I have utilized a lot of different e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a significant supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own system. Because of that (and the outstanding features), I have actually been making use of Boardbit Beehiiv.
So, it is certainly an odd 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 testimonial, I wish to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to address the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I ‘d likewise such as to attend to why I chose to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Change In Technique, I spoke about just how and why I chose to turn my recreational vehicle blog right into mainly a newsletter. I decided that was business design I intended to go after with that said residential property.
But, to purposefully seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily RV, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Extra on that in a little bit.
As I said because problem of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices built right into it details to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send out the email simultaneously without having it be 2 different activities.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click membership links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote 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 e-newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The system was literally constructed by the individuals who built up the innovation for Early morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I ended off with this:.
I may certainly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I just went for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own residential or commercial property to make sure that I can grow it extra purposefully too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown individually. Happily RV was young, so very easy to change. However, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of things here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will clearly constantly be closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Checklist
There’s a difference between a newsletter system and just an e-mail listing.
You can host your e-mail listing anyplace 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 distinction?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of posting means that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your email customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that website. But, you are also sending to all clients at the same time. The web site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes management of the system much easier.
With the majority of e-mail platforms, any type of e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is constructed completely independently from your website. So, as an example, you may publish a post to WordPress however then you would need to individually develop and send an e-mail to your checklist to send it to customers. These are after that two separate sets of archives and 2 separate actions due to the fact that blog posts and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it basically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the very same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I intended to remain to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the growth tools that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently comes with a various collection of requirements than a normal email listing.
You don’t usually need much marketing automation. You don’t typically need autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one smooth posting experience and development devices to aid you build your subscriber base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch 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 go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I think Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, since Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that at first obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to e-newsletter publishers. Actually, it is literally developed by the same folks that built the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. But, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and differentiation also implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brands and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo designers. Once more, it just informs me the client avatar difference between the two business.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM really did not precisely suck. The only reason I would certainly consider shaking points up is if I believed I can expand the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I actually do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight competitors.
However, let’s dive much deeper than just the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv seems like it was constructed by people who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems more tailored towards designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv supplies custom-made areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers along with brand-new activities, such as customizing personalized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations just given that I started utilizing the platform. For example:
- Capacity to set off automations based on which details embed type they can be found in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and take care of people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it involves composing your newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is just more tailored towards newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I locate it to be much more instinctive, personally.
Substack’s writing user interface behaves and clean, but it would certainly be extra comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than simply form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Visibility options on that section to reveal it just to paid clients, conceal it from e-mail, hide from subscribers, show only to customers, and so on. Substack supplies nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium registration version, BeeHiiv does not take any revenue. In fact, you literally link as much as your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Relying on how many subscribers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations at all.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was much more built towards real email marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes appear much better developed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, 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 towards “makers” greater than e-mail online marketers and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things tailored a lot more towards individuals who just think in terms of material creation.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support several magazines, they are treated fairly individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … awesome for people that may require it.
Substack also has more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host talks with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. In general, Substack is set up to be much more like a social media which supports long-form content.
Generally, Substack is likewise much more … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I don’t. However, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions pretty well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns actual marketing, I don’t assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I searched for even more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the exact same target market and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at designers (like Substack), however it is a lot more highly accommodating people that do it for organization. ConvertKit has great visual automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly nice platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature break down here. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will also claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit much more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is just a basic feature of email lists that makes it possible for segmentation in a much more versatile means than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support tagging at some point quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Boardbit Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now provide the capacity to offer points via their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would constantly choose a more direct alternative anyhow. For me, I favor to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and because of that has way extra integration options. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. As an example, their plugin currently also supports member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this more very closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic tackling the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your newsletter with advantages, but you can likewise pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are actually amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall wherefore this means for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Boardbit Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise implies that they are quickly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed nearly weekly release of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … but huge features that are quite essential. Their rate of advancement at this moment has been impressive.
I also very much value how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product news about some style improvements to the website design features really consisted of a little trouble with the content width. I merely replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the problem was fixed.
Few days later, I gave them another pointer …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based upon the embed form utilized was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I truly value.
One more significant factor of distinction below is the rate. Both systems use cost-free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides extra capacity and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more positive. ConvertKit seems cheaper initially look due to the fact that their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, nonetheless the customer limits are much reduced and your rate quickly enhances as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same dimension checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly make use of), you can expand your checklist as much as 100,000. A list of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, also, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a completely different league when it concerns pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase prices? They could as time takes place. But, I’m presuming individuals like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you certainly need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to develop rather rapidly and make brand-new item statements somewhat often, but there are some standard features I actually desire they had that I need to simply await.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership kinds where I might select an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be outstanding for numerous factors. Already, membership types look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have tagging at the client level. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks need to belong to automations to make built-in automations easier and lower dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management user interface changes that would certainly be handy. As an example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capability to bulk edit blog posts (for instance, to tag a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic areas as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some even more customization alternatives for the site (such as even more adaptable color choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t ideal and certainly not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It probably never will be, either. As I said, the purpose is different so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation platform. I think you never ever know, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Enough where I decided to change my own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting model especially, I saw enough value in their system to necessitate the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special e-mail checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv of what it is efficient, however I deliberately have points set up to make sure that I likewise maintain my listing “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply an excellent insurance policy, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d certainly think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different needs. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button ought to be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a large email listing and are for that reason being wooled with their high month-to-month bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating promptly. There’s also a respectable opportunity you’re not also using some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could quickly be a better and extra budget friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really deliberate regarding expanding an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is made to be, it is just one of the most effective video games around right now. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the cost-free account to be quite feature abundant.