I have made use of a lot of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a significant proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. Because of that (and the awesome features), I have actually been making use of What Is mail.beehiiv.com.
So, it is without a doubt an odd move for me to choose to make use of 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 wish to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly likewise like to attend to why I chose to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Change In Technique, I spoke about just how and why I chose to transform my motor home blog into primarily an e-newsletter. I decided that was the business version I wished to go after with that residential property.
Yet, to purposefully pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email listing for Gladly RV, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Much more on that in a little bit.
As I said because issue of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed into it certain to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog site) and send the e-mail all at once without having it be 2 different activities.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click membership links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I pick to generate income from with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The platform was essentially constructed by the people who developed the technology for Early morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I just went for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential property to ensure that I can grow it much more purposefully as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded individually. Gladly motor home was young, so easy to shift. But, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of things here at the Blog Site 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 carefully connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not need to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email List
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter system and simply an email list.
You can hold your e-mail list anywhere you desire and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing indicates that it is going to your site and to your e-mail clients simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that internet site. However, you are additionally sending to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes administration of the platform much less complex.
With the majority of email systems, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed completely separately from your web site. So, as an example, you might release an article to WordPress however then you would require to individually construct and send an email to your listing to send it to clients. These are then two different sets of archives and two separate activities because post and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a real e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it basically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the exact same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong alternative if I wanted to continue to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the development tools that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally comes with a various collection of needs than a typical email list.
You don’t usually require much marketing automation. You don’t usually need autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, however, is one seamless publishing experience and growth devices to help you develop your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was going to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I chose to choose BeeHiiv, that does not mean I believe Substack draws. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has been about longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that initially obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter authors. In fact, it is literally built by the same people that developed the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. However, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I have an interest in here.
- That branding and distinction additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brands and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo developers. Again, it simply tells me the consumer avatar difference in between both business.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t specifically draw. The only factor I would ponder drinking points up is if I believed I could expand the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I really don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight competitors.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than just the placing here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv appears like it was constructed by individuals who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra tailored toward designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv supplies personalized fields on clients. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an email. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have new triggers in addition to new activities, such as modifying custom-made areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations simply considering that I started using the platform. For example:
- Capacity to cause automations based on which particular embed type they was available in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and manage individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it comes to creating your newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored toward e-newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be extra instinctive, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface behaves and tidy, yet it would be much more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than just form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and afterwards put anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Presence options on that particular section to show it only to paid subscribers, hide it from e-mail, hide from subscribers, reveal just to subscribers, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs registration design, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of income. In fact, you essentially connect up to your very own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Relying on the amount of customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear nerdy, however what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra constructed toward genuine email marketing. It was built by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page creates seem far better developed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack placements itself toward “creators” greater than e-mail marketing experts and e-newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some things geared more towards individuals who just think in regards to content production.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, yet … great for individuals who might require it.
Substack additionally has even more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host talks with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. Generally, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social network which supports long-form content.
On the whole, Substack is additionally extra … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions quite well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it concerns real marketing, I do not believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I tried to find more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically with to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at creators (like Substack), but it is a lot more highly catering to people that do it for business. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation structure, it’s own business platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a really great system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature break down below. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, here’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has more adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will also state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is simply a fundamental function of email listings that enables division in a much more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some time quickly, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing What Is mail.beehiiv.com.
ConvertKit does currently give the ability to offer points by means of their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly constantly select a much more straight alternative anyway. For me, I prefer to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and for that reason has way much more integration choices. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this more carefully places ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you be able to publish to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with perks, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are really remarkable features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most popular viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall of what this implies for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … What Is mail.beehiiv.com
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it additionally means that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen practically weekly launch of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but big features that are fairly important. Their rate of growth at this point has gone over.
I also significantly appreciate just how receptive they are. Actually, among their item news regarding some design enhancements to the web design features really consisted of a little issue with the material width. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the problem was fixed.
Few days later on, I gave them another suggestion …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based upon the embed kind made use of was contributed to the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I actually value.
Another significant factor of distinction below is the price. Both platforms offer complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies extra capability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more desirable. ConvertKit appears less costly at first look because their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, however the client restrictions are FAR reduced and your price promptly raises as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same size checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly use), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A list of that dimension would 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, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different league when it comes to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase prices? They might as time goes on. Yet, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of things you most definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to progress rather promptly and make brand-new item statements somewhat often, yet there are some basic features I really want they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership kinds where I might pick an automation to run right at the type level. That would be amazing for many factors. Already, membership types look OK, but there’s very little setups for them to help in division.
It would be nice to have tagging at the client degree. This would be effective.
I think webhooks need to become part of automations to make integrated automations simpler and decrease dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some small management user interface adjustments that would certainly be handy. As an example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to bulk edit posts (for instance, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as common on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more modification choices for the website (such as more adaptable color selections, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I wish they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t perfect and certainly not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the function is various so it wouldn’t much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I think you never ever understand, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv rather a lot. Sufficient where I determined to change my own newsletters over to the platform despite my personal preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own system.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter publishing model particularly, I saw sufficient value in their system to warrant the change.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail listing. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, but I purposefully have things establish to ensure that I also keep my checklist “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply an excellent insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch needs to be quite simple.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a huge email listing and are for that reason being wooled with their high regular monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating rapidly. There’s likewise a respectable opportunity you’re not even making use of some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can quickly be a far better and much more cost effective fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really intentional regarding growing a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is created to be, it is one of the best games in town right now. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the totally free account to be fairly feature abundant.