I have actually utilized a great deal of different e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own system. Therefore (and the amazing features), I have been making use of Beehiiv PitchBook.
So, it is certainly a strange move for me to decide to utilize BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to resolve the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I would certainly additionally such as to resolve why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Shift In Method, I talked about how and why I chose to transform my motor home blog site right into mostly an e-newsletter. I determined that was the business version I intended to go after with that said home.
However, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. More on that particular in a bit.
As I stated in that problem of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices constructed into it particular to my purpose. Points such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog) and send out the email concurrently without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click registration links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I choose to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The system was literally built by the people who accumulated the technology for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may without a doubt be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I just went for it. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential or commercial property to make sure that I can expand it more intentionally too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown individually. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to transition. However, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will certainly constantly be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Listing
There’s a distinction between a newsletter system and simply an e-mail list.
You can host your email list anywhere 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 main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting means that it is mosting likely to your website and to your email customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that web site. But, you are additionally 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 simpler.
With many e-mail systems, any kind of e-newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is built completely independently from your website. So, as an example, you might release a short article to WordPress yet then you would need to individually develop and send out an email to your list to send it to clients. These are then 2 separate sets of archives and two different actions because article and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it pretty much “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and permits them to be the exact same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I wished to continue to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you would certainly shed the development tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently features a different set of requirements than a common email list.
You do not normally require much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one smooth publishing experience and development tools to help you construct your customer base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I selected to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I think Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been about longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that originally got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is actually built by the very same folks who built the innovation behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some rather large brands and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo developers. Once again, it simply informs me the customer avatar distinction between the two companies.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only reason I would consider shaking things up is if I thought I could expand the list much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I in fact do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct rivals.
Yet, let’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by individuals who recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra geared toward creators.
As an example, BeeHiiv provides customized areas on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. Actually, it is a visual 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 limited in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an e-mail. However, enhancements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers along with new actions, such as changing custom-made areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply since I started making use of the system. For example:
- Ability to trigger automations based upon which specific embed form they can be found in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and take care of people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it involves writing your newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more geared toward newsletters. Actually, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be extra user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface behaves and clean, however it would certainly be more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than just type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and afterwards put anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Presence choices on that area to reveal it just to paid customers, conceal it from e-mail, hide from customers, reveal only to customers, and so on. Substack uses nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs registration version, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of revenue. In fact, you essentially attach as much as your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending on how many subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear nerdy, but what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was a lot more built toward actual email marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes seem far better developed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack settings itself towards “makers” greater than email online marketers and newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some things geared more towards individuals that simply think in regards to web content production.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple publications, they are dealt with 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 … awesome for individuals that might require it.
Substack likewise has even more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host chats with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is set up to be much more like a social network which supports long-form material.
On the whole, Substack is also extra … minimalist. You either take care of that or do not. Personally, I don’t. However, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions rather well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I tried to find more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually via to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the same target audience and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at creators (like Substack), however it is far more strongly catering to people that do it for organization. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation building, it’s own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is popular already. However, here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has a lot more flexibility when it involves it’s automations. I will certainly likewise state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is simply a fundamental function of email lists that enables segmentation in an even more flexible means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support tagging eventually quickly, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv PitchBook.
ConvertKit does now give the capability to sell points via their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly pick a much more direct choice anyhow. For me, I favor to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and therefore has way extra integration options. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin now also supports member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this extra carefully puts ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your newsletter with perks, however you can additionally pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are really outstanding features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most well known viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall for what this means for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv PitchBook
BeeHiiv is much earlier 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. However, it likewise means that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed almost once a week launch of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … however big features that are fairly vital. Their speed of growth now has actually gone over.
I likewise significantly appreciate exactly how receptive they are. In fact, among their product announcements about some layout enhancements to the website design features really contained a little trouble with the material size. I just replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That very same day, the concern was dealt with.
Few days later on, I provided an additional recommendation …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to activate automations based on the embed type made use of was contributed to the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight involvement of the group is something I actually appreciate.
One more major point of distinction here is the rate. Both platforms provide free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides extra capacity and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more positive. ConvertKit seems cheaper in the beginning look due to the fact that their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, however the client limitations are much reduced and your rate swiftly enhances as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same size listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally utilize), you can grow your checklist up to 100,000. A checklist of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different league when it concerns pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually boost rates? They could as time takes place. Yet, I’m guessing people like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you most definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to evolve instead promptly and make brand-new item announcements rather frequently, but there are some standard features I truly desire they had that I need to just await.
One is that they need to have a setup on subscription kinds where I might pick an automation to run right at the form level. That would be remarkable for a lot of factors. As of now, subscription types look OK, yet there’s really little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have marking at the customer level. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks ought to be part of automations to make integrated automations simpler and minimize dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management user interface changes that would come in handy. For example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to bulk edit articles (for example, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic areas as conventional on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the internet site (such as more versatile shade options, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I hope they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t perfect and definitely not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I said, the objective is various so it would not a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation system. I presume you never ever recognize, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv fairly a whole lot. Enough where I determined to change my very own newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter posting design especially, I saw adequate value in their system to warrant the change.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail listing. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is proficient at, however I purposefully have things set up so that I also maintain my list “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is simply a good insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d most definitely think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and different needs. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the switch should be quite simple.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a big email listing and are consequently being wooled with their high month-to-month costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s likewise a pretty good opportunity you’re not even utilizing a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could quickly be a much better and a lot more economical fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really intentional regarding expanding an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is among the very best games in the area now. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the totally free account to be quite feature rich.