I have actually used a lot of different email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. For that reason (and the awesome features), I have been making use of Can You Create a Blog on Beehiiv.
So, it is undoubtedly a weird move for me to determine to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is an organized application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to address the concern of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I would certainly likewise such as to deal with why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Shift In Approach, I talked about how and why I chose to transform my motor home blog site right into mostly a newsletter. I made a decision that was the business version I intended to seek with that residential or commercial property.
However, to purposefully seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Gladly motor home, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. More on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed because issue of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed right into it details to my objective. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog site) and send out the email at the same time without having it be 2 different activities.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I choose to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The platform was literally constructed by the individuals who built up the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I just went all out. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential or commercial property to make sure that I can grow it much more intentionally too.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded separately. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so easy to shift. However, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff 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 undoubtedly constantly be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email List
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and just an e-mail listing.
You can hold your e-mail list just about anywhere 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 key distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your e-mail customers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that website. But, you are likewise sending to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s customers are done in one. This makes administration of the system much simpler.
With most e-mail systems, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built entirely individually from your web site. So, as an example, you could release a short article to WordPress however then you would need to independently construct and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are after that two different sets of archives and 2 different activities since post and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it pretty much “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the same point. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I wanted to remain to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the growth devices that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally includes a different collection of needs than a common e-mail checklist.
You do not usually need much marketing automation. You do not usually need autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth publishing experience and growth tools to help you construct your customer base that are specific 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 many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I think Substack draws. Actually, since Substack has actually been around much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair points that at first got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to e-newsletter publishers. In fact, it is literally constructed by the same individuals that constructed the modern technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Growth is what I want right here.
- That branding and differentiation also implies that BeeHiiv has some rather huge brand names and big magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo creators. Once again, it simply informs me the client avatar difference between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not specifically suck. The only reason I would contemplate trembling things up is if I thought I could GROW the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I really do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight rivals.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than just the placing right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv seems like it was developed by people that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra tailored toward makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv provides custom-made fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather limited in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send an email. However, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new activities, such as changing custom areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations just since I began utilizing the platform. For instance:
- Ability to trigger automations based upon which details embed form they was available in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it comes to creating your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply more geared towards newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be a lot more instinctive, personally.
Substack’s composing interface is nice and tidy, but it would certainly be much more equivalent to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and then put anything you want in it. After that, you can put Visibility options on that area to reveal it only to paid clients, conceal it from email, hide from subscribers, show only to customers, and so on. Substack supplies nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium registration design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of revenue. As a matter of fact, you literally connect approximately your very own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Depending on the amount of customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations at all.
Overall, I just felt like BeeHiiv was extra built toward real email marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page makes appear far better built for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want 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 actually claimed, Substack placements itself towards “developers” more than email marketing experts and e-newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points geared extra towards people who just assume in terms of content development.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are dealt with fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … amazing for people who might need it.
Substack also has even more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host chats with clients. It also has a “Notes” function which functions sort of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Overall, Substack is established to be much more like a social network which supports long-form web content.
Generally, Substack is additionally extra … minimalist. You either look after that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack works quite well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it comes to actual marketing, I do not assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better suited. I tried to find more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a tough time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly through to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at designers (like Substack), but it is much more highly satisfying individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s own business platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly great system.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is popular already. But, here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has more versatility when it involves it’s automations. I will certainly additionally say that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is just a basic feature of email listings that enables segmentation in an even more flexible method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support labeling eventually quickly, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Can You Create a Blog on Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently give the capacity to market points using their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would constantly choose an extra direct alternative anyway. For me, I prefer to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and therefore has way extra integration alternatives. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For instance, their plugin now even supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this extra closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you be able to publish to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic dealing with the development tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, however you can likewise pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are truly outstanding features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most popular viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall of what this suggests for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Can You Create a Blog on Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it likewise indicates that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced nearly regular release of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but big features that are quite vital. Their rate of development at this moment has actually been impressive.
I likewise very much value just how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product announcements regarding some layout enhancements to the web design features in fact had a small issue with the content width. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the concern was fixed.
Few days later on, I provided an additional suggestion …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to trigger automations based upon the embed type utilized was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I really value.
One more significant point of differentiation here is the cost. Both systems provide totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides more capacity and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more positive. ConvertKit seems more affordable initially look because their pricing page shows lower numbers, nevertheless the client limits are FAR reduced and your cost quickly boosts as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same size checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your listing as much as 100,000. A listing of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely different league when it involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost prices? They could as time goes on. However, I’m thinking people like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you most definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to evolve rather swiftly and make brand-new item announcements somewhat typically, yet there are some standard features I truly wish they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership types where I could select an automation to run right at the type level. That would be amazing for many factors. As of now, membership kinds look OK, however there’s really little setups for them to assist in division.
It would be nice to have identifying at the customer degree. This would be powerful.
I assume webhooks must be part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and minimize reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative user interface modifications that would certainly come in handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit posts (for example, to tag a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard fields as typical on customers (like the name).
- Some even more customization choices for the website (such as even more versatile color choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t excellent and definitely not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I said, the purpose is different so it would not much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation system. I presume you never ever understand, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Sufficient where I made a decision to change my very own e-newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing version specifically, I saw adequate worth in their system to call for the change.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is good at, but I intentionally have things set up so that I also maintain my listing “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is simply a good insurance coverage, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d certainly think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch ought to be rather straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a huge email list and are consequently being fleeced with their high month-to-month bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating rapidly. There’s additionally a respectable possibility you’re not also using some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could quickly be a better and much more budget friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful concerning expanding an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is just one of the very best games in the area now. This is the platform to watch.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the complimentary account to be fairly feature abundant.