I have utilized a lot of different email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a massive supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. For that reason (and the remarkable features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Local Newsletter Accelerator.
So, it is without a doubt a weird move for me to choose 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 evaluation, I intend to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to resolve the concern of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I would certainly also such as to address why I selected to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Change In Technique, I spoke about exactly how and why I determined to transform my recreational vehicle blog site into primarily a newsletter. I made a decision that was business version I wished to go after with that building.
But, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly motor home, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, using it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that particular in a bit.
As I stated because issue of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built into it particular to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog site) and send the email concurrently without having it be 2 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 capacity to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click membership links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features aimed at growth. The platform was essentially developed by the individuals who built up the modern technology for Morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I may without a doubt be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At 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 side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own building so that I can expand it more deliberately too.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to transition. However, The Early morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will clearly always be carefully linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was built for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Checklist
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail list.
You can hold your e-mail listing everywhere 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 key difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your email customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that website. However, you are additionally dispatching to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s customers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much less complex.
With a lot of e-mail systems, any type of e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is built entirely separately from your site. So, for instance, you could publish an article to WordPress however then you would certainly need to independently build and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are then two separate collections of archives and 2 separate actions because article and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it virtually “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid option if I intended to continue to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the growth devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally comes with a various set of requirements than a regular email checklist.
You don’t usually require much marketing automation. You do not typically require autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one smooth posting experience and development devices to assist you develop your client base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was going to switch 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 chose to choose BeeHiiv, that does not mean I believe Substack draws. Actually, because Substack has actually been around longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that originally obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter authors. In fact, it is essentially constructed by the very same people who built the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo creators. Again, it just tells me the client character distinction in between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM really did not specifically suck. The only reason I would certainly contemplate shaking things up is if I thought I could expand the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
But, let’s dive much deeper than simply the placing right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv seems like it was constructed by individuals that comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more geared toward creators.
For example, BeeHiiv uses custom fields on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of 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 restricted in triggers and the only action is the ability to send an email. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as modifying personalized fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations simply because I started utilizing the system. For example:
- Capability to trigger automations based on which certain embed form they was available in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this since the target audience of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it pertains to creating your e-newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is just much more geared towards e-newsletters. Actually, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I discover it to be more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s writing interface is nice and clean, yet it would certainly be extra comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than simply kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and after that put anything you want in it. After that, you can put Exposure choices on that particular section to show it only to paid clients, hide it from email, hide from subscribers, show only to customers, and so on. Substack offers absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs registration version, BeeHiiv does not take any profits. Actually, you literally attach approximately your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Relying on the amount of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear nerdy, but what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in all.
In general, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more built toward real email marketing. It was constructed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page designs appear much better constructed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack positions itself toward “makers” greater than email marketers and e-newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some things geared much more toward people that simply think in terms of material production.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous magazines, they are dealt with quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … cool for individuals who could require it.
Substack also has more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a conversation function to host talks with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works sort of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. In general, Substack is established to be much more like a social network which supports long-form content.
In general, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimal. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I do not. However, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions rather well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns real marketing, I do not believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better fit. I tried to find more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a tough time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually via to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the very same target market and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at designers (like Substack), yet it is much more strongly dealing with individuals who do it for organization. ConvertKit has nice visual automation building, it’s very own business platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a really wonderful platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is well known already. However, right here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has a lot more flexibility when it concerns it’s automations. I will additionally state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is simply a basic function of email checklists that makes it possible for segmentation in a far more flexible way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support marking at some point quickly, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Local Newsletter Accelerator.
ConvertKit does currently offer the capability to market things via 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 constantly select an extra direct alternative anyhow. For me, I favor to use my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and for that reason has way much more integration choices. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this extra carefully puts ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you be able to publish to your site and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic tackling the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with benefits, but you can also pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly remarkable features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface of what this implies for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Local Newsletter Accelerator
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it also means that they are quickly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen nearly once a week launch of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … however huge features that are fairly vital. Their rate of development at this point has gone over.
I additionally quite appreciate exactly how receptive they are. Actually, among their item news regarding some design improvements to the website design features actually included a little issue with the material size. I just replied to that email to tell them. I swiftly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the problem was fixed.
Few days later on, I provided one more idea …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based on the embed type made use of was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I truly value.
Another major factor of distinction here is the price. Both platforms supply free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers a lot more capacity and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more beneficial. ConvertKit seems less costly initially glimpse since their pricing page reveals lower numbers, nonetheless the customer limitations are FAR reduced and your cost rapidly increases as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same dimension checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally use), you can grow your list as much as 100,000. A list of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different organization when it pertains to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually raise prices? They could as time takes place. But, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you most definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to develop rather promptly and make new item announcements somewhat often, but there are some fundamental features I actually desire they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on registration forms where I might pick an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be amazing for a lot of reasons. Already, subscription kinds look OK, however there’s really little settings for them to aid in division.
It would certainly behave to have labeling at the subscriber level. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks need to belong to automations to make integrated automations much easier and decrease dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management interface adjustments that would certainly be handy. As an example:
- Ability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to bulk edit articles (for instance, to label a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard areas as common on customers (like the name).
- Some even more customization options for the internet site (such as more flexible shade options, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I hope they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t excellent and absolutely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is different so it would not much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation system. I presume you never ever know, though.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Sufficient where I determined to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting model especially, I saw adequate worth in their system to warrant the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail listing. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is proficient at, but I deliberately have points set up so that I additionally maintain my list “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is just a great insurance policy, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d definitely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch must be rather uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay unless you have a large e-mail listing and are consequently being fleeced with their high regular monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating swiftly. There’s likewise a respectable opportunity you’re not also using some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can easily be a better and extra cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really willful about growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is among the best games around right now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the complimentary account to be fairly feature abundant.