I have used a great deal of different email list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a huge proponent of digital sovereignty and having your own system. Because of that (and the amazing features), I have actually been utilizing The News Beehiiv.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to make a decision to utilize BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to attend to the concern of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d additionally like to address why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Huge Change In Method, I talked about how and why I determined to turn my motor home blog right into primarily an e-newsletter. I decided that was business version I wished to pursue with that home.
However, to intentionally pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly RV, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. A lot more on that particular in a little bit.
As I said in that concern of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed right into it details to my objective. Things such as:
- Capability to publish (to the blog site) and send out the e-mail simultaneously without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are essentially one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, 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 choose to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium 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 people who built up the technology for Early morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. In fact, I just went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own property to ensure that I can grow 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 grown individually. Happily motor home was young, so easy to change. Yet, The Morning WP (formerly 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 certainly constantly be very closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Checklist
There’s a difference in between a newsletter system and simply an e-mail listing.
You can organize your e-mail listing everywhere you desire and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main difference is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of publishing indicates that it is mosting likely to your website and to your email customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that site. However, you are additionally sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes administration of the system much less complex.
With a lot of email platforms, any newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built totally separately from your internet site. So, for example, you may publish a post to WordPress however after that you would require to individually develop and send an email to your listing to send it to clients. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and 2 different activities because post and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it pretty much “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the very same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I intended to remain to self-host everything. Nonetheless, you ‘d shed the development tools that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally includes a various set of needs than a common e-mail listing.
You do not usually require much marketing automation. You don’t typically require autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO demand, however, is one seamless publishing experience and growth tools to assist you build your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I selected to go with BeeHiiv, that does not suggest I think Substack draws. Actually, since Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that originally obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is literally constructed by the exact same people who developed the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “designer”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation also means that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and big magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo creators. Once again, it just informs me the consumer character difference in between both business.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only reason I would ponder drinking points up is if I assumed I can GROW the list quicker. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
But, allow’s dive deeper than simply the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by people that recognizing e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared towards designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv uses custom fields on clients. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that works a great deal like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still quite minimal in triggers and the only activity is the ability to send out an email. Nonetheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers in addition to new activities, such as modifying personalized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations just considering that I began utilizing the system. For instance:
- Capacity to set off automations based upon which particular embed kind they can be found in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional reasoning 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 simply wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it concerns writing your e-newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is simply more geared toward newsletters. Actually, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I discover it to be much more instinctive, personally.
Substack’s composing interface is nice and clean, however it would certainly be a lot more equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than simply type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can place Presence choices on that section to show it just to paid customers, conceal it from email, conceal from subscribers, show only to clients, etc. Substack uses nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs registration model, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any profits. In fact, you actually connect approximately your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your revenue. Relying on the number of customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv deal with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations at all.
In general, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was more developed towards actual email marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs appear much better developed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack placements itself toward “designers” more than e-mail online marketers and e-newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some things tailored much more toward people that just believe in regards to content development.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … awesome for people who might require it.
Substack also has even more social performance built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with clients. It also has a “Notes” function which works sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. In general, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social network which sustains long-form content.
On the whole, Substack is likewise extra … minimalist. You either look after that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to real marketing, I do not assume there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I searched for even more points that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a difficult time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently with to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the exact same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is also placed at makers (like Substack), but it is much more strongly satisfying individuals who do it for service. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a really good platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is well known already. Yet, below’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly likewise claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit a lot more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is simply a fundamental function of e-mail lists that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more versatile means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain tagging eventually quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on The News Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently provide the capacity to sell points using their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly pick a more straight option anyway. For me, I like to use my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way extra integration choices. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated web content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this much more closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competition by having you be able to release to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously lacking in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy tackling the development devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with rewards, however you can additionally pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are actually awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most well known viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this means for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … The News Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also suggests that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed nearly regular release of new features right into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but large features that are rather important. Their speed of advancement now has actually been impressive.
I additionally very much value exactly how receptive they are. Actually, one of their item news about some style improvements to the website design features in fact contained a little trouble with the web content width. I simply replied to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the concern was taken care of.
Couple of days later, I gave them one more pointer …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to trigger automations based on the embed form utilized was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I actually appreciate.
One more major factor of differentiation here is the rate. Both platforms supply complimentary plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan provides much more ability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more positive. ConvertKit appears more affordable at first glance due to the fact that their pricing web page shows lower numbers, however the client limitations are FAR lower and your cost rapidly increases as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same size list is mosting likely 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 checklist as much as 100,000. A list of that size would certainly 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, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different organization when it involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately raise rates? They may as time takes place. Yet, I’m thinking people like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how points continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you certainly require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to evolve instead rapidly and make brand-new product announcements somewhat typically, however there are some fundamental features I really want they had that I require to just await.
One is that they require to have a setting on membership types where I might pick an automation to run right at the type level. That would be outstanding for a lot of factors. As of now, subscription forms look OK, yet there’s very little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would behave to have identifying at the client degree. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks must belong to automations to make built-in automations less complicated and reduce dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor management interface changes that would certainly come in handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove customers.
- Ability to mass edit messages (for example, to mark a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as typical on subscribers (like the name).
- Some even more customization choices for the internet site (such as more adaptable shade choices, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Things I hope they make with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t excellent and absolutely not nearly as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It most likely never will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it would not much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever recognize, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Enough where I determined to switch my own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and having my very own platform.
Put simply, for the e-newsletter posting design specifically, I saw adequate value in their system to require the modification.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is good at, yet I intentionally have things establish to make sure that I additionally maintain my listing “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d certainly take into consideration switching to BeeHiiv. It will simply be more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and various needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be quite uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay unless you have a big e-mail checklist and are therefore being fleeced with their high regular monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating quickly. There’s likewise a respectable chance you’re not also using some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could easily be a better and extra budget-friendly fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really deliberate about expanding a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is made to be, it is just one of the very best video games in town right now. This is the platform to watch.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into on your own. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be quite feature abundant.