I have actually utilized a lot of various e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. Therefore (and the incredible features), I have actually been making use of Beehiiv Vs Contentful.
So, it is without a doubt a strange move for me to decide to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly 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 e-newsletters. I want to address the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I ‘d likewise like to attend to why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Shift In Method, I spoke about how and why I made a decision to transform my RV blog into mostly a newsletter. I made a decision that was business model I wished to go after with that building.
Yet, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily RV, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. Much more on that particular in a little bit.
As I claimed because problem of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed right into it details to my function. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send the email at the same time without having it be two separate actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click subscription web links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I choose to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The platform was essentially developed by the people who built up the innovation for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went for it. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own home to make sure that I can expand it more intentionally also.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to change. Yet, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will undoubtedly constantly be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not need to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv because it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email Listing
There’s a distinction between a newsletter platform and simply an e-mail listing.
You can hold your email checklist just about anywhere you desire and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting indicates that it is going to your web site and to your email clients all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that web site. But, you are likewise sending to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are all in one. This makes administration of the system much easier.
With the majority of email platforms, any newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed entirely independently from your internet site. So, for example, you could publish a post to WordPress however then you would certainly need to individually construct and send an e-mail to your checklist to send it to customers. These are then two different sets of archives and two different activities due to the fact that blog posts and your emails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that transforms 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 enables them to be the same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I intended to remain to self-host whatever. However, you would certainly shed the growth tools that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally features a different collection of requirements than a typical e-mail checklist.
You don’t generally need much marketing automation. You don’t typically need autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, though, is one smooth publishing experience and growth devices to assist you build your subscriber base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I chose to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not mean I think Substack sucks. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that originally got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter authors. Actually, it is actually built by the exact same folks who developed the modern technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Growth is what I want right here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brands and big magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo makers. Once again, it just tells me the consumer character difference between the two companies.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only reason I would consider drinking points up is if I thought I could expand the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I actually don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct competitors.
But, allow’s dive deeper than simply the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by individuals that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears much more geared towards creators.
For example, BeeHiiv offers personalized areas on customers. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an e-mail. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers as well as new activities, such as customizing customized fields, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations simply because I began making use of the platform. For example:
- Capability to trigger automations based upon which specific embed type they came in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and handle people based on opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can not do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply would not believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it concerns composing your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply more geared toward newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I discover it to be much more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s writing interface behaves and tidy, yet it would be much more equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than just form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and then put anything you want in it. Then, you can place Presence choices on that particular area to show it only to paid clients, hide it from email, hide from clients, show just to subscribers, etc. Substack uses nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any type of revenue. Actually, you essentially link approximately your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Depending upon the number of clients you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the regular monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv deal with the outside utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations at all.
On the whole, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was more developed toward genuine e-mail marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page makes seem far better built for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack settings itself toward “makers” greater than email marketers and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points tailored extra toward individuals that just think in regards to content creation.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are treated rather independently. 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 may need it.
Substack also has more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host chats with clients. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. In general, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media which sustains long-form web content.
On the whole, Substack is also more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack works pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns real marketing, I don’t think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I tried to find even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually via to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the very same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at developers (like Substack), but it is a lot more strongly dealing with individuals who do it for company. ConvertKit has great visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a really wonderful platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, below’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more versatility when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly additionally state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is just a fundamental function of e-mail lists that enables division in a far more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support labeling at some time quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Vs Contentful.
ConvertKit does now provide the capability to offer things by means of their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always pick an extra direct choice anyhow. For me, I choose to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and because of that has way more integration options. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For instance, their plugin currently also supports member-gated content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this a lot more very closely places ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you be able to release to your site and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active taking on the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with advantages, but you can additionally pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are really remarkable features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall wherefore this indicates for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Vs Contentful
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also means that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed nearly regular launch of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … however big features that are fairly crucial. Their speed of development now has been impressive.
I additionally very much appreciate how receptive they are. Actually, among their product announcements regarding some design improvements to the web design features in fact contained a little trouble with the web content width. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the concern was fixed.
Few days later, I gave them another idea …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based upon the embed kind used was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I actually value.
An additional significant factor of distinction here is the rate. Both systems use cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers a lot more capacity and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more desirable. ConvertKit appears less expensive in the beginning glimpse since their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the subscriber restrictions are much reduced and your price rapidly raises as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same size checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly use), you can grow your listing approximately 100,000. A listing of that size would certainly 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 each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely different league when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually raise rates? They may as time goes on. Yet, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the things you definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to evolve rather quickly and make new item announcements somewhat frequently, however there are some standard features I really desire they had that I require to simply wait for.
One is that they require to have a setting on registration forms where I can pick an automation to run right at the type degree. That would certainly be outstanding for many factors. Already, registration forms look OK, however there’s really little settings for them to assist in division.
It would behave to have labeling at the client level. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks should become part of automations to make integrated automations simpler and reduce dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative interface adjustments that would certainly come in handy. As an example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Capability to mass edit messages (as an example, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic areas as conventional on customers (like the name).
- Some more modification choices for the site (such as more adaptable shade choices, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I wish they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t excellent and definitely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It possibly never ever will certainly be, either. As I stated, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I guess you never understand, though.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Enough where I chose to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform regardless of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter publishing version specifically, I saw adequate value in their platform to call for the change.
Keep in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique email listing. I use BeeHiiv of what it is good at, but I purposefully have things set up so that I also maintain my list “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply an excellent insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack right now, I ‘d certainly take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and various demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button must be rather uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a huge email list and are therefore being wooled with their high monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating swiftly. There’s additionally a pretty good opportunity you’re not even using several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could easily be a much better and extra cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really deliberate concerning expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is made to be, it is just one of the best games in the area today. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be quite feature rich.