I have actually made use of a great deal of various email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a massive proponent of digital sovereignty and having your very own platform. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Success Stories.
So, it is indeed a weird move for me to make a decision to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d likewise such as to resolve why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Change In Method, I discussed exactly how and why I chose to transform my recreational vehicle blog into primarily a newsletter. I determined that was business design I wished to pursue keeping that residential property.
Yet, to purposefully pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly motor home, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that in a bit.
As I said in that problem of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed into it specific to my function. Points such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog site) and send the e-mail all at once without having it be 2 different activities.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click membership web links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I choose to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The system was actually built by the individuals that built up the technology for Early morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I might indeed be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I simply went all out. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own building to ensure that I can expand it much more purposefully too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded separately. Happily motor home was young, so very easy 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 very own. It will certainly constantly be very closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email List
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail listing.
You can host your e-mail list just about anywhere you desire and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your site and to your email subscribers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that web site. But, you are additionally sending to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes management of the system much easier.
With many e-mail platforms, any type of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed entirely independently from your site. So, for instance, you might publish a short article to WordPress but then you would need to separately develop and send an email to your list to send it to customers. These are after that two different sets of archives and two separate actions because post and your emails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a true e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it practically “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the very same thing. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong option if I wanted to continue to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the growth devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently features a different collection of needs than a regular email listing.
You do not generally 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 demand, however, is one smooth posting experience and growth tools to help you develop your customer base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I selected to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I assume Substack sucks. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been about longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that originally obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter authors. Actually, it is actually constructed by the exact same individuals who developed the technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. Yet, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I have an interest in right here.
- That branding and distinction likewise suggests that BeeHiiv has some rather huge brands and big magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo designers. Once more, it simply informs me the consumer avatar difference in between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t specifically draw. The only factor I would certainly contemplate shaking points up is if I assumed I could GROW the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I really do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight rivals.
However, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by individuals who understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more geared toward makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv uses custom fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a great deal like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send an e-mail. However, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as modifying custom fields, sending webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations simply because I began using the platform. For instance:
- Capacity to set off automations based on which particular embed form they can be found in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this since the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it concerns composing your newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more geared towards e-newsletters. In fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I find it to be extra instinctive, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and tidy, however it would be more comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than just type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Presence options on that particular section to reveal it only to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, conceal from clients, show just to subscribers, etc. Substack provides nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium membership design, BeeHiiv does not take any type of revenue. As a matter of 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. Depending on how many subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, however what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations at all.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra built toward real email marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page develops seem better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I like the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack placements itself towards “developers” more than email online marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some points geared extra toward people who just believe in terms of content production.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support several publications, they are treated rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … awesome for individuals that might require it.
Substack likewise has even more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host talks with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. In general, Substack is established to be much more like a social network which supports long-form web content.
In general, Substack is also a lot more … minimalist. You either take care of that or don’t. Personally, I do not. Nonetheless, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions rather well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns real marketing, I do not think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I searched for more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a difficult time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically via to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the exact same target audience and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at makers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more strongly satisfying individuals that do it for company. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s own business platform, and much more. ConvertKit is a truly great platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, below’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has a lot more adaptability when it comes to 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 marking. This is simply a basic function of email checklists that allows segmentation in a much more flexible way than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some point soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Success Stories.
ConvertKit does currently give the capability to market things through their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly always select a much more straight option anyway. For me, I prefer to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way a lot more integration options. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin now even supports member-gated material along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this more closely places ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these sort of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active tackling the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with perks, yet you can likewise 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 acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of one of the most well known viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall of what this suggests for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Success Stories
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it additionally implies that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced practically regular release of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … yet big features that are fairly essential. Their rate of growth at this point has actually been impressive.
I also quite value just how responsive they are. Actually, among their item announcements about some layout enhancements to the web design features in fact included a little issue with the material width. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I quickly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That very same day, the issue was taken care of.
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 activate automations based on the embed form made use of was added to the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I truly appreciate.
One more significant factor of differentiation here is the rate. Both platforms supply complimentary plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides extra capability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally even more beneficial. ConvertKit seems less expensive at first glance because their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the customer restrictions are FAR lower and your rate rapidly increases as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same dimension list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your checklist 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 each year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a totally various organization when it pertains to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point boost rates? They could as time goes on. However, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you certainly require to remember is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to develop rather swiftly and make new item statements somewhat often, but there are some standard features I actually want they had that I need to just await.
One is that they require to have a setup on subscription types where I could select an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be incredible for a lot of reasons. Currently, subscription kinds look OK, however there’s extremely little settings for them to aid in division.
It would behave to have tagging at the subscriber level. This would be powerful.
I think webhooks must become part of automations to make integrated automations easier and minimize reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative interface changes that would come in handy. For instance:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to mass edit blog posts (as an example, to mark a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard areas as typical on clients (like the name).
- Some more modification choices for the website (such as more flexible shade choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t ideal and absolutely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It probably never will certainly be, either. As I stated, the function is different so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation platform. I think you never ever know, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to change my own newsletters over to the platform despite my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing version specifically, I saw sufficient value in their platform to require the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special email list. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, however I deliberately have things set up to ensure that I likewise maintain my listing “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d definitely take into consideration switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch should be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a large e-mail list and are as a result being wooled with their high regular monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating rapidly. There’s likewise a pretty good possibility you’re not even using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a much better and extra economical fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely intentional concerning expanding a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is created to be, it is among the very best games in the area right now. This is the platform to view.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be fairly feature abundant.