I have actually made use of a great deal of various email list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. Therefore (and the incredible features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Time Magazine.
So, it is undoubtedly a strange move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I wish to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to resolve the concern of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I ‘d also like to resolve why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Shift In Strategy, I spoke about just how and why I determined to transform my motor home blog site right into mostly a newsletter. I decided that was business design I intended to seek keeping that residential or commercial property.
Yet, to purposefully pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email listing for Gladly motor home, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. More on that particular in a little bit.
As I stated because concern of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed right into it details to my function. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send out the email at the same time without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click registration links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are means to do that.
- Capability 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 ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at growth. The platform was actually developed by the people who developed the innovation for Morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I may without a doubt be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I just went all out. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own building so that I can grow it a lot more purposefully also.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded independently. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so easy to change. But, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of things here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly always be very closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail list.
You can organize your email listing just about anywhere you want and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your email clients concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that site. Yet, you are also dispatching to all customers at the same time. The web site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes administration of the platform much simpler.
With many e-mail platforms, any e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed totally separately from your website. So, for example, you might publish a short article to WordPress yet after that you would require to individually develop and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are after that 2 different collections of archives and two different actions since blog posts and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it pretty much “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and permits them to be the very same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I wished to remain to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you would certainly shed the growth devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently includes a different collection of needs than a common e-mail list.
You don’t normally need much marketing automation. You do not generally require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth publishing experience and growth tools to assist you build your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was going to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I chose to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I assume Substack draws. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has been around much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that initially got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to e-newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally built by the very same people that developed the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. But, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation also means that BeeHiiv has some relatively big brands and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo makers. Again, it simply informs me the customer avatar distinction in between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only reason I would contemplate shaking things up is if I thought I might GROW the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I actually don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct competitors.
But, allow’s dive deeper than just the placing here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv seems like it was constructed by individuals that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more tailored towards developers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers personalized areas on customers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers in addition to brand-new activities, such as customizing customized fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen enhancements to their automations just because I began using the platform. For example:
- Capability to activate automations based on which particular embed kind they can be found in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and take care of people based on opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it involves writing your newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is simply more geared toward newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I discover it to be much more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface is nice and tidy, yet it would certainly be extra comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than just kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and afterwards put anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Exposure choices on that particular area to reveal it just to paid subscribers, conceal it from email, conceal from subscribers, show only to subscribers, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs membership design, BeeHiiv does not take any income. Actually, you literally attach as much as your very own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Depending upon the number of clients you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, however what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv work with the outside using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
On the whole, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was more built toward real email marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page creates seem better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack placements itself towards “makers” greater than e-mail marketers and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some things tailored more towards individuals that just think in regards to content creation.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are treated rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, yet … awesome for individuals who could require it.
Substack likewise has even more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a conversation function to host chats with customers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which functions sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. In general, Substack is set up to be more like a social network which sustains long-form web content.
On the whole, Substack is likewise much more … minimal. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, frankly, features … Substack works pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better matched. I tried to find more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a difficult time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically via to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at makers (like Substack), however it is much more highly dealing with people who do it for business. ConvertKit has nice visual automation building, it’s own business platform, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure here. ConvertKit is well known already. Yet, here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly additionally say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is just a standard function of email checklists that allows division in a much more versatile method than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling at some time soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Time Magazine.
ConvertKit does now provide the capacity to sell things through their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would constantly select a much more straight option anyway. For me, I prefer to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and for that reason has way a lot more integration options. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For instance, their plugin now even supports member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this more very closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with perks, however you can additionally pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are really outstanding features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall of what this indicates for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Time Magazine
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also implies that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced practically weekly release of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … however huge features that are fairly crucial. Their speed of growth at this point has been impressive.
I also quite value how receptive they are. In fact, among their item statements about some layout improvements to the web design features in fact contained a small issue with the content width. I just responded to that email to tell them. I swiftly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the concern was taken care of.
Few days later, I provided another tip …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to cause automations based on the embed kind used was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I truly appreciate.
One more significant point of distinction right here is the price. Both systems supply free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers much more ability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more positive. ConvertKit seems less costly in the beginning glance because their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the client restrictions are much reduced and your rate quickly boosts as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same size checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly use), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A list of that size would certainly 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 each year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely various organization when it involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately raise rates? They might as time goes on. But, I’m thinking people like myself that are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of things you definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to evolve rather quickly and make brand-new item announcements somewhat often, yet there are some standard features I really want they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription forms where I can pick an automation to run right at the type level. That would certainly be AWESOME for many factors. As of now, subscription kinds look OK, but there’s very little setups for them to help in division.
It would be nice to have labeling at the client level. This would be powerful.
I think webhooks must be part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and reduce reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative interface changes that would be handy. For instance:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Ability to mass edit articles (as an example, to identify a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as conventional on customers (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the web site (such as even more flexible color options, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t perfect and absolutely not nearly as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It most likely never will be, either. As I stated, the function is different so it would not much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I think you never know, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Sufficient where I decided to switch my own e-newsletters over to the platform despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own system.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing model specifically, I saw enough value in their system to require the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail list. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is proficient at, however I deliberately have points establish to make sure that I additionally maintain my checklist “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is simply an excellent insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform 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 utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely consider changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different needs. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch must be rather simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a large email listing and are therefore being wooled with their high month-to-month expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s also a respectable possibility you’re not even making use of a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might easily be a much better and extra cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really intentional concerning expanding an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is designed to be, it is among the very best games in the area right now. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be rather feature abundant.