I have utilized a great deal of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a big proponent of digital sovereignty and having your own system. Because of that (and the amazing features), I have been utilizing Footnotes in Beehiiv.
So, it is indeed a strange move for me to determine to make use of 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 review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to address the issue of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I would certainly also such as to resolve why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Huge Shift In Approach, I talked about how and why I decided to turn my motor home blog site into mainly a newsletter. I decided that was business version I wished to seek keeping that property.
But, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly RV, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that in a little bit.
As I stated in that concern of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices constructed right into it specific to my objective. Points such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send the e-mail concurrently without having it be 2 different activities.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click membership web links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The system was actually developed by the individuals who developed the technology for Early morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might indeed be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I just went all out. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential property to ensure that I can expand it a lot more deliberately as well.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded independently. Happily motor home was young, so easy to transition. However, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff 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 obviously always be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, however does not have to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Listing
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter platform and just an email listing.
You can host your e-mail listing everywhere you want and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The primary distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing implies that it is going to your site and to your email customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are publishing to that site. But, you are likewise sending to all subscribers at the same time. The site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the system much easier.
With many e-mail systems, any type of newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed entirely individually from your site. So, for example, you could release an article to WordPress yet then you would certainly require to independently construct and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to subscribers. These are then two separate sets of archives and 2 separate actions because blog posts and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and allows them to be the same thing. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong alternative if I wished to remain to self-host every little thing. However, you ‘d lose the development tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally features a different set of demands than a common e-mail checklist.
You do not usually need much marketing automation. You do not usually require autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, though, is one smooth publishing experience and growth devices to assist you develop your subscriber base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was going to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I selected to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I think Substack sucks. In fact, since Substack has been around much longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair points that at first got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter authors. Actually, it is literally constructed by the same individuals who constructed the modern technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. But, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation additionally means that BeeHiiv has some rather large brand names and huge publications using it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo makers. Again, it just informs me the consumer character difference in between both firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t specifically draw. The only factor I would certainly contemplate drinking points up is if I assumed I might expand the checklist much faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I in fact do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more straight rivals.
Yet, let’s dive much deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv looks like it was built by people that understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra tailored toward developers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies personalized fields on customers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only action is the ability to send out an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have new triggers along with brand-new actions, such as customizing customized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations simply given that I started utilizing the system. As an example:
- Capacity to set off automations based upon which specific embed kind they can be found in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and take care of people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this because the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketer.
When it pertains to writing your e-newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be more intuitive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, but it would be more equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and after that placed anything you desire in it. Then, you can place Exposure alternatives on that particular area to show it only to paid clients, hide it from email, hide from clients, show just to customers, etc. Substack supplies absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium registration model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of earnings. As a matter of fact, you literally link up to your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Depending on the number of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem unpopular, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in all.
Overall, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was much more built towards real email marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page makes seem better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I want 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 said, Substack settings itself towards “developers” greater than email marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points tailored extra toward individuals that just assume in regards to material production.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple publications, they are dealt with fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … awesome for people that could need it.
Substack also has more social performance built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host talks with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is established to be more like a social network which sustains long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is likewise much more … minimalist. You either look after that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. However, if the objective is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear right here …
When it comes to real marketing, I don’t assume there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better matched. I searched for even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet truthfully … I have a tough time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly via to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at developers (like Substack), yet it is much more highly accommodating individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation structure, it’s own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is an actually wonderful system.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature break down below. ConvertKit is well known already. Yet, right here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it concerns it’s automations. I will also say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is simply a basic function of e-mail checklists that makes it possible for division in a much more versatile means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support tagging eventually quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Footnotes in Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now give the capacity to market things by means of their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly constantly select a much more straight option anyhow. For me, I favor to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and because of that has way extra integration options. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. As an example, their plugin now also supports member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this extra very closely puts ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you be able to release to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, however you can also pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly outstanding features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most popular viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall wherefore this implies for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Footnotes in Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it additionally indicates that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed practically regular release of new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … but big features that are fairly essential. Their rate of development at this point has been impressive.
I likewise quite value just how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product announcements concerning some style enhancements to the web design features actually included a tiny problem with the material width. I simply replied to that email to tell them. I promptly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the issue was repaired.
Few days later on, I provided an additional suggestion …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to cause automations based upon the embed kind made use of was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I really value.
Another major factor of differentiation here is the cost. Both systems offer complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides much more capability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise FAR more desirable. ConvertKit appears cheaper initially glance because their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the client limits are much reduced and your rate swiftly raises as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 clients. That very same dimension list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally use), you can grow your listing up to 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 obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely various league when it pertains to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point boost prices? They could as time goes on. However, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to progress rather swiftly and make brand-new item statements rather usually, but there are some standard 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 remarkable for numerous reasons. Already, subscription types look OK, yet there’s extremely little settings for them to aid in division.
It would certainly behave to have labeling at the client level. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks need to belong to automations to make integrated automations simpler and decrease dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some small administrative interface adjustments that would come in handy. As an example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove clients.
- Ability to bulk edit posts (as an example, to tag a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as typical on customers (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the internet site (such as even more flexible shade options, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I wish they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t perfect and certainly not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I claimed, the objective is different so it would not a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation platform. I presume you never understand, though.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Enough where I decided to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform despite my individual preference for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing model specifically, I saw enough value in their system to warrant the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, however I intentionally have things set up to make sure that I additionally keep my list “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d most definitely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different capacities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be pretty straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a large email checklist and are therefore being fleeced with their high monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating rapidly. There’s additionally a pretty good opportunity you’re not even using some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can quickly be a much better and extra cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really willful regarding growing an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is created to be, it is one of the very best video games in the area right now. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be quite feature abundant.