I have utilized a lot of various email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a huge advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have been using Hustlers Outpost Beehiiv.
So, it is without a doubt a strange move for me to determine to utilize BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is an organized application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I want to look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to resolve the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I ‘d also like to attend to why I chose to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Shift In Strategy, I spoke about exactly how and why I chose to transform my RV blog site into mainly a newsletter. I chose that was business model I wanted to go after keeping that residential or commercial property.
Yet, to purposefully pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email list for Happily recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, utilizing it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a little bit.
As I said because concern of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools constructed into it particular to my objective. Things such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog site) and send the e-mail all at once without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click membership web links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I select to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on development. The platform was essentially developed by the people who developed the innovation for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I may indeed be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went for it. And as a matter of fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own building so that I can expand it much more purposefully as well.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to transition. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff right here 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 certainly always be closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email List
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and simply an email list.
You can organize your email listing everywhere you want and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main difference is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting means that it is going to your site and to your email subscribers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that internet site. Yet, you are additionally sending off to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s clients are all in one. This makes management of the platform much less complex.
With a lot of e-mail systems, any newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed completely individually from your website. So, for example, you might release a write-up to WordPress yet after that you would certainly need to separately develop and send an email to your listing to send it to clients. These are after that two different sets of archives and two different actions due to the fact that post and your e-mails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right 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 very same point. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I wanted to continue to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the growth devices that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter naturally comes with a various collection of requirements than a normal e-mail listing.
You don’t typically require much marketing automation. You do not normally require autoresponder sequences, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, however, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to help you build your subscriber base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed 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 picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I assume Substack draws. Actually, since Substack has been around longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that at first obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is literally constructed by the very same folks who constructed the modern technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. However, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter development called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I want here.
- That branding and distinction also implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo makers. Once more, it simply informs me the consumer avatar distinction in between the two business.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only factor I would ponder trembling things up is if I believed I might expand the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I actually don’t view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct rivals.
However, let’s dive deeper than just the placing here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv looks like it was built by people that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more tailored towards makers.
For example, BeeHiiv provides customized fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still rather restricted in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send out an e-mail. However, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as changing custom-made fields, sending out webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations just because I started making use of the platform. For example:
- Capability to trigger automations based upon which specific embed kind they can be found in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this since the target market of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it involves writing your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is just much more tailored towards e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I find it to be more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface is nice and clean, yet it would be more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than just type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and afterwards placed anything you want in it. After that, you can put Visibility alternatives on that particular area to reveal it only to paid customers, hide it from e-mail, conceal from customers, show just to customers, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a premium registration design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of revenue. Actually, you actually attach up to your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending on the number of clients you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the regular monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, but what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outside utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
On the whole, I just felt like BeeHiiv was extra developed toward real email marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes seem much better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack positions itself toward “developers” more than email marketing experts and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things tailored more toward people that simply think in regards to web content creation.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are dealt with rather independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … amazing for people that may need it.
Substack also has even more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a conversation function to host chats with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” function which functions sort of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is established to be much more like a social media which supports long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is additionally more … minimalist. You either look after that or do not. Directly, I don’t. However, if the objective is simplicity of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better matched. I searched for even more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically with to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are going after the very same target market and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at creators (like Substack), yet it is far more highly dealing with people that do it for company. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually good platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, below’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra adaptability when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly also say that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is simply a basic function of e-mail listings that makes it possible for segmentation in a far more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support identifying at some point soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Hustlers Outpost Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently give the capability to offer points by means of their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly constantly pick a more straight choice anyhow. For me, I choose to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and therefore has way a lot more integration alternatives. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For example, their plugin now also supports member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this a lot more closely places ConvertKit into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your website and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy taking on the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with advantages, but you can additionally pay per lead within the interior ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are truly remarkable features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit got 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 of what this implies for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Hustlers Outpost Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it also indicates that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have witnessed virtually regular release of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … however large features that are quite essential. Their speed of development at this point has actually gone over.
I also quite value how responsive they are. Actually, among their item statements regarding some style enhancements to the web design features really contained a small issue with the material size. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I quickly got a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the concern was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I provided another pointer …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to activate automations based on the embed kind used was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I truly appreciate.
An additional major factor of differentiation here is the rate. Both systems offer complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies a lot more capacity and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally much more beneficial. ConvertKit appears more affordable in the beginning glance due to the fact that their pricing page shows lower numbers, however the subscriber restrictions are much reduced and your rate swiftly raises as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same dimension listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly make use of), you can grow your listing approximately 100,000. A checklist of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally various league when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually enhance costs? They might as time goes on. Yet, I’m guessing people like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the important things you certainly need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to evolve rather promptly and make brand-new item news rather often, however there are some basic features I actually wish they had that I need to simply wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription types where I might choose an automation to run right at the form degree. That would be remarkable for many factors. Already, membership kinds look OK, yet there’s really little settings for them to help in division.
It would certainly behave to have marking at the client degree. This would be powerful.
I believe webhooks must belong to automations to make built-in automations less complicated and lower dependence on outside devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor management user interface adjustments that would certainly come in handy. For instance:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove clients.
- Ability to bulk edit messages (for instance, to tag a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard fields as typical on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more modification options for the internet site (such as even more versatile color selections, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I hope they finish with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, yet it isn’t perfect and definitely not almost as established as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It most likely never will be, either. As I stated, the purpose is different so it would not much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation system. I presume you never ever recognize, however.
Final Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a great deal. Enough where I decided to change my own e-newsletters over to the platform despite my personal preference for digital sovereignty and owning my own platform.
Basically, for the newsletter posting design particularly, I saw enough worth in their system to warrant the adjustment.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is good at, but I purposefully have things establish so that I likewise keep my checklist “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just a good insurance policy, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different demands. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch needs to be pretty uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a big e-mail checklist and are as a result being fleeced with their high monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating quickly. There’s additionally a pretty good chance you’re not also utilizing several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a better and much more budget-friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful regarding expanding an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is made to be, it is among the very best video games around right now. This is the platform to see.
BeeHiiv provides 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 discover the cost-free account to be quite feature rich.