I have utilized a great deal of different e-mail list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own platform. For that reason (and the awesome features), I have actually been using Swirling Visions Beehiiv.
So, it is undoubtedly an odd move for me to decide to use BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I intend to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to resolve the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I would certainly also such as to deal with why I selected to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Change In Technique, I talked about exactly how and why I decided to turn my motor home blog right into largely a newsletter. I decided that was the business design I intended to go after with that said residential property.
But, to intentionally seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly recreational vehicle, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. More on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed in that concern of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built into it specific to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail concurrently without having it be two separate actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in various other 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 e-newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I choose to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The system was actually developed by the individuals that built up the innovation for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may indeed be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I simply went all out. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own home to make sure that I can grow it more purposefully as well.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Gladly RV was young, so easy to transition. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of things here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will undoubtedly constantly be closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv because it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter platform and simply an e-mail list.
You can organize your e-mail checklist anyplace 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 system, the act of posting implies that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail customers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that web site. However, you are likewise sending off to all customers at the same time. The site and it’s customers are done in one. This makes administration of the platform much simpler.
With a lot of email systems, any type of e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is constructed entirely separately from your site. So, for example, you may publish an article to WordPress but after that you would certainly require to separately build and send an email to your listing to send it to subscribers. These are then two separate sets of archives and two different activities since post and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a true newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the same thing. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I intended to remain to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the growth devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally includes a various collection of needs than a typical email listing.
You don’t usually require much marketing automation. You don’t typically require autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, however, is one seamless publishing experience and growth tools to aid you develop your subscriber base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was going to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I selected to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I believe Substack draws. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has been about longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that at first obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to e-newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is essentially built by the same people who constructed the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and differentiation likewise means that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and big magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Once more, it just informs me the client avatar difference between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only factor I would contemplate drinking things up is if I thought I can GROW the listing faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I really don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct competitors.
But, let’s dive much deeper than simply the placing here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by individuals that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra geared towards designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies custom fields on clients. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still quite restricted in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers along with new actions, such as changing custom fields, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations just considering that I started making use of the system. For instance:
- Capability to set off automations based upon which certain embed kind they came in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can not do this since the target audience of Substack simply would not believe to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it involves composing your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is just much more geared toward e-newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I find it to be extra user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing interface behaves and clean, yet it would be a lot more equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and after that placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Exposure options on that area to reveal it just to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, hide from subscribers, reveal just to customers, etc. Substack uses absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium registration version, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of earnings. As a matter of fact, you literally link approximately your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Relying on how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more built toward genuine email marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page creates seem far better developed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv include, I like the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack placements itself towards “makers” more than e-mail marketing experts and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points geared more towards people that simply think in regards to material creation.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are dealt with quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … great for people who could require it.
Substack likewise has even more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a chat feature to host talks with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which functions type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is established to be much more like a social network which sustains long-form material.
On the whole, Substack is also a lot more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I do not. Nevertheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, honestly, features … Substack works quite well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I looked for even more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet truthfully … I have a difficult time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually through to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the very same target market and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is far more strongly catering to individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own business platform, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a truly wonderful system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature break down below. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more adaptability when it involves it’s automations. I will also state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is simply a fundamental function of email checklists that enables division in a far more flexible means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support marking eventually soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Swirling Visions Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently offer the capacity to market things via their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would always select a much more direct option anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and therefore has way extra integration options. Tons of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. As an example, their plugin now even supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this more very closely puts ConvertKit into direct competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active dealing with the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with perks, but you can also pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are actually amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most popular viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall wherefore this suggests for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Swirling Visions Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise implies that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced practically once a week launch of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … but large features that are quite essential. Their speed of advancement now has been impressive.
I likewise significantly appreciate how responsive they are. In fact, one of their item statements about some design enhancements to the web design features in fact consisted of a little issue with the material size. I simply replied to that email to tell them. I promptly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the concern was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I provided another tip …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to activate automations based upon the embed kind used was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I actually appreciate.
One more significant factor of differentiation here is the price. Both systems offer cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan uses extra ability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally even more desirable. ConvertKit appears cheaper in the beginning glimpse because their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the subscriber limitations are FAR lower and your price quickly increases as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same size 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 utilize), you can expand your list approximately 100,000. A checklist of that size 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, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a totally various organization when it involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually boost prices? They could as time takes place. However, I’m presuming people like myself that are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you absolutely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to advance instead rapidly and make new item announcements rather typically, but there are some fundamental features I truly wish they had that I require to simply wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription forms where I can pick an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be AWESOME for many factors. Currently, membership forms look OK, however there’s extremely little setups for them to aid in division.
It would behave to have marking at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks ought to become part of automations to make integrated automations less complicated and decrease dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some small administrative user interface changes that would certainly come in handy. For instance:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Capacity to mass edit posts (for example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as conventional on subscribers (like the name).
- Some even more personalization alternatives for the website (such as more adaptable shade selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t best and definitely not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It possibly never ever will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the function is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation system. I think you never understand, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Sufficient where I chose to change my very own e-newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own platform.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing design specifically, I saw sufficient value in their platform to necessitate the change.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail checklist. I use BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, yet I deliberately have points set up so that I likewise maintain my checklist “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is just a good insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack today, I ‘d most definitely think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button should be pretty straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a huge e-mail checklist and are therefore being wooled with their high regular monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating swiftly. There’s also a respectable possibility you’re not even making use of a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could quickly be a far better and a lot more affordable fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very willful regarding growing an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is made to be, it is among the very best video games in the area now. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth having a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the complimentary account to be fairly feature abundant.