I have actually utilized a lot of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own system. Because of that (and the incredible features), I have been making use of Jacob Hurd Beehiiv.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to make a decision to utilize BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to address the issue of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly also such as to address why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Shift In Method, I discussed exactly how and why I determined to transform my RV blog right into mostly a newsletter. I made a decision that was business design I intended to seek with that said property.
However, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that particular in a bit.
As I said because concern of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed into it particular to my objective. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send out the e-mail concurrently without having it be 2 different actions.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in various 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 e-newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on growth. The platform was actually developed by the people that developed the modern technology for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may without a doubt be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went for it. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own property to make sure that I can expand it much more purposefully as well.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown independently. Gladly RV was young, so very easy to shift. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will clearly always be carefully tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email List
There’s a distinction between a newsletter platform and just an email list.
You can hold your e-mail checklist everywhere you desire and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting implies that it is going to your site and to your e-mail customers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that internet site. However, you are likewise dispatching to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s customers are all in one. This makes administration of the platform much easier.
With most email systems, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed totally separately from your internet site. So, as an example, you might release a post to WordPress yet then you would need to independently construct and send an email to your checklist to send it to customers. These are then two separate collections of archives and two different activities because blog posts and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it pretty much “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the very same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong choice if I intended to remain to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you ‘d shed the growth tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently includes a various collection of requirements than a typical e-mail listing.
You do not normally require much marketing automation. You don’t typically require autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth publishing experience and growth tools to assist you construct your customer base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was going to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I selected to choose BeeHiiv, that does not mean I believe Substack draws. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has been around longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that at first obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to e-newsletter publishers. In fact, it is literally developed by the same folks that built the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I want right here.
- That branding and distinction additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and big publications using it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo designers. Once more, it simply informs me the consumer character distinction in between the two companies.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t precisely suck. The only reason I would consider shaking points up is if I thought I can GROW the list faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I in fact don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct rivals.
However, allow’s dive deeper than simply the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by individuals who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more geared toward developers.
For example, BeeHiiv uses custom-made fields on customers. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send an e-mail. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new activities, such as customizing personalized fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations just because I started using the platform. As an example:
- Ability to activate automations based upon which specific embed type they came in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this because the target market of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an email marketer.
When it comes to writing your newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is simply more tailored towards e-newsletters. Actually, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I discover it to be a lot more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s writing interface is nice and clean, however it would certainly be more comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than just type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and after that placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can place Presence alternatives on that particular section to reveal it just to paid subscribers, conceal it from email, hide from customers, reveal only to customers, etc. Substack supplies absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium registration version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of profits. As a matter of fact, you actually link as much as your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending upon the amount of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the regular monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear unpopular, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was more built towards real email marketing. It was developed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page designs seem better constructed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack positions itself towards “creators” greater than e-mail marketing professionals and newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some things tailored extra towards individuals that simply think in terms of content development.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are treated quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … cool for individuals that may need it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. Generally, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media network which supports long-form content.
In general, Substack is also a lot more … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. However, if the objective is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns real marketing, I don’t assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I searched for even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the same target audience and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly accommodating people who do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s own business platform, and extra. ConvertKit is an actually good system.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is well known already. But, right here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has a lot more versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will additionally say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is just a basic feature of email listings that enables division in an even more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support labeling at some time soon, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Jacob Hurd Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently provide the ability to sell points through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always pick a much more direct option anyway. For me, I choose to use my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and because of that has way more integration options. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this more very closely places ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these sort of third-party integrations presently. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with perks, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are actually incredible features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall of what this indicates for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Jacob Hurd Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally indicates that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen virtually regular release of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … yet big features that are fairly essential. Their rate of growth now has actually been impressive.
I also significantly appreciate how responsive they are. Actually, one of their product news concerning some layout improvements to the web design features actually consisted of a little trouble with the web content size. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That same day, the problem was dealt with.
Few days later on, I gave them another recommendation …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to activate automations based on the embed kind made use of was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I really appreciate.
Another significant point of differentiation right here is the price. Both platforms use totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides more capacity and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more desirable. ConvertKit seems cheaper in the beginning look since their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, however the customer restrictions are much lower and your cost rapidly enhances as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same dimension list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly make use of), you can expand your listing approximately 100,000. A list of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different league when it comes to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost prices? They could as time takes place. However, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the important things you absolutely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to progress instead promptly and make new product statements rather often, however there are some fundamental features I really wish they had that I require to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership types where I could select an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be amazing for a lot of reasons. Currently, membership kinds look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have labeling at the client level. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks must become part of automations to make integrated automations easier and minimize reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor management interface adjustments that would come in handy. As an example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to bulk edit posts (for instance, to identify a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental areas as typical on clients (like the name).
- Some more customization options for the internet site (such as more adaptable shade selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I hope they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t ideal and certainly not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I stated, the objective is various so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I think you never ever know, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Sufficient where I made a decision to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and having my very own platform.
Put simply, for the newsletter publishing model especially, I saw adequate value in their system to require the change.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, however I purposefully have things set up so that I also maintain my list “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply a great insurance coverage, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack now, I ‘d certainly think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and different requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the switch ought to be quite uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a huge email listing and are consequently being wooled with their high monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating rapidly. There’s likewise a respectable opportunity you’re not even making use of several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a better and more cost effective fit.
Finally, if you plan to be extremely deliberate concerning expanding an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is among the very best games around right now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the complimentary account to be rather feature rich.