I have used a great deal of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own platform. Because of that (and the awesome features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Tip Jar.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to choose to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to resolve the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly also such as to address why I chose to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Change In Approach, I spoke about exactly how and why I determined to turn my recreational vehicle blog site right into mainly a newsletter. I made a decision that was the business version I intended to go after with that residential or commercial property.
But, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email list for Happily motor home, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Extra on that in a little bit.
As I claimed in that issue of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed right into it specific to my function. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send out the email all at once without having it be two different activities.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in 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 select to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features targeted at growth. The system was essentially constructed by the people that developed the technology for Early morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I might certainly be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I simply went all out. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential or commercial property to ensure that I can grow it a lot more deliberately as well.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Happily motor home was young, so very easy to shift. But, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will undoubtedly constantly be closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not have to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email List
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail list.
You can host your e-mail checklist just about anywhere 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 difference?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting suggests that it is going to your site and to your email clients simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that web site. But, you are also sending to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much less complex.
With the majority of e-mail systems, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed completely individually from your internet site. So, for example, you may release an article to WordPress however after that you would require to independently develop and send an e-mail to your list to send it to clients. These are after that two different sets of archives and 2 different actions because blog posts and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it pretty much “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong choice if I wished to remain to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you would certainly shed the growth tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently comes with a various set of demands than a typical email listing.
You don’t typically require much marketing automation. You don’t typically require autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth publishing experience and development devices to help you construct your subscriber base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I selected to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I believe Substack draws. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has actually been around longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that initially got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is literally developed by the same folks that developed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. But, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I have an interest in below.
- That branding and distinction additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and huge publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo designers. Again, it just informs me the consumer avatar distinction in between the two firms.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only reason I would contemplate shaking things up is if I believed I could expand the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I actually do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight competitors.
Yet, let’s dive much deeper than just the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by individuals that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra geared toward designers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies personalized areas on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly restricted in triggers and the only action is the ability to send out an email. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as changing customized areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations just since I started using the platform. For example:
- Capability to set off automations based upon which specific embed type they was available in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this since the target market of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it pertains to composing your e-newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is just more tailored towards e-newsletters. In fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I find it to be extra instinctive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and clean, yet it would certainly be a lot more equivalent to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than just type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and afterwards placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can place Presence choices on that area to show it just to paid subscribers, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from customers, show just to customers, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of profits. In fact, you actually attach approximately your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending upon the amount of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear unpopular, however what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations at all.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more built towards real e-mail marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page develops seem better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack positions itself towards “developers” more than email online marketers and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some things tailored more toward individuals who simply believe in regards to material development.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are dealt with quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … awesome for individuals who may need it.
Substack also has more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host talks with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” function which works sort of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. Overall, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social network which sustains long-form content.
In general, Substack is likewise a lot more … minimalist. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it involves real marketing, I don’t assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I tried to find more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually through to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is also placed at makers (like Substack), yet it is much more strongly dealing with individuals who do it for company. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is a truly good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature break down right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is just a basic function of e-mail listings that enables division in an even more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain identifying eventually soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Tip Jar.
ConvertKit does currently provide the ability to sell things by means of their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly select a more straight option anyway. For me, I like to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and for that reason has way much more integration options. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For example, their plugin currently even supports member-gated web content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this much more closely puts ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you be able to publish to your site and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active dealing with the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with advantages, but you can also pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are truly awesome features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface of what this indicates for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Tip Jar
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also means that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed practically weekly release of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … but huge features that are quite important. Their rate of growth at this point has gone over.
I likewise significantly value exactly how responsive they are. In fact, one of their item news about some layout improvements to the website design features really had a tiny problem with the content size. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the issue was repaired.
Couple of days later, I gave them one more pointer …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to activate automations based on the embed type utilized was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I actually value.
Another major point of distinction right here is the rate. Both platforms offer cost-free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides 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 even more positive. ConvertKit seems less costly in the beginning glance since their pricing page shows lower numbers, nonetheless the customer limits are much reduced and your price swiftly boosts as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same size listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly make use of), you can expand your listing approximately 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely different league when it pertains to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase prices? They could as time takes place. Yet, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you most definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to develop rather swiftly and make brand-new item statements rather commonly, but there are some basic features I truly want they had that I need to simply wait for.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription forms where I might choose an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be amazing for many factors. Currently, subscription types look OK, however there’s really little setups for them to aid in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have identifying at the customer degree. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks ought to belong to automations to make built-in automations less complicated and minimize reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor administrative user interface adjustments that would certainly be handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capability to bulk edit messages (for instance, to identify a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as common on clients (like the name).
- Some even more personalization options for the website (such as more adaptable color choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t ideal and certainly not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It probably never will be, either. As I stated, the function is different so it wouldn’t much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever know, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to change my own newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing version especially, I saw sufficient value in their platform to warrant the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, however I purposefully have things set up so that I likewise maintain my list “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance plan, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d certainly think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and different needs. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch ought to be pretty uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a big e-mail checklist and are for that reason being fleeced with their high regular monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating swiftly. There’s also a respectable possibility you’re not even making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a far better and extra inexpensive fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very deliberate about growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is created to be, it is just one of the very best games in the area today. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be rather feature rich.