I have actually utilized a lot of various e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your own system. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Vs Buttondown.
So, it is undoubtedly an unusual move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I intend to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to deal with the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d additionally like to deal with why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Change In Technique, I talked about how and why I chose to transform my recreational vehicle blog into mostly an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was the business model I intended to pursue with that said residential property.
Yet, to purposefully pursue it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email list for Happily RV, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, using it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. Much more on that in a little bit.
As I claimed because concern of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed right into it certain to my purpose. Points such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail all at once without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click membership links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I choose to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on development. The system was actually constructed by the individuals that built up the technology for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv too. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I just went all out. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential property to ensure that I can expand it a lot more deliberately as well.
The objective is that each e-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. However, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will certainly always be closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a distinction between a newsletter system and simply an email checklist.
You can organize your e-mail checklist anyplace you desire and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting suggests that it is going to your website and to your e-mail subscribers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that internet site. But, you are also dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes management of the system much less complex.
With a lot of email platforms, any kind of e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed totally individually from your internet site. So, for instance, you might publish a short article to WordPress yet after that you would need to independently construct and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to clients. These are then 2 different collections of archives and 2 separate activities because blog posts and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it pretty much “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and enables them to be the exact same thing. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong alternative if I wanted to continue to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the growth devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally comes with a different set of requirements than a common email checklist.
You don’t normally require much marketing automation. You do not generally need autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless posting experience and growth tools to aid you develop your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my clients that I was going to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I picked to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I assume Substack draws. As a matter of fact, since Substack has actually been about longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that at first got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter authors. In fact, it is essentially built by the same people that built the technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I have an interest in right here.
- That branding and differentiation also means that BeeHiiv has some fairly big brand names and big magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Once again, it just tells me the client character distinction in between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only factor I would contemplate drinking things up is if I assumed I might GROW the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct rivals.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than simply the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv seems like it was built by people who understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems more tailored towards creators.
As an example, BeeHiiv provides personalized fields on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv supplies 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 functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send an email. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers as well as new actions, such as modifying custom-made fields, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations just since I began utilizing the platform. For example:
- Capability to cause automations based upon which specific embed form they was available in on.
- Ability to instantly do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can not do this because the target audience of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it pertains to composing your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more geared toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I find it to be much more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s writing interface behaves and clean, but it would be extra equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than just form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and after that put anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Visibility alternatives on that section to reveal it only to paid clients, hide it from email, conceal from subscribers, reveal only to clients, etc. Substack supplies nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium subscription model, BeeHiiv does not take any type of income. As a matter of fact, you literally connect as much as your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Relying on how many clients you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
On the whole, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra developed towards actual email marketing. It was constructed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page develops appear far better built for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack placements itself toward “designers” greater than email marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points tailored more toward people who simply assume in regards to material development.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous publications, they are treated fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … trendy for people who could require it.
Substack additionally has even more social capability built-in. For example, it has a chat feature to host talks with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions type of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is set up to be much more like a social media which sustains long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is additionally much more … minimal. You either take care of that or do not. Personally, I do not. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack functions rather well.
But, I’ll be clear here …
When it concerns real marketing, I do not think there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better matched. I tried to find more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly via to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the same target market and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at designers (like Substack), but it is much more strongly satisfying people who do it for company. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation building, it’s own commerce platform, and a lot more. ConvertKit is an actually great system.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is well known currently. However, below’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it involves it’s automations. I will certainly additionally claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is simply a basic function of e-mail listings that enables division in an even more adaptable means than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain marking eventually quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Vs Buttondown.
ConvertKit does currently supply the capability to sell points via their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly select a more direct choice anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and for that reason has way more integration options. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For instance, their plugin now also sustains member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this much more very closely places ConvertKit into direct competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with perks, yet you can also pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are really awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface wherefore this indicates for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Vs Buttondown
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise indicates that they are quickly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed nearly weekly release of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … however huge features that are rather vital. Their speed of advancement at this point has actually gone over.
I likewise very much value exactly how responsive they are. Actually, one of their product announcements concerning some layout enhancements to the website design features in fact consisted of a small issue with the content width. I simply replied to that e-mail to tell them. I quickly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the concern was fixed.
Few days later on, I gave them one more suggestion …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based upon the embed form used was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I actually value.
An additional major factor of differentiation here is the price. Both systems use totally free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses a lot more capacity and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise FAR more positive. ConvertKit seems cheaper in the beginning glance since their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, however the customer limitations are FAR lower and your rate rapidly boosts as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same dimension checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally 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 desire their referral network, also, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely various organization when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase costs? They may as time takes place. However, I’m thinking people like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the things you certainly need to remember is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to progress rather promptly and make new item statements rather typically, yet there are some standard features I actually want they had that I require to simply await.
One is that they need to have a setup on registration forms where I could choose an automation to run right at the form level. That would be incredible for a lot of reasons. Already, registration types look OK, yet there’s very little settings for them to help in segmentation.
It would certainly be nice to have tagging at the client level. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks need to belong to automations to make integrated automations less complicated and reduce dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management interface changes that would come in handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Capacity to bulk edit articles (as an example, to tag a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard fields as typical on customers (like the name).
- Some even more personalization alternatives for the internet site (such as more adaptable shade options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t ideal and definitely not nearly as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I stated, the purpose is various so it would not much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation system. I guess you never ever know, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Enough where I determined to switch my own e-newsletters over to the platform in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting design specifically, I saw sufficient value in their system to warrant the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is efficient, however I intentionally have points establish to make sure that I also keep my listing “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d certainly think about changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and various needs. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button must be quite uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a huge email listing and are as a result being fleeced with their high month-to-month expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating quickly. There’s additionally a pretty good possibility you’re not also using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a better and much more affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really intentional regarding growing a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is one of the best video games in the area right now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the complimentary account to be quite feature rich.