I have made use of a lot of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a massive proponent of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. For that reason (and the amazing features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Cost.
So, it is without a doubt an unusual move for me to determine 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 testimonial, I want to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I would certainly likewise like to deal with why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Change In Approach, I talked about how and why I decided to transform my RV blog site into mainly an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was the business design I wanted to seek with that said home.
However, to purposefully seek it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly motor home, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a little bit.
As I said in that problem of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices built right into it specific to my purpose. Points such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send the e-mail at the same time without having it be two different activities.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on development. The platform was essentially built by the people who accumulated the innovation for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I might without a doubt be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went all out. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own home to make sure that I can expand it extra purposefully too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Gladly RV was young, so easy to shift. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will obviously constantly be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was built for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Checklist
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter system and just an e-mail checklist.
You can hold your e-mail checklist just about anywhere you desire and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting suggests that it is going to your site and to your e-mail customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that web site. Yet, you are likewise sending to all customers at the same time. The site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes administration of the system much simpler.
With most email systems, any e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is constructed completely separately from your site. So, for example, you could release a write-up to WordPress however after that you would need to separately develop and send out an e-mail to your listing to send it to subscribers. These are then two separate collections of archives and 2 different activities due to the fact that post and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it practically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and allows them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I wanted to continue to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the growth tools that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally includes a various set of needs than a common e-mail checklist.
You don’t generally need 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 need, though, is one seamless publishing experience and development tools to aid you build your client base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch over 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 select BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I assume Substack sucks. In fact, since Substack has been around much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that originally obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to newsletter authors. In fact, it is actually constructed by the exact same folks who constructed the modern technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. However, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and distinction also means that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and big publications using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo makers. Again, it simply tells me the customer character difference in between the two companies.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only reason I would contemplate drinking points up is if I believed I can GROW the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I really do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct competitors.
However, let’s dive much deeper than just the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv feels like it was built by people that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems more geared toward creators.
For example, BeeHiiv offers customized fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. Yet, 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 inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly restricted in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send an email. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers along with new actions, such as customizing customized areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply since I started making use of the platform. As an example:
- Capability to cause automations based upon which certain embed type they came in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and manage individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can not do this because the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it involves composing your e-newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored toward e-newsletters. Actually, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I locate it to be a lot more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s writing interface behaves and tidy, yet it would be a lot more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than simply type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and afterwards put anything you want in it. Then, you can place Presence choices on that area to reveal it only to paid clients, conceal it from email, conceal from customers, reveal just to customers, etc. Substack uses absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any income. As a matter of fact, you literally attach as much as your very own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending upon how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem nerdy, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
Overall, I just felt like BeeHiiv was extra built towards real e-mail marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page develops seem much better constructed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack positions itself toward “developers” more than e-mail online marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points tailored much more towards people who just think in regards to content development.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are dealt with quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … cool for people that may need it.
Substack also has more social capability built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host talks with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which functions type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. Overall, Substack is set up to be more like a social media network which sustains long-form material.
In general, Substack is likewise more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I tried to find more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a tough time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at developers (like Substack), yet it is much more highly catering to individuals that do it for organization. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and extra. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is well known already. But, here’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more adaptability when it concerns it’s automations. I will also claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is simply a standard feature of e-mail lists that makes it possible for division in an even more versatile means than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain tagging eventually quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Cost.
ConvertKit does currently give the capacity to market points by means of their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly constantly choose an extra direct alternative anyhow. For me, I prefer to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and therefore has way extra integration choices. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this much more carefully puts ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you be able to release to your site and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously 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 hectic tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, but you can likewise pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are actually amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface for what this means for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Cost
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it additionally implies that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced practically regular launch of new features into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … but big features that are quite vital. Their rate of development at this moment has been impressive.
I additionally significantly value exactly how receptive they are. In fact, among their item statements about some design improvements to the web design features really contained a tiny issue with the web content size. I just replied to that email to tell them. I swiftly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the problem was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I gave them an additional recommendation …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to trigger automations based upon the embed kind utilized was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I truly appreciate.
Another major point of distinction below is the price. Both systems supply complimentary plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers a lot more capability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally much more favorable. ConvertKit seems more affordable at first glimpse because their pricing web page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the customer restrictions are FAR reduced and your price swiftly raises as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), however you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same size checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your listing approximately 100,000. A list of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely various league when it pertains to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase prices? They could as time goes on. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you most definitely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to advance instead promptly and make brand-new product announcements rather usually, yet there are some basic features I actually desire they had that I require to simply wait for.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription types where I can choose an automation to run right at the type degree. That would certainly be incredible for many factors. As of now, membership types look OK, yet there’s really little settings for them to assist in division.
It would behave to have labeling at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks should belong to automations to make built-in automations much easier and minimize dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are also some small administrative user interface adjustments that would come in handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capability to bulk edit blog posts (for example, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as standard on customers (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the internet site (such as even more flexible color options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I wish they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t best and definitely not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never will be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is different so it would not much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation system. I think you never ever understand, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and having my own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting model particularly, I saw adequate worth in their platform to call for the change.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special email list. I use BeeHiiv for what it is good at, but I deliberately have points set up to make sure that I also maintain my list “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is just a good insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d most definitely think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be quite uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely sit tight unless you have a huge email checklist and are as a result being fleeced with their high regular monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating rapidly. There’s also a respectable possibility you’re not even making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could quickly be a better and a lot more inexpensive fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very willful about growing an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is among the best games in the area right now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be rather feature rich.