I have used a lot of various email list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a substantial supporter of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. Therefore (and the amazing features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv UTM Parameters.
So, it is without a doubt an unusual 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 look at why I made the button 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 also such as to attend to why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Shift In Strategy, I discussed exactly how and why I determined to transform my recreational vehicle blog site right into primarily an e-newsletter. I decided that was business design I wanted to seek with that said property.
But, to purposefully pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly motor home, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a little a waste. More on that in a little bit.
As I stated because concern of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools developed right into it details to my purpose. Points such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail at the same time without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are means to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at growth. The system was actually built by the people who developed the modern technology for Early morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I may without a doubt be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went all out. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own building to ensure that I can expand it more purposefully as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown independently. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to change. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff right here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will certainly always be closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Listing
There’s a difference between a newsletter system and just an e-mail listing.
You can hold your e-mail list anyplace you desire and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting means that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that internet site. Yet, you are additionally sending to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes administration of the system much less complex.
With most e-mail platforms, any newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built entirely separately from your internet site. So, for instance, you could publish an article to WordPress but then you would certainly require to separately develop and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 separate sets of archives and 2 separate actions since article and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it virtually “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the same point. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong option if I wanted to remain to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you ‘d shed the growth tools that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally comes with a various set of demands than a common email list.
You don’t typically need much marketing automation. You do not normally require autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, though, is one smooth publishing experience and growth tools to help you build your client base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people 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 believe Substack sucks. In fact, since Substack has been about longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that originally got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to e-newsletter publishers. In fact, it is essentially built by the same people who built the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. However, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I have an interest in here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally implies that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brands and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo creators. Again, it just tells me the client avatar distinction in between both companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only reason I would certainly consider drinking points up is if I believed I could expand the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I in fact do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct rivals.
However, let’s dive deeper than just the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv seems like it was constructed by people who understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra tailored towards designers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies customized areas on clients. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have brand-new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as changing personalized fields, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations just considering that I started utilizing the system. For instance:
- Capability to trigger automations based upon which certain embed type they came in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and handle individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can not do this because the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it comes to creating your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more tailored toward e-newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I find it to be much more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s writing user interface behaves and clean, but it would be more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than just form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Presence options on that section to reveal it only to paid customers, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from customers, reveal only to customers, and so on. Substack uses absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of income. Actually, you essentially link up to your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Depending on the number of subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
On the whole, I just felt like BeeHiiv was extra built toward actual e-mail marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page makes appear much better built for conversions. Growth is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack placements itself towards “designers” more than e-mail online marketers and e-newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some things tailored a lot more toward individuals who simply believe in terms of material production.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are dealt with quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … trendy for people that could require it.
Substack additionally has more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a conversation feature to host talks with subscribers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions type of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. Overall, Substack is established to be extra like a social media network which sustains long-form content.
Overall, Substack is also more … minimal. You either take care of that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works rather well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t assume there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I looked for even more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently through to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at developers (like Substack), but it is much more strongly dealing with individuals who do it for business. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s own business system, and more. ConvertKit is a truly good platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is well known currently. However, here’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise say that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is simply a basic feature of e-mail checklists that allows division in an even more flexible way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain identifying at some point quickly, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv UTM Parameters.
ConvertKit does now offer the capability to market points through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would always select a more straight option anyway. For me, I choose to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and because of that has way a lot more integration alternatives. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For instance, their plugin now even sustains member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this extra very closely places ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these type of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with perks, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall of what this means for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv UTM Parameters
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it also indicates that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed virtually once a week release of new features into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … but big features that are rather vital. Their speed of development at this moment has gone over.
I likewise quite appreciate exactly how receptive they are. Actually, one of their product announcements regarding some style improvements to the website design features really included a little issue with the material size. I merely responded to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the problem was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I gave them another idea …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to activate automations based on the embed kind utilized was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I truly appreciate.
One more significant factor of differentiation below is the price. Both platforms offer cost-free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers extra capability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more favorable. ConvertKit seems cheaper at first glimpse since their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the subscriber restrictions are much reduced and your cost rapidly enhances as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same dimension listing is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally utilize), you can grow your listing up to 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different league when it concerns pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase prices? They could as time goes on. Yet, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how points continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of things you definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to develop rather rapidly and make new item statements somewhat commonly, yet there are some standard features I truly want they had that I need to simply wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription types where I can choose an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be incredible for a lot of factors. Already, registration types look OK, yet there’s really little settings for them to help in division.
It would be nice to have labeling at the client level. This would be powerful.
I think webhooks must be part of automations to make built-in automations easier and minimize dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor management interface modifications that would come in handy. For instance:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Ability to bulk edit posts (for example, to tag a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as standard on customers (like the name).
- Some even more modification choices for the website (such as even more adaptable color options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t excellent and certainly not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the objective is various so it would not much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I guess you never understand, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv quite a lot. Sufficient where I decided to switch my own newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own system.
Put simply, for the newsletter publishing design particularly, I saw enough value in their platform to require the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special e-mail listing. I use BeeHiiv of what it is efficient, but I purposefully have points set up to ensure that I likewise maintain my checklist “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is just a great insurance plan, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d definitely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be quite straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a big e-mail checklist and are for that reason being fleeced with their high month-to-month costs. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating promptly. There’s likewise a pretty good chance you’re not even using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can quickly be a much better and a lot more budget friendly fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very willful concerning growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is developed to be, it is just one of the most effective video games around today. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the complimentary account to be quite feature rich.