I have actually made use of a lot of different email list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a significant supporter of digital sovereignty and having your very own system. Therefore (and the awesome features), I have been using Beehiiv Advanced Analytics.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to determine to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to resolve the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d additionally like to deal with why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Shift In Approach, I discussed exactly how and why I decided to transform my RV blog site right into mainly a newsletter. I made a decision that was the business version I wanted to seek with that said residential property.
But, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email listing for Gladly RV, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, utilizing it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Much more on that in a bit.
As I said because concern of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog site) and send out the email at the same time without having it be 2 different actions.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are ways 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 e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The platform was essentially developed by the individuals who accumulated the modern technology for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I may certainly be relocating 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 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 ensure that I can grow it extra deliberately too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded individually. Gladly motor home was young, so simple to transition. However, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will clearly constantly be carefully connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email List
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter platform and just an email checklist.
You can host your e-mail listing anyplace you desire and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing indicates that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your e-mail clients simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that internet site. However, you are also dispatching to all clients at the same time. The web site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes management of the system much simpler.
With a lot of email platforms, any e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built completely individually from your website. So, as an example, you could publish a short article to WordPress however after that you would certainly need to individually construct and send out an email to your checklist to send it to customers. These are after that 2 separate collections of archives and two separate actions due to the fact that post and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it basically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and allows them to be the exact same thing. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong choice if I wanted to continue to self-host everything. However, you would certainly lose the development tools that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently features a different set of requirements than a typical email checklist.
You don’t typically require much marketing automation. You do not generally require autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless posting experience and growth devices to help you develop your customer base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was going to switch over the e-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 selected to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I think Substack sucks. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been about much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that initially obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to e-newsletter publishers. In fact, it is literally built by the same folks who constructed the modern technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. However, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I have an interest in here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise means that BeeHiiv has some rather huge brands and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo creators. Once again, it simply tells me the client character difference in between both firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only reason I would certainly ponder trembling points up is if I thought I can GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I in fact do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by individuals who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more geared towards makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom-made areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still quite limited in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an e-mail. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers along with new actions, such as modifying custom fields, sending webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations just since I started utilizing the platform. As an example:
- Capacity to activate automations based on which particular embed type they can be found in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever 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 pertains to writing your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more geared towards newsletters. In fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be extra intuitive, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface is nice and clean, yet it would be a lot more comparable to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than simply kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Exposure alternatives on that area to show it just to paid subscribers, hide it from e-mail, hide from clients, reveal just to customers, and so on. Substack supplies nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs registration model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any revenue. In fact, you actually attach as much as your very own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Depending on the amount of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the regular monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
Overall, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more developed toward real e-mail marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page creates appear better constructed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would like 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 placements itself toward “makers” greater than email marketing experts and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points tailored extra toward people who simply assume in regards to material production.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are dealt with rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … cool for individuals that could need it.
Substack also has even more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host talks with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. In general, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media network which sustains long-form material.
Generally, Substack is additionally more … minimalist. You either look after that or don’t. Personally, I do not. However, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to real marketing, I do not think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I looked for more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently via to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the exact same target market and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at makers (like Substack), however it is much more strongly satisfying individuals that do it for company. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and extra. ConvertKit is a really nice platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature break down here. ConvertKit is popular already. But, right here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more flexibility when it comes to it’s automations. I will additionally claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is simply a basic feature of e-mail checklists that enables division in an even more versatile means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support identifying eventually soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Advanced Analytics.
ConvertKit does now offer the capacity to sell points through their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would constantly choose an extra direct alternative anyhow. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and because of that has way much more integration alternatives. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For instance, their plugin now also supports member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this more closely places ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with benefits, but you can likewise pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are actually incredible features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface for what this suggests for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Advanced Analytics
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also indicates that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed practically weekly launch of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … but large features that are rather essential. Their rate of advancement at this moment has actually been impressive.
I also quite value how receptive they are. In fact, one of their product announcements about some style enhancements to the website design features really consisted of a small issue with the content width. I simply replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the problem was dealt with.
Few days later on, I provided an additional pointer …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to set off automations based upon the embed type used was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I really appreciate.
Another significant point of differentiation here is the rate. Both platforms supply complimentary plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies much more capacity and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more positive. ConvertKit appears cheaper in the beginning glance due to the fact that their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nevertheless the customer limitations are FAR lower and your price swiftly boosts as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That same size listing is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A checklist of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely different league when it comes to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point enhance rates? They might as time takes place. But, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you absolutely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to evolve rather quickly and make new product statements somewhat commonly, but there are some basic features I really desire they had that I require to just await.
One is that they need to have a setup on registration kinds where I might pick an automation to run right at the kind level. That would be amazing for numerous reasons. Already, membership forms look OK, but there’s very little settings for them to aid in division.
It would certainly be nice to have marking at the client degree. This would be effective.
I believe webhooks need to belong to automations to make integrated automations simpler and lower dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small management interface adjustments that would be handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to mass edit blog posts (as an example, to mark a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard areas as basic on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization alternatives for the web site (such as even more flexible color options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t ideal and absolutely not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I stated, the objective is various so it would not much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever recognize, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv fairly a great deal. Sufficient where I chose to switch my own e-newsletters over to the system despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing version specifically, I saw enough value in their system to require the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive email checklist. I use BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, however I deliberately have points set up so that I also keep my checklist “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply a good insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button should be quite straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a huge e-mail listing and are for that reason being fleeced with their high month-to-month bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not even using a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could quickly be a better and much more cost effective fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely willful regarding expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is created to be, it is one of the best games in the area today. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the free account to be quite feature rich.