I have actually utilized a great deal of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a substantial proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. Because of that (and the remarkable features), I have been making use of Beehiiv OpenSea Email.
So, it is without a doubt an odd move for me to determine to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a held application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to address the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I would certainly likewise like to deal with why I chose to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Change In Strategy, I discussed exactly how and why I determined to turn my RV blog site right into mainly a newsletter. I made a decision that was the business design I intended to seek keeping that property.
However, to intentionally seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a bit.
As I claimed because concern of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed right into it details to my function. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send out the email all at once without having it be two separate actions.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I choose to monetize with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The system was essentially developed by the individuals that developed the modern technology for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I might indeed be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went for it. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential property to make sure that I can expand it extra purposefully also.
The objective is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown independently. Gladly RV was young, so very easy to change. Yet, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will obviously always be very closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Checklist
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter platform and simply an e-mail list.
You can organize your email listing everywhere you want and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting suggests that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your email customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that internet site. However, you are likewise sending off to all customers at the same time. The internet site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much easier.
With many e-mail systems, any type of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed completely individually from your website. So, as an example, you could publish a write-up to WordPress but then you would certainly need to individually construct and send an email to your list to send it to customers. These are after that 2 separate collections of archives and 2 separate actions because article and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it practically “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and permits them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I wished to remain to self-host everything. However, you ‘d lose the growth devices that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently comes with a different collection of needs than a common e-mail checklist.
You do not usually need much marketing automation. You do not usually need autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, though, is one seamless publishing experience and development tools to aid you construct your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was going to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I chose to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I think Substack draws. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has actually been around longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that originally got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to e-newsletter publishers. Actually, it is literally constructed by the same people that developed the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction likewise indicates that BeeHiiv has some fairly huge brands and big publications using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Once again, it just tells me the customer avatar distinction between the two companies.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only reason I would consider drinking points up is if I assumed I can GROW the list faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I really do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive much deeper than just the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by individuals who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared toward developers.
For example, BeeHiiv offers custom fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still quite limited in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an email. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as customizing custom fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply because I started using the system. For instance:
- Ability to set off automations based upon which details embed form they was available in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target market of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it pertains to composing your e-newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more tailored toward e-newsletters. Actually, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be more instinctive, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and tidy, yet it would be much more equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than simply kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and then placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Presence alternatives on that area to reveal it only to paid subscribers, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from clients, reveal only to subscribers, etc. Substack uses nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium subscription model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of earnings. Actually, you actually attach up to your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Depending upon how many customers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear unpopular, yet what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was much more developed towards real e-mail marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page creates seem far better developed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack settings itself towards “creators” greater than email online marketers and e-newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points tailored extra toward individuals who simply think in terms of web content production.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are dealt with quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … awesome for individuals who might require it.
Substack also has even more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host talks with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. In general, Substack is established to be much more like a social network which sustains long-form content.
Generally, Substack is also a lot more … minimalist. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it comes to real marketing, I don’t believe there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I searched for even more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often via to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the exact same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at creators (like Substack), however it is a lot more highly accommodating individuals who do it for business. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation structure, it’s very own business system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a truly nice platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will likewise say that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is just a basic function of e-mail listings that enables segmentation in a much more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support marking eventually soon, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv OpenSea Email.
ConvertKit does now offer the capacity to market things through their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly always pick an extra direct option anyway. For me, I like to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way more integration options. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. As an example, their plugin now even supports member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this a lot more carefully places ConvertKit into straight competition by having you be able to release to your website and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations presently. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic dealing with the development tools 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 benefits, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your listing. These are actually remarkable features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most popular viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this implies for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv OpenSea Email
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally means that they are quickly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed almost regular release of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … however large features that are fairly important. Their speed of development at this point has actually gone over.
I additionally quite appreciate how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, among their product statements about some style improvements to the website design features actually contained a little problem with the material width. I merely responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the problem was fixed.
Few days later on, I provided an additional idea …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based upon the embed kind made use of was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I really value.
Another major point of distinction below is the cost. Both platforms use free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers more capacity and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally even more desirable. ConvertKit appears more affordable initially glance since their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the subscriber limits are much reduced and your cost swiftly raises as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That very same size checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly use), you can grow your checklist approximately 100,000. A listing of that size 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, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different organization when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually boost prices? They may as time takes place. But, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the important things you most definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to evolve rather swiftly and make brand-new product announcements somewhat often, but there are some fundamental features I really desire they had that I require to simply wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription kinds where I can choose an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be outstanding for numerous reasons. Already, registration kinds look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have marking at the subscriber degree. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks ought to be part of automations to make integrated automations less complicated and lower reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are also some small administrative interface adjustments that would certainly be handy. As an example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to mass edit articles (for example, to label a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard areas as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some even more modification choices for the internet site (such as even more versatile color 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, however it isn’t ideal and certainly not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation system. I think you never understand, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv rather a lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to change my very own newsletters over to the system in spite of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Put simply, for the newsletter publishing model especially, I saw enough worth in their platform to warrant the change.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email list. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, but I intentionally have points establish to make sure that I also keep my list “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just a great insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and different demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch ought to be rather simple.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a large email listing and are therefore being wooled with their high month-to-month costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s likewise a pretty good chance you’re not also using some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can quickly be a much better and a lot more economical fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very willful about expanding an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is made to be, it is among the best games in town today. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be quite feature abundant.