I have actually used a lot of various e-mail list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Recommendation Network.
So, it is indeed an odd move for me to determine to utilize BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to address the concern of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I ‘d likewise such as to address why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Change In Technique, I talked about exactly how and why I determined to transform my recreational vehicle blog into mainly an e-newsletter. I chose that was the business model I wanted to pursue with that said building.
However, to deliberately pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email listing for Happily recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, utilizing it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Extra on that in a bit.
As I said because issue of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools built into it certain to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail concurrently without having it be two separate activities.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I choose to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The system was literally constructed by the individuals who built up the innovation for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I might certainly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I simply went for it. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own home to ensure that I can expand it a lot more purposefully too.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown independently. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to shift. But, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried 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 own. It will certainly constantly be carefully linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was built for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Listing
There’s a difference between a newsletter platform and simply an e-mail list.
You can organize your email checklist anywhere you desire and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives 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 going to your website and to your e-mail clients all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that website. But, you are likewise sending to all subscribers at the same time. The web site and it’s customers are done in one. This makes management of the system much easier.
With most e-mail systems, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed completely separately from your site. So, for example, you may publish an article to WordPress but after that you would need to independently develop and send out an e-mail to your listing to send it to customers. These are then 2 different collections of archives and two different activities since post and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the exact same point. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong option if I wished to remain to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the development devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently includes a different set of demands than a regular email checklist.
You do not normally need much marketing automation. You don’t normally need autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to help you develop your customer base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was going to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I selected to select BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I think Substack draws. As a matter of fact, since Substack has been about much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that at first got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter publishers. Actually, it is literally developed by the same people who constructed the modern technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. However, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and differentiation also suggests that BeeHiiv has some rather large brands and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo developers. Again, it simply tells me the customer character difference in between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only reason I would certainly ponder shaking things up is if I assumed I can GROW the listing faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct rivals.
However, let’s dive much deeper than simply the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by people who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more geared towards creators.
As an example, BeeHiiv uses custom-made areas on customers. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still quite restricted in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send an email. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers along with new activities, such as modifying custom areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations simply because I began utilizing the system. For instance:
- Capacity to cause automations based on which specific embed kind they was available in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can not do this since the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it comes to composing your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared toward e-newsletters. Actually, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I find it to be much more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and clean, however it would be extra equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than just form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and then placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Exposure choices on that section to show it only to paid clients, hide it from email, conceal from subscribers, show just to clients, etc. Substack offers nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs registration version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of income. In fact, you actually connect as much as your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Relying on the amount of clients you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more money than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outside using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
On the whole, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was more built toward actual email marketing. It was constructed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page creates seem far better constructed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack placements itself toward “developers” more than email marketing professionals and e-newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some points geared extra towards people that just assume in regards to web content production.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support several publications, they are dealt with rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … amazing for people that may need it.
Substack also has even more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with customers. It additionally has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. Overall, Substack is set up to be much more like a social network which sustains long-form content.
In general, Substack is also extra … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it concerns real marketing, I do not think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I searched for more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually via to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the same target audience and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at makers (like Substack), however it is much more highly catering to people that do it for business. ConvertKit has great visual automation building, it’s own business system, and extra. ConvertKit is a really wonderful system.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. However, below’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it concerns it’s automations. I will also state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is simply a basic feature of e-mail listings that enables division in an even more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support identifying eventually quickly, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Recommendation Network.
ConvertKit does currently provide the ability to offer 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, nonetheless, I would certainly constantly pick a more direct option anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and therefore has way a lot more integration choices. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For example, their plugin currently even supports member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your 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 website and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active dealing with the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with advantages, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are truly awesome features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you understand ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promo platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface for what this means for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Recommendation Network
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it also suggests that they are quickly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed practically weekly launch of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but large features that are rather vital. Their rate of development now has gone over.
I likewise quite value exactly how responsive they are. Actually, one of their product announcements concerning some style improvements to the website design features really had a small issue with the web content size. I merely replied to that email to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the issue was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I gave them one more suggestion …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to activate automations based upon the embed form used was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I actually appreciate.
One more significant factor of distinction right here is the cost. Both platforms provide complimentary plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers more capability and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more positive. ConvertKit seems cheaper in the beginning look due to the fact that their pricing page shows lower numbers, nonetheless the subscriber limits are much reduced and your rate rapidly boosts as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That very same dimension listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your list as much as 100,000. A list of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different league when it concerns pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise prices? They could as time goes on. Yet, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how things continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you absolutely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to progress instead quickly and make new item news somewhat commonly, however there are some standard features I actually wish they had that I require to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setup on subscription forms where I could pick an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be AWESOME for many reasons. Already, registration types look OK, but there’s extremely little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have labeling at the customer level. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks ought to become part of automations to make integrated automations much easier and minimize dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor administrative user interface changes that would come in handy. As an example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit posts (as an example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental areas as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some more personalization choices for the website (such as more versatile color choices, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t ideal and definitely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I said, the function is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never know, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Enough where I decided to change my own newsletters over to the system despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Basically, for the newsletter posting design especially, I saw adequate value in their system to call for the adjustment.
Bear in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, however I purposefully have points set up so that I likewise keep my list “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance plan, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d certainly consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and various demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button should be pretty simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a large e-mail listing and are for that reason being wooled with their high monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s additionally a pretty good possibility you’re not also making use of several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a far better and much more affordable fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very deliberate concerning expanding an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is just one of the very best video games around right now. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be quite feature rich.