I have used a lot of various email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. Because of that (and the incredible features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Vegan Tech Nomad.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to choose to utilize BeeHiiv. Besides, it is an organized application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to address the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I would certainly also like to attend to why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Shift In Method, I talked about just how and why I chose to transform my recreational vehicle blog site right into primarily an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was business design I intended to seek keeping that 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, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. A lot more on that in a little bit.
As I stated in that concern of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools constructed into it specific to my purpose. Points such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog) and send out the e-mail concurrently without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are basically one-click registration links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are means to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to monetize with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The system was actually constructed by the individuals who built up the innovation for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I might indeed be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I just went for it. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own home so that I can grow it a lot more intentionally too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded individually. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to transition. But, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will clearly always be carefully connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Listing
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter system and just an e-mail list.
You can organize your e-mail checklist anyplace you desire and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your website and to your e-mail customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that internet site. But, you are likewise sending to all customers at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes management of the platform much simpler.
With the majority of email systems, any kind of e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built completely independently from your site. So, for example, you may release a short article to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to individually construct and send an email to your listing to send it to customers. These are then 2 separate collections of archives and 2 separate activities since blog posts and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a true e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it basically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the very same point. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I wished to continue to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the development devices that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally comes with a various collection of requirements than a typical e-mail checklist.
You do not normally require much marketing automation. You do not normally require autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth posting experience and development devices to help you construct your client base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was mosting likely to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I chose to go with BeeHiiv, that does not suggest I think Substack sucks. In fact, since Substack has actually been about much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that initially obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is essentially built by the exact same people that built the innovation behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Growth is what I want below.
- That branding and distinction also means that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brands and huge publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo developers. Again, it simply informs me the customer avatar difference between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only reason I would ponder trembling things up is if I assumed I might GROW the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I actually do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight rivals.
But, let’s dive deeper than simply the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by individuals who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more tailored toward designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv uses custom-made fields on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions 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 action is the capacity to send out an e-mail. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as new activities, such as modifying personalized areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations just because I began using the platform. For example:
- Ability to cause automations based on which specific embed kind they was available in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and take care of people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this since the target audience of Substack just would not think to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it involves creating your newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is just more geared towards newsletters. In fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I find it to be extra instinctive, directly.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and tidy, yet it would be a lot more comparable to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than just form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. After that, you can put Exposure alternatives on that particular area to show it only to paid customers, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from customers, show just to customers, and so on. Substack supplies nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs membership model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any revenue. In fact, you literally connect as much as your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your revenue. Relying on the number of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear nerdy, yet what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
In general, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was more constructed toward actual email marketing. It was constructed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page develops appear much better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv include, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack settings itself toward “makers” more than e-mail marketing experts and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some things geared more towards people who simply think in terms of content production.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support numerous publications, they are dealt with fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … trendy for individuals who could require it.
Substack also has even more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a chat feature to host talks with customers. It also has a “Notes” function which functions sort of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. Overall, Substack is set up to be much more like a social media which supports long-form content.
In general, Substack is additionally much more … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns real marketing, I don’t think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I looked for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually via to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at makers (like Substack), however it is far more highly satisfying people that do it for business. ConvertKit has good visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce platform, and extra. ConvertKit is a really wonderful system.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, here’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more versatility when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly additionally say that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is just a fundamental function of e-mail lists that enables division in a far more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some time soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Vegan Tech Nomad.
ConvertKit does now supply the capability to market things via their 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 much more straight option anyhow. For me, I favor to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and because of that has way a lot more integration alternatives. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this more closely places ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, but you can likewise pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are truly remarkable features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface for what this indicates for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Vegan Tech Nomad
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it also indicates that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed practically once a week launch of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … yet large features that are rather important. Their rate of development at this moment has been impressive.
I likewise very much appreciate exactly how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product announcements regarding some style enhancements to the website design features really contained a little trouble with the web content width. I just replied to that e-mail to tell them. I quickly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That same day, the problem was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I gave them one more recommendation …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to cause automations based upon the embed type used was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I really value.
Another significant point of differentiation below is the price. Both platforms provide complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides more capacity and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally much more beneficial. ConvertKit appears more affordable in the beginning look because their pricing page shows reduced numbers, however the subscriber limits are FAR lower and your cost rapidly boosts as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. 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 make use of), you can expand your list up to 100,000. A list of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely various league when it concerns pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually boost costs? They may as time goes on. But, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you most definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to advance rather swiftly and make new item statements rather frequently, yet 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 registration forms where I could select an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be amazing for many factors. Currently, registration kinds look OK, yet there’s really little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly behave to have labeling at the client degree. This would be powerful.
I assume webhooks ought to belong to automations to make built-in automations easier and lower reliance on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some small administrative user interface adjustments that would come in handy. For instance:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Ability to mass edit posts (as an example, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some even more personalization choices for the web site (such as more flexible color selections, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I hope they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t ideal and certainly not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It most likely never will be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it would not a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I think you never know, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Enough where I decided to change my own e-newsletters over to the system despite my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Basically, for the e-newsletter posting model specifically, I saw enough worth in their system to necessitate the change.
Remember, I do not use BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail listing. I use BeeHiiv of what it is good at, yet I intentionally have things set up so that I likewise maintain my checklist “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance policy, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will certainly 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 utilize BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack right now, I ‘d certainly take into consideration switching to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button ought to be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay put unless you have a large e-mail listing and are consequently being wooled with their high regular monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating rapidly. There’s likewise a pretty good possibility you’re not even using a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can easily be a better and a lot more budget-friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really intentional regarding growing a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is made to be, it is among the best video games in town now. This is the platform to enjoy.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth taking a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the totally free account to be fairly feature rich.