I have used a lot of various email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant advocate of digital sovereignty and having your own platform. For that reason (and the remarkable features), I have been using Best Beehiiv Landing Pages.
So, it is certainly a strange move for me to decide to make use of BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to resolve the issue of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I ‘d also such as to deal with why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Change In Approach, I talked about how and why I determined to transform my recreational vehicle blog into mainly an e-newsletter. I chose that was business version I intended to pursue with that said building.
Yet, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that particular in a little bit.
As I said in that concern of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built right into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog site) and send the email simultaneously without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are generally one-click registration links. Great for promotion in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means 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 ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid 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 targeted at development. The system was actually built by the individuals who built up the innovation for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might without a doubt be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I simply went for it. And as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own home to make sure that I can grow it more intentionally too.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded individually. Happily RV was young, so easy to transition. But, The Morning WP (previously The Side) 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 expand it on it’s very own. It will certainly constantly be carefully connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not need to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Checklist
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter platform and just an e-mail checklist.
You can hold your e-mail checklist just about anywhere you want and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing implies that it is mosting likely to your site and to your email subscribers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that website. Yet, you are additionally dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s clients are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much simpler.
With many email platforms, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed totally separately from your internet site. So, as an example, you might release a write-up to WordPress yet then you would require to individually build and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 separate sets of archives and 2 different actions since blog posts and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the very same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a strong alternative if I intended to remain to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the growth devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally includes a different collection of needs than a normal e-mail list.
You don’t usually require much marketing automation. You don’t typically need autoresponder sequences, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one smooth posting experience and development devices to help you develop your subscriber base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I assume Substack draws. In fact, because Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that initially got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter authors. In fact, it is literally built by the very same folks who developed the innovation behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and distinction additionally implies that BeeHiiv has some fairly huge brand names and huge publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo developers. Again, it just tells me the customer avatar distinction in between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM really did not exactly draw. The only reason I would ponder shaking points up is if I thought I can expand the list faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I actually do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct competitors.
But, allow’s dive much deeper than just the positioning here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by people who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more geared towards designers.
For example, BeeHiiv uses custom-made areas on customers. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works 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 capability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers as well as new actions, such as changing personalized fields, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations simply since I started using the system. For example:
- Capacity to activate automations based upon which details embed type they was available in on.
- Ability to instantly do re-engagement (and take care of people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this since the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it involves writing your newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared towards newsletters. Actually, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I find it to be a lot more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s creating interface is nice and clean, yet it would certainly be extra equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is more than simply form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and afterwards put anything you want in it. Then, you can put Presence choices on that section to reveal it just to paid customers, conceal it from email, hide from customers, show just to customers, etc. Substack provides nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium registration version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of income. As a matter of fact, you literally link as much as your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Depending on the amount of customers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outside using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was more constructed towards real e-mail marketing. It was built by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in types and the landing page makes seem far better developed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I like the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack positions itself towards “creators” more than email online marketers and newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some things geared a lot more towards people who simply think in regards to material production.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are dealt with fairly individually. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, yet … amazing for people who may require it.
Substack additionally has even more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host talks with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which functions sort of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. On the whole, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media network which supports long-form content.
Generally, Substack is likewise a lot more … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Personally, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to real marketing, I don’t believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I searched for more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually through to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at designers (like Substack), yet it is far more strongly accommodating individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has good visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is a truly good platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is popular already. However, right here’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise claim that I find 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 checklists that enables segmentation in a much more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support labeling at some point quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Best Beehiiv Landing Pages.
ConvertKit does currently offer the capacity to market things by means of their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would always pick a much more straight choice anyhow. For me, I prefer to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and therefore has way more integration choices. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather powerful. For example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this more closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously lacking in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with rewards, however you can additionally pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Best Beehiiv Landing Pages
BeeHiiv is much earlier 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. However, it likewise suggests that they are rapidly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen virtually once a week launch of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … but huge features that are rather crucial. Their rate of advancement at this point has actually been impressive.
I also very much appreciate how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product announcements regarding some style improvements to the website design features actually had a tiny problem with the content width. I just replied to that email to tell them. I quickly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the issue was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I provided one more pointer …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to activate automations based on the embed kind used was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the group is something I truly appreciate.
One more major factor of differentiation here is the cost. Both platforms use complimentary plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies much more capacity and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally even more positive. ConvertKit appears less costly at first glance due to the fact that their pricing page reveals lower numbers, however the client limitations are much lower and your rate swiftly raises as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same size 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 utilize), you can expand your list up to 100,000. A list of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different league when it involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance costs? They could as time goes on. Yet, I’m thinking people like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you certainly require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do appear to progress instead swiftly and make brand-new product announcements rather typically, but there are some standard features I actually want they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription forms where I might pick an automation to run right at the type degree. That would certainly be AWESOME for a lot of reasons. As of now, membership kinds look OK, but there’s extremely little settings for them to aid in segmentation.
It would behave to have marking at the subscriber level. This would certainly be effective.
I think webhooks should be part of automations to make integrated automations easier and reduce reliance on outside tools like Zapier.
There are also some minor management user interface modifications that would be handy. As an example:
- Ability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit articles (for example, to tag a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental fields as typical on subscribers (like the name).
- Some even more modification choices for the website (such as more flexible shade choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I hope they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t perfect and definitely not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It most likely never will certainly be, either. As I said, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation platform. I think you never ever recognize, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I like BeeHiiv rather a lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to switch my own newsletters over to the platform regardless of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing version particularly, I saw sufficient value in their system to necessitate the change.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail listing. I use BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, yet I purposefully have things set up to make sure that I additionally maintain my checklist “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is simply an excellent insurance policy, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will be of high use (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 opinion, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button should be quite uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely stay put unless you have a huge email list and are as a result being wooled with their high month-to-month expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating promptly. There’s additionally a respectable opportunity you’re not even using a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can quickly be a far better and more budget friendly fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really deliberate regarding expanding 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 about what it is developed to be, it is one of the most effective games around right now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the complimentary account to be fairly feature abundant.