I have used a lot of various e-mail list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a significant proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. Because of that (and the remarkable features), I have been utilizing Content Banks Beehiiv.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to deal with the issue of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I would certainly also such as to address why I selected to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Shift In Approach, I discussed how and why I made a decision to turn my recreational vehicle blog site into mostly a newsletter. I decided that was the business design I intended to go after keeping that home.
Yet, to deliberately pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed because problem of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed right into it specific to my purpose. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send the email at the same time without having it be two separate actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to monetize with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The platform was essentially built by the people that developed the technology for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is built 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 undoubtedly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I just went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own property to ensure that I can grow it more intentionally as well.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to change. However, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will obviously constantly be carefully connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however does not have to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter platform and simply an e-mail checklist.
You can host your e-mail checklist anywhere you want and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing means that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that site. However, you are likewise sending to all clients at the same time. The web site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much simpler.
With many email systems, any newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built totally individually from your web site. So, as an example, you could publish an article to WordPress but then you would certainly require to independently construct and send an email to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are after that two separate sets of archives and two separate activities because blog posts and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it virtually “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the very same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wished to remain to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the development devices that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently features a various collection of requirements than a common email listing.
You don’t typically require much marketing automation. You don’t generally require autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, however, is one smooth publishing experience and growth devices to assist 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 over 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 truth that I selected to go with BeeHiiv, that does not mean I assume Substack sucks. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has been around much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that originally obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is actually constructed by the exact same folks who constructed the modern technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. But, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I have an interest in here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some rather large brand names and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo designers. Once more, it just informs me the customer character difference between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only reason I would ponder drinking things up is if I thought I could expand the list faster. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
As a result of 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. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
But, 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 understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more geared towards designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv provides customized fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather limited in triggers and the only action is the ability to send an e-mail. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new activities, such as modifying custom-made areas, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations simply given that I began utilizing the system. For example:
- Ability to set off automations based on which details embed kind they was available in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and take care of people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this because the target audience of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an email marketer.
When it pertains to writing your e-newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is just more geared towards newsletters. Actually, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I discover it to be much more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and tidy, but it would be extra equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than just form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and after that placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Presence alternatives on that area to show it only to paid customers, hide it from e-mail, hide from customers, reveal just to clients, etc. Substack uses absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs subscription model, BeeHiiv does not take any type of income. In fact, you essentially connect as much as your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Relying on the amount of clients you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
On the whole, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was extra developed towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was built by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page makes seem much better built for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack placements itself towards “creators” greater than email marketing experts and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things geared a lot more towards people that simply think in terms of web content development.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support several publications, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … amazing for people who may require it.
Substack additionally has even more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a chat feature to host chats with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Generally, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media network which supports long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is additionally extra … minimalist. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better matched. I tried to find more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the very same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at developers (like Substack), but it is a lot more strongly dealing with people who do it for service. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation building, it’s own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature break down here. ConvertKit is well known currently. However, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is just a standard function of e-mail lists that makes it possible for division in an even more flexible way than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support tagging at some time quickly, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Content Banks Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently give the capability to offer points through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would always pick a more direct choice anyhow. For me, I prefer to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way a lot more integration choices. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. As an example, their plugin now even supports member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this extra closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you have the ability to release to your website and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic taking on the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with advantages, however you can also pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are truly remarkable features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most popular viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this implies for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Content Banks Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also implies that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen practically weekly release of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … but big features that are fairly essential. Their rate of advancement at this point has actually gone over.
I additionally quite appreciate exactly how responsive they are. In fact, among their product announcements regarding some style improvements to the website design features actually consisted of a tiny issue with the content width. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That same day, the issue was dealt with.
Few days later, I gave them an additional pointer …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based on the embed form used was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I truly appreciate.
Another significant point of differentiation below is the price. Both systems provide complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies more capacity and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more beneficial. ConvertKit seems less expensive in the beginning glance since their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the client restrictions are FAR reduced and your cost promptly raises as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same dimension list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally utilize), you can grow your list approximately 100,000. A checklist of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different league when it concerns pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance rates? They might as time takes place. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among things you most definitely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to evolve rather promptly and make new product statements rather often, however there are some basic features I really desire they had that I require to simply wait on.
One is that they need to have a setup on membership forms where I could select an automation to run right at the type degree. That would be incredible for so many reasons. As of now, membership forms look OK, but there’s extremely little setups for them to aid in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have identifying at the client degree. This would be powerful.
I think webhooks need to be part of automations to make integrated automations simpler and lower dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management user interface changes that would be handy. As an example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to mass edit messages (for example, to identify a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as standard on customers (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the web site (such as even more adaptable shade choices, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I wish they finish with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t excellent and certainly not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It possibly never will be, either. As I stated, the objective is different so it wouldn’t much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation platform. I presume you never know, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Enough where I chose to switch my own e-newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing design specifically, I saw enough value in their system to require the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive email checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is good at, but I deliberately have things set up to ensure that I also keep my checklist “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and various demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button must be quite uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a huge email checklist and are for that reason being wooled with their high monthly costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating rapidly. There’s additionally a respectable opportunity you’re not even using some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a much better and a lot more cost effective fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful about growing a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep 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 video games around right now. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv uses 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 with the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be fairly feature rich.