I have utilized a great deal of different email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a massive proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own platform. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have been using What Companies Use Beehiiv.
So, it is indeed a strange move for me to decide to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I would certainly likewise like to resolve why I chose to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Shift In Technique, I talked about how and why I decided to transform my motor home blog site right into primarily a newsletter. I determined that was the business design I wished to pursue keeping that building.
Yet, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily motor home, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed because concern of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools built right into it details to my objective. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send out the e-mail at the same time without having it be 2 different activities.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click subscription links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are means 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 ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features focused on growth. The platform was essentially constructed by the people that developed the innovation for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I finished off with this:.
I may without a doubt be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I just went all out. And actually, The EDGE 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 as well.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded independently. Happily RV was young, so easy to change. However, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was buried in a sea of stuff right here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will obviously always be closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however does not have to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email List
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter platform and simply an e-mail checklist.
You can hold your e-mail listing anywhere you want and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing suggests that it is mosting likely to your site and to your email subscribers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that internet site. However, you are additionally sending off to all customers at the same time. The web site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes management of the platform much less complex.
With the majority of email platforms, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed entirely separately from your website. So, for example, you might publish a post to WordPress yet then you would certainly require to separately build and send out an email to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 separate collections of archives and two different actions because article and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a real newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it pretty much “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and permits them to be the same point. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong alternative if I intended to remain to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the growth tools that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally features a various set of needs than a normal e-mail listing.
You do not generally require much marketing automation. You do not typically need autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless publishing experience and development devices to help you develop your customer base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was going to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I selected to choose BeeHiiv, that does not imply I assume Substack sucks. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has actually been around much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that at first got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is actually constructed by the exact same folks who constructed the technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I have an interest in here.
- That branding and distinction also implies that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and big publications using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo designers. Once more, it just informs me the client avatar difference between both companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only reason I would certainly ponder drinking things up is if I thought I might GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I really do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct competitors.
But, allow’s dive much deeper than just the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv appears like it was constructed by individuals that comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more tailored towards makers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies personalized areas on customers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
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 rather limited in triggers and the only action is the ability to send out an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new activities, such as changing customized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply since I began utilizing the system. For example:
- Ability to set off automations based on which details embed form they can be found in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and manage people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it involves writing your e-newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra tailored toward e-newsletters. In fact, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I find it to be extra intuitive, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface is nice and clean, but it would certainly be more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than simply form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and after that placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Exposure choices on that section to show it just to paid subscribers, hide it from e-mail, hide from subscribers, reveal only to subscribers, and so on. Substack uses absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs subscription design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of profits. In fact, you actually connect as much as your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your revenue. Depending upon the number of customers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more money than the regular monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Generally, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was more developed towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page designs seem better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would like 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 claimed, Substack settings itself toward “designers” greater than email online marketers and e-newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some things geared extra toward people that just believe in regards to material development.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are dealt with fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … awesome for people who may require it.
Substack additionally has even more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host talks with customers. It also has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media network which sustains long-form content.
On the whole, Substack is additionally extra … minimalist. You either look after that or do not. Directly, I don’t. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I searched for more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a difficult time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently through to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the very same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at developers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly dealing with individuals that do it for business. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly wonderful platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature failure here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, right here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly also state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is simply a fundamental feature of e-mail lists that makes it possible for division in a far more flexible means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support marking eventually quickly, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on What Companies Use Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently give the ability to sell things by means of their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly always pick a more straight alternative anyhow. For me, I like to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and because of that has way a lot more integration alternatives. Tons of web-based tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For example, their plugin now even supports member-gated web content in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this much more closely puts ConvertKit into straight competition by having you have the ability to release to your website and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active tackling the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with benefits, yet you can also pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are truly incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall of what this implies for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … What Companies Use Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it likewise implies that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced practically once a week launch of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … however large features that are rather vital. Their rate of advancement now has gone over.
I likewise very much appreciate just how responsive they are. In fact, one of their product news about some design enhancements to the website design features actually consisted of a small problem with the content width. I just responded to that email to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the problem was dealt with.
Few days later, I gave them another idea …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to cause 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 actually appreciate.
Another significant point of distinction below is the price. Both systems offer cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan uses much more capacity and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more positive. ConvertKit appears more affordable initially glimpse since their pricing web page shows lower numbers, nonetheless the customer limits are much lower and your price rapidly enhances as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same size checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally utilize), you can grow your list as much as 100,000. A listing of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different organization when it pertains to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately raise prices? They may as time goes on. But, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you definitely require to remember is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to evolve rather quickly and make brand-new item statements rather typically, however there are some basic features I truly desire they had that I require to simply wait for.
One is that they need to have a setup on registration forms where I could pick an automation to run right at the type level. That would be outstanding for numerous reasons. Currently, registration types look OK, however there’s extremely little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would be nice to have tagging at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks need to become part of automations to make built-in automations simpler and minimize reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor administrative interface adjustments that would be handy. As an example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit blog posts (for example, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental areas as typical on clients (like the name).
- Some even more customization options for the website (such as even more versatile shade options, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t perfect and definitely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never will be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never ever recognize, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Enough where I made a decision to switch my very own newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing model specifically, I saw enough value in their system to require the modification.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special email checklist. I use BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, yet I intentionally have points set up to make sure that I also maintain my list “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact 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 ever will be).
So, the question is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various needs. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button ought to be quite simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a big e-mail list and are therefore being fleeced with their high month-to-month expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating swiftly. There’s likewise a respectable opportunity you’re not even using a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could quickly be a far better and a lot more cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be extremely deliberate about expanding a 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 designed to be, it is among the best games in the area now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be rather feature abundant.