I have used a great deal of various email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own platform. Therefore (and the awesome features), I have been utilizing Can You Create a Landing Page with Beehiiv.
So, it is without a doubt a weird move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a held application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I want to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to address the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d likewise like to deal with why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Change In Approach, I discussed exactly how and why I decided to turn my recreational vehicle blog site right into mainly a newsletter. I determined that was the business version I wanted to seek keeping that property.
However, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly motor home, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Much more on that in a little bit.
As I said because issue of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed right into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog site) and send out the email all at once without having it be two different actions.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click registration links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The system was essentially constructed by the people who developed the technology for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I might certainly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I just went for it. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own building so that I can expand it much more intentionally as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown separately. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so easy to shift. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly constantly be very closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Checklist
There’s a difference in between a newsletter system and just an email checklist.
You can host your e-mail listing 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 primary distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing implies that it is going to your site and to your email customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are publishing to that website. But, you are additionally sending to all clients at the same time. The site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes management of the system much easier.
With most email platforms, any type of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed completely individually from your internet site. So, for instance, you could publish a write-up to WordPress however then you would certainly require to individually develop and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are then two separate sets of archives and 2 separate activities due to the fact that article and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it virtually “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and enables them to be the same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong option if I wanted to continue to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the growth devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently includes a various collection of demands than a normal email listing.
You do not usually need much marketing automation. You do not normally require autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one seamless posting experience and development devices to help you construct your client base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I selected to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I believe Substack sucks. Actually, because Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that originally obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter publishers. Actually, it is essentially built by the same folks who constructed the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and distinction likewise indicates that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brands and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo makers. Once more, it simply tells me the customer avatar distinction in between the two companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only factor I would consider trembling points up is if I assumed I might expand the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I in fact don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight rivals.
However, allow’s dive much deeper than just the positioning here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv seems like it was constructed by individuals that comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more tailored toward designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom-made fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a lot 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 activity is the ability to send out an e-mail. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have new triggers in addition to brand-new activities, such as changing customized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations just because I started making use of the platform. As an example:
- Capacity to trigger automations based on which specific embed kind they came in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target audience of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it involves writing your newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is just extra geared towards e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I locate it to be more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, however it would be extra comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than simply kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. After that, you can put Exposure options on that particular section to show it only to paid subscribers, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from clients, reveal only to clients, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs registration model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of profits. Actually, you literally connect up to your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Depending on the number of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear unpopular, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outside utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was more constructed towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page makes appear better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack positions itself towards “makers” greater than e-mail marketers and newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some things geared a lot more toward people who simply think in terms of web content development.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support several publications, they are dealt with quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … awesome for people that might require it.
Substack also has even more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host talks with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is established to be extra like a social media network which supports long-form web content.
Generally, Substack is additionally much more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works rather well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I searched for more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at makers (like Substack), but it is far more highly catering to individuals that do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and much more. ConvertKit is a truly wonderful system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature failure right here. ConvertKit is well known already. But, below’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has more adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly also say that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit much more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is simply a fundamental feature of email checklists that allows division in an even more adaptable method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain identifying eventually soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Can You Create a Landing Page with Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now supply the capacity to offer points via their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always pick an extra direct alternative anyway. For me, I prefer to use my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and for that reason has way much more integration choices. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For instance, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this much more closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you be able to publish to your website and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy taking on the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with rewards, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are really outstanding features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface wherefore this implies for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Can You Create a Landing Page with Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also suggests that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed virtually once a week release of new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … yet large features that are rather important. Their speed of advancement at this moment has actually been impressive.
I additionally quite appreciate how responsive they are. Actually, one of their item statements regarding some design improvements to the web design features in fact consisted of a little trouble with the web content size. I merely replied to that email to tell them. I quickly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That very same day, the issue was dealt with.
Few days later on, I gave them one more recommendation …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to activate automations based upon the embed kind utilized was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I truly value.
Another major point of differentiation right here is the cost. Both systems supply free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses much more ability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more desirable. ConvertKit seems more affordable in the beginning glance because their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, however the customer restrictions are much reduced and your price swiftly increases as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That very same dimension checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly utilize), you can grow your listing approximately 100,000. A list of that dimension 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 annually, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in a completely various organization when it comes to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise rates? They may as time goes on. However, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the things you absolutely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to progress rather rapidly and make new product announcements rather commonly, yet there are some standard features I actually desire they had that I need to simply await.
One is that they need to have a setting on registration types where I could select an automation to run right at the type degree. That would be remarkable for many reasons. Already, registration types look OK, however there’s really little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would behave to have tagging at the customer level. This would be effective.
I assume webhooks should belong to automations to make built-in automations simpler and reduce dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small management user interface modifications that would certainly be handy. As an example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Ability to mass edit messages (as an example, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard fields as common on clients (like the name).
- Some even more customization choices for the internet site (such as more adaptable shade options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I hope they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t ideal and definitely not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It possibly never ever will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the objective is different so it wouldn’t much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never ever know, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Enough where I made a decision to change my very own e-newsletters over to the platform regardless of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Basically, for the newsletter posting model specifically, I saw sufficient value in their platform to require the change.
Keep in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my exclusive email listing. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, but I deliberately have points set up to make sure that I additionally keep my listing “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply an excellent insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever 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 most definitely think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and various needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the button ought to be quite straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a big email listing and are therefore being wooled with their high regular monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating quickly. There’s additionally a pretty good chance you’re not also utilizing a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a far better and much more budget friendly fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really intentional concerning growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is developed to be, it is one of the most effective video games in town now. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the totally free account to be fairly feature rich.