I have actually utilized a lot of different e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a substantial proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have been using Does Beehiiv Integrate with Shopify.
So, it is certainly a strange move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I want to look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to address the issue of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly likewise like to deal with why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Shift In Approach, I discussed just how and why I decided to transform my RV blog site into primarily a newsletter. I decided that was business version I intended to go after with that property.
However, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email list for Happily recreational vehicle, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. A lot more on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed because problem of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed into it particular to my purpose. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog site) and send out the email simultaneously without having it be 2 different activities.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click registration links. Great for promotion 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 e-newsletter.
- Integrated 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 costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on growth. The system was essentially developed by the people that built up the innovation for Early morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential property so that I can expand it extra deliberately as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to shift. Yet, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will clearly always be carefully connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but does not have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Listing
There’s a distinction in between a newsletter system and simply an email list.
You can hold your e-mail checklist anyplace you want and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing suggests that it is mosting likely to your website and to your email subscribers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that internet site. Yet, you are likewise sending off to all clients at the same time. The web site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the system much easier.
With the majority of e-mail systems, any kind of newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built entirely independently from your site. So, for instance, you could publish a post to WordPress but after that you would certainly require to individually construct and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to subscribers. These are then 2 different sets of archives and 2 different activities because post and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it basically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and enables them to be the very same point. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid alternative if I intended to remain to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you would certainly shed the growth tools that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently comes with a various collection of requirements than a typical e-mail list.
You don’t generally require much marketing automation. You do not typically require autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, however, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to help you construct your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch 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 reality that I chose to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I believe Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, since Substack has been about much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that initially obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter publishers. Actually, it is literally developed by the exact same individuals who constructed the innovation behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. But, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation also implies that BeeHiiv has some fairly huge brands and big magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo designers. Again, it just informs me the client character difference in between the two firms.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only reason I would certainly contemplate drinking things up is if I believed I can GROW the list much faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I actually do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct rivals.
However, let’s dive much deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by individuals that recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared towards designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers custom 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 functions a great deal like what we have within 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 email. However, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to brand-new activities, such as changing custom areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations just since I started using the system. For example:
- Capacity to cause automations based on which particular embed form they was available in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it involves composing your newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply more tailored towards e-newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be extra instinctive, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and clean, however it would be much more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than just form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. Then, you can place Exposure choices on that particular section to show it only to paid customers, hide it from email, hide from clients, reveal just to customers, and so on. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of income. In fact, you literally link as much as your very own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Depending on how many clients you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, but what it means 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 literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was a lot more built toward genuine email marketing. It was built by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in types and the landing page creates appear better built for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want 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 said, Substack placements itself toward “designers” more than e-mail marketing professionals and newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points geared extra toward individuals that simply assume in regards to material development.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support numerous publications, they are dealt with rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … great for people who might need it.
Substack likewise has more social capability built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host talks with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which functions type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media which supports long-form content.
On the whole, Substack is likewise much more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to real marketing, I do not think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better matched. I searched for even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically through to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the very same target audience and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at makers (like Substack), however it is a lot more strongly satisfying individuals that do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation structure, it’s own commerce platform, and extra. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is popular already. But, here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will also claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is just a basic feature of email lists that allows division in a far more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support labeling at some time quickly, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Does Beehiiv Integrate with Shopify.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capacity to offer things through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would constantly select a much more straight choice anyway. For me, I choose to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and for that reason has way extra integration alternatives. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this extra closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. Yet, 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 Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with rewards, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly awesome features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall of what this implies for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Does Beehiiv Integrate with Shopify
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it also suggests that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed nearly once a week release of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … however large features that are rather vital. Their speed of growth at this moment has gone over.
I likewise significantly value exactly how responsive they are. In fact, one of their product statements about some style enhancements to the web design features actually included a little problem with the web content size. I merely responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the problem was dealt with.
Few days later on, I provided an additional pointer …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to trigger automations based upon the embed form used was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I actually value.
Another significant point of distinction below is the cost. Both systems offer cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers much more capacity and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also much more favorable. ConvertKit appears less expensive at first glance due to the fact that their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the subscriber restrictions are FAR reduced and your price quickly increases as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), however you can have up to 10,000 clients. That same dimension listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally use), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A listing of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, as well, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various league when it pertains to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost prices? They may as time takes place. Yet, I’m thinking people like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the things you definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to advance instead rapidly and make brand-new item news somewhat commonly, but there are some fundamental features I truly want they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership kinds where I can pick an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be remarkable for a lot of reasons. Currently, subscription types look OK, but there’s very little setups for them to aid in division.
It would certainly be nice to have tagging at the client degree. This would be effective.
I think webhooks need to be part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and lower reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are also some minor administrative user interface changes that would certainly come in handy. As an example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to bulk edit blog posts (as an example, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic areas as basic on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more customization choices for the internet site (such as even more flexible shade selections, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I hope they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t perfect and definitely not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I stated, the objective is different so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation platform. I think you never ever understand, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Sufficient where I determined to switch my own newsletters over to the platform despite my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Basically, for the newsletter posting version specifically, I saw sufficient value in their system to necessitate the change.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is good at, yet I intentionally have things establish to make sure that I additionally keep my list “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is just a good insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely consider switching to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and different demands. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button ought to be pretty uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a large email listing and are consequently being fleeced with their high month-to-month expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating rapidly. There’s likewise a respectable opportunity you’re not even making use of a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv might easily be a better and a lot more cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really willful about growing a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is created to be, it is just one of the very best video games in town now. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be rather feature rich.