I have actually made use of a lot of various e-mail list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. Therefore (and the amazing features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Overview.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to make a decision to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a held application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to address the issue of digital sovereignty while using the system and I would certainly also such as to address why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Change In Method, I talked about just how and why I determined to turn my recreational vehicle blog right into largely an e-newsletter. I determined that was business model I wanted to pursue with that said residential or commercial property.
But, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, using it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Extra on that particular in a little bit.
As I stated in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed into it details to my function. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send the e-mail at the same time without having it be two separate actions.
- Built in 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 other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click registration web links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I choose to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The platform was essentially built by the individuals that developed the modern technology for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I might indeed be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I simply went all out. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early 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 capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded independently. Gladly RV was young, so easy to shift. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of things here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will clearly always be closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email List
There’s a distinction between a newsletter platform and simply an email checklist.
You can organize your e-mail listing just about anywhere you want and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing means that it is going to your internet site and to your email customers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that website. Yet, you are likewise dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes administration of the system much easier.
With a lot of email platforms, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed completely separately from your web site. So, for instance, you could release a post to WordPress yet after that you would certainly need to individually develop and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to customers. These are then two separate sets of archives and 2 separate actions because article and your emails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a true e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it basically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and allows them to be the same point. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid alternative if I intended to remain to self-host whatever. However, you ‘d shed the growth tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently features a different collection of demands than a normal email listing.
You do not generally need much marketing automation. You don’t generally require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, however, is one seamless posting experience and growth tools to aid you develop your customer base that specify to e-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, also besides the reality that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that does not imply I think Substack draws. Actually, because Substack has been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that initially obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is actually built by the same people who constructed the modern technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and distinction also implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brands and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo developers. Once again, it just informs me the consumer avatar distinction between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t specifically draw. The only reason I would contemplate drinking things up is if I thought I might expand the list much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I in fact do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct competitors.
However, let’s dive much deeper than simply the placing here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv appears like it was constructed by individuals that understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more tailored toward makers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers custom fields on clients. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, 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 restricted in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have new triggers in addition to new actions, such as modifying custom fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations just given that I started using the platform. For instance:
- Ability to cause automations based on which particular embed form they came in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and take care of people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional reasoning 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 simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it comes to composing your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra geared toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I locate it to be more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s creating interface behaves and clean, yet it would be extra comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than just form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and after that put anything you desire in it. Then, you can place Visibility alternatives on that particular area to show it just to paid subscribers, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from clients, show just to customers, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any income. In fact, you literally attach approximately your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Depending upon the number of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
Generally, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more developed toward genuine email marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page designs appear much better developed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack placements itself towards “developers” greater than email marketing experts and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points tailored a lot more towards people who simply think in regards to web content creation.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are treated rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … amazing for people who may require it.
Substack additionally has even more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a conversation function to host talks with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social media 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.
On the whole, Substack is also more … minimal. You either care for that or do not. Directly, I do not. However, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions rather well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I looked for more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually through to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at developers (like Substack), but it is far more strongly catering to individuals that do it for company. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation building, it’s own business platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a really good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown here. ConvertKit is well known currently. However, here’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise claim that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is just a basic function of email listings that allows division in a far more adaptable way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some point soon, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Overview.
ConvertKit does currently give the capacity to sell points using their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would always choose an extra direct alternative anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and because of that has way more integration choices. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For instance, their plugin now even sustains member-gated content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this extra closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you be able to publish to your site and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your newsletter with rewards, yet you can also pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really awesome features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface wherefore this implies for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Overview
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise suggests that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced practically regular launch of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … yet large features that are rather crucial. Their rate of advancement now has actually gone over.
I likewise quite value how receptive they are. In fact, among their product news about some design improvements to the website design features in fact had a little problem with the material size. I simply responded to that email to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the problem was repaired.
Few days later, I provided another pointer …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to activate automations based on the embed kind made use of was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight involvement of the group is something I actually appreciate.
One more major point of distinction below is the cost. Both platforms supply totally free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies much more capability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more beneficial. ConvertKit appears more affordable at first glance because their pricing web page shows lower numbers, however the customer restrictions are FAR lower and your cost quickly boosts as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That 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 directly make use of), you can expand your listing as much as 100,000. A listing of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different organization when it pertains to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise costs? They could as time goes on. But, I’m presuming people like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you most definitely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to progress rather quickly and make brand-new item statements rather commonly, but there are some fundamental features I truly want they had that I need to just wait for.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription forms where I can choose an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be incredible for a lot of reasons. Already, subscription kinds look OK, but there’s extremely little settings for them to aid in division.
It would certainly behave to have identifying at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks need to belong to automations to make built-in automations less complicated and reduce dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor management interface changes that would be handy. For instance:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to bulk edit blog posts (for example, to tag a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as basic on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more personalization choices for the internet site (such as more versatile shade selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I hope they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t ideal and absolutely not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It probably never ever will certainly be, either. As I said, the purpose is different so it wouldn’t much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation platform. I think you never know, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv quite a lot. Sufficient where I chose to change my own e-newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing version especially, I saw sufficient value in their system to warrant the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special email listing. I make use of BeeHiiv of what it is efficient, however I deliberately have points set up so that I likewise keep my listing “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply a good insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will 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 viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d certainly think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and different needs. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the button needs to be quite straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a big e-mail listing and are consequently being fleeced with their high regular monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating rapidly. There’s also a respectable chance you’re not also making use of some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a better and extra economical fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really intentional concerning expanding an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is developed to be, it is among the best games in town today. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be rather feature rich.