I have actually utilized a lot of different email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. For that reason (and the amazing features), I have actually been making use of Is Beehiiv Like Substack.
So, it is indeed an odd move for me to determine to utilize BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to address the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d likewise like to attend to why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Shift In Technique, I spoke about exactly how and why I determined to transform my RV blog site into mainly a newsletter. I decided that was business model I intended to go after keeping that residential property.
But, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email checklist for Gladly RV, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. More on that in a bit.
As I stated in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed into it specific to my purpose. Points such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog) and send the e-mail simultaneously without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are means to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features aimed at development. The platform was actually constructed by the people who accumulated the innovation for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may certainly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I simply went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own home to make sure that I can expand it extra intentionally as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded separately. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to change. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of things right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will clearly always be carefully linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email Listing
There’s a difference between a newsletter system and simply an email list.
You can organize your e-mail list everywhere you desire 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 difference?
The primary distinction is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that internet site. However, you are additionally sending to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much easier.
With the majority of email systems, any e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is built entirely individually from your web site. So, for instance, you could release a short article to WordPress but after that you would certainly need to individually develop and send out an email to your list to send it to clients. These are after that two separate sets of archives and 2 different activities because blog posts and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a true e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it basically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and enables them to be the exact same thing. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid option if I wished to continue to self-host everything. Nonetheless, you would certainly lose the development devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally features a various set of needs than a normal e-mail list.
You do not normally require much marketing automation. You don’t usually require autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, however, is one seamless posting 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 mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I picked to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I believe Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that initially got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally developed by the same individuals that constructed the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise means that BeeHiiv has some rather huge brands and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Once more, it just informs me the consumer character distinction between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t exactly draw. The only reason I would certainly consider drinking points up is if I thought I could expand the list much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I really don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct rivals.
However, let’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by individuals who understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more geared towards developers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers personalized fields on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as changing custom fields, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations simply given that I started utilizing the platform. As an example:
- Ability to cause automations based on which certain embed kind they came in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this since the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it pertains to composing your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is just much more tailored towards newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I find it to be much more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface is nice and clean, but it would be a lot more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than just form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and after that put anything you want in it. After that, you can place Exposure choices on that particular area to reveal it only to paid customers, hide it from e-mail, conceal from customers, show only to customers, etc. Substack offers nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any type of income. In fact, you literally link approximately your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Depending on the amount of customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was a lot more built towards genuine email marketing. It was built by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page creates appear better built for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would like 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 claimed, Substack settings itself toward “creators” greater than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things geared extra toward individuals who simply assume in regards to material creation.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are dealt with rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … trendy for people who could require it.
Substack additionally has even more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host chats with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is established to be more like a social media which supports long-form content.
In general, Substack is likewise more … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I do not. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better suited. I tried to find even more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a difficult time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically with to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at creators (like Substack), yet it is much more highly dealing with people that do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is a truly wonderful platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature break down right here. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, below’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has a lot more adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will additionally say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit much more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is simply a basic function of e-mail lists that allows segmentation in an even more adaptable method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support tagging at some point soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Is Beehiiv Like Substack.
ConvertKit does now provide the ability to market points by means of 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 choose a more direct alternative anyway. For me, I choose to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and for that reason has way much more integration options. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For example, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this extra closely puts ConvertKit into direct competition by having you be able to publish to your site and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with advantages, however you can also pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are really awesome features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface of what this suggests for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Is Beehiiv Like Substack
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it also indicates that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced almost regular release of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … however large features that are rather vital. Their speed of development at this point has actually gone over.
I likewise quite appreciate exactly how responsive they are. In fact, one of their product news regarding some layout enhancements to the website design features in fact contained a little issue with the material width. I simply replied to that email to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the concern was repaired.
Few days later, I provided one more tip …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to activate automations based upon the embed form utilized was added to the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I truly value.
An additional major factor of differentiation below is the cost. Both systems use totally free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers a lot more capability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more desirable. ConvertKit seems cheaper initially glance due to the fact that their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the subscriber limits are FAR reduced and your rate quickly enhances as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same dimension 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 personally make use of), you can grow your listing up to 100,000. A listing of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different organization when it comes to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately enhance prices? They could as time goes on. However, I’m presuming people like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of things you most definitely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to develop rather swiftly and make new item statements rather usually, yet there are some basic features I really wish they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setting on membership types where I can pick an automation to run right at the kind level. That would certainly be outstanding for a lot of factors. Currently, registration types look OK, yet there’s extremely little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would behave to have identifying at the client degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I believe webhooks need to be part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and lower dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor administrative interface modifications that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Ability to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capability to bulk edit posts (for example, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental areas as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some even more modification choices for the internet site (such as even more versatile color options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I wish they finish with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t excellent and absolutely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the function is different so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation platform. I guess you never recognize, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the platform despite my personal preference for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing design specifically, I saw sufficient worth in their platform to call for the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, yet I deliberately have points set up so that I additionally keep my listing “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is just a great insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the question 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 extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch needs to be quite uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a huge e-mail list and are for that reason being wooled with their high month-to-month costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not even making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could easily be a better and much more budget friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful about growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is made to be, it is among the most effective video games in the area now. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be rather feature abundant.