I have actually used a lot of various email list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. Because of that (and the awesome features), I have actually been making use of Beehiiv Zapier Integration.
So, it is certainly a weird move for me to choose to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I want to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d likewise such as to resolve why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Shift In Technique, I spoke about just how and why I determined to turn my motor home blog right into mostly an e-newsletter. I determined that was business model I wished to go after with that residential property.
But, to deliberately seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly RV, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Extra on that in a bit.
As I stated because concern of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices constructed into it particular to my purpose. Points such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog site) and send the email all at once without having it be 2 different activities.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are essentially one-click subscription links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are means to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The system was literally developed by the people who built up the innovation for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own building so that I can expand it more intentionally also.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Happily RV was young, so easy to transition. But, The Early morning WP (formerly The Side) was buried in a sea of things below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will certainly constantly be carefully tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Checklist
There’s a distinction in between a newsletter system and just an email listing.
You can host your email checklist anyplace you desire 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 distinction?
The key distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing suggests that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail subscribers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that web site. However, you are also sending to all clients at the same time. The site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes administration of the platform much simpler.
With many e-mail platforms, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed completely separately from your site. So, as an example, you might publish an article to WordPress however then you would need to independently construct and send an email to your listing to send it to customers. These are then 2 separate sets of archives and 2 different activities since article and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it basically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wished to continue to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the development tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally features a various collection of needs than a common email list.
You don’t typically require much marketing automation. You do not normally need autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, though, is one smooth posting experience and development devices to assist you develop your customer base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not suggest I think Substack sucks. In fact, since Substack has actually been around much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that initially obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally built by the very same individuals that built the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I want here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally implies that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and huge magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo developers. Again, it just informs me the consumer avatar difference between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t specifically draw. The only factor I would certainly ponder trembling things up is if I assumed I can GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I in fact do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct competitors.
However, let’s dive much deeper than simply the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv appears like it was constructed by people who recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more tailored toward makers.
For example, BeeHiiv provides custom-made areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. In fact, it is a visual 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 quite restricted in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send out an email. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new actions, such as changing custom-made areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen enhancements to their automations simply considering that I started utilizing the system. As an example:
- Capability to set off automations based upon which certain embed type they can be found in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can not do this because the target market of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it involves writing your e-newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I locate it to be extra user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and clean, however it would be a lot more comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than just form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and after that placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Exposure options on that particular section to show it just to paid subscribers, conceal it from email, hide from customers, reveal just to clients, and so on. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any profits. Actually, you literally connect approximately your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Depending on how many subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit even more money than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear unpopular, however what it suggests 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 in any way.
Overall, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was more constructed towards real e-mail marketing. It was built by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes seem much better built for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack positions itself towards “makers” more than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some things tailored more towards people that just think in terms of material production.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain several publications, they are treated fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … awesome for people that may require it.
Substack likewise has more social performance built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host talks with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works sort of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. Overall, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media network which supports long-form content.
In general, Substack is also more … minimal. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I do not. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works quite well.
But, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better fit. I searched for more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a difficult time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at makers (like Substack), however it is far more highly satisfying individuals who do it for organization. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation building, it’s own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature break down below. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, here’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is simply a fundamental feature of email listings that allows division in an even more versatile means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support identifying eventually soon, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Zapier Integration.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capability to sell things by means of 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 an extra straight option anyway. For me, I prefer to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and for that reason has way much more integration options. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For example, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this more very closely places ConvertKit right into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with perks, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this implies for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Zapier Integration
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally implies that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed virtually regular release of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … however large features that are rather crucial. Their rate of growth at this point has gone over.
I additionally quite value how receptive they are. In fact, among their product announcements about some style enhancements to the web design features in fact had a tiny issue with the material size. I merely responded to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the issue was fixed.
Few days later, I provided an additional idea …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based upon the embed type made use of was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I truly appreciate.
Another major factor of distinction below is the rate. Both platforms offer free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides more capacity and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more positive. ConvertKit appears more affordable at first look since their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the customer limitations are FAR reduced and your price promptly increases as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same dimension listing 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 expand your checklist as much as 100,000. A checklist of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various organization when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance rates? They could as time goes on. However, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the important things you absolutely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to develop instead quickly and make new product announcements somewhat usually, yet there are some standard features I truly desire they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setup on registration types where I could pick an automation to run right at the form degree. That would be AWESOME for so many reasons. Already, registration kinds look OK, however there’s extremely little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would behave to have tagging at the client degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks ought to become part of automations to make integrated automations much easier and decrease dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management user interface changes that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to mass edit messages (as an example, to mark a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic areas as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization alternatives for the internet site (such as even more adaptable shade choices, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t best and absolutely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never ever will certainly be, either. As I stated, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation system. I think you never ever know, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Sufficient where I determined to switch my very own newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting model especially, I saw sufficient worth in their system to call for the adjustment.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my exclusive email checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is proficient at, yet I deliberately have points establish to ensure that I likewise keep my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is simply an excellent insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack right now, I ‘d definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the switch ought to be quite straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a huge e-mail list and are as a result being wooled with their high month-to-month expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating quickly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not even using a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a far better and more affordable fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very intentional about expanding an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is made to be, it is just one of the most effective games around now. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the complimentary account to be rather feature abundant.