I have made use of a lot of various email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a substantial advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own system. Therefore (and the awesome features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Vs Letterdrop.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d likewise such as to resolve why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Shift In Strategy, I talked about exactly how and why I decided to transform my recreational vehicle blog into largely an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was business model I wanted to go after keeping that property.
But, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly RV, but FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a little a waste. More on that in a bit.
As I claimed in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed right into it specific to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog site) and send out the email concurrently without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click subscription web links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features targeted at growth. The platform was essentially built by the people who accumulated the modern technology for Morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I might certainly be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv also. At 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 EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own home to ensure that I can grow it more intentionally also.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded independently. Happily RV was young, so simple to transition. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly always be closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email List
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail checklist.
You can host your e-mail listing everywhere 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 key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your site and to your email subscribers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that web site. However, you are also sending to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s clients are all in one. This makes administration of the system much less complex.
With most e-mail systems, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed completely separately from your internet site. So, for example, you might release a post to WordPress yet then you would certainly need to individually construct and send out an email to your checklist to send it to customers. These are then 2 separate sets of archives and 2 separate activities since article and your emails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a real e-newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name since it practically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the same point. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wanted to remain to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the development devices that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally features a different set of requirements than a typical e-mail checklist.
You do not normally need much marketing automation. You don’t usually require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to help you construct your client base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch 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 fact that I picked to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I believe Substack draws. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has actually been about much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that initially obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is literally developed by the very same individuals that built the innovation behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. But, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and distinction likewise means that BeeHiiv has some rather big brands and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo makers. Again, it simply tells me the customer character difference between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter via FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only reason I would consider trembling points up is if I assumed I might expand the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct competitors.
But, let’s dive deeper than simply the positioning here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by people that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared toward creators.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies custom fields on customers. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that functions a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still quite limited in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an email. However, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers along with new activities, such as customizing custom fields, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations just because I began using the platform. As an example:
- Ability to trigger automations based on which specific embed kind they came in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with people based on opens up 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 due to the fact that the target audience of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an email marketing professional.
When it involves creating your newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is just extra geared toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I find it to be more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s writing interface is nice and clean, however it would be a lot more comparable to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than simply form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and after that put anything you want in it. Then, you can place Visibility alternatives on that particular area to show it only to paid clients, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from clients, show just to subscribers, and so on. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs membership model, BeeHiiv does not take any type of income. As a matter of fact, you essentially attach up to your very own Stripe account and it bills directly 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 even more cash than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear unpopular, but what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
Overall, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was much more built towards actual email marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page creates seem far better constructed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have claimed, Substack settings itself toward “creators” greater than e-mail online marketers and newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points geared more towards individuals who just believe in terms of web content production.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are dealt with quite individually. 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 likewise has more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a conversation function to host talks with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media which sustains long-form material.
In general, Substack is likewise more … minimalist. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it involves real marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I tried to find more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a tough time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently with to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the exact same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is also placed at designers (like Substack), but it is a lot more strongly dealing with individuals who do it for company. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation building, it’s very own business system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a really great platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. However, here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is just a fundamental feature of email lists that allows segmentation in an even more adaptable means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some time soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Vs Letterdrop.
ConvertKit does now offer the capability to market things using their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would constantly select an extra straight option anyhow. For me, I choose to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and for that reason has way much more integration choices. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this extra very closely places ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with advantages, but you can additionally pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most popular viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall wherefore this implies for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Vs Letterdrop
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it also indicates that they are swiftly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced almost regular launch of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t weak little features … yet large features that are fairly essential. Their speed of development at this moment has gone over.
I additionally quite value exactly how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product statements concerning some style improvements to the website design features actually contained a small issue with the material width. I merely responded to that email to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the concern was dealt with.
Couple of days later on, I gave them an additional recommendation …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to activate automations based upon the embed kind used was added to the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I actually value.
Another major point of differentiation right here is the price. Both platforms use complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides more ability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more beneficial. ConvertKit seems more affordable initially glimpse because their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nevertheless the client limits are FAR lower and your rate promptly raises as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same size listing 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 personally use), you can grow your listing as much as 100,000. A list of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in a totally various league when it pertains to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately increase rates? They might as time goes on. But, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the things you most definitely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to evolve instead rapidly and make new item news rather frequently, however there are some basic features I actually desire they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on registration forms where I can choose an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be amazing for so many factors. Already, subscription kinds look OK, however there’s extremely little setups for them to aid in division.
It would behave to have tagging at the customer degree. This would be effective.
I believe webhooks should be part of automations to make integrated automations less complicated and lower reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor management user interface changes that would be handy. For instance:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Capacity to bulk edit articles (as an example, to mark a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some even more modification alternatives for the web site (such as even more flexible color choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t perfect and certainly not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I stated, the function is various so it would not a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never ever recognize, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a great deal. Enough where I determined to switch my own e-newsletters over to the system despite my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing version particularly, I saw adequate worth in their platform to necessitate the adjustment.
Remember, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special email checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, yet I purposefully have things set up to ensure that I additionally maintain my checklist “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d most definitely consider switching to BeeHiiv. It will merely be more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and various demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button should be rather uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a big email list and are consequently being wooled with their high monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating promptly. There’s additionally a respectable possibility you’re not also making use of some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a better and much more economical fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very intentional about expanding a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is made to be, it is one of the most effective video games in town right now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the complimentary account to be quite feature abundant.