I have used a lot of various email list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a massive advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own system. Therefore (and the outstanding features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Q4 Beach Club.
So, it is indeed a weird move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I intend to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to deal with the issue of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I ‘d also such as to resolve why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Shift In Method, I discussed just how and why I chose to turn my recreational vehicle blog into largely a newsletter. I made a decision that was the business version I intended to pursue keeping that residential or commercial property.
However, to purposefully pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, utilizing it for newsletters is a little a waste. More on that particular in a little bit.
As I claimed in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed into it details to my function. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send the email at the same time without having it be 2 different actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click membership links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The platform was literally built by the individuals who built up the modern technology for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went all out. And in 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 grow it extra deliberately also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to shift. However, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will certainly constantly be very closely tied with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not need to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email List
There’s a difference in between a newsletter system and just an email list.
You can organize your email listing anyplace you want and there are a variety 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 a newsletter platform, the act of posting suggests that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your email customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that site. But, you are likewise dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s customers are done in one. This makes administration of the platform much simpler.
With the majority of e-mail platforms, any type of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed entirely independently from your web site. So, for instance, you could release an article to WordPress yet after that you would certainly need to separately construct and send an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are after that two separate collections of archives and two separate actions since post and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it basically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and permits them to be the exact same point. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong choice if I wished to remain to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the growth tools that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally includes a different set of needs than a regular email list.
You don’t normally require much marketing automation. You do not usually require autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, however, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to aid you develop your subscriber base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I think Substack draws. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair points that initially got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is actually constructed by the same individuals who constructed the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and distinction likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brands and big magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo creators. Again, it simply tells me the customer avatar distinction between the two companies.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only reason I would ponder shaking points up is if I thought I can GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I actually do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct competitors.
However, allow’s dive deeper than just the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv seems like it was built by individuals that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra tailored toward developers.
As an example, BeeHiiv provides customized areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an email. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as customizing custom areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations simply because I started making use of the platform. For instance:
- Capability to cause automations based on which details embed type they came in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and handle people based on opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional logic 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 would not think to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it pertains to composing your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored toward e-newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I locate it to be extra user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s composing interface behaves and clean, yet it would be extra equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than simply kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and after that put anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Visibility options on that particular section to reveal it just to paid customers, hide it from e-mail, conceal from clients, reveal just to customers, and so on. Substack uses absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs subscription design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any earnings. In fact, you literally attach up to your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending on how many customers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem nerdy, but what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
On the whole, I just felt like BeeHiiv was more developed toward genuine email marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page develops appear much better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I like the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack positions itself towards “makers” greater than email marketing professionals and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points geared more toward people who simply assume in regards to web content creation.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are dealt with rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … great for people that could require it.
Substack additionally has more social capability built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is established to be extra like a social media which supports long-form material.
In general, Substack is likewise extra … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, frankly, features … Substack works rather well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to actual marketing, I do not assume there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better fit. I searched for more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but frankly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often with to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the same target market and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at creators (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly accommodating people that do it for business. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a really nice platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, right here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly also state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is just a basic feature of e-mail lists that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more adaptable means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling at some point quickly, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Q4 Beach Club.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capacity to market things by means of their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always pick a more direct option anyway. For me, I choose to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and therefore has way much more integration options. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For instance, their plugin now even sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this much more carefully puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to release to your site and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic tackling the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your newsletter with perks, however you can also pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this suggests for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Q4 Beach Club
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally suggests that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced practically weekly launch of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … however big features that are rather essential. Their rate of advancement at this point has actually gone over.
I likewise quite appreciate just how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item announcements concerning some layout improvements to the website design features in fact had a tiny problem with the material width. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the issue was repaired.
Few days later on, I provided one more idea …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based on the embed type used was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I truly appreciate.
One more major factor of distinction below is the rate. Both systems offer cost-free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies more ability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more desirable. ConvertKit appears more affordable at first look because their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, nonetheless the client limits are much reduced and your price promptly increases as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same size checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your list approximately 100,000. A listing of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in a totally various organization when it involves pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance prices? They might as time takes place. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to advance rather rapidly and make new item news rather commonly, however there are some fundamental features I really desire they had that I need to just wait for.
One is that they need to have a setup on membership forms where I might select an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be amazing for numerous reasons. As of now, registration forms look OK, but there’s extremely little settings for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have tagging at the client level. This would be powerful.
I think webhooks must become part of automations to make built-in automations easier and lower reliance on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor administrative interface adjustments that would be handy. As an example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to mass edit messages (for instance, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental fields as common on customers (like the name).
- Some even more customization alternatives for the internet site (such as even more adaptable color selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I hope they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t excellent and absolutely not almost as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I said, the purpose is various so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation system. I presume you never ever know, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to change my own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and owning my very own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing design especially, I saw enough value in their platform to require the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special email listing. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, yet I purposefully have points establish so that I additionally maintain my checklist “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just a good insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack right now, I ‘d definitely think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different demands. 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 probably sit tight unless you have a big e-mail list and are for that reason being wooled with their high monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating swiftly. There’s likewise a pretty good opportunity you’re not also utilizing several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a far better and more cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really intentional regarding expanding a newsletter, I believe 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 just one of the very best video games in the area today. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be fairly feature rich.