I have utilized a great deal of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a substantial advocate of digital sovereignty and having your very own system. Because of that (and the incredible features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv For Food Creators.
So, it is certainly a strange move for me to make a decision to use 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 intend to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d likewise like to deal with why I chose to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Change In Method, I talked about exactly how and why I made a decision to turn my motor home blog site into mostly an e-newsletter. I chose that was the business version I wanted to pursue with that said building.
However, to deliberately pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that in a little bit.
As I stated in that issue of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed right into it particular to my objective. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send the email at the same time without having it be two separate actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The system was essentially constructed by the people that built up the innovation for Early morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I might certainly be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I just went for it. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own property so that I can expand it much more deliberately too.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Happily motor home was young, so simple to change. However, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of things here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will undoubtedly always be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email List
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter system and just an email list.
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 distinction?
The key distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting suggests that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your e-mail clients simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that site. Yet, you are likewise sending to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much less complex.
With most e-mail platforms, any newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed completely individually from your website. So, for instance, you could publish an article to WordPress however then you would need to independently develop and send an e-mail to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that two separate sets of archives and 2 separate actions due to the fact that article and your emails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it practically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the very same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I wanted to remain to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the development devices that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally includes a various collection of needs than a typical email list.
You do not usually require much marketing automation. You don’t usually need autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless publishing experience and growth tools to help you develop your customer base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was going to change 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 chose to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I assume Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, since Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that at first got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to e-newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is actually constructed by the very same people who built the innovation behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some rather big brand names and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Once more, it simply tells me the customer character difference in between both firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only reason I would ponder shaking things up is if I assumed I could GROW the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I actually do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct rivals.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than just the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by individuals that comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more tailored towards designers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies personalized fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of 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 quite limited in triggers and the only action is the ability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers in addition to new activities, such as modifying personalized fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations simply because I started utilizing the platform. As an example:
- Capacity to activate automations based upon which specific embed type they can be found in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and handle individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this because the target market of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it concerns writing your e-newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply more geared toward newsletters. Actually, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I locate it to be more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and clean, however it would be extra equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and afterwards placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can place Visibility options on that particular section to reveal it just to paid subscribers, conceal it from email, conceal from clients, show only to clients, and so on. Substack offers nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any type of income. In fact, you essentially connect approximately your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending on how many subscribers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations at all.
In general, I just felt like BeeHiiv was more built towards real e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page designs seem better developed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack settings itself towards “creators” greater than email marketing professionals and newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some things tailored much more towards individuals who simply assume in terms of content creation.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support several magazines, they are treated rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … trendy for people who might require it.
Substack additionally has more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a chat function to host talks with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. Overall, Substack is set up 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 take care of that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it involves actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I tried to find more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a tough time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically through to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at designers (like Substack), however it is far more highly satisfying people that do it for business. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually great system.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown below. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, below’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will additionally claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit much more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is just a fundamental feature of email checklists that enables segmentation in a far more adaptable means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain marking eventually quickly, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv For Food Creators.
ConvertKit does currently give the ability to sell points by means of their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always pick an extra direct option anyway. For me, I like to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and for that reason has way a lot more integration alternatives. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For instance, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this much more carefully puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to release to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these type of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic tackling the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with perks, however you can likewise pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall wherefore this means for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv For Food Creators
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates 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 experienced virtually regular launch of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … however huge features that are rather crucial. Their speed of growth at this moment has gone over.
I likewise very much value exactly how receptive they are. In fact, among their item statements regarding some style improvements to the website design features actually included a small problem with the web content width. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I promptly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the problem was fixed.
Few days later, I provided one more recommendation …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to activate automations based on the embed type utilized was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I actually value.
An additional significant point of distinction below is the rate. Both platforms use cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers more capacity and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also much more favorable. ConvertKit seems less costly initially look because their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the subscriber limits are much lower and your rate promptly enhances as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same dimension checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally make use of), you can expand your checklist as much as 100,000. A checklist of that dimension 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 each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in a completely different organization when it pertains to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point enhance prices? They might as time takes place. But, I’m guessing people like myself that are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you absolutely require to remember is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to develop instead swiftly and make new product announcements rather typically, however there are some standard features I actually want they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription types where I could choose an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be amazing for a lot of reasons. Currently, subscription kinds look OK, but there’s extremely little setups for them to aid in division.
It would behave to have identifying at the customer level. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks should become part of automations to make built-in automations easier and lower dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management interface changes that would certainly be handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capacity to mass edit articles (for instance, to mark a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental areas as typical on clients (like the name).
- Some even more customization alternatives for the web site (such as more adaptable color choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I wish they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t best and definitely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It possibly never will be, either. As I stated, the function is different so it would not a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never know, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv fairly a great deal. Enough where I made a decision to change my very own newsletters over to the system regardless of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own system.
Put simply, for the newsletter posting design specifically, I saw sufficient worth in their platform to warrant the adjustment.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail listing. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, yet I purposefully have things set up so that I likewise maintain my checklist “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply an excellent insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button ought to be quite simple.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a large e-mail listing and are for that reason being fleeced with their high month-to-month expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating promptly. There’s additionally a respectable chance you’re not also using some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a better and much more budget friendly fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really intentional regarding expanding an e-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 developed to be, it is just one of the best games in town now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the totally free account to be quite feature abundant.