I have actually made use of a lot of various email list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a big supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. For that reason (and the amazing features), I have been using Beehiiv Course.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to choose to make use of BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly additionally such as to resolve why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Shift In Method, I discussed how and why I determined to transform my recreational vehicle blog site into mostly an e-newsletter. I chose that was the business version I intended to seek with that said residential or commercial property.
However, to intentionally pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly RV, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that particular in a little bit.
As I stated because issue of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed into it particular to my function. Points such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog site) and send the e-mail concurrently without having it be two separate actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click registration links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to monetize with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The platform was actually built by the individuals that built up the innovation for Morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might indeed be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I just went all out. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own building to ensure that I can grow it extra purposefully too.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded independently. Gladly RV was young, so very easy to shift. But, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff right here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will undoubtedly always be very closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email List
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter platform and simply an e-mail list.
You can host your email list anywhere you desire and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary distinction is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing means that it is going to your site and to your email customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that website. But, you are also sending off to all customers at the same time. The site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes management of the platform much easier.
With most e-mail systems, any type of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed completely individually from your web site. So, for example, you might release a post to WordPress yet then you would certainly need to individually construct and send an e-mail to your listing to send it to customers. These are after that two separate sets of archives and two separate actions since blog posts and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it virtually “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the very same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid option if I wished to continue to self-host whatever. However, you ‘d shed the development devices that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently includes a different set of needs than a typical e-mail checklist.
You don’t normally need much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless posting experience and growth tools to aid 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 the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I selected to select BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I think Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, since Substack has been about much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that at first obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is literally constructed by the same individuals who constructed the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. Yet, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Growth is what I want right here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some rather huge brand names and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo creators. Once more, it just informs me the customer avatar distinction in between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter using FluentCRM really did not precisely suck. The only factor I would contemplate drinking points up is if I assumed I might GROW the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I actually don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than simply the placing right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by individuals who comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears much more tailored towards makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv uses customized fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an email. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers in addition to new activities, such as modifying custom areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations simply given that I began utilizing the platform. As an example:
- Ability to activate automations based upon which details embed type they can be found in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this since the target market of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it concerns writing your newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply more geared toward e-newsletters. In fact, 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 creating interface is nice and clean, yet it would be much more equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than just type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and after that placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Visibility choices on that area to show it just to paid clients, conceal it from e-mail, hide from customers, reveal only to customers, and so on. Substack offers absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium membership version, BeeHiiv does not take any revenue. Actually, you actually link as much as your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Relying on how many subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the month-to-month cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, yet what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
On the whole, I just felt like BeeHiiv was more developed towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes appear much better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually claimed, Substack positions itself toward “developers” greater than e-mail marketing professionals and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some things tailored a lot more towards individuals that just believe in regards to content creation.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support several magazines, they are treated quite individually. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … cool for individuals who may require it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host chats with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” feature which works kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. Generally, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media network which sustains long-form material.
In general, Substack is additionally much more … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack works pretty well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it concerns real marketing, I do not think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better matched. I looked for more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a difficult time discovering 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 competitors. Both are pursuing the exact same target audience and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at designers (like Substack), but it is much more highly dealing with individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has nice visual automation building, it’s own commerce system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a really wonderful platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is popular already. However, below’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more adaptability when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly additionally state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is just a standard feature of email listings that allows division in an even more flexible means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support tagging at some time quickly, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Course.
ConvertKit does currently offer the capability to offer things through their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly constantly pick a much more direct option anyway. For me, I like to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and for that reason has way a lot more integration options. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For instance, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this much more closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you be able to publish to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously doing not have in these type of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic dealing with the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with benefits, but you can also pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are truly amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Course
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it additionally implies that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen nearly regular release of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … however big features that are rather crucial. Their speed of growth at this moment has actually been impressive.
I additionally very much appreciate exactly how responsive they are. In fact, among their item statements concerning some layout enhancements to the website design features actually had a little problem with the web content width. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the concern was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I gave them one more tip …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based upon the embed form utilized was contributed to the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I actually appreciate.
An additional significant point of differentiation here is the cost. Both platforms offer totally free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies more ability and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more favorable. ConvertKit seems less expensive in the beginning glimpse because their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the client limitations are much lower and your cost swiftly increases as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That very same dimension list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally utilize), you can grow your listing 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 puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different league when it concerns pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately enhance costs? They could as time goes on. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you absolutely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to progress rather quickly and make new product news somewhat frequently, yet there are some standard features I truly want they had that I require to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setup on membership types where I could choose an automation to run right at the type level. That would be outstanding for numerous reasons. Currently, registration types look OK, yet there’s very little setups for them to assist in division.
It would be nice to have marking at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks need to become part of automations to make built-in automations easier and reduce reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor management user interface modifications that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capacity to mass edit blog posts (for example, to tag a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic areas as common on customers (like the name).
- Some even more modification choices for the website (such as even more flexible shade choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I wish they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t ideal and absolutely not almost as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I stated, the objective is various so it would not much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever recognize, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Sufficient where I decided to switch my very own newsletters over to the system in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and having my own platform.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting design specifically, I saw sufficient worth in their system to require the modification.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special email list. I use BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, however I purposefully have things establish to ensure that I additionally keep my list “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d certainly think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and various needs. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the switch needs to be pretty simple.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a huge email list and are for that reason being wooled with their high regular monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating swiftly. There’s likewise a pretty good opportunity you’re not also making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a better and more inexpensive fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very intentional regarding growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider 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 one of the very best games in town today. 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 abundant.