I have utilized a lot of various email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. Because of that (and the incredible features), I have been using Lucrative Unicorns Beehiiv.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to decide to utilize BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I ‘d additionally like 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 e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Change In Approach, I discussed exactly how and why I made a decision to turn my RV blog into mostly a newsletter. I determined that was business design I wished to pursue keeping that building.
But, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email checklist for Gladly motor home, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. Extra on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed because problem of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed right into it particular to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog) and send the email all at once without having it be 2 different activities.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click registration links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I choose to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially 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 constructed by the individuals that developed the technology for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I might without a doubt be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I just went for it. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential or commercial property to ensure that I can expand it extra intentionally too.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to change. Yet, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) 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 obviously constantly be closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, but does not need to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Listing
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter system and just an e-mail listing.
You can organize your e-mail checklist anywhere 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 difference?
The primary distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting suggests that it is going to your website and to your e-mail clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that website. Yet, you are also dispatching to all customers at the same time. The site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much simpler.
With many email systems, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed totally separately from your internet site. So, for example, you could release an article to WordPress yet then you would certainly need to independently develop and send an e-mail to your listing to send it to subscribers. These are then 2 separate sets of archives and two different activities since post and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a true e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it pretty much “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the exact same point. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong alternative if I wished to continue to self-host every little thing. However, you would certainly shed the development devices that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally features a different collection of requirements than a common e-mail listing.
You don’t typically need much marketing automation. You don’t typically need autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, though, is one seamless posting experience and development tools to help you build your client base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that does not mean I think Substack draws. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that initially got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter authors. In fact, it is literally constructed by the same individuals who constructed the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. Yet, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Growth is what I have an interest in below.
- That branding and distinction also indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brand names and huge magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo designers. Once more, it simply tells me the client character distinction in between both firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only factor I would ponder drinking points up is if I believed I could expand the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I in fact do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct competitors.
Yet, let’s dive much deeper than simply the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv looks like it was developed by people that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears much more geared toward designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv provides customized areas on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send out an e-mail. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as customizing custom areas, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations simply given that I started making use of the platform. For instance:
- Ability to trigger automations based on which details embed type they can be found in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target market of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it concerns composing your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is just extra tailored toward e-newsletters. Actually, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I discover it to be a lot more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface behaves and clean, but it would be extra equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than simply form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and then put anything you want in it. Then, you can put Presence options on that section to reveal it only to paid clients, hide it from email, hide from subscribers, show only to customers, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any type of earnings. As a matter of fact, you essentially attach approximately your very own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Relying on the amount of customers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more money than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outside making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations at all.
In general, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more built towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was built by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs seem better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack placements itself toward “makers” more than e-mail marketing professionals and newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points geared much more toward individuals that simply believe in regards to content creation.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous magazines, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … great for people that might need it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host chats with customers. It also has a “Notes” feature which works kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. In general, Substack is established to be extra like a social network which supports long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is likewise a lot more … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. However, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns actual marketing, I don’t assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I searched for more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically via to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the very same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at developers (like Substack), but it is far more strongly satisfying individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has good visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a truly wonderful platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown below. ConvertKit is well known currently. But, here’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is simply a fundamental function of e-mail listings that allows segmentation in a far more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain tagging at some time soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Lucrative Unicorns Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capability to offer things by means of their 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 choose an extra straight choice anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and because of that has way a lot more integration options. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. As an example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated web content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this a lot more very closely puts ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you be able to publish to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these type of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active tackling the growth tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with benefits, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are actually incredible features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface of what this indicates for the platform going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Lucrative Unicorns Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally implies that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed practically regular release of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … however big features that are quite essential. Their rate of advancement now has gone over.
I likewise significantly appreciate just how receptive they are. In fact, one of their product news about some style enhancements to the web design features in fact contained a small problem with the material size. I simply replied to that email to tell them. I swiftly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the issue was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I provided another tip …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to set off automations based upon the embed form utilized was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight involvement of the group is something I truly value.
An additional significant factor of differentiation below is the cost. Both platforms supply free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies much more ability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more beneficial. ConvertKit appears less costly in the beginning look since their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the subscriber limits are FAR lower and your price rapidly enhances as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same size list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your list as much as 100,000. A list of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely different league when it pertains to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase prices? They could as time takes place. However, I’m thinking people like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of things you absolutely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to progress rather promptly and make new product statements rather often, yet there are some fundamental features I really wish they had that I need to just await.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription types where I could choose an automation to run right at the form level. That would be amazing for so many factors. Already, registration types look OK, yet there’s very little settings for them to aid in division.
It would certainly be nice to have labeling at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks must be part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and lower reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor management interface modifications that would certainly come in handy. For instance:
- Ability to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capability to bulk edit messages (as an example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic areas as common on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization options for the web site (such as even more versatile shade choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I hope they finish with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t perfect and definitely not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I stated, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never recognize, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Enough where I decided to switch my own newsletters over to the platform despite my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter posting design particularly, I saw adequate value in their system to call for the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive email list. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is proficient at, however I deliberately have points establish to ensure that I also maintain my checklist “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is simply a good insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d most definitely think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch must be pretty simple.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a large email listing and are therefore being wooled with their high regular monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating rapidly. There’s additionally a respectable chance you’re not even utilizing several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can easily be a far better and much more affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be extremely willful concerning growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is made to be, it is just one of 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 checking out on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be rather feature rich.