I have actually made use of a lot of various e-mail list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a big advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. For that reason (and the outstanding features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Google Analytics.
So, it is without a doubt an unusual move for me to make a decision to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to address the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly additionally such as to attend to why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Shift In Method, I talked about just how and why I determined to turn my RV blog site right into largely a newsletter. I decided that was the business version I intended to pursue with that residential property.
But, to purposefully pursue it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email listing for Gladly recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that in a bit.
As I claimed because concern of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed right into it details to my objective. Points such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send out the email all at once without having it be two different activities.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click subscription web links. Great for promotion in various 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 newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I choose to generate income from with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features aimed at growth. The system was actually constructed by the people who built up the technology for Early morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may certainly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I simply went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own property so that I can expand it much more deliberately also.
The objective is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown separately. Gladly motor home was young, so simple to change. However, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was buried in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly constantly be very closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Listing
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter platform and simply an e-mail listing.
You can host your email listing just about anywhere you want and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting indicates that it is mosting likely to your site and to your email customers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that internet site. But, you are additionally sending off to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are done in one. This makes management of the system much easier.
With most e-mail platforms, any newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built entirely independently from your web site. So, for example, you may release a write-up to WordPress but after that you would require to independently build and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are then 2 different collections of archives and two different actions due to the fact that article and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a true e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it pretty much “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the same point. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong option if I wanted to remain to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the development tools that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently comes with a different collection of needs than a common email listing.
You do not normally need much marketing automation. You don’t generally require autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, however, is one smooth publishing experience and development devices to help you construct your client base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I chose to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I assume Substack sucks. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has been around longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that initially got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter publishers. Actually, it is actually constructed by the exact same individuals that built the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise indicates that BeeHiiv has some rather big brand names and big publications using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo developers. Again, it just tells me the customer character distinction between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only reason I would contemplate trembling things up is if I assumed I can expand the list quicker. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I really do not view 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 extra direct competitors.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than just the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by individuals who recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more geared toward makers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers customized fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot 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 ability to send out an e-mail. However, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers along with new activities, such as changing customized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen enhancements to their automations just considering that I began making use of the platform. For example:
- Ability to activate automations based upon which details embed kind 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 fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this since the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it pertains to writing your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply more tailored towards e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I locate it to be a lot more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s composing interface behaves and clean, however it would certainly be a lot more equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than simply form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and then put anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Presence options on that section to show it only to paid subscribers, conceal it from email, conceal from clients, reveal just to subscribers, and so on. Substack offers absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs subscription design, BeeHiiv does not take any type of profits. As a matter of fact, you literally connect as much as your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your revenue. Relying on the amount of customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear nerdy, but what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra built toward real e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs appear much better constructed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack settings itself toward “designers” more than e-mail marketers and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things geared more towards individuals that simply think in regards to web content development.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … great for people that may require it.
Substack likewise has even more social performance built-in. For example, it has a chat feature to host talks with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. In general, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media network which sustains long-form web content.
On the whole, Substack is likewise extra … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I do not. However, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions rather well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to real marketing, I do not assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better suited. I looked for more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet truthfully … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically through to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the very same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is also placed at developers (like Substack), but it is much more highly dealing with people that do it for business. ConvertKit has good visual automation structure, it’s very own business system, and extra. ConvertKit is an actually great system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is well known already. Yet, here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra versatility when it concerns it’s automations. I will likewise claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is just a fundamental function of email listings that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more versatile means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain tagging at some point soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Google Analytics.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capability to market points using their very 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 choose an extra straight alternative anyway. For me, I choose to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and because of that has way more integration options. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For instance, their plugin now even supports member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this a lot more very closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competition by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly doing not have in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy dealing with the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with rewards, however you can likewise pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly amazing features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most popular viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall wherefore this means for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Google Analytics
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also indicates that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed practically weekly release of new features into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … but huge features that are fairly essential. Their rate of development now has been impressive.
I likewise significantly value just how responsive they are. In fact, one of their product statements concerning some layout enhancements to the web design features in fact contained a little trouble with the web content size. I merely replied to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That very same day, the problem was fixed.
Couple of days later, I provided one more pointer …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based on the embed kind made use of was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I truly value.
An additional major point of differentiation below is the rate. Both systems offer free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers much more capability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more desirable. ConvertKit seems less costly in the beginning glimpse since their pricing page shows lower numbers, nonetheless the client limitations are much lower and your cost quickly raises as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That exact same size checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your list approximately 100,000. A listing of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that places 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 remains in a completely various league when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually raise costs? They might as time takes place. But, I’m guessing people like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among things you definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to evolve rather swiftly and make brand-new item announcements rather frequently, yet there are some basic features I really wish they had that I require to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on membership kinds where I can pick an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be remarkable for so many reasons. As of now, membership types look OK, but there’s very little settings for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have identifying at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I believe webhooks need to become part of automations to make integrated automations less complicated and minimize reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some small management interface adjustments that would come in handy. For instance:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to bulk edit messages (for example, to mark a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental areas as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some even more customization alternatives for the web site (such as even more versatile shade selections, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t ideal and absolutely not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation system. I think you never ever recognize, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv fairly a great deal. Sufficient where I chose to change my very own e-newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing design specifically, I saw enough value in their system to necessitate the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail listing. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is good at, however I deliberately have points set up to ensure that I additionally keep my list “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is just a good insurance policy, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the question is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch should be quite uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a big email list and are therefore being wooled with their high monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating swiftly. There’s also a respectable possibility you’re not also making use of a few of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a much better and more cost effective fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very intentional regarding expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is designed to be, it is among the most effective games in town right now. This is the platform to watch.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the totally free account to be rather feature rich.