Can You Use Beehiiv For Free – Start Your Newsletter Now!

I have utilized a lot of various e-mail list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your own system. For that reason (and the amazing features), I have actually been utilizing Can You Use Beehiiv For Free.

So, it is indeed an odd move for me to choose to utilize BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying monthly for it.

Why did I do this?

In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d likewise such as to address why I chose to use it over Substack.

Let’s dive in …

BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters

In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Shift In Approach, I discussed how and why I chose to transform my motor home blog site right into primarily a newsletter. I decided that was the business design I wished to seek keeping that building.

But, to intentionally pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily motor home, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. More on that in a bit.

As I claimed because problem of the e-newsletter …

Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools constructed into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:

  • Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send the email concurrently without having it be 2 different activities.
  • Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
  • Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
  • ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click registration links. Great for promotion 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 promote your newsletter.
  • Built-in ad network, if I choose to monetize with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
  • Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.

Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on development. The platform was literally developed by the people who accumulated the technology for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.

That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.

And I ended off with this:.

I might undoubtedly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.

Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went for it. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential or commercial property so that I can expand it more intentionally also.

The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown independently. Gladly motor home was young, so simple to shift. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will certainly always be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to be a part of it.

I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.

E-newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Checklist

There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter platform and just an email list.

You can hold your e-mail list just about anywhere you desire and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.

What’s the distinction?

The key distinction is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of posting suggests that it is going to your website and to your e-mail subscribers simultaneously.

With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that website. However, you are additionally sending to all customers at the same time. The web site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes monitoring of the system much simpler.

With the majority of e-mail platforms, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is built completely independently from your site. So, for example, you might release a write-up to WordPress but 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 actions because article and your e-mails are not inherently connected.

The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.

It is a fitting name since it practically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and enables them to be the very same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I intended to continue to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the growth devices that include a platform like BeeHiiv.

Publishing a newsletter inherently features a various set of demands than a regular e-mail checklist.

You do not usually need much marketing automation. You do not normally need autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.

What you DO need, though, is one smooth publishing experience and growth devices to assist you develop your subscriber base that are specific to e-newsletters.

BeeHiiv vs Substack

When I announced to my subscribers that I was going to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.

To be clear, also besides the truth that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I believe Substack draws. In fact, because Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has even more features.

Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that initially obtained my attention:.

  1. BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to e-newsletter publishers. In fact, it is actually built by the exact same individuals who developed the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Growth is what I want right here.
  2. That branding and distinction additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some rather big brand names and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Once again, it just informs me the consumer avatar difference between both business.

Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t exactly suck. The only reason I would ponder trembling things up is if I thought I can GROW the list much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.

Because of the targeting, I in fact do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight competitors.

However, let’s dive deeper than just the positioning below.

Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack

Generally, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by people that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more geared toward developers.

For instance, BeeHiiv provides personalized fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.

BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic 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 rather restricted in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an email. However, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have brand-new triggers along with brand-new activities, such as changing personalized areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations simply because I began using the system. For instance:

  • Capability to activate automations based upon which particular embed form they was available in on.
  • Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens and non-opens).
  • Capability to do standard conditional logic branches.

Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this because the target audience of Substack simply would not believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.

When it comes to creating your newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is just more tailored towards e-newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I locate it to be extra intuitive, directly.

Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, but it would certainly be much more comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.

This difference is more than just form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Presence alternatives on that particular area to reveal it just to paid customers, conceal it from email, conceal from clients, show just to clients, etc. Substack provides nothing like this.

And when/if the time comes that I start a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any revenue. As a matter of fact, you literally link up to your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Depending upon the amount of customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.

Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem nerdy, yet what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.

Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra constructed toward real email marketing. It was constructed by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page develops seem much better built for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.

Even though there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I like the instructions it is going greater than Substack.

Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv

As I have actually stated, Substack settings itself towards “designers” greater than email online marketers and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things geared extra toward people who simply think in regards to material creation.

For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.

Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support numerous publications, they are dealt with quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, yet … great for people that might need it.

Substack additionally has even more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host talks with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions sort of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. In general, Substack is established to be more like a social media network which sustains long-form material.

On the whole, Substack is likewise more … minimalist. You either take care of that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the objective is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works rather well.

However, I’ll be clear right here …

When it comes to actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better suited. 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 typically via to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have similar abilities.

ConvertKit is additionally positioned at makers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly dealing with individuals who do it for business. ConvertKit has nice visual automation structure, it’s own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.

I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is popular already. But, below’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …

Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …

Currently, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will likewise state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.

ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is simply a basic function of e-mail listings that enables segmentation in a far more versatile way than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support identifying at some time soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Can You Use Beehiiv For Free.

ConvertKit does now offer the capability to offer things using their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would constantly choose a more straight choice anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.

ConvertKit has been around much longer and because of that has way more integration alternatives. Tons of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For instance, their plugin now also sustains member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this more very closely places ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your email list at the same time.

BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.

ConvertKit is even busy tackling the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with advantages, however you can likewise pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are truly remarkable features of BeeHiiv. Yet …

Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall of what this implies for the platform moving forward.

Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Can You Use Beehiiv For Free

BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise indicates that they are quickly establishing.

In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced almost weekly release of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … but large features that are fairly crucial. Their rate of growth at this moment has been impressive.

I additionally very much value just how responsive they are. Actually, among their item news concerning some style enhancements to the web design features really included a little trouble with the material size. I just responded to that email to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.

That exact same day, the concern was repaired.

Couple of days later, I gave them one more idea …

Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based on the embed kind utilized was added to the system.

That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I actually appreciate.

An additional major factor of differentiation here is the price. Both platforms supply cost-free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides extra capability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.

As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise FAR more beneficial. ConvertKit appears cheaper at first glance due to the fact that their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, however the customer limitations are much lower and your rate promptly enhances as your checklist grows.

With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 clients. That same size checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.

If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your checklist up to 100,000. A checklist of that size would certainly 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 annually, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay every year.

BeeHiiv is in a completely different league when it concerns pricing (in a good way).

Will BeeHiiv at some point boost rates? They may as time goes on. But, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.

Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include

Among the important things you absolutely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to advance instead rapidly and make new item announcements rather usually, yet there are some fundamental features I really wish they had that I need to just wait on.

One is that they need to have a setup on registration types where I might choose an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be incredible for numerous reasons. Currently, registration types look OK, yet there’s really little setups for them to assist in segmentation.

It would certainly be nice to have labeling at the subscriber level. This would certainly be powerful.

I assume webhooks must become part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and minimize reliance on outside devices like Zapier.

There are also some small management user interface modifications that would certainly be handy. As an example:

  • Ability to bulk edit/remove clients.
  • Capability to bulk edit posts (for example, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
  • Having a couple of fundamental areas as basic on subscribers (like the name).
  • Some more personalization choices for the web site (such as even more flexible shade selections, heading control, and so on).

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 absolutely not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.

It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I said, the objective is different so it would not much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever understand, however.

Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review

I like BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Sufficient where I decided to change my own e-newsletters over to the system despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my very own platform.

Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting model specifically, I saw sufficient worth in their platform to necessitate the modification.

Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special email listing. I use BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, but I intentionally have things set up to ensure that I likewise maintain my listing “in home” within FluentCRM.

If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance policy, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).

So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?

In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d absolutely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv also 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 big email listing and are consequently being wooled with their high regular monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s additionally a pretty good chance you’re not even using some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a far better and more economical fit.

Lastly, if you plan to be really willful regarding expanding an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and maintain and eye on for you.

If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is developed to be, it is one of the best games in town right now. This is the platform to enjoy.

BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth having a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be rather feature rich.

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