I have utilized a great deal 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 having your own platform. Because of that (and the remarkable features), I have been utilizing Beehiiv WITB.
So, it is indeed a weird move for me to make a decision to utilize BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to address the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I would certainly additionally like to deal with why I chose to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Shift In Strategy, I discussed exactly how and why I chose to transform my motor home blog into mainly an e-newsletter. I determined that was business model I intended to go after keeping that residential or commercial property.
However, to deliberately pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that in a bit.
As I claimed in that concern of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices built into it particular to my purpose. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send the email concurrently without having it be two different activities.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click registration links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at growth. The platform was literally constructed by the people who developed the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They know 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 finished off with this:.
I might certainly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I just went all out. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential property so that I can grow it extra purposefully too.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown independently. Happily motor home was young, so very easy to transition. However, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff right here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will certainly always be closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a distinction in between a newsletter system and simply an e-mail listing.
You can hold your e-mail list anywhere you want and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main distinction is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your email customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that internet 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 platform much less complex.
With the majority of e-mail platforms, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built totally separately from your site. So, as an example, you may release a post to WordPress but after that you would certainly need to individually develop and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that two different sets of archives and two different actions due to the fact that blog posts and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a true e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it basically “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and allows them to be the exact same point. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wished to continue to self-host everything. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the development devices that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally includes a various set of needs than a typical e-mail checklist.
You do not usually need much marketing automation. You don’t normally 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 develop your customer base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I selected to select BeeHiiv, that does not mean I believe Substack sucks. In fact, because Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that at first obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is literally developed by the same individuals that developed the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. However, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I have an interest in here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise means that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brand names and big magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo makers. Once more, it just informs me the consumer character distinction between the two firms.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only factor I would certainly ponder drinking points up is if I assumed I could expand the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I really do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight competitors.
Yet, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by people who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more tailored towards developers.
For example, BeeHiiv uses custom areas on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send an e-mail. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have new triggers as well as new actions, such as customizing custom-made fields, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations simply since I began utilizing the system. For instance:
- Capacity to activate automations based upon which details embed kind they can be found in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and manage individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Ability 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 market of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it comes to creating your newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I locate it to be a lot more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface is nice and clean, yet it would certainly be a lot more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than simply kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Presence alternatives on that particular area to reveal it only to paid customers, conceal it from email, hide from clients, show only to clients, and so on. 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. As a matter of fact, you literally attach as much as your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Relying on the amount of subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, but what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
Generally, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was a lot more constructed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was built by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes appear far better developed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack settings itself toward “developers” more than e-mail online marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points geared a lot more towards people that just assume in regards to content creation.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are dealt with quite individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … cool for individuals that might need it.
Substack additionally has even more social capability built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host chats with customers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. Overall, Substack is established to be more like a social media which supports long-form material.
In general, Substack is also a lot more … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I do not. However, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions quite well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it concerns real marketing, I do not think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better fit. I tried to find even more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a difficult time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually 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 comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at makers (like Substack), however it is a lot more highly satisfying individuals that do it for company. ConvertKit has nice visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is a truly wonderful platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is well known currently. But, below’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has more adaptability when it involves it’s automations. I will also state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is just a standard function of email lists that enables segmentation in an even more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support marking at some point quickly, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv WITB.
ConvertKit does now give the capacity to sell points via their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would constantly choose a more direct alternative anyhow. For me, I choose to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and because of that has way more integration alternatives. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For example, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this much more carefully places ConvertKit right into straight competition by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with advantages, however you can likewise pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are actually remarkable features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most popular viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall for what this means for the platform going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv WITB
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it additionally implies that they are quickly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen almost weekly launch of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … however huge features that are rather vital. Their rate of advancement now has gone over.
I additionally quite value just how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their item announcements concerning some design enhancements to the website design features in fact included a tiny problem with the web content size. I just replied to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the problem was repaired.
Couple of days later, I provided another idea …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to set off automations based upon the embed form utilized was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I truly appreciate.
An additional significant point of distinction below is the rate. Both systems use complimentary plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan uses more capacity and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally even more beneficial. ConvertKit seems more affordable at first glance due to the fact that their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the customer limitations are much reduced and your price promptly boosts as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same size listing is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your checklist up to 100,000. A listing of that dimension 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, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different organization when it involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase rates? They may as time takes place. However, I’m thinking individuals like myself that are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you most definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to evolve instead swiftly and make brand-new item news somewhat typically, yet there are some standard features I really desire they had that I need to simply await.
One is that they need to have a setup on subscription types where I could pick an automation to run right at the form degree. That would be AWESOME for numerous factors. As of now, subscription kinds look OK, however there’s really little setups for them to assist in division.
It would be nice to have labeling at the client level. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks ought to be part of automations to make integrated automations much easier and minimize dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are also some minor management interface modifications that would come in handy. As an example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Capacity to mass edit messages (for instance, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic fields as conventional on customers (like the name).
- Some more personalization choices for the site (such as more flexible shade choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t ideal and definitely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I stated, the function is different so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation platform. I presume you never know, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Enough where I decided to change my very own newsletters over to the system in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and having my very own system.
Basically, for the e-newsletter posting design particularly, I saw sufficient worth in their platform to necessitate the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my exclusive email checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, however I deliberately have points establish to ensure that I likewise keep my checklist “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is just a great insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d certainly consider changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and various demands. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch ought to be rather straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a big email list and are as a result being wooled with their high regular monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating quickly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not also using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv might quickly be a much better and more affordable fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very willful about growing a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is among the very best video games in town today. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be fairly feature rich.