I have utilized a great deal of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a substantial advocate of digital sovereignty and having your own system. Because of that (and the amazing features), I have actually been making use of Beehiiv Pricing.
So, it is certainly an unusual move for me to choose to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I would certainly additionally such as to address why I chose to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Shift In Method, I talked about how and why I determined to transform my recreational vehicle blog site into primarily a newsletter. I made a decision that was business design I intended to pursue with that property.
However, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email checklist for Gladly motor home, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Extra on that in a bit.
As I said because issue of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices built right into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail at the same time 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 device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are means to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The system was actually constructed by the people that developed the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I might indeed be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own building to make sure that I can expand it a lot more deliberately as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded individually. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to transition. But, The Early morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will certainly constantly be very closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however does not need to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Listing
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter system and just an e-mail list.
You can organize your email list anywhere you want and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key difference is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting means that it is going to your site and to your e-mail subscribers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that web site. Yet, you are likewise sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s customers are done in one. This makes management of the system much simpler.
With the majority of email systems, any type of newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed entirely separately from your internet site. So, for example, you could publish a write-up to WordPress but after that you would certainly need to independently build and send out an email to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that two different sets of archives and two separate activities due to the fact that article and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it pretty much “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the very same point. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong option if I wished to continue to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the development tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently comes with a different set of requirements than a regular email list.
You do not typically need much marketing automation. You do not typically require autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, however, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to assist you construct your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I chose to select BeeHiiv, that does not suggest I think Substack sucks. In fact, because Substack has actually been around longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that at first got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally built by the very same individuals who constructed the technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. However, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Once more, it just informs me the customer avatar difference in between the two firms.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only reason I would ponder drinking things up is if I believed I could GROW the list quicker. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I really do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct rivals.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than simply the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by people who understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more tailored towards developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom areas on clients. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an email. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have new triggers as well as new activities, such as customizing customized areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply because I began utilizing the system. For instance:
- Capability to activate automations based upon which specific embed form they came in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it pertains to creating your newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra geared towards e-newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I discover it to be a lot more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and tidy, however it would be more equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. Then, you can place Visibility alternatives on that section to reveal it just to paid customers, hide it from email, conceal from customers, reveal just to customers, and so on. Substack offers absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs registration design, BeeHiiv does not take any type of revenue. Actually, you essentially attach as much as your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Depending on how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the month-to-month cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was a lot more developed towards real e-mail marketing. It was developed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs seem better built for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I wish 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 actually claimed, Substack settings itself toward “developers” more than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things tailored more toward individuals who simply think in regards to web content creation.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are dealt with quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … awesome for people who could require it.
Substack also has even more social capability built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host talks with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. On the whole, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media network which sustains long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is also much more … minimal. You either care for that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack works pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it involves actual marketing, I don’t assume there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I looked for even more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a tough time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly via to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is also placed at developers (like Substack), but it is far more strongly accommodating people that do it for company. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s very own business system, and more. ConvertKit is a truly good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, below’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it comes to it’s automations. I will also claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is simply a basic function of e-mail lists that makes it possible for division in a much more flexible way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support marking eventually quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Pricing.
ConvertKit does now provide the capability to offer things through their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always pick an extra straight alternative anyway. For me, I favor to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and therefore has way more integration choices. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For instance, their plugin currently also supports member-gated web content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this more closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you be able to publish to your site and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with perks, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface of what this implies for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Pricing
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it additionally suggests that they are quickly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced virtually once a week launch of new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … yet huge features that are rather essential. Their speed of advancement now has been impressive.
I likewise very much appreciate just how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product news about some style enhancements to the web design features really contained a small trouble with the web content width. I just responded to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the concern was repaired.
Few days later on, I gave them another idea …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to trigger automations based upon the embed type used was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I truly appreciate.
One more major point of distinction below is the cost. Both platforms use free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers a lot more ability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more positive. ConvertKit seems less expensive in the beginning look because their pricing page reveals lower numbers, however the subscriber limitations are much reduced and your cost quickly raises as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same dimension list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly utilize), you can expand your listing approximately 100,000. A list of that size would 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 annually, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a completely various league when it concerns pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point boost rates? They could as time takes place. But, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the important things you certainly require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to develop rather promptly and make new item statements rather often, yet there are some basic features I really wish they had that I need to simply wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on registration kinds where I can choose an automation to run right at the type level. That would certainly be outstanding for numerous reasons. Already, membership types look OK, however there’s very little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have marking at the client level. This would be effective.
I believe webhooks need to become part of automations to make integrated automations much easier and minimize dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative user interface changes that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Ability to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to mass edit articles (for example, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic areas as standard on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization choices for the website (such as more flexible shade choices, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t best and definitely not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the objective is different so it would not a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation platform. I think you never ever know, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv quite a lot. Sufficient where I decided to change my own newsletters over to the system regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing version particularly, I saw adequate worth in their system to warrant the change.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail list. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, yet I intentionally have points establish to make sure that I likewise maintain my list “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply a good insurance policy, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack today, I ‘d most definitely think about switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and various demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button should be quite simple.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a big email listing and are for that reason being wooled with their high monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating swiftly. There’s additionally a respectable chance you’re not also making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a much better and extra budget friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very deliberate concerning growing a 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 developed to be, it is just one of the most effective video games around today. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the cost-free account to be quite feature abundant.