I have actually used a great deal of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a significant proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. Because of that (and the remarkable features), I have been using Framer Beehiiv.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to decide to utilize 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 go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to address the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d additionally like to attend to why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Change In Method, I talked about how and why I determined to turn my motor home blog site into mainly an e-newsletter. I decided that was business version I intended to pursue with that said home.
However, 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 motor home, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. Much more on that in a bit.
As I stated in that problem of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools developed right into it details to my purpose. Points such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog site) and send the e-mail all at once without having it be two different actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features aimed at growth. The system was literally developed by the people that developed the modern technology for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may certainly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. 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 actually, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own home so that I can grow it more purposefully too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded individually. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so easy to transition. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will clearly always be closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was built for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Listing
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail listing.
You can hold your e-mail list everywhere you desire and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is going to your site and to your e-mail subscribers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that internet site. Yet, you are additionally dispatching to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s clients are all in one. This makes management of the platform much simpler.
With most email platforms, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built entirely individually from your site. So, for example, you may publish a short article to WordPress however after that you would need to individually develop and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are then 2 separate collections of archives and 2 separate activities since blog posts and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a true newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the very same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong choice if I intended to continue to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you ‘d shed the growth tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently comes with a different set of needs than a normal email list.
You don’t generally 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 seamless posting experience and growth devices to help you develop your customer base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was mosting likely to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I picked to choose BeeHiiv, that does not mean I assume Substack sucks. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has been around longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that at first got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is literally developed by the same people that developed the modern technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I have an interest in below.
- That branding and differentiation additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some rather huge brands and large publications using it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo designers. Once again, it simply tells me the client avatar distinction between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only reason I would contemplate trembling points up is if I thought I can GROW the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I really don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct rivals.
However, let’s dive much deeper than just the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv seems like it was constructed by individuals who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more geared towards developers.
As an example, BeeHiiv uses custom areas on customers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still quite restricted in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an email. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new actions, such as modifying custom-made areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations simply considering that I started making use of the platform. For instance:
- Capability to trigger automations based upon which specific embed form they came in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this because the target market of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it comes to composing your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra tailored toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I find it to be a lot more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and tidy, however it would certainly be much more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than simply type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and after that put anything you want in it. After that, you can place Exposure choices on that particular section to show it just to paid customers, hide it from email, hide from subscribers, show just to customers, and so on. Substack supplies nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs registration design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of earnings. As a matter of fact, you literally link approximately your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Depending upon the number of subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outside making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
In general, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was much more constructed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was constructed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page creates appear much better built for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack positions itself toward “designers” greater than email marketers and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points geared more toward individuals who just think in regards to material development.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple publications, they are treated quite individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … trendy for individuals who might require it.
Substack likewise has more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host talks with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is set up to be more like a social media which sustains long-form material.
On the whole, Substack is likewise extra … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I don’t. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it involves real marketing, I do not assume there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I tried to find more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a difficult time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often via to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the very same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at makers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more strongly dealing with individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is a truly great system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is popular already. But, below’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has extra versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly also say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is just a standard feature of e-mail lists that enables division in a much more adaptable means than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain labeling at some time soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Framer Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now offer the ability to sell points via their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would always pick a much more straight option anyway. For me, I favor to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and because of that has way much more integration options. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this much more closely places ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you be able to release to your site and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously lacking in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with benefits, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are truly amazing features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall for what this implies for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Framer Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it additionally suggests that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed virtually once a week launch of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … however huge features that are fairly essential. Their speed of advancement now has been impressive.
I also significantly value how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, among their product statements about some design enhancements to the web design features really consisted of a little issue with the web content width. I merely replied to that email to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the issue was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I gave them one more pointer …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based on the embed type utilized was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight involvement of the group is something I actually value.
An additional major factor of differentiation right here is the rate. Both systems provide cost-free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides much more capability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more favorable. ConvertKit seems less expensive at first glimpse since their pricing web page shows reduced numbers, nevertheless the client restrictions are much lower and your price rapidly enhances as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same dimension list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your listing approximately 100,000. A listing 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 annually, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different league when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise prices? They could as time takes place. But, I’m presuming individuals like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the important things you absolutely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to advance instead quickly and make brand-new product announcements somewhat usually, yet there are some standard features I really want they had that I require to simply wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on registration forms where I might pick an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be amazing for numerous factors. As of now, registration kinds look OK, yet there’s very little setups for them to help in division.
It would certainly behave to have tagging at the client degree. This would be effective.
I believe webhooks ought to become part of automations to make integrated automations simpler and lower dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor management user interface modifications that would be handy. For example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capability to mass edit messages (for instance, to label a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as conventional on customers (like the name).
- Some more modification alternatives for the web site (such as more versatile shade options, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I hope they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t best and certainly not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I stated, the function is different so it wouldn’t much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation system. I guess you never understand, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Sufficient where I determined to switch my own newsletters over to the system despite my personal choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Put simply, for the newsletter posting model particularly, I saw adequate value in their system to call for the change.
Remember, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special email list. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, but I deliberately have points set up to ensure that I additionally maintain my listing “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is just a good insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch should be pretty uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a huge email list and are therefore being wooled with their high month-to-month bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating rapidly. There’s likewise a respectable opportunity you’re not even utilizing several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can easily be a much better and more affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very deliberate concerning expanding a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is made to be, it is among the best games in town today. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the complimentary account to be quite feature rich.