I have utilized a lot of various email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your own system. Because of that (and the outstanding features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Redirect Domain.
So, it is without a doubt an unusual move for me to determine to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to go over 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 ‘d likewise like to resolve why I chose to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Huge Change In Strategy, I talked about how and why I made a decision to turn my motor home blog into mostly an e-newsletter. I chose that was the business design I wanted to pursue keeping that property.
Yet, to deliberately pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email checklist for Gladly RV, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Extra on that particular in a bit.
As I said in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed into it certain to my purpose. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send out the e-mail at the same time without having it be 2 different activities.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click subscription 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 newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I choose to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and primarily run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on growth. The system was literally developed by the people that developed the technology for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I may certainly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I just went for it. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own property to ensure that I can expand it a lot more purposefully too.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown separately. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to shift. However, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of things right 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 clearly always be carefully connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, however does not have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Listing
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter system and just an email list.
You can host your email checklist just about anywhere you desire and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting implies that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail clients all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that web site. Yet, you are also sending to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes management of the platform much less complex.
With many email platforms, any type of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed entirely separately from your web site. So, for example, you could release a post to WordPress but after that you would need to separately develop and send an e-mail to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are then two separate collections of archives and two different actions due to the fact that blog posts and your e-mails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it pretty much “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and permits them to be the very same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wished to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you ‘d shed the growth tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently comes with a various set of demands than a regular email checklist.
You don’t typically require much marketing automation. You do not usually require autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one seamless publishing experience and growth tools to help you develop your subscriber base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was going to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I picked to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not suggest I assume Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, because Substack has actually been around longer, it is elder and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that originally obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to e-newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is essentially built by the exact same individuals who constructed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. But, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I have an interest in below.
- That branding and differentiation also indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively big brands and huge publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Once again, it just informs me the customer avatar distinction in between the two business.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only factor I would certainly consider shaking things up is if I thought I could GROW the list faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I in fact don’t watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight rivals.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than simply the placing right here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by people who understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra tailored toward developers.
For example, BeeHiiv provides personalized fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send an email. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as changing customized fields, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations simply because I began utilizing the system. As an example:
- Capacity to activate automations based upon which specific embed type they was available in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and manage people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this because the target market of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketer.
When it comes to creating your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more tailored towards e-newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I discover it to be much more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing interface behaves and clean, however it would be more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than just type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and afterwards put anything you want in it. After that, you can put Presence options on that particular section to reveal it only to paid clients, conceal it from email, conceal from customers, show only to subscribers, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of profits. Actually, you literally attach up to your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending upon the number of customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear unpopular, but what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
On the whole, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was extra constructed toward genuine email marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page develops appear much better developed for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack positions itself toward “makers” more than e-mail marketing experts and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points tailored a lot more towards individuals who simply believe in terms of material production.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple publications, they are dealt with rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … awesome for individuals that might require it.
Substack likewise has more social performance built-in. For example, it has a chat function to host chats with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is set up to be more like a social media network which supports long-form web content.
On the whole, Substack is likewise more … minimal. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it involves real marketing, I don’t think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better suited. I searched for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise positioned at designers (like Substack), however it is a lot more strongly dealing with individuals that do it for company. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s own commerce system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is an actually great system.
I’m not going to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, right here’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has extra versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly also claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is simply a standard feature of email checklists that allows division in a far more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain tagging eventually soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Redirect Domain.
ConvertKit does now supply the capability to sell things using their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly constantly select a more straight choice anyhow. For me, I like to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and for that reason has way extra integration choices. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For instance, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this extra closely places ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these type of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic taking on the growth tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with advantages, but you can also pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your listing. These are actually remarkable features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most well known viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface of what this suggests for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Redirect Domain
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means less features and much less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it additionally implies that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed practically regular release of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … however big features that are quite important. Their speed of growth at this point has been impressive.
I additionally significantly appreciate exactly how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, among their product news about some style enhancements to the web design features really included a small problem with the material width. I just replied to that email to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the problem was taken care of.
Few days later, I provided another pointer …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to trigger automations based upon the embed form used was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I actually value.
An additional major point of distinction right here is the rate. Both systems use cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies extra capacity and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more desirable. ConvertKit appears cheaper initially glimpse due to the fact that their pricing web page shows lower numbers, nevertheless the subscriber restrictions are much reduced and your rate promptly increases as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That same size listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally make use of), you can expand your checklist as much as 100,000. A list of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different organization when it involves pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point raise rates? They might as time takes place. But, I’m guessing people like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you most definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to progress instead promptly and make brand-new item announcements somewhat commonly, but there are some standard features I truly desire they had that I need to just wait for.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription forms where I might select an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be remarkable for a lot of reasons. Already, registration forms look OK, but there’s extremely little settings for them to assist in division.
It would certainly behave to have identifying at the subscriber level. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks ought to belong to automations to make integrated automations simpler and minimize dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some small management interface modifications that would come in handy. For instance:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove customers.
- Ability to mass edit messages (as an example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard areas as common on customers (like the name).
- Some even more personalization options for the website (such as more adaptable color choices, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I hope they perform with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t excellent and absolutely not almost as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It possibly never ever will be, either. As I said, the objective is different so it wouldn’t much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation system. I guess you never ever recognize, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv quite a lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform regardless of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and owning my own system.
Basically, for the newsletter posting version specifically, I saw sufficient worth in their system to warrant the change.
Remember, I do not use BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail listing. I use BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, however I intentionally have things establish to make sure that I additionally keep my checklist “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just a good insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list 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 viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack today, I ‘d certainly take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button should be rather uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a large email checklist and are consequently being wooled with their high regular monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating quickly. There’s also a pretty good possibility you’re not also using some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a much better and extra inexpensive fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very deliberate about expanding a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is created to be, it is among the best games in town today. This is the platform to watch.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the totally free account to be quite feature rich.