I have actually used a great deal of different email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a big proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. Therefore (and the awesome features), I have actually been making use of Beehiiv Real State.
So, it is indeed an odd move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d likewise such as to attend to why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Big Shift In Strategy, I discussed exactly how and why I chose to turn my RV blog into mostly a newsletter. I determined that was the business model I intended to pursue with that said home.
But, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly RV, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that particular in a little bit.
As I stated because concern of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools developed right into it details to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send out the email simultaneously without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click membership web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on development. The system was literally developed by the individuals that developed the innovation for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I might certainly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went all out. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential or commercial property to ensure that I can expand it a lot more purposefully as well.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Gladly RV was young, so simple to transition. However, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff 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 obviously constantly be closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email List
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter platform and just an email checklist.
You can host your e-mail listing everywhere you desire 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 difference?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your website and to your email clients concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that web site. Yet, you are likewise sending off to all customers at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes management of the system much less complex.
With most email systems, any kind of e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is developed completely independently from your website. So, for example, you may release a post to WordPress but after that you would need to individually construct and send an email to your listing to send it to clients. These are then 2 different sets of archives and two different activities because article and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it practically “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and permits them to be the very same point. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong choice if I intended to remain to self-host every little thing. However, you ‘d shed the development tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally comes with a various collection of needs than a regular e-mail listing.
You do not normally need 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 assist you build your client base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not imply I believe Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, since Substack has been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that at first got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter publishers. Actually, it is essentially constructed by the exact same individuals that developed the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. However, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I want right here.
- That branding and distinction also suggests that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brands and large publications using it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Again, it simply tells me the customer avatar difference between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only reason I would certainly contemplate shaking things up is if I assumed I might GROW the list faster. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I in fact don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight competitors.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than simply the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by individuals that comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra tailored toward developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies customized areas on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new actions, such as modifying customized areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations simply given that I began using the platform. As an example:
- Capability to activate automations based on which particular embed type they came in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based upon opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this because the target audience of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it concerns writing your e-newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra tailored towards newsletters. In fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I find it to be more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s creating user interface behaves and tidy, but it would certainly be more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than just form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and after that put anything you desire in it. Then, you can place Presence alternatives on that particular area to reveal it only to paid subscribers, hide it from e-mail, hide from subscribers, reveal just to subscribers, and so on. Substack offers nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium membership design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any earnings. As a matter of fact, you actually connect up to your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending upon the amount of clients you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the month-to-month cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I just felt like BeeHiiv was extra developed towards genuine e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page makes seem much better constructed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack positions itself towards “designers” greater than e-mail marketing professionals and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some points tailored much more toward people that simply believe in terms of content development.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are treated quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, yet … trendy for people that may require it.
Substack also has more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host chats with customers. It also has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is established to be more like a social network which sustains long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is likewise a lot more … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns real marketing, I don’t believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better suited. I searched for even more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet truthfully … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently with to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at makers (like Substack), however it is far more highly dealing with people that do it for business. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s own commerce system, and extra. ConvertKit is a really wonderful platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is well known already. However, right here’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it concerns it’s automations. I will likewise claim that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is simply a basic function of e-mail checklists that allows segmentation in a much more versatile means than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support labeling at some time soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Real State.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capacity to offer things through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly constantly choose an extra direct choice anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and for that reason has way much more integration choices. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For instance, their plugin currently also supports member-gated content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this more carefully places ConvertKit into direct competition by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these type of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with perks, but you can additionally pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are actually awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most popular viral promo platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall wherefore this implies for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Real State
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it likewise implies that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed almost regular launch of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … but huge features that are fairly vital. Their rate of development now has actually been impressive.
I likewise quite appreciate how receptive they are. In fact, one of their product statements about some design enhancements to the website design features really contained a tiny trouble with the content size. I merely replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the issue was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I gave them another pointer …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to set off automations based on the embed form used was contributed to the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight involvement of the group is something I actually value.
Another major factor of distinction below is the rate. Both platforms supply totally free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan uses more ability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more desirable. ConvertKit seems more affordable initially look due to the fact that their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the client limits are much reduced and your rate promptly raises as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid annually), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same size listing 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 utilize), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A listing of that size would 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 yearly, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv is in a completely various league when it involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately enhance costs? They could as time takes place. Yet, I’m presuming people like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how things continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you most definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to progress rather rapidly and make brand-new product news somewhat commonly, but there are some fundamental features I truly desire they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on subscription forms where I might pick an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be AWESOME for many factors. Currently, registration types look OK, yet there’s extremely little settings for them to help in division.
It would be nice to have tagging at the client level. This would be powerful.
I assume webhooks should become part of automations to make built-in automations easier and minimize reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some small administrative interface adjustments that would come in handy. For instance:
- Ability to mass edit/remove customers.
- Capability to bulk edit blog posts (for instance, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard fields as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization options for the internet site (such as even more adaptable color choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Points I hope they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t ideal and certainly not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It most likely never will certainly be, either. As I stated, the purpose is different so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation platform. I think you never know, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Sufficient where I decided to change my very own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Basically, for the newsletter posting design particularly, I saw adequate value in their platform to call for the adjustment.
Bear in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special e-mail listing. I make use of BeeHiiv of what it is good at, yet I deliberately have points set up to make sure that I additionally maintain my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply a great insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d most definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button ought to be rather simple.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a large e-mail listing and are as a result being fleeced with their high regular monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating promptly. There’s also a pretty good opportunity you’re not even utilizing a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a much better and extra affordable fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very intentional about growing a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is created to be, it is among the best games in the area right now. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be fairly feature abundant.