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 big supporter of digital sovereignty and having your very own system. Because of that (and the incredible features), I have been using Substack Vs Beehiiv Vs ConvertKit.
So, it is undoubtedly an unusual move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I intend to look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I ‘d also like to deal with why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Shift In Approach, I discussed exactly how and why I determined to turn my RV blog site into mostly a newsletter. I determined that was business design I wanted to go after with that said building.
But, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly motor home, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. More on that particular in a bit.
As I stated in that concern of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed right into it specific to my objective. Points such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog) and send out the email simultaneously without having it be two separate actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features aimed at development. The system was actually constructed by the individuals who developed the modern technology for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I finished off with this:.
I might certainly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own residential property to make sure that I can expand it extra deliberately as well.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded separately. Happily RV was young, so very easy to shift. But, The Morning WP (previously 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 certainly constantly be closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however does not need to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and simply an email list.
You can host your email list just about anywhere you desire and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing indicates that it is mosting likely to your website and to your e-mail clients concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that web site. But, you are likewise dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are done in one. This makes administration of the platform much simpler.
With a lot of email platforms, any kind of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built entirely independently from your internet site. So, for example, you might publish a write-up to WordPress but then you would certainly require to separately build and send an email to your list to send it to customers. These are after that two separate collections of archives and two different activities since article and your emails are not naturally connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and enables them to be the same thing. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I wished to continue to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the development tools that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently includes a different collection of requirements than a typical email listing.
You do not usually require much marketing automation. You do not normally require autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth posting experience and development devices to help you build your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was going to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I selected to select BeeHiiv, that does not suggest I believe Substack draws. In fact, because Substack has been around longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that originally got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is actually constructed by the very same folks that developed the innovation behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and distinction additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brand names and huge publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo designers. Once again, it just informs me the client character difference between both business.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only factor I would consider trembling points up is if I thought I might expand the list quicker. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I actually don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct rivals.
But, let’s dive deeper than just the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv feels like it was built by individuals who understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra geared towards creators.
For example, BeeHiiv uses customized fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly restricted in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send out an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to new activities, such as modifying customized areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations simply because I began making use of the platform. For example:
- Capacity to trigger automations based upon which certain embed form they came in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and handle individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can not do this because the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an email marketer.
When it involves creating your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored toward e-newsletters. Actually, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I locate it to be extra user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s writing user interface is nice and clean, however it would certainly be more equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than simply kind. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and afterwards put anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Presence alternatives on that section to show it only to paid clients, hide it from email, conceal from customers, show just to clients, and so on. Substack uses absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium membership design, BeeHiiv does not take any 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 profits. Depending upon the number of clients you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear nerdy, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in all.
Generally, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more developed toward real e-mail marketing. It was constructed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page makes seem better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually claimed, Substack positions itself towards “designers” more than e-mail online marketers and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some points tailored extra towards people who simply believe in regards to material development.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple publications, they are dealt with rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … great for people that may require it.
Substack also has more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host chats with clients. It also has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. Overall, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media which supports long-form material.
In general, Substack is likewise more … minimal. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nevertheless, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it involves actual marketing, I don’t assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better matched. I looked for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically through to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the exact same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is far more highly catering to people that do it for business. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation structure, it’s own commerce platform, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a truly nice system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. However, below’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly also state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit much more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is simply a standard feature of email lists that makes it possible for division in a much more flexible way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support tagging at some point soon, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Substack Vs Beehiiv Vs ConvertKit.
ConvertKit does now give the capability to offer things through their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly always pick an extra direct option anyway. For me, I like to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and for that reason has way a lot more integration options. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. As an example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this extra very closely places ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you be able to publish to your site and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic dealing with the growth devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with rewards, however you can likewise pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are truly remarkable features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most popular viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall of what this implies for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Substack Vs Beehiiv Vs ConvertKit
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also means that they are quickly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen virtually regular release of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … yet large features that are quite essential. Their rate of development now has gone over.
I additionally very much value how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item statements about some style improvements to the website design features in fact consisted of a small trouble with the web content width. I just responded to that email to tell them. I swiftly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That same day, the problem was fixed.
Couple of days later, I provided one more recommendation …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based on the embed kind used was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I truly appreciate.
One more major point of differentiation right here is the price. Both platforms provide totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides much more capacity and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more favorable. ConvertKit appears more affordable in the beginning glance since their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the subscriber restrictions are FAR reduced and your cost swiftly raises as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), however you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same size checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly utilize), you can grow your checklist approximately 100,000. A list of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in a totally various league when it pertains to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase rates? They might as time goes on. Yet, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you certainly need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to evolve rather promptly and make brand-new item announcements rather typically, yet there are some basic features I really desire they had that I need to simply wait on.
One is that they need to have a setup on membership kinds where I can pick an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be remarkable for so many factors. Already, subscription kinds look OK, however there’s very little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would behave to have tagging at the client level. This would be effective.
I think webhooks must belong to automations to make built-in automations easier and lower dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some small administrative user interface changes that would certainly come in handy. For example:
- Ability to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to bulk edit articles (for example, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic fields as typical on clients (like the name).
- Some even more modification options for the site (such as more flexible color choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I wish they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t excellent and definitely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It most likely never will certainly be, either. As I said, the objective is different so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I guess you never understand, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Sufficient where I decided to switch my very own newsletters over to the system despite my personal choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting model particularly, I saw sufficient worth in their system to necessitate the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special email list. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, however I intentionally have things establish to make sure that I also maintain my checklist “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration switching to BeeHiiv. It will merely be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various needs. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button must be pretty uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a big e-mail list and are for that reason being wooled with their high month-to-month expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating swiftly. There’s also a pretty good chance you’re not also using a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could quickly be a better and a lot more cost effective fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very deliberate concerning growing a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is developed to be, it is among the very best video games in the area right now. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the cost-free account to be quite feature abundant.