. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own building to make sure that I can expand it much more deliberately also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Happily RV was young, so easy to transition. Yet, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of things right here 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 undoubtedly constantly be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Listing
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and just an e-mail listing.
You can host your email checklist just about anywhere you want 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 implies that it is mosting likely to your website and to your e-mail customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are publishing to that internet site. However, you are also sending off to all customers at the same time. The site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much simpler.
With many email platforms, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed totally individually from your website. So, for example, you may publish a short article to WordPress however then you would certainly require to separately build and send out an email to your listing to send it to subscribers. These are then 2 separate sets of archives and two separate actions 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 due to the fact that it pretty much “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and allows them to be the very same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I wished to continue to self-host everything. However, you would certainly lose the development devices that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally includes a different collection of needs than a normal email list.
You don’t typically need much marketing automation. You do not usually require autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one smooth posting experience and development tools to aid you build your customer base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed 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 choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I chose to go with BeeHiiv, that does not mean I think Substack draws. Actually, because Substack has actually been about longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that at first obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is essentially built by the same folks who developed the technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I want right here.
- That branding and distinction likewise indicates that BeeHiiv has some rather large brands and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Once more, it just informs me the client character difference between the two companies.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM really did not specifically suck. The only reason I would contemplate shaking things up is if I thought I could GROW the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I actually don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight competitors.
Yet, allow’s dive much deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv seems like it was built by people that understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more geared toward makers.
As an example, BeeHiiv provides custom fields on customers. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still quite limited in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an e-mail. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers along with new actions, such as modifying customized fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations just because I began utilizing the system. For instance:
- Capacity to activate automations based upon which particular embed type they can be found in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and manage individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can not do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it involves composing your e-newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more geared toward newsletters. Actually, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be much more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface behaves and clean, but it would be much more equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and after that placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can place Exposure choices on that section to show it just to paid customers, conceal it from email, conceal from customers, reveal just to subscribers, etc. Substack supplies absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of earnings. In fact, you literally attach up to your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending on how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more money than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was much more built towards real email marketing. It was constructed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page develops seem much better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack placements itself towards “designers” greater than e-mail marketing experts and e-newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points geared a lot more towards individuals who just assume in terms of material development.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous magazines, they are dealt with fairly individually. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … cool for individuals who might require it.
Substack also has more social performance built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host chats with customers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works type of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Overall, Substack is set up to be much more like a social media which sustains long-form web content.
In general, Substack is also more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it comes to actual marketing, I don’t assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I searched for even more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a tough time finding 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 rivals. Both are pursuing the same target market and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is also placed at makers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly satisfying individuals who do it for business. ConvertKit has good visual automation structure, it’s very own business platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly wonderful platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, below’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has more versatility when it involves it’s automations. I will also say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is simply a fundamental feature of e-mail listings that enables segmentation in a far more adaptable means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support tagging at some time soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Teammates.
ConvertKit does now supply the ability to market things via their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always select a much more straight choice anyhow. For me, I prefer to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and for that reason has way a lot more integration choices. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For example, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this extra carefully puts ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you be able to publish to your site and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly lacking in these sort of third-party integrations presently. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic dealing with the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, yet you can also pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are actually incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most well known viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface for what this means for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Teammates
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise suggests that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced nearly regular release of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … yet large features that are fairly crucial. Their rate of growth now has been impressive.
I additionally very much value exactly how receptive they are. Actually, one of their product statements about some design enhancements to the website design features really consisted of a little trouble with the material size. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the concern was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I provided one more suggestion …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to trigger automations based upon the embed type utilized was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I actually value.
Another major point of distinction right here is the price. Both platforms provide totally free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers much more capacity and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise FAR more favorable. ConvertKit appears more affordable at first glimpse due to the fact that their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, however the client restrictions are FAR lower and your rate promptly raises as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That very same dimension list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly use), you can grow your checklist up to 100,000. A list of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally various organization when it concerns pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise rates? They could as time goes on. Yet, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you certainly require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to evolve instead quickly and make new item statements rather usually, yet there are some basic features I truly wish they had that I require to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription forms where I could pick an automation to run right at the kind level. That would certainly be amazing for numerous factors. Currently, registration forms look OK, however there’s very little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have labeling at the customer degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks ought to belong to automations to make built-in automations simpler and minimize reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor administrative interface changes that would come in handy. As an example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to bulk edit articles (for example, to mark a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental fields as basic on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more modification alternatives for the site (such as even more flexible color choices, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I hope they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t excellent and definitely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I stated, the purpose is different so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever recognize, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Enough where I made a decision to change my very own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting version particularly, I saw sufficient value in their system to require the adjustment.
Bear in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my unique email list. I use BeeHiiv for what it is good at, however I intentionally have things set up to make sure that I likewise maintain my checklist “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is just an excellent insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d absolutely think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be more business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and various demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button should be quite simple.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a big e-mail listing and are as a result being wooled with their high regular monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating swiftly. There’s also a respectable opportunity 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 better and a lot more economical fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really intentional regarding growing a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is made to be, it is just one of the most effective games in the area today. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the cost-free account to be rather feature rich.