I have actually utilized a lot of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own system. Because of that (and the incredible features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv The News.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to decide 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 discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to resolve the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I would certainly also such as to attend to why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Change In Strategy, I spoke about just how and why I determined to turn my recreational vehicle blog site right into mainly a newsletter. I chose that was the business model I wanted to pursue keeping that property.
But, to deliberately seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email listing for Gladly recreational vehicle, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, utilizing it for newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that particular in a bit.
As I stated because concern of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices built into it certain to my objective. Points such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send the e-mail concurrently without having it be two different activities.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I choose to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features targeted at growth. The system was actually constructed by the individuals who developed the technology for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I might certainly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I simply went for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own building to ensure that I can expand it extra purposefully too.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to change. However, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will obviously constantly be very closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but does not need to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Listing
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter system and just an email checklist.
You can host your email list just about anywhere you desire and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing suggests that it is mosting likely to your site and to your email clients simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that web site. But, you are additionally dispatching to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are done in one. This makes administration of the platform much less complex.
With the majority of email platforms, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built totally independently from your site. So, as an example, you could release a post to WordPress yet then you would require to independently develop and send out an email to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that two separate sets of archives and 2 separate actions because post and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the exact same point. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid option if I wished to continue to self-host everything. However, you would certainly lose the growth devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally features a various collection of requirements than a regular e-mail list.
You don’t usually require much marketing automation. You don’t usually require autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to help you develop your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I chose to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I assume Substack sucks. Actually, since Substack has actually been about much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that at first got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter publishers. Actually, it is essentially constructed by the exact same people who built the innovation behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and distinction also implies that BeeHiiv has some rather huge brands and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo makers. Again, it just tells me the customer avatar difference between both firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only factor I would consider trembling points up is if I assumed I could expand the list much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight competitors.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than just the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv seems like it was developed by people that understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared towards makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv provides custom-made areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still quite restricted in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send out an email. However, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have new triggers along with new activities, such as modifying custom fields, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations just since I started using the system. As an example:
- Capability to trigger automations based upon which particular embed type they was available in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard 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 wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketer.
When it concerns creating your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored toward e-newsletters. In fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I discover it to be extra intuitive, personally.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and clean, yet it would certainly be extra comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than simply kind. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and after that placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Presence alternatives on that section to show it just to paid clients, conceal it from email, conceal from clients, reveal just to subscribers, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium registration design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of earnings. As a matter of fact, you literally attach approximately your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Relying on the amount of clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
Generally, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more constructed toward real e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page makes seem much better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack placements itself towards “designers” greater than e-mail marketing experts and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things geared much more towards people that simply assume in terms of content development.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are dealt with rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, yet … awesome for people who might require it.
Substack likewise has even more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host talks with customers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is established to be more like a social media network which sustains long-form web content.
Generally, Substack is likewise more … minimal. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it involves real marketing, I don’t assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better suited. I searched for even more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a tough time finding 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 rivals. Both are pursuing the very same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at designers (like Substack), however it is far more strongly catering to people that do it for business. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation structure, it’s own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is a really wonderful platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown here. ConvertKit is popular already. But, below’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has more adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly also claim that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is simply a basic feature of e-mail checklists that enables division in a much more adaptable means than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling at some point soon, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv The News.
ConvertKit does currently provide the capability to offer things via their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly constantly select an extra straight option anyway. For me, I choose to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way much more integration alternatives. Tons of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For instance, their plugin now even supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this more closely puts ConvertKit into straight competition by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic taking on the development tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with advantages, but you can likewise pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are truly outstanding features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most popular viral promo platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface of what this means for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv The News
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise suggests that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed almost regular release of new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … however huge features that are fairly essential. Their speed of development now has gone over.
I likewise significantly appreciate exactly how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, among their product news regarding some layout enhancements to the website design features really had a little issue with the content width. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I swiftly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the problem was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I provided an additional suggestion …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based on the embed type used was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I truly value.
Another major factor of distinction below is the rate. Both platforms provide free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies a lot more capability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more desirable. ConvertKit seems more affordable at first look due to the fact that their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, however the customer limitations are FAR lower and your cost swiftly enhances as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That 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 use), you can expand your list up to 100,000. A listing of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in a totally various organization when it comes to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately raise rates? They might as time goes on. However, I’m thinking people like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you certainly require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to develop instead rapidly and make new product announcements somewhat often, but there are some basic features I really wish they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership types where I can select an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be AWESOME for a lot of reasons. As of now, membership forms look OK, but there’s extremely little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would behave to have labeling at the subscriber level. This would be powerful.
I think webhooks need to become part of automations to make built-in automations simpler and decrease dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor administrative user interface adjustments that would come in handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capability to bulk edit messages (as an example, to tag a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental areas as typical on clients (like the name).
- Some more customization options for the website (such as even more versatile color options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I hope they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t ideal and certainly not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It probably never will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the function is different so it would not much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation system. I think you never know, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the platform regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and owning my very own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing version particularly, I saw enough worth in their system to necessitate the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique email listing. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, but I intentionally have points set up to make sure that I also keep my list “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just a great insurance coverage, 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 question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are using Substack right now, I ‘d definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch needs to be pretty straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a big email listing and are for that reason being fleeced with their high monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating swiftly. There’s additionally a respectable chance you’re not also utilizing some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv might quickly be a better and extra inexpensive fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful regarding growing a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is designed to be, it is one of the most effective games around now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be fairly feature abundant.