I have actually utilized a lot of various email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your own system. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have actually been using Elden Mirzoian Beehiiv.
So, it is indeed a strange move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I want to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I would certainly additionally such as to resolve why I chose to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Shift In Approach, I discussed just how and why I chose to transform my motor home blog into primarily a newsletter. I decided that was business model I intended to pursue keeping that building.
But, to deliberately seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly motor home, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that particular in a bit.
As I said in that issue of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed right into it particular to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail simultaneously without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click registration web links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features targeted at development. The platform was actually built by the individuals that built up the technology for Morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I may indeed be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. 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 as a matter of fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own building to ensure that I can expand it much more deliberately too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Happily motor home was young, so easy to transition. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will clearly always be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not have to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email List
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter platform and simply an email listing.
You can organize your e-mail checklist just about anywhere you desire and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main distinction is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting indicates that it is going to your internet site and to your email customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that internet site. Yet, you are likewise sending off to all clients at the same time. The web site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much simpler.
With most e-mail systems, any type of e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built totally separately from your web site. So, for example, you may release a write-up to WordPress however then you would require to separately develop and send an e-mail to your listing to send it to customers. These are then 2 different collections of archives and 2 different activities due to the fact that blog posts and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it basically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the exact same point. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong choice if I wished to continue to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you would certainly shed the development tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally includes a various collection of requirements than a normal email checklist.
You do not normally need much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, though, is one seamless posting experience and growth devices to assist you build your customer base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was mosting likely to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I selected to go with BeeHiiv, that does not suggest I assume Substack sucks. In fact, because Substack has been about longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that initially obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is literally constructed by the exact same people that constructed the technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and distinction additionally means that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brand names and huge publications using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo designers. Again, it just informs me the customer avatar distinction between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM really did not precisely suck. The only factor I would certainly contemplate trembling points up is if I believed I can GROW the list faster. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I actually do not see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct rivals.
However, allow’s dive deeper than simply the placing below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv looks like it was developed by people that understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra geared towards developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv provides custom fields on customers. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv offers Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic 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 quite restricted in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send an email. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have brand-new triggers as well as new activities, such as modifying custom fields, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations simply because I started making use of the platform. As an example:
- Capacity to activate automations based upon which certain embed form they was available in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and manage people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this because the target audience of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an email marketer.
When it concerns writing your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, but it would be a lot more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than simply form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and then placed anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Presence choices on that particular section to show it just to paid clients, conceal it from e-mail, hide from customers, show only to subscribers, etc. Substack uses absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs subscription model, BeeHiiv does not take any type of revenue. Actually, you actually link up to your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Relying on the amount of clients you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, however 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 … nothing. No integrations at all.
In general, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more built towards real email marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page creates seem much better constructed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack positions itself toward “developers” greater than email online marketers and newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some things geared extra towards individuals that simply think in terms of content production.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … trendy for people who may require it.
Substack also has more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host talks with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” function which works type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Overall, Substack is established to be more like a social network which supports long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is likewise extra … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simpleness of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works quite well.
However, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to real marketing, I do not think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better suited. I searched for even more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is also placed at developers (like Substack), yet it is far more strongly dealing with individuals that do it for business. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and much more. ConvertKit is a really wonderful platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown below. ConvertKit is popular already. However, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it concerns it’s automations. I will also state that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit extra intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is just a basic feature of e-mail listings that enables division in an even more adaptable method than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support marking at some point soon, truthfully. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Elden Mirzoian Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now offer the capability to offer things through their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would always choose a more straight choice anyway. For me, I like to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about a lot longer and because of that has way more integration options. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For example, their plugin currently also supports member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Essentially, this much more carefully places ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with perks, but you can additionally pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most popular viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface wherefore this suggests for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Elden Mirzoian Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it additionally suggests that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced nearly weekly release of new features into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … yet huge features that are quite essential. Their speed of growth at this moment has actually gone over.
I also very much appreciate exactly how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item statements concerning some style improvements to the website design features really consisted of a small problem with the content size. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That same day, the issue was taken care of.
Couple of days later on, I provided an additional recommendation …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to activate automations based upon the embed kind used was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I really appreciate.
One more significant factor of distinction here is the rate. Both platforms provide complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses a lot more capability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more positive. ConvertKit seems more affordable initially glance because their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, nevertheless the customer limitations are FAR lower and your price rapidly increases as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That same dimension listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly use), you can expand your list approximately 100,000. A checklist of that size 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, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various organization when it concerns pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually boost costs? They may as time goes on. However, I’m thinking individuals like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how things proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you most definitely require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to advance instead promptly and make brand-new item announcements rather frequently, however there are some standard features I actually wish they had that I need to simply wait for.
One is that they require to have a setting on subscription kinds where I can pick an automation to run right at the kind level. That would certainly be AWESOME for so many reasons. Already, subscription kinds look OK, but there’s really little settings for them to aid in division.
It would certainly behave to have labeling at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks need to belong to automations to make integrated automations simpler and minimize dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative interface changes that would be handy. For instance:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Ability to mass edit articles (as an example, to identify a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as common on subscribers (like the name).
- Some even more customization choices for the site (such as even more adaptable color options, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t perfect and certainly not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It possibly never ever will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the function is various so it wouldn’t much a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation system. I presume you never recognize, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv rather a lot. Sufficient where I decided to change my own e-newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and having my very own platform.
Basically, for the e-newsletter posting model specifically, I saw sufficient worth in their platform to require the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail list. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, yet I intentionally have points set up to make sure that I also keep my listing “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d definitely consider switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and different requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button ought to be quite straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a huge e-mail checklist and are for that reason being wooled with their high monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating quickly. There’s likewise a respectable opportunity you’re not even utilizing a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can quickly be a far better and a lot more budget-friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really intentional regarding growing a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is developed to be, it is among the very best games in town today. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the free account to be quite feature abundant.