I have utilized a lot of various email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own platform. Therefore (and the incredible features), I have actually been making use of Beehiiv ResiClub.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to address the concern of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d also such as to address why I chose to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Change In Approach, I talked about how and why I chose to turn my RV blog right into primarily a newsletter. I chose that was business design I wished to pursue keeping that building.
Yet, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Happily recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a bit.
As I stated in that concern of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed right into it certain to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send out the email all at once without having it be two different actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are methods 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 monetize with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The platform was essentially built by the people who developed the innovation for Early morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might without a doubt be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I just went all out. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s very own home so that I can expand it more deliberately as well.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded separately. Gladly motor home was young, so simple to transition. But, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was buried in a sea of stuff below 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 carefully connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was built for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Checklist
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter system and simply an email checklist.
You can host your email listing just about anywhere you desire and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The key distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting indicates that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail subscribers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that web site. However, you are likewise sending to all customers at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes administration of the system much simpler.
With many email platforms, any type of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is built completely independently from your site. So, for instance, you may release a write-up to WordPress but after that you would need to separately build and send out an email to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and two different actions since article and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it pretty much “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the very same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong option if I wanted to remain to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the development tools that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently features a different set of needs than a typical email checklist.
You don’t generally require much marketing automation. You do not normally require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, though, is one seamless publishing experience and growth tools to aid you construct your customer base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers that I was going to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that does not mean I think Substack draws. In fact, since Substack has been about longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that at first got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter publishers. In fact, it is essentially constructed by the very same folks that constructed the innovation behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. However, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter development called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I’m interested in here.
- That branding and distinction also suggests that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo creators. Again, it just tells me the client character distinction in between the two companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM really did not precisely suck. The only reason I would ponder shaking points up is if I believed I can expand the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I actually do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
But, let’s dive much deeper than just the positioning here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv appears like it was developed by individuals that comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra tailored towards developers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies customized fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic 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 quite limited in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send out an email. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new activities, such as customizing custom fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations just since I started making use of the platform. For instance:
- Ability to set off automations based on which details embed form they can be found in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and take care of people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this because the target market of Substack just would not think to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it involves creating your e-newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is just more tailored towards e-newsletters. In fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I discover it to be a lot more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface is nice and clean, yet it would certainly be extra equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than just type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. Then, you can put Exposure alternatives on that particular section to show it just to paid clients, hide it from email, conceal from clients, reveal only to clients, etc. Substack provides nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs registration version, BeeHiiv does not take any earnings. As a matter of fact, you literally connect up to your very own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Relying on how many subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem unpopular, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
In general, I just felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more constructed towards actual email marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page makes seem far better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack positions itself towards “makers” more than e-mail marketing experts and newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some things geared much more towards individuals that simply assume in terms of content production.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are dealt with quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … amazing for individuals who may need it.
Substack additionally has even more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host chats with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which works type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. Overall, Substack is established to be more like a social media network which sustains long-form material.
In general, Substack is also much more … minimalist. You either look after that or do not. Personally, I do not. However, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it involves actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I searched for even more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a difficult time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently through to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the same target market and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at makers (like Substack), but it is a lot more highly accommodating people who do it for company. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation building, it’s own business system, and much more. ConvertKit is a truly nice system.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is popular already. Yet, right here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it involves it’s automations. I will certainly also state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports labeling. This is simply a fundamental feature of email checklists that allows division in an even more flexible means than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support tagging at some point soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv ResiClub.
ConvertKit does currently provide the capability to market points via 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 select an extra straight option anyway. For me, I like to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and therefore has way a lot more integration alternatives. 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 currently even supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this extra carefully puts ConvertKit into direct competition by having you be able to release to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with advantages, but you can also pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are really outstanding features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most popular 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 system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv ResiClub
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it also suggests that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen practically regular launch of new features into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … however large features that are fairly crucial. Their speed of advancement at this moment has actually gone over.
I additionally very much appreciate how responsive they are. Actually, one of their product announcements regarding some layout enhancements to the website design features in fact had a little trouble with the web content width. I just responded to that email to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the issue was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I provided one more tip …
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 added to the system.
That type of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I truly appreciate.
One more significant point of differentiation right here is the cost. Both systems offer free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides much more capability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more favorable. ConvertKit seems less expensive in the beginning glance since their pricing web page shows lower numbers, however the subscriber limitations are much lower and your price quickly increases as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same dimension 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 use), you can expand your listing up to 100,000. A listing of that dimension would 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 each year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely various organization when it pertains to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point boost costs? They might as time goes on. Yet, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to develop rather quickly and make new product statements somewhat often, yet there are some fundamental features I really desire they had that I require to simply wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on registration forms where I might select an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be incredible for so many factors. As of now, subscription kinds look OK, yet there’s really little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would be nice to have labeling at the subscriber degree. This would be powerful.
I think webhooks should be part of automations to make built-in automations simpler and reduce reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some small management interface changes that would come in handy. For example:
- Ability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit articles (as an example, to identify a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic areas as typical on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more customization choices for the web site (such as more flexible color options, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I hope they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t ideal and absolutely not nearly as created as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I stated, the function is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation platform. I think you never know, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv quite a lot. Enough where I made a decision to change my very own newsletters over to the system despite my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my very own system.
Basically, for the newsletter posting model especially, I saw enough value in their platform to require the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my unique email list. I use BeeHiiv for what it is good at, yet I purposefully have points set up to make sure that I also maintain my list “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just a great insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d absolutely consider changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch ought to be quite uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a large e-mail checklist and are consequently being wooled with their high monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating promptly. There’s likewise a pretty good opportunity you’re not even making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t also require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can quickly be a far better and much more affordable fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful regarding growing an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is developed to be, it is one of the very best video games in town now. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be quite feature rich.