I have made use of a lot of various e-mail list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and having your own system. Therefore (and the amazing features), I have actually been using Finance Focus Beehiiv.
So, it is without a doubt an odd move for me to determine to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to address the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d likewise such as to deal with why I selected to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Shift In Approach, I discussed just how and why I made a decision to transform my recreational vehicle blog into primarily a newsletter. I made a decision that was the business design I wanted to go after with that residential or commercial property.
Yet, to purposefully seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily RV, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. Extra on that particular in a bit.
As I said because issue of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built right into it specific to my purpose. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail at the same time without having it be 2 different activities.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click registration links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The platform was literally constructed by the individuals who developed the innovation for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I may indeed be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I simply went all out. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s very own home to make sure that I can grow it a lot more deliberately also.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown independently. Gladly RV was young, so easy to transition. But, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will clearly constantly be carefully linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t have to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Checklist
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter system and just an email list.
You can hold your email list anyplace you want and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting indicates that it is going to your web site and to your email clients concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that web site. But, you are additionally sending to all clients at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes management of the system much simpler.
With the majority of e-mail platforms, any newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed entirely individually from your website. So, as an example, you may publish a write-up to WordPress however after that you would require to separately construct and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are after that 2 separate sets of archives and 2 separate actions since post and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it basically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and allows them to be the exact same point. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I intended to continue to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the growth tools that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently features a different set of demands than a normal email list.
You do not usually require much marketing automation. You don’t normally require 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 development tools to help you build your client base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that does not mean I believe Substack draws. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has been around longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that at first got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to e-newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is literally constructed by the same people who developed the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. But, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and differentiation likewise means that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brand names and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo makers. Again, it just informs me the consumer character difference between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t exactly suck. The only reason I would consider trembling points up is if I thought I might GROW the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I really don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by people that understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared toward designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv supplies custom fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as brand-new actions, such as modifying custom-made areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations just considering that I began making use of the system. As an example:
- Capability to cause automations based on which specific embed type they was available in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this because the target audience of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it involves writing your newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is just more geared toward newsletters. Actually, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I discover it to be extra intuitive, directly.
Substack’s creating interface behaves and clean, yet it would certainly be extra equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than just type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and afterwards put anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Presence options on that section to reveal it only to paid subscribers, hide it from e-mail, conceal from customers, show only to clients, etc. Substack uses nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs registration version, BeeHiiv does not take any type of earnings. In fact, you essentially link as much as your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending upon the amount of customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, yet what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more constructed towards genuine email marketing. It was constructed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page makes seem far better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I like the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack positions itself towards “designers” more than e-mail marketing experts and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some points geared extra toward people that just assume in regards to web content creation.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous magazines, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … awesome for people who might need it.
Substack likewise has more social capability built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host talks with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Overall, Substack is set up to be more like a social media which sustains long-form material.
Generally, Substack is likewise more … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. However, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I looked for more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually with to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the same target market and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at creators (like Substack), yet it is far more highly satisfying people that do it for business. ConvertKit has good visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and extra. ConvertKit is a really great platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature break down below. ConvertKit is well known already. But, below’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more versatility when it involves it’s automations. I will likewise say that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is simply a fundamental feature of email listings that allows division in a far more adaptable method than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support marking at some time soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Finance Focus Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now give the capability to market things through their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly always select a much more direct option anyhow. For me, I like to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and therefore has way more integration options. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For example, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated web content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this much more closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your site and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these type of third-party integrations presently. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active taking on the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with rewards, however you can also pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are truly amazing features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the platform going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Finance Focus Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it likewise suggests that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen virtually weekly release of new features into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … however big features that are fairly important. Their speed of growth now has gone over.
I also quite value how responsive they are. Actually, one of their product announcements about some design enhancements to the website design features really contained a tiny issue with the material size. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the problem was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I gave them another suggestion …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to trigger automations based on the embed type made use of was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight involvement of the group is something I actually value.
An additional major point of differentiation below is the price. Both systems use free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides more capacity and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more favorable. ConvertKit appears less expensive initially glimpse due to the fact that their pricing web page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the subscriber restrictions are FAR lower and your price swiftly boosts as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same dimension list 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 directly use), you can grow your listing as much as 100,000. A list of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different organization when it involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately raise rates? They could as time goes on. However, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the important things you absolutely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to evolve instead promptly and make brand-new product announcements somewhat often, yet there are some standard features I actually wish they had that I require to simply wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on registration types where I could choose an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be outstanding for many factors. Currently, subscription types look OK, however there’s really little setups for them to aid in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have identifying at the subscriber degree. This would be effective.
I believe webhooks should become part of automations to make integrated automations much easier and decrease dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor administrative user interface modifications that would certainly be handy. As an example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Ability to bulk edit posts (for instance, to tag a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as basic on clients (like the name).
- Some even more customization choices for the web site (such as more adaptable color choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t ideal and absolutely not nearly as created as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the objective is different so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation system. I think you never know, though.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv fairly a great deal. Sufficient where I chose to switch my own e-newsletters over to the platform despite my personal preference for digital sovereignty and having my very own system.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing model specifically, I saw adequate value in their system to necessitate the change.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special email listing. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, however I deliberately have things establish so that I likewise maintain my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just a good insurance policy, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d absolutely think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and various needs. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button ought to be rather simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a big email listing and are consequently being wooled with their high regular monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s additionally a pretty good opportunity you’re not also utilizing several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can easily be a far better and more affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very intentional concerning expanding a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is one of the most effective video games in the area now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at 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.