I have actually utilized a lot of different email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant supporter of digital sovereignty and having your own system. For that reason (and the outstanding features), I have been making use of Freelance Opportunities Beehiiv.
So, it is undoubtedly a weird move for me to determine to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to attend to the concern of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I would certainly likewise such as to resolve why I chose to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Shift In Method, I discussed how and why I chose to transform my recreational vehicle blog right into mostly an e-newsletter. I determined that was the business version I intended to pursue with that residential property.
However, to intentionally seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Happily motor home, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Extra on that particular in a bit.
As I stated because issue of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices built right into it certain to my function. Things such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail concurrently without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click subscription web links. Great for promotion in various 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 advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The system was literally constructed by the people who built up the innovation for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I may certainly be relocating 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 all out. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own home to ensure that I can grow it much more purposefully as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded individually. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to transition. Yet, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things 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 undoubtedly always be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Listing
There’s a distinction between a newsletter platform and just an e-mail list.
You can organize your e-mail listing everywhere you want and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your email clients simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that website. Yet, you are likewise dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The web site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes administration of the system much less complex.
With most e-mail systems, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed completely individually from your internet site. So, for example, you might publish a short article to WordPress yet then you would certainly require to individually build and send out an email to your checklist to send it to clients. These are after that two separate sets of archives and two different activities since post and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it basically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the very same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong choice if I wanted to remain to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you would certainly shed the development tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently features a various collection of demands than a regular e-mail listing.
You do not normally need much marketing automation. You don’t usually require autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, however, is one smooth publishing experience and development devices to aid you develop your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was going to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I believe Substack sucks. In fact, since Substack has been about much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that originally obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is actually developed by the exact same people that developed the modern technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction also implies that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brands and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo creators. Once again, it simply tells me the client character difference between the two business.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only factor I would certainly consider trembling points up is if I believed I could GROW the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I really don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct rivals.
However, allow’s dive deeper than simply the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv feels like it was built by individuals that comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra geared toward developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies customized fields on clients. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an email. However, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to brand-new activities, such as modifying customized areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations just because I started making use of the platform. For instance:
- Capability to cause automations based upon which details embed type they can be found in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this since the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it involves composing your newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored towards e-newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I locate it to be much more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface behaves and tidy, however it would certainly be extra equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than just kind. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and afterwards put anything you want in it. After that, you can put Exposure choices on that area to show it just to paid subscribers, hide it from email, hide from subscribers, reveal just to subscribers, and so on. Substack uses nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs membership design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of income. As a matter of fact, you essentially link up to your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending upon the number of customers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the regular monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra developed towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was constructed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page designs appear better constructed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack settings itself towards “designers” more than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some things geared a lot more towards people who simply think in regards to material creation.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are dealt with rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … trendy for individuals who may need it.
Substack also has even more social performance built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host talks with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions sort of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. On the whole, Substack is established to be much more like a social network which supports long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is likewise more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to real marketing, I don’t think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I looked for even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet truthfully … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically via to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at creators (like Substack), but it is far more strongly accommodating individuals that do it for service. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is a really nice platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, right here’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise say that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is just a standard feature of e-mail listings that makes it possible for division in an even more flexible way than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support identifying eventually soon, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Freelance Opportunities Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now supply the capability to market things using their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly pick a more straight choice anyway. For me, I choose to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and because of that has way a lot more integration options. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this much more very closely places ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you be able to release to your website and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously lacking in these type of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with rewards, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most popular viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface wherefore this implies for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Freelance Opportunities Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it also means that they are rapidly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen nearly weekly release of new features right into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … but big features that are fairly vital. Their speed of development at this point has actually been impressive.
I also very much appreciate how responsive they are. Actually, one of their product news regarding some layout improvements to the website design features actually included a tiny problem with the content size. I merely responded to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That very same day, the problem was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I provided another idea …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based on the embed form utilized was added to the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I really value.
An additional major factor of differentiation right here is the rate. Both platforms offer cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides much more ability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more favorable. ConvertKit appears less expensive in the beginning glimpse since their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the subscriber limits are FAR lower and your cost promptly raises as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same size list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly use), you can expand 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 each year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely different league when it comes to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase prices? They may as time takes place. Yet, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of things you absolutely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to progress rather promptly and make brand-new product news somewhat typically, however there are some basic features I truly desire they had that I require to just await.
One is that they require to have a setup on registration types where I can pick an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be outstanding for many reasons. Already, membership kinds look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would behave to have marking at the client level. This would be powerful.
I assume webhooks ought to belong to automations to make integrated automations easier and decrease reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor administrative interface changes that would be handy. As an example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Ability to bulk edit articles (as an example, to tag a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic fields as common on clients (like the name).
- Some more customization alternatives for the website (such as even more flexible shade options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t excellent and certainly not nearly as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I stated, the objective is different so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever know, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to switch my very own newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own platform.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter posting design particularly, I saw sufficient worth in their platform to require the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv of what it is efficient, but I purposefully have things set up to ensure that I additionally keep my checklist “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just a great insurance coverage, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch must be quite straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a huge e-mail listing and are therefore being fleeced with their high monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating swiftly. There’s also a pretty good chance you’re not also using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv might easily be a better and more affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really intentional about expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is developed to be, it is among the best games in town today. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be fairly feature rich.