I have actually used a lot of various email list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your own system. Therefore (and the awesome features), I have actually been making use of How Many People Use Beehiiv.
So, it is without a doubt an unusual move for me to determine to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I want to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to address the issue of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly additionally such as to deal with why I chose to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Change In Method, I spoke about how and why I made a decision to turn my RV blog into mostly an e-newsletter. I determined that was the business version I wished to seek keeping that building.
But, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily RV, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. Much more on that particular in a little bit.
As I stated because concern of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed right into it particular to my objective. Points such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog) and send the e-mail simultaneously without having it be two different actions.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click registration links. Great for promotion in 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 choose to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The system was literally built by the individuals who built up the modern technology for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went all out. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s very own property to ensure that I can expand it extra purposefully also.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded independently. Happily motor home was young, so easy to change. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will undoubtedly constantly be carefully tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Checklist
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and just an email listing.
You can hold your email list everywhere you want and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The primary difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting indicates that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your e-mail subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that website. But, you are likewise sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s clients are all in one. This makes administration of the platform much easier.
With a lot of email systems, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is constructed entirely individually from your site. So, as an example, you may release a post to WordPress yet then you would need to independently construct and send an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are after that 2 different collections of archives and two separate activities because post and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I intended to remain to self-host every little thing. However, you ‘d lose the growth tools that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently features a different set of requirements than a common e-mail listing.
You don’t typically need much marketing automation. You don’t generally require autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, however, is one seamless publishing experience and growth devices to assist you construct your customer base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I chose to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I assume Substack sucks. In fact, because Substack has actually been about longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that initially got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is essentially developed by the exact same folks who developed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. However, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I have an interest in right here.
- That branding and distinction likewise indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo designers. Again, it just tells me the consumer character difference in between the two companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only reason I would ponder shaking points up is if I assumed I can GROW the list faster. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I really do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct rivals.
However, allow’s dive deeper than just the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv looks like it was developed by individuals who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems more geared toward designers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies personalized fields on customers. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a lot 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 action is the ability to send out an e-mail. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as customizing personalized areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations simply because I started making use of the platform. For instance:
- Ability to cause automations based upon which certain embed type they can be found in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an email marketer.
When it pertains to composing your newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more geared toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I find it to be more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface behaves and clean, but it would certainly be more equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than simply kind. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Visibility alternatives on that particular section to reveal it just to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, conceal from clients, reveal only to customers, and so on. Substack uses nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium subscription design, BeeHiiv does not take any revenue. As a matter of fact, you essentially connect as much as your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Depending on the number of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the month-to-month cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem unpopular, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in all.
Overall, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was much more developed towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page creates appear far better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I like the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack settings itself toward “creators” greater than email marketing professionals and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points tailored a lot more toward people who simply believe in regards to material development.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support numerous publications, they are treated rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, yet … amazing for people that could require it.
Substack likewise has more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a conversation function to host talks with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which works kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. Generally, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social network which supports long-form material.
On the whole, Substack is likewise extra … minimal. You either take care of that or don’t. Personally, I do not. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I searched for even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a tough time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically through to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more strongly dealing with individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has great visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is a really nice system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature failure here. ConvertKit is well known already. But, below’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has more versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit much more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is just a standard feature of e-mail listings that enables segmentation in an even more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain tagging at some time quickly, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing How Many People Use Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently offer the capability to market points using their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always pick a more straight choice anyway. For me, I like to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and therefore has way more integration options. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. As an example, their plugin now even supports member-gated web content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this much more very closely places ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy tackling 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 benefits, however you can also pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall wherefore this means for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … How Many People Use Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it likewise suggests that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced virtually weekly release of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … however large features that are rather essential. Their speed of advancement at this moment has been impressive.
I additionally significantly appreciate just how receptive they are. Actually, one of their item announcements concerning some design enhancements to the website design features actually consisted of a small issue with the material size. I simply replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the issue was taken care of.
Couple of days later, I provided another tip …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to activate automations based on the embed type made use of was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I actually value.
Another major factor of differentiation below is the cost. Both platforms supply free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies more capability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more positive. ConvertKit appears less expensive in the beginning glance since their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, however the client limits are much reduced and your cost swiftly boosts as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same size list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly use), you can grow your checklist approximately 100,000. A list of that size would 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 yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely various league when it comes to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point boost prices? They could as time takes place. Yet, I’m thinking people like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to progress rather quickly and make new product news rather frequently, yet there are some fundamental features I really want they had that I need to simply wait on.
One is that they require to have a setup on registration types where I could select an automation to run right at the type level. That would certainly be outstanding for numerous reasons. As of now, registration forms look OK, but there’s very little settings for them to help in division.
It would be nice to have tagging at the subscriber level. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks should become part of automations to make integrated automations much easier and minimize dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some small administrative interface adjustments that would come in handy. For instance:
- Ability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit messages (as an example, to tag a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic areas as typical on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization options for the site (such as even more adaptable shade selections, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t best and certainly not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I stated, the function is different so it would not a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation platform. I guess you never recognize, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Enough where I made a decision to change my very own newsletters over to the platform regardless of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and having my very own platform.
Basically, for the newsletter posting model particularly, I saw adequate worth in their platform to require the modification.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive email list. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, yet I deliberately have things establish to make sure that I additionally maintain my listing “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is simply an excellent insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d most definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the switch must be pretty simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a big email listing and are as a result being fleeced with their high regular monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating swiftly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not even making use of some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can easily be a far better and much more cost effective fit.
Finally, if you plan to be extremely intentional about growing a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is made to be, it is among the most effective video games in town now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be rather feature rich.