I have used a lot of various email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a substantial supporter of digital sovereignty and having your very own system. Because of that (and the remarkable features), I have actually been using Beehiiv Vs Beehiiv.
So, it is undoubtedly an odd move for me to decide to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I want to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to attend to the issue of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I would certainly likewise like to deal with why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Shift In Approach, I spoke about how and why I chose to turn my recreational vehicle blog site into primarily an e-newsletter. I decided that was the business model I wished to go after keeping that home.
However, to deliberately seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Gladly RV, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. Extra on that particular in a bit.
As I said because issue of the newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools built into it certain to my function. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send the e-mail at the same time without having it be two separate activities.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to generate income from with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The platform was essentially constructed by the individuals that built up the technology for Early morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I simply went all out. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own property to make sure that I can expand it more deliberately also.
The objective is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded independently. Gladly RV was young, so very easy to shift. But, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was buried in a sea of things here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly always be carefully connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv because it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Listing
There’s a distinction between a newsletter system and just an email listing.
You can host your e-mail listing anywhere you desire and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The primary distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is going to your website and to your email clients concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that web site. But, you are likewise sending to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes administration of the platform much less complex.
With most e-mail systems, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is built entirely individually from your internet site. So, for example, you may publish a post to WordPress but then you would require to separately construct and send an e-mail to your listing to send it to customers. These are then two different collections of archives and 2 separate actions due to the fact that article and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it basically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and allows them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wanted to remain to self-host every little thing. However, you would certainly shed the growth devices that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter inherently comes with a various set of requirements than a typical email listing.
You do not usually need much marketing automation. You do not typically require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one smooth posting experience and growth tools to assist you develop your subscriber base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was going to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I chose to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I believe Substack sucks. Actually, because Substack has actually been about longer, it is elder and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that originally obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is literally constructed by the very same individuals that developed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. But, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and distinction also means that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and huge magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo creators. Once again, it simply informs me the consumer avatar difference between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only reason I would certainly consider trembling points up is if I assumed I might GROW the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I really do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
However, let’s dive deeper than simply the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv seems like it was developed by individuals who comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems extra tailored toward designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers custom-made fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send out an email. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have new triggers along with new actions, such as customizing customized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations just because I started making use of the system. As an example:
- Capacity to cause automations based upon which certain embed form they came in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and handle individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this because the target market of Substack simply wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it comes to composing your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared towards newsletters. In fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I find it to be a lot more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s composing interface is nice and clean, however it would certainly be much more equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and after that placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Visibility choices on that section to reveal it only to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, hide from customers, show just to clients, etc. Substack provides nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium subscription design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of income. As a matter of fact, you actually attach as much as your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Relying on how many clients you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem unpopular, however what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outdoors making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra built toward real email marketing. It was constructed by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page develops seem far better built for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack settings itself towards “developers” greater than email online marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things geared much more towards individuals that just assume in terms of material development.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are dealt with quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … amazing for people that may need it.
Substack additionally has more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a conversation function to host chats with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works sort of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. Generally, Substack is set up to be much more like a social network which sustains long-form material.
In general, Substack is likewise extra … minimal. You either care for that or do not. Directly, I don’t. However, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions rather well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it involves real marketing, I do not believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I looked for even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often via to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the exact same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at makers (like Substack), yet it is far more highly catering to individuals who do it for business. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation structure, it’s own business platform, and more. ConvertKit is an actually great platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is popular currently. However, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra versatility when it concerns it’s automations. I will likewise state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is simply a standard feature of email listings that enables division in a much more flexible method than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support marking at some time soon, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Vs Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently offer the capacity to market things via their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would always pick an extra straight alternative anyhow. For me, I choose to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and therefore has way much more integration options. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. As an example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this a lot more carefully puts ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you be able to release to your site and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with benefits, yet you can likewise pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are truly awesome features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall for what this means for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Vs Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise suggests that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced practically regular release of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … however large features that are quite crucial. Their speed of growth at this point has gone over.
I additionally significantly value exactly how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product statements regarding some layout enhancements to the website design features really had a tiny trouble with the content size. I merely responded to that email to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That same day, the concern was repaired.
Few days later, I gave them one more tip …
Certainly, in a 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 kind of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I actually appreciate.
Another significant factor of differentiation below is the cost. Both platforms use cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies more capability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise even more desirable. ConvertKit seems more affordable in the beginning glimpse due to the fact that their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the customer limits are FAR reduced and your cost rapidly increases as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), however you can have up to 10,000 clients. That same dimension checklist is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I directly make use of), you can expand your checklist up to 100,000. A checklist of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in a completely various league when it involves pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost rates? They may as time takes place. But, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among things you certainly require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to progress instead swiftly and make brand-new product announcements rather usually, yet there are some standard features I truly wish they had that I require to simply wait for.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription types where I can select an automation to run right at the type level. That would be incredible for so many factors. Currently, membership forms look OK, however there’s really little settings for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have labeling at the client level. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks must belong to automations to make built-in automations simpler and reduce reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some small management user interface adjustments that would be handy. For example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to bulk edit posts (as an example, to mark a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some more customization alternatives for the website (such as even more flexible color selections, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I hope they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t ideal and absolutely not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It possibly never will be, either. As I said, the purpose is different so it would not much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation platform. I guess you never know, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv rather a lot. Enough where I decided to switch my own newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and owning my very own system.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting model specifically, I saw adequate value in their platform to call for the change.
Bear in mind, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique email checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is good at, but I intentionally have things establish to make sure that I additionally keep my list “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is just an excellent insurance coverage, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system 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 inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button should be rather simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly stay put unless you have a huge e-mail checklist and are as a result being wooled with their high month-to-month bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating swiftly. There’s likewise a respectable possibility you’re not even utilizing several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could quickly be a better and extra economical fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very intentional regarding growing a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is just one of the very best video games in town now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be fairly feature abundant.