I have used a great deal of different email list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a big supporter of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. Because of that (and the awesome features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Welcome Sequence.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to choose to utilize BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to address the concern of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I would certainly likewise like to resolve why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Shift In Method, I talked about how and why I made a decision to transform my RV blog site into largely a newsletter. I decided that was business model I wished to go after keeping that residential or commercial property.
However, to deliberately pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily RV, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, using it for newsletters is a little a waste. More on that particular in a bit.
As I stated because concern of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed right into it particular to my objective. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send the e-mail all at once without having it be two different actions.
- Constructed in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are essentially one-click registration links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I select to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features aimed at growth. The platform was essentially constructed by the people who developed the technology for Early morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I may without a doubt be relocating The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I just went for it. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s very own home to make sure that I can grow it a lot more purposefully too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded individually. Gladly RV was young, so simple to transition. But, The Early morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of things right here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will obviously always be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however does not need to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Regular Email List
There’s a difference in between a newsletter system and just an e-mail checklist.
You can organize your email checklist anywhere you desire and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing indicates that it is going to your internet site and to your e-mail customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that site. Yet, you are additionally dispatching to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes administration of the platform much easier.
With a lot of e-mail platforms, any type of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is constructed totally individually from your site. So, for example, you may publish a short article to WordPress but after that you would require to individually develop and send out an email to your listing to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and two separate actions because article and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a real newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it virtually “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the very same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I wanted to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the development tools that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally comes with a various collection of demands than a typical e-mail list.
You don’t typically require much marketing automation. You do not generally require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless posting experience and development tools to help you construct your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was going 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 reality that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I assume Substack sucks. In fact, because Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that originally got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is actually constructed by the very same individuals that built the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation additionally implies that BeeHiiv has some fairly huge brand names and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo developers. Once more, it just tells me the client character difference between the two companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t specifically draw. The only reason I would ponder drinking points up is if I assumed I can expand the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I in fact do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more straight competitors.
However, allow’s dive deeper than just the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by individuals who comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more tailored toward designers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers personalized areas on customers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that works a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send out an email. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers along with new activities, such as modifying custom areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen enhancements to their automations simply considering that I began making use of the system. For example:
- Capability to trigger automations based upon which specific embed type they came in on.
- Ability to instantly do re-engagement (and manage individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketer.
When it concerns creating your e-newsletters, the writing interface of BeeHiiv is simply more tailored toward e-newsletters. In fact, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I find it to be much more instinctive, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface is nice and tidy, however it would certainly be much more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than just form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and then put anything you desire in it. Then, you can put Presence alternatives on that section to show it just to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, hide from clients, show just to customers, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium registration model, BeeHiiv does not take any type of income. As a matter of fact, you actually link as much as your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Depending on the number of clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the month-to-month cost of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem nerdy, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations in all.
On the whole, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was more constructed toward actual email marketing. It was developed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page makes seem much better developed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack placements itself towards “creators” more than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points tailored much more towards people that just assume in regards to web content development.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are dealt with fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … awesome for people who could need it.
Substack additionally has more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a conversation function to host chats with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. In general, Substack is established to be more like a social media which sustains long-form web content.
In general, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simplicity of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack works rather well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better fit. I tried to find more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet honestly … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically through to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at creators (like Substack), yet it is much more highly accommodating individuals who do it for company. ConvertKit has great visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce platform, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a truly good system.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown below. ConvertKit is well known already. However, right here’s just how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has more versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will likewise claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is just a standard function of email checklists that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more flexible way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain identifying at some point soon, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Welcome Sequence.
ConvertKit does now supply the capacity 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 pick an extra direct alternative anyway. For me, I like to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and because of that has way much more integration choices. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For instance, their plugin now also supports member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this more very closely puts ConvertKit into direct competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active dealing with the development devices of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, however you can additionally pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are actually remarkable features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most popular viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall wherefore this suggests for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Welcome Sequence
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it additionally indicates that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have seen virtually once a week release of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … yet big features that are rather crucial. Their rate of advancement at this point has actually gone over.
I also quite value how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their item statements about some design enhancements to the website design features actually consisted of a small issue with the web content width. I just replied to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the issue was repaired.
Few days later, I gave them one more idea …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to cause automations based on the embed kind used was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I really value.
An additional major factor of distinction right here is the price. Both platforms offer free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan provides extra ability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise FAR more favorable. ConvertKit appears more affordable initially look since their pricing web page shows reduced numbers, nevertheless the customer limits are FAR lower and your price promptly boosts as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same dimension listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly utilize), you can expand your list up to 100,000. A listing of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in a completely different organization when it comes to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately enhance costs? They may as time goes on. But, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see just how points continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to evolve instead quickly and make new item announcements rather typically, yet there are some basic features I truly wish they had that I require to simply wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on membership types where I can select an automation to run right at the kind level. That would be incredible for many factors. As of now, subscription types look OK, however there’s really little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would behave to have labeling at the client degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks need to be part of automations to make built-in automations easier and decrease reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative interface adjustments that would certainly come in handy. As an example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove customers.
- Ability to bulk edit messages (as an example, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as standard on clients (like the name).
- Some more modification options for the internet site (such as even more adaptable color selections, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I hope they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t perfect and definitely not virtually as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It most likely never will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation system. I presume you never know, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv rather a great deal. Sufficient where I determined to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the system despite my personal choice for digital sovereignty and having my own platform.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting version specifically, I saw sufficient value in their platform to warrant the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special email list. I use BeeHiiv of what it is efficient, but I deliberately have things establish so that I additionally keep my checklist “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just an excellent insurance coverage, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and various demands. And also, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch needs to be pretty uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a big email checklist and are for that reason being wooled with their high monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating rapidly. There’s likewise a pretty good chance you’re not also using a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could easily be a better and extra inexpensive fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really willful regarding expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is made to be, it is one of the most effective video games in town now. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be quite feature abundant.