I have actually utilized a great deal of different email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a substantial advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own system. Because of that (and the remarkable features), I have actually been utilizing When Was Beehiiv Founded.
So, it is undoubtedly a strange move for me to determine to make use of BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to attend to the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I ‘d likewise like to attend to why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Shift In Strategy, I talked about exactly how and why I chose to turn my RV blog site right into mostly an e-newsletter. I chose that was the business design I wanted to seek with that said residential or commercial property.
However, to intentionally seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email list for Happily recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for newsletters is a little a waste. More on that in a bit.
As I stated in that issue of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed into it certain to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog) and send out the email all at once without having it be two different actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click membership web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I select to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The platform was essentially constructed by the people who accumulated the technology for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I might certainly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I just went all out. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential property to make sure that I can grow it a lot more purposefully also.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Gladly motor home was young, so very easy to transition. Yet, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of stuff 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 clearly constantly be very closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, however does not have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email List
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter platform and just an email checklist.
You can hold your email listing just about anywhere you want and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main distinction is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your e-mail customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that website. Yet, you are likewise sending to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes management of the platform much less complex.
With a lot of e-mail platforms, any newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed completely individually from your web site. So, for example, you could publish an article to WordPress yet after that you would certainly require to individually develop and send an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are then two separate collections of archives and two different actions since blog posts and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it virtually “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong choice if I wished to remain to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you would certainly shed the growth devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally comes with a different set of demands than a typical e-mail list.
You do not normally require much marketing automation. You do not usually require autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, though, is one smooth posting experience and growth tools to help you construct your customer base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was mosting likely to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I chose to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I assume Substack sucks. Actually, because Substack has actually been about longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that at first obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to e-newsletter publishers. In fact, it is actually built by the very same folks who developed the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I want right here.
- That branding and distinction likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brand names and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo makers. Again, it simply tells me the consumer character difference between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only factor I would ponder shaking points up is if I believed I could GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I actually don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight competitors.
However, let’s dive deeper than just the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by people that recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more tailored toward makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv uses custom areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather limited in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send out an email. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers along with new activities, such as changing personalized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations simply given that I began making use of the platform. As an example:
- Capacity to activate automations based on which specific embed kind they was available in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can not do this because the target audience of Substack just would not think to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it involves writing your newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply more tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I locate it to be much more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s writing interface behaves and clean, but it would be more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is more than just form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and then put anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Presence options on that particular area to show it only to paid customers, hide it from email, hide from subscribers, show only to customers, etc. Substack offers absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of revenue. Actually, you actually attach up to your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Depending on the number of customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Overall, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was more constructed toward genuine e-mail marketing. It was built by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs appear far better constructed 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 like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack placements itself towards “designers” more than email marketing professionals and e-newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points geared much more towards individuals that just think in terms of web content development.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain several publications, they are treated quite individually. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … awesome for individuals that may require it.
Substack likewise has even more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with clients. It also has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. In general, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media network which supports long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is additionally much more … minimal. You either look after that or do not. Directly, I do not. Nevertheless, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to real marketing, I do not think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I tried to find more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically with to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at makers (like Substack), however it is far more highly satisfying people who do it for business. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s very own business system, and much more. ConvertKit is a really nice system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, 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 more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is just a basic function of e-mail listings that allows division in an even more versatile means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some point soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing When Was Beehiiv Founded.
ConvertKit does now supply the capacity to sell things via their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always pick an extra straight option anyhow. For me, I prefer to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and because of that has way much more integration alternatives. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin currently even supports member-gated content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this more closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to release to your site and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these sort of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. As an 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 also pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are actually amazing features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most popular viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … When Was Beehiiv Founded
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it additionally suggests that they are rapidly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen virtually once a week launch of new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … however large features that are quite vital. Their rate of advancement now has actually gone over.
I likewise very much appreciate exactly how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product statements about some style improvements to the web design features in fact included a tiny trouble with the content size. I merely responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the issue was taken care of.
Couple of days later on, I gave them another suggestion …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based on the embed kind utilized was added to the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I really appreciate.
Another major factor of distinction right here is the price. Both systems offer complimentary plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan uses much more capacity and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more favorable. ConvertKit appears less expensive initially look since their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nonetheless the subscriber limitations are much reduced and your cost quickly increases as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid annually), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same size list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly utilize), you can expand your checklist approximately 100,000. A list of that size would certainly 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 every year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in a completely various league when it concerns pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance rates? They may as time takes place. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you absolutely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to progress rather swiftly and make new product news rather typically, yet there are some fundamental features I truly desire they had that I need to just await.
One is that they need to have a setup on membership forms where I could select an automation to run right at the type degree. That would be incredible for numerous reasons. Already, subscription types look OK, yet there’s very little setups for them to aid in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have identifying at the subscriber level. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks ought to be part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and reduce reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor administrative user interface adjustments that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to mass edit blog posts (for instance, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental areas as common on subscribers (like the name).
- Some even more customization options for the website (such as more versatile color options, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t best and definitely not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It possibly never will be, either. As I said, the function is different so it would not a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never understand, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Sufficient where I determined to switch my own e-newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing model specifically, I saw adequate worth in their system to necessitate the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, yet I purposefully have things set up to ensure that I additionally maintain my listing “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just an excellent insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely consider changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button needs to be rather simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a huge email listing and are therefore being fleeced with their high monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s also a respectable chance you’re not even making use of some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a much better and much more budget-friendly fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really intentional regarding growing an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is made to be, it is one of the best video games around now. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the totally free account to be fairly feature rich.