I have utilized a lot of different email list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have been utilizing How To Monetize A Beehiiv Newsletter.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to decide to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to resolve the issue of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d additionally such as to attend to why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Change In Approach, I talked about how and why I chose to turn my recreational vehicle blog right into mostly a newsletter. I chose that was business model I intended to pursue keeping that residential or commercial property.
However, to intentionally pursue it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Happily RV, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. Extra on that in a little bit.
As I said because concern of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices built into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog site) and send the email simultaneously without having it be two different actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click membership links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capability 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 basically run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The platform was actually constructed by the individuals who built up the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I finished off with this:.
I may without a doubt be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went all out. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential property to make sure that I can grow it extra purposefully as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to transition. But, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff right here at the Blog Site 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 very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter system and just an email checklist.
You can organize your email list everywhere you desire and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing means that it is going to your site and to your email clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that internet site. Yet, you are also dispatching to all customers at the same time. The internet site and it’s customers are done in one. This makes management of the platform much easier.
With a lot of email platforms, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed completely independently from your web site. So, as an example, you may publish a short article to WordPress but after that you would require to individually develop and send out an email to your list to send it to clients. These are then two different sets of archives and two separate actions because post and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a real newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it pretty much “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the exact same point. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong choice if I wanted to continue to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the development devices that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally includes a different collection of requirements than a normal e-mail checklist.
You do not normally require much marketing automation. You don’t usually require autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless publishing experience and development tools to help you develop your subscriber base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was going to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I chose to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I believe Substack draws. As a matter of fact, since Substack has been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that originally obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is essentially developed by the very same individuals who built the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively big brands and big publications using it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo developers. Once more, it just informs me the consumer avatar distinction in between the two companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t specifically draw. The only reason I would certainly consider shaking points up is if I assumed I can expand the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I in fact don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct competitors.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than simply the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv feels like it was built by people who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems more tailored towards developers.
For example, BeeHiiv provides custom areas on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. In fact, it is a visual 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 rather minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an email. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to brand-new activities, such as customizing customized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations simply given that I started utilizing the platform. For instance:
- Ability to cause automations based upon which certain embed form they was available in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with people based on 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 just can’t do this since the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it comes to creating your e-newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared towards newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I locate it to be more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface behaves and tidy, yet it would be a lot more comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than simply kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and afterwards placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Exposure options on that section to show it just to paid clients, conceal it from email, conceal from clients, reveal just to subscribers, etc. Substack offers nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of income. In fact, you literally attach approximately your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending upon the number of clients you get, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, but what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
On the whole, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra constructed toward actual email marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page creates appear much better constructed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack placements itself toward “makers” more than email marketers and e-newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points geared a lot more toward people who just think in regards to content creation.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple publications, they are treated fairly individually. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, yet … great for people that might require it.
Substack likewise has more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a conversation function to host talks with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. In general, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media which sustains long-form content.
On the whole, Substack is also a lot more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Personally, I don’t. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to real marketing, I do not assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better suited. I looked for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently with to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the exact same target market and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at makers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more strongly satisfying individuals who do it for business. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation structure, it’s own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is a truly great system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure right here. ConvertKit is well known already. Yet, below’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it concerns it’s automations. I will also say that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is just a basic feature of email listings that allows division in an even more versatile way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some time soon, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on How To Monetize A Beehiiv Newsletter.
ConvertKit does now supply the capability to sell points via their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would always pick a more straight choice anyhow. For me, I favor to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and for that reason has way a lot more integration options. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For instance, their plugin now even sustains member-gated web content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this a lot more carefully places ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you have the ability to release to your site and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly lacking in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic dealing with the growth devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with benefits, however you can likewise pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly outstanding features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most popular viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … How To Monetize A Beehiiv Newsletter
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise suggests that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed almost regular launch of new features right into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but large features that are rather important. Their rate of growth at this moment has actually gone over.
I additionally very much value exactly how receptive they are. In fact, among their product news concerning some layout improvements to the web design features really contained a tiny problem with the web content size. I merely replied to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That same day, the concern was fixed.
Few days later, I gave them an additional tip …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to trigger automations based on the embed type utilized was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I truly value.
One more major point of distinction right here is the price. Both systems offer totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers extra ability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more desirable. ConvertKit seems cheaper at first look due to the fact that their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the subscriber limitations are FAR reduced and your rate promptly enhances as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same dimension checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally use), 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 desire their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various league when it concerns pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually raise costs? They may as time goes on. But, I’m presuming people like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you certainly require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to develop instead swiftly and make new product news rather commonly, however there are some basic features I really want they had that I need to just wait for.
One is that they need to have a setting on registration forms where I could choose an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be amazing for so many reasons. As of now, registration forms look OK, however there’s really little setups for them to assist in division.
It would certainly be nice to have identifying at the subscriber level. This would be effective.
I assume webhooks need to belong to automations to make built-in automations less complicated and minimize reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some small management user interface adjustments that would be handy. For example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to mass edit articles (for example, to identify a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as typical on subscribers (like the name).
- Some even more customization choices for the website (such as even more versatile shade options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t ideal and certainly not almost as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It probably never will be, either. As I stated, the purpose is various so it would not a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I think you never understand, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Enough where I decided to switch my own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own system.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing model particularly, I saw sufficient worth in their platform to call for the adjustment.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv of what it is good at, but I deliberately have points establish to ensure that I also maintain my listing “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just a good insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various demands. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch ought to be quite simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a large e-mail listing and are therefore being wooled with their high regular monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating swiftly. There’s likewise a respectable chance you’re not also using a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might easily be a far better and more economical fit.
Finally, if you plan to be extremely deliberate concerning expanding a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is created to be, it is one of the best video games in town right now. This is the platform to watch.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the totally free account to be quite feature rich.