I have made use of a great deal of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a massive proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. Because of that (and the outstanding features), I have been using Bright Leads Media Beehiiv.
So, it is without a doubt an unusual move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I would certainly likewise such as to resolve why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Change In Method, I talked about exactly how and why I determined to turn my RV blog into mostly an e-newsletter. I decided that was the business design I intended to seek keeping that home.
But, to purposefully pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email listing for Gladly RV, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a little bit.
As I claimed in that concern of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed right into it specific to my function. Points such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog site) and send out the email simultaneously without having it be two different activities.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity 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.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The platform was literally constructed by the people that developed the innovation for Early morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I may without a doubt be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I just went all out. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential or commercial property to make sure that I can expand it a lot more deliberately also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Gladly RV was young, so simple to shift. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) 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 expand it on it’s very own. It will obviously constantly be very closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, however does not have to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Checklist
There’s a distinction in between a newsletter platform and simply an email list.
You can organize your email listing anywhere you want and there are a variety of them available, 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 posting suggests that it is going to your site and to your e-mail clients all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that site. But, you are additionally dispatching to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s clients are done in one. This makes administration of the platform much simpler.
With the majority of email platforms, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is constructed totally independently from your website. So, for instance, you may release a write-up to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to separately build and send an email to your listing to send it to customers. These are then 2 different collections of archives and 2 different actions since article and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a true e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it pretty much “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the same point. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong alternative if I wished to remain to self-host everything. Nonetheless, you would certainly lose the development devices that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally features a different set of needs than a typical email list.
You don’t normally require much marketing automation. You don’t normally require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one seamless posting experience and development devices to help you build your client base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was going to switch the 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 selected to choose BeeHiiv, that does not suggest I believe Substack draws. As a matter of fact, because Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that at first got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is literally constructed by the same folks who constructed the technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. But, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and distinction likewise means that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brands and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo makers. Once more, it just tells me the customer character distinction in between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only reason I would consider drinking things up is if I assumed I can GROW the list much faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight competitors.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by individuals who recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra geared towards creators.
For example, BeeHiiv offers custom-made areas on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still quite minimal in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an email. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as brand-new actions, such as customizing custom areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations just given that I began utilizing the system. For instance:
- Ability to cause automations based upon which details embed form they was available in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and handle people based on opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can not do this since the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it concerns writing your e-newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared towards newsletters. In fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I find it to be extra instinctive, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface is nice and clean, but it would be extra comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than just form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Visibility options on that particular area to show it only to paid subscribers, hide it from email, hide from subscribers, reveal only to customers, etc. Substack supplies nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs registration version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of income. Actually, you actually connect approximately your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending on the number of clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations at all.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was a lot more developed toward genuine email marketing. It was developed by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page creates seem far better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack placements itself towards “makers” more than e-mail online marketers and newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points tailored a lot more towards individuals that simply believe in regards to content creation.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are treated quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … great for people that might require it.
Substack also has even more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is set up to be much more like a social network which supports long-form web content.
Generally, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions rather well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better suited. I searched for more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically through to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly dealing with individuals that do it for business. ConvertKit has great visual automation structure, it’s own business system, and extra. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is well known currently. But, right here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it comes to it’s automations. I will likewise state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit much more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is simply a basic feature of email listings that makes it possible for segmentation in a much more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling at some point soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Bright Leads Media Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently offer the ability 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, nonetheless, I would certainly always choose a much more straight alternative anyway. For me, I like to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and for that reason has way more integration choices. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin now also supports member-gated content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this much more closely places ConvertKit into direct competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with advantages, but you can also pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are really awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface for what this indicates for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Bright Leads Media Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise indicates that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed nearly once a week release of new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … but large features that are fairly important. Their speed of advancement at this point has actually gone over.
I also very much value how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item news concerning some layout enhancements to the web design features really had a small problem with the content size. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the issue was repaired.
Few days later, I gave them one more pointer …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based upon the embed kind utilized was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I really value.
One more major point of differentiation right here is the rate. Both systems offer cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan provides a lot more ability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more positive. ConvertKit seems cheaper in the beginning glimpse due to the fact that their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nonetheless the customer restrictions are much lower and your rate swiftly boosts as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same dimension listing is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally use), you can grow your checklist as much as 100,000. A list 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 simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in a completely different organization when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost rates? They could as time goes on. But, I’m presuming individuals like myself that are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how points continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you most definitely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to progress instead promptly and make new product announcements rather often, but there are some basic features I really desire they had that I need to just wait for.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership types where I can select an automation to run right at the kind level. That would be amazing for numerous factors. Already, membership types look OK, but there’s extremely little setups for them to aid in division.
It would be nice to have labeling at the customer level. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks should become part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and lower reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management interface modifications that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to bulk edit articles (for example, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic areas as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some more modification options for the site (such as more adaptable shade choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t perfect and certainly not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I said, the objective is different so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I guess you never know, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to change my very own e-newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing design especially, I saw enough value in their system to necessitate the adjustment.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special email listing. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, but I purposefully have points establish to ensure that I likewise maintain my listing “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d certainly consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch should be quite uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a huge e-mail listing and are as a result being wooled with their high monthly costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating quickly. There’s additionally a pretty good opportunity you’re not also utilizing some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can easily be a far better and much more budget-friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely willful concerning expanding a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is developed to be, it is just one of the very best video games in the area right now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth having a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the complimentary account to be quite feature rich.