I have actually made use of a lot of various e-mail list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a substantial proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your own system. Therefore (and the awesome features), I have actually been utilizing Pros and Cons of Beehiiv.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I intend to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to attend to the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I would certainly also such as to resolve why I selected to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Shift In Approach, I discussed just how and why I decided to transform my recreational vehicle blog right into mostly a newsletter. I chose that was the business design I intended to seek with that said residential or commercial property.
However, to deliberately seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily RV, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Extra on that in a bit.
As I stated in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools developed right into it specific to my function. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send out the email at the same time without having it be two separate actions.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not 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 platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click membership links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The system was essentially constructed by the people that accumulated the innovation for Early morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I may without a doubt be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv too. 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 actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own home so that I can expand it a lot more purposefully as well.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown independently. Happily RV was young, so easy to change. But, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff right 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 certainly constantly be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Listing
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter system and just an e-mail listing.
You can organize your e-mail list everywhere you want 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 distinction?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing means that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail clients simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that internet site. Yet, you are also sending to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s clients are all in one. This makes administration of the system much easier.
With most email platforms, any kind of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed completely separately from your web site. So, as an example, you could publish an article to WordPress but then you would certainly require to individually build and send an email to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are then two separate collections of archives and two different actions due to the fact that post and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it basically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the exact same thing. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong choice if I wished to remain to self-host every little thing. However, you ‘d lose the growth tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally comes with a different set of needs than a typical e-mail list.
You do not typically require much marketing automation. You don’t typically require autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, though, is one seamless posting experience and development tools to aid you develop your subscriber base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I selected to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I believe Substack draws. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has been about longer, it is elder and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that originally got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter authors. In fact, it is literally constructed by the exact same folks who developed the modern technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and distinction additionally implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo makers. Once again, it just informs me the client character difference between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM really did not precisely suck. The only factor I would certainly ponder drinking things up is if I believed I might GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I really don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight rivals.
However, let’s dive deeper than simply the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by individuals that comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more tailored toward designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv uses custom-made areas on customers. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as brand-new actions, such as modifying personalized areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations just given that I started making use of the platform. As an example:
- Ability to set off automations based upon which certain embed kind they can be found in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based on opens 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 because the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it comes to writing your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I find it to be more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s composing interface is nice and clean, but it would certainly be a lot more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than simply form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and then put anything you want in it. Then, you can put Exposure choices on that section to show it only to paid customers, conceal it from e-mail, hide from customers, reveal only to subscribers, and so on. Substack provides absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any type of profits. In fact, you literally connect up to your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Relying on how many customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear nerdy, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in all.
Generally, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more developed toward actual email marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs appear better developed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would love 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 said, Substack positions itself toward “designers” greater than email marketing professionals and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things geared much more towards individuals that simply assume in terms of material development.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are dealt with quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, yet … trendy for individuals that could need it.
Substack also has even more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a conversation function to host chats with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social network which sustains long-form web content.
In general, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. However, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, honestly, features … Substack works rather well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns real marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better fit. I searched for more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically via to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the exact same target audience and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at developers (like Substack), however it is a lot more highly satisfying people that do it for company. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s own business platform, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually good system.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature failure 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 involves it’s automations. I will certainly also say that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is simply a basic feature of e-mail checklists that makes it possible for segmentation in a far more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support identifying at some point soon, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Pros and Cons of Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently provide the capability to sell things 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 constantly choose a much more straight option anyhow. For me, I prefer to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way more integration options. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For instance, their plugin now also supports member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this more closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic dealing with the development devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with advantages, but you can also pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are actually outstanding features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most well known viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall wherefore this means for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Pros and Cons of Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise indicates that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen practically once a week launch of new features into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … but large features that are rather essential. Their rate of growth at this point has been impressive.
I likewise very much appreciate how receptive they are. In fact, among their item announcements regarding some layout enhancements to the website design features in fact had a small problem with the web content width. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I quickly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the problem was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I gave them another recommendation …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based upon the embed type made use of was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I truly value.
Another significant factor of differentiation here is the price. Both platforms offer free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies much 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 also even more favorable. ConvertKit seems more affordable initially glance because their pricing page shows lower numbers, nevertheless the client limits are much reduced and your rate quickly enhances as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same size list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly make use of), you can grow your listing approximately 100,000. A listing of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire 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 get all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely different organization when it pertains to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately increase prices? They may as time goes on. However, I’m guessing people like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you absolutely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to evolve rather quickly and make brand-new item statements rather usually, yet there are some standard features I actually wish they had that I need to simply wait on.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership kinds where I can pick an automation to run right at the kind level. That would certainly be outstanding for many factors. Currently, subscription kinds look OK, yet there’s very little settings for them to aid in division.
It would behave to have identifying at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks must belong to automations to make integrated automations simpler and reduce dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative interface changes that would certainly come in handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to bulk edit messages (as an example, to label a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic fields as basic on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization alternatives for the internet site (such as even more adaptable color options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I hope they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t best and certainly not nearly as created as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the objective is different so it would not much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never ever recognize, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Sufficient where I decided to change my own e-newsletters over to the system in spite of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Basically, for the e-newsletter posting model particularly, I saw adequate value in their platform to warrant the adjustment.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, yet I purposefully have points establish to make sure that I also maintain my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just a great insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d certainly take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and different requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch should be rather uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay put unless you have a large email list and are consequently being wooled with their high month-to-month bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating rapidly. There’s additionally a pretty good opportunity you’re not also utilizing some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a far better and much more economical fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really intentional about growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is developed to be, it is one of the most effective video games around right now. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out on your own. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the free account to be fairly feature abundant.