I have made use of a lot of various email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. Because of that (and the incredible features), I have been utilizing Does Beehiiv Integrate with Squarespace.
So, it is certainly an unusual move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to attend to the issue of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d also such as to resolve why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Shift In Approach, I discussed just how and why I determined to transform my motor home blog right into primarily a newsletter. I chose that was business version I wished to go after with that property.
Yet, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email listing for Gladly RV, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that particular in a bit.
As I said because concern of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built into it particular to my purpose. Points such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog) and send the email at the same time without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click membership web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I pick to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on growth. The platform was literally constructed by the individuals who built up the innovation for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I finished off with this:.
I might without a doubt be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own home so that I can grow it a lot more deliberately as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Happily RV was young, so very easy to change. However, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will obviously constantly be very closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email List
There’s a difference between a newsletter system and simply an email checklist.
You can organize your email checklist everywhere you want and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting suggests that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your e-mail customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that site. Yet, you are likewise sending to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s customers are done in one. This makes administration of the system much less complex.
With a lot of email platforms, any type of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built totally separately from your internet site. So, for instance, you may publish a post to WordPress but then you would certainly need to independently build and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to subscribers. These are then 2 different sets of archives and two different actions due to the fact that post and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a true newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the exact same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong option if I wished to continue to self-host everything. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the growth devices that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently features a various collection of requirements than a normal e-mail list.
You don’t usually require much marketing automation. You don’t normally need autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one smooth posting experience and growth tools to aid you develop your client base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was going to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I chose to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I assume Substack draws. In fact, because Substack has actually been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that initially obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is actually constructed by the same individuals that built the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Growth is what I have an interest in below.
- That branding and differentiation additionally implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively big brands and big magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo makers. Once more, it just tells me the customer avatar difference in between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only reason I would certainly contemplate trembling points up is if I believed I could expand the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I really don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct competitors.
But, allow’s dive deeper than just the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv seems like it was developed by individuals that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared towards designers.
For example, BeeHiiv uses custom-made fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a whole lot like what we have inside of 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 out an email. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have new triggers in addition to new activities, such as changing customized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations just because I started using the system. As an example:
- Ability to activate automations based on which specific embed kind they came in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and handle 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 will. Substack simply can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it concerns creating your newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra geared toward newsletters. In fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I locate it to be more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s composing interface behaves and tidy, but it would be more equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than just type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and then put anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Visibility choices on that particular section to reveal it just to paid subscribers, hide it from e-mail, conceal from subscribers, show just to subscribers, and so on. Substack offers absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium registration version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any earnings. Actually, you essentially attach as much as your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Relying on the number of customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, yet what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more constructed towards actual email marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page develops appear much better built for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I wish 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 toward “developers” more than e-mail marketers and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some points geared much more toward people that simply assume in terms of content development.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain several publications, they are dealt with fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … great for individuals who may need it.
Substack likewise has even more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host chats with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which works type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. In general, Substack is established to be more like a social network which supports long-form content.
Overall, Substack is additionally more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, honestly, features … Substack works rather well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it comes to real marketing, I do not think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I looked for more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly through to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the exact same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is far more strongly satisfying people that do it for business. ConvertKit has nice visual automation structure, it’s own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is a really wonderful system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature break down below. ConvertKit is well known already. But, right here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more flexibility when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit much more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports labeling. This is just a basic feature of e-mail checklists that allows division in a far more versatile way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support marking at some point quickly, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Does Beehiiv Integrate with Squarespace.
ConvertKit does now provide the ability to market things by means of their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would always select an extra direct choice anyhow. For me, I like to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and because of that has way more integration choices. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated material along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this more very closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you have the ability to release to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these type of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, yet you can also pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most popular viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall for what this means for the platform going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Does Beehiiv Integrate with Squarespace
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it additionally suggests that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen almost regular launch of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … however big features that are quite important. Their speed of growth at this point has gone over.
I likewise very much appreciate exactly how responsive they are. Actually, among their item announcements about some design improvements to the web design features actually had a small problem with the material width. I merely replied to that email to tell them. I quickly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That same day, the issue was taken care of.
Few days later, I provided another tip …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to activate automations based on the embed form made use of was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I actually value.
One more major point of differentiation below is the cost. Both systems use free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides a lot more capability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise FAR more beneficial. ConvertKit seems cheaper initially look because their pricing web page shows reduced numbers, nevertheless the client limitations are FAR lower and your rate promptly enhances as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same size 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 directly utilize), you can grow your checklist as much as 100,000. A listing of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different organization when it pertains to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually boost prices? They could as time takes place. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you most definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to advance rather quickly and make brand-new product news somewhat frequently, however there are some standard features I actually wish they had that I require to simply await.
One is that they need to have a setting on registration forms where I can pick an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be AWESOME for many factors. Already, subscription kinds look OK, yet there’s extremely little settings for them to help in division.
It would behave to have marking at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks ought to belong to automations to make integrated automations easier and decrease reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some small management interface adjustments that would come in handy. For example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to bulk edit posts (as an example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as standard on subscribers (like the name).
- Some even more customization choices for the website (such as more versatile shade options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I wish they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t ideal and certainly not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It probably never will certainly be, either. As I said, the objective is various so it would not much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I think you never ever recognize, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Enough where I determined to change my own newsletters over to the platform regardless of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing design specifically, I saw sufficient value in their system to require the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, however I intentionally have points set up to make sure that I additionally keep my list “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is just a good insurance policy, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d most definitely think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button needs to be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a huge email checklist and are as a result being fleeced with their high month-to-month bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating rapidly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not even making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could quickly be a far better and more budget-friendly fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very intentional about growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is designed to be, it is just one of the very best games around today. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the totally free account to be quite feature abundant.