I have used a great deal of various email list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a substantial advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. Because of that (and the awesome features), I have been using Beehiiv TWIST.
So, it is without a doubt a weird move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I want to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d also such as to attend to why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Change In Strategy, I spoke about how and why I determined to turn my RV blog into primarily an e-newsletter. I chose that was the business model I intended to seek with that building.
Yet, to purposefully seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. 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. Much more on that particular in a little bit.
As I claimed in that problem of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed right into it certain to my purpose. Points such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog site) and send the e-mail at the same time without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly 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 Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click registration web links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I choose to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The system was essentially developed by the individuals that built up the innovation for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I may indeed be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I just went for it. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential property to make sure that I can expand it extra deliberately as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so simple to shift. But, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff right 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 certainly always be very closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email List
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and just an email checklist.
You can organize your email listing just about anywhere you want and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing indicates that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your email customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that site. Yet, you are also sending to all clients at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the system much simpler.
With a lot of email platforms, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built completely independently from your website. So, as an example, you might publish a short article to WordPress but after that you would need to separately build and send an email to your checklist to send it to customers. These are then 2 separate collections of archives and 2 separate activities since blog posts and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it pretty much “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the very same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong choice if I intended to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the growth tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally features a various set of demands than a typical e-mail checklist.
You don’t normally require much marketing automation. You do not typically need autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless publishing experience and development devices to aid you construct your subscriber base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I chose to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I think Substack draws. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been about longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that originally obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to e-newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is essentially developed by the very same people that developed the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. Yet, the obvious 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 differentiation additionally means that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brands and big magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo designers. Again, it simply informs me the consumer avatar difference between the two companies.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM really did not precisely draw. The only factor I would consider drinking points up is if I thought I might GROW the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I actually do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight rivals.
But, let’s dive much deeper than simply the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv looks like it was developed by individuals that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared towards developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as customizing custom fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations simply considering that I started utilizing the system. As an example:
- Ability to activate automations based upon which particular embed form they can be found in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and take care of people based on opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it involves writing your e-newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored towards newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I discover it to be more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s composing interface is nice and clean, however it would certainly be extra equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than just form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and after that put anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Exposure alternatives on that particular area to reveal it just to paid customers, conceal it from e-mail, hide from customers, show just to clients, etc. Substack offers absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium registration model, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of earnings. Actually, you actually link approximately your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Relying on the number of customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, but what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
In general, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra constructed toward actual email marketing. It was constructed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page designs seem better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack positions itself toward “designers” more than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some points tailored more towards people who just assume in regards to material development.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are dealt with quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … trendy for people that might need it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host chats with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” function which functions kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media network which supports long-form web content.
Generally, Substack is additionally extra … minimalist. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I don’t. However, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works pretty well.
Yet, I’ll be clear right here …
When it involves actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better suited. I searched for even more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically through to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at developers (like Substack), but it is much more strongly satisfying people that do it for business. ConvertKit has nice visual automation building, it’s own business system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a really wonderful system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is well known already. However, here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has much more adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will likewise say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is just a basic feature of email checklists that enables segmentation in an even more versatile method than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling at some time quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv TWIST.
ConvertKit does now supply the capability to sell things via their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would constantly pick a more straight option anyhow. For me, I like to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and because of that has way much more integration alternatives. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. As an example, their plugin now even supports member-gated web content in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this a lot more carefully places ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly doing not have in these type of third-party integrations presently. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with perks, but you can also pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are really amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most popular viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface for what this suggests for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv TWIST
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it also indicates that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed almost weekly launch of new features into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … however large features that are fairly vital. Their rate of development at this moment has actually been impressive.
I additionally significantly value exactly how responsive they are. Actually, one of their item announcements about some layout enhancements to the web design features actually included a small issue with the web content size. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the concern was fixed.
Couple of days later, I gave them an additional tip …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to trigger automations based on the embed type used was added to the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I actually value.
Another major factor of distinction below is the rate. Both systems use totally free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies a lot more capability 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 even more favorable. ConvertKit seems more affordable in the beginning glance because their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, nonetheless the subscriber restrictions are FAR lower and your rate quickly increases as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That very same dimension listing 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 personally utilize), you can expand your listing as much as 100,000. A listing of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various league when it pertains to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately raise costs? They might as time goes on. However, I’m guessing people like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the important things you definitely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to advance rather quickly and make new item news rather frequently, yet there are some standard features I actually wish they had that I require to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setup on subscription kinds where I might select an automation to run right at the kind level. That would certainly be amazing for a lot of factors. Already, subscription forms look OK, however there’s very little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would behave to have marking at the subscriber level. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks must belong to automations to make built-in automations easier and decrease dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some small administrative interface changes that would be handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Ability to bulk edit posts (for example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic areas as common on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the web site (such as even more versatile shade selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t perfect and absolutely not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It most likely never will be, either. As I stated, the purpose is various so it would not a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I think you never understand, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Enough where I determined to change my very own newsletters over to the system in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my very own system.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing version especially, I saw enough worth in their platform to call for the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique email checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, yet I deliberately have points set up to ensure that I likewise keep my checklist “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d most definitely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and various needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button must be pretty simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a big e-mail checklist and are as a result being fleeced with their high monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s also a respectable possibility you’re not even using several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a better and more inexpensive fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful about expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is one of the very best video games around today. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv uses 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 totally free account to be quite feature abundant.