I have actually made use of a lot of various e-mail list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a substantial advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. For that reason (and the awesome features), I have been using Beehiiv The Popehat Report.
So, it is undoubtedly an odd move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I want to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to resolve the concern of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly likewise such as to resolve why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Shift In Method, I discussed exactly how and why I made a decision to transform my motor home blog site into primarily a newsletter. I decided that was business design I wanted to seek with that said residential or commercial property.
Yet, to intentionally seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email checklist for Gladly recreational vehicle, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. Much more on that in a little bit.
As I said because concern of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed into it specific to my function. Points such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send the email all at once without having it be 2 different activities.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at growth. The system was essentially developed by the individuals that developed the innovation for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I might certainly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went all out. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own home to ensure that I can expand it extra deliberately too.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown separately. Happily motor home was young, so very easy to transition. However, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff 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 undoubtedly constantly be closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, however does not need to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv because it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email Listing
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail checklist.
You can host your email checklist anyplace you want and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your website and to your email customers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that internet site. However, you are additionally sending off to all customers at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much less complex.
With a lot of email systems, any newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed totally separately from your web site. So, as an example, you may publish a write-up to WordPress but then you would certainly need to individually build and send an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are after that 2 separate collections of archives and two separate actions due to the fact that blog posts and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a real newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it virtually “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and enables them to be the same point. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I intended to continue to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the development devices that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally includes a various collection of demands than a common email list.
You don’t normally require much marketing automation. You don’t normally need autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless posting experience and development tools to aid you develop your customer base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced 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 truth that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I think Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that originally obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to newsletter authors. In fact, it is actually built by the same folks who developed the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I want right here.
- That branding and distinction additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and large publications using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo makers. Once again, it simply informs me the client avatar difference between the two business.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only factor I would certainly consider drinking points up is if I assumed I could expand the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I actually don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight rivals.
But, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by individuals that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more tailored towards makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies personalized fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send an e-mail. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as brand-new activities, such as customizing custom-made fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations simply given that I started utilizing the platform. For example:
- Capability to trigger automations based upon which specific embed type they can be found in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this since the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it pertains to writing your newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I discover it to be a lot more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface is nice and clean, however it would certainly be a lot more comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than just form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can put Visibility options on that particular section to reveal it only to paid customers, conceal it from e-mail, hide from clients, reveal just to subscribers, and so on. Substack offers absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium registration design, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of earnings. In fact, you actually connect as much as your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending upon the amount of customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear nerdy, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv work with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was more built toward real email marketing. It was developed by people who “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page creates seem far better developed 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 instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually claimed, Substack positions itself toward “makers” more than e-mail online marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points geared extra toward individuals that just think in regards to web content creation.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are treated quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … trendy for people that could need it.
Substack additionally has even more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host chats with clients. It also has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. On the whole, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media which supports long-form content.
Overall, Substack is likewise much more … minimalist. You either take care of that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works quite well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to real marketing, I don’t believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better matched. I tried to find more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a tough time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly via to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the very same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more strongly dealing with people that do it for company. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is a truly nice system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is well known already. Yet, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it comes to it’s automations. I will likewise claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is simply a fundamental feature of e-mail listings that makes it possible for division in an even more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support identifying at some point soon, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv The Popehat Report.
ConvertKit does currently offer the ability to sell things through their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always choose an extra direct option anyhow. For me, I favor to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and because of that has way a lot more integration choices. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this more very closely places ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you be able to release to your website and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with perks, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are truly incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most popular viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall wherefore this means for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv The Popehat Report
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it likewise implies that they are rapidly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed virtually once a week launch of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … yet big features that are quite important. Their speed of development now has been impressive.
I likewise quite appreciate how responsive they are. In fact, among their item news regarding some layout improvements to the web design features actually contained a tiny problem with the content size. I just replied to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the concern was fixed.
Few days later on, I provided one more idea …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based upon the embed type made use of was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I truly value.
Another major factor of differentiation below is the price. Both systems offer cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan uses a lot more ability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also much more favorable. ConvertKit appears more affordable initially glance since their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nonetheless the subscriber limitations are FAR reduced and your price promptly enhances as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same dimension listing is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your listing as much as 100,000. A checklist of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different organization when it concerns pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point enhance costs? They might as time goes on. Yet, I’m thinking people like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you certainly require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to develop instead rapidly and make brand-new item announcements somewhat commonly, but there are some basic features I actually wish they had that I require to simply wait for.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription kinds where I might choose an automation to run right at the kind level. That would be outstanding for a lot of factors. Already, membership kinds look OK, but there’s really little settings for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have tagging at the customer degree. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks must belong to automations to make built-in automations much easier and reduce dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some small management interface modifications that would certainly come in handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit articles (for instance, to identify a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as standard on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more personalization alternatives for the website (such as more versatile shade selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I wish they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t perfect and certainly not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it would not a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I guess you never recognize, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Sufficient where I decided to change my own e-newsletters over to the platform regardless of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own platform.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter posting model particularly, I saw adequate worth in their platform to require the adjustment.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is good at, yet I deliberately have things set up so that I additionally maintain my checklist “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance policy, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch needs to be pretty simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a large email list and are as a result being wooled with their high month-to-month costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating swiftly. There’s also a pretty good possibility you’re not also using several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can quickly be a much better and much more affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really willful regarding growing a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is created to be, it is one of the very best games in town now. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the free account to be rather feature abundant.