I have actually made use of a lot of different email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a significant advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your very own system. Because of that (and the awesome features), I have actually been utilizing Thumb Financial Services Beehiiv.
So, it is undoubtedly a weird move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I want to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I want to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I ‘d also such as to resolve why I picked to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Shift In Method, I spoke about exactly how and why I decided to transform my recreational vehicle blog site into primarily an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was business design I wished to seek with that residential property.
Yet, 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 checklist for Happily motor home, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. A lot more on that particular in a little bit.
As I stated because issue of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed into it details to my objective. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog site) and send the e-mail all at once without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would have needed a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features focused on development. The system was literally built by the people that developed the modern technology for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor right here. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I finished off with this:.
I might without a doubt be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I simply went for it. And in 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 a lot more deliberately as well.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded individually. Gladly motor home was young, so easy to transition. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Edge) was buried 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 undoubtedly constantly be very closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email List
There’s a distinction between an e-newsletter platform and just an e-mail listing.
You can organize your e-mail list anyplace you desire and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted options like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The primary difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your email customers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are publishing to that web site. Yet, you are likewise dispatching to all subscribers at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes management of the system much simpler.
With many email platforms, any newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed entirely independently from your web site. So, as an example, you may release an article to WordPress yet then you would certainly need to independently construct and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 different collections of archives and two different actions due to the fact that post and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it pretty much “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the same point. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I wanted to continue to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you would certainly lose the development devices that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently includes a different collection of demands than a common email list.
You don’t generally need much marketing automation. You don’t usually require autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to help you build your client base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was mosting likely to switch over the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I chose to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I believe Substack draws. Actually, because Substack has been about longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair points that originally got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is literally developed by the very same individuals that built the modern technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, doesn’t matter. However, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I want here.
- That branding and distinction also means that BeeHiiv has some fairly huge brands and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo developers. Again, it just informs me the customer avatar difference between the two business.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only factor I would contemplate trembling points up is if I assumed I might expand the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I actually don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight competitors.
But, let’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv seems like it was built by people that comprehending email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more tailored towards developers.
As an example, BeeHiiv supplies custom-made areas on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions 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 out an email. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as modifying customized fields, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations simply because I started utilizing the system. For example:
- Capacity to trigger automations based upon which certain embed form they was available in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and handle individuals based on opens up and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it pertains to composing your e-newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored towards e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I locate it to be a lot more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s writing interface behaves and tidy, however it would be extra equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than just type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and then put anything you want in it. After that, you can place Visibility alternatives on that section to reveal it only to paid clients, hide it from email, hide from customers, show just to customers, and so on. Substack uses nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a costs membership design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of revenue. As a matter of fact, you literally connect as much as your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your income. Depending upon the number of clients you get, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the month-to-month expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outside using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
In general, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was a lot more built towards real email marketing. It was constructed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page creates seem much better developed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want 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 claimed, Substack placements itself towards “designers” more than e-mail marketing professionals and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some points geared much more toward individuals who just assume in regards to web content production.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain several publications, they are dealt with quite independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several publications at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … amazing for people who might require it.
Substack likewise has even more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which functions type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. Overall, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media which sustains long-form web content.
In general, Substack is additionally much more … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. However, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works quite well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better fit. I tried to find more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly via to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the exact same target audience and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at creators (like Substack), yet it is a lot more strongly satisfying individuals who do it for company. ConvertKit has great visual automation structure, it’s own business platform, and more. ConvertKit is a really great system.
I’m not going to bore you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is popular already. Yet, right here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has much more adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will additionally state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is simply a fundamental function of e-mail checklists that makes it possible for division in an even more versatile way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support labeling at some point soon, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Thumb Financial Services Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does currently offer the capacity to market points via their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly always select a more straight alternative anyhow. For me, I choose to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and therefore has way much more integration alternatives. Tons of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For example, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated web content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this a lot more very closely puts ConvertKit right into straight competition by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy dealing with the development devices of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with benefits, but you can also pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are actually outstanding features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most well known viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface for what this means for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Thumb Financial Services Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it also indicates that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed virtually regular launch of brand-new features into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … however large features that are fairly crucial. Their rate of advancement at this moment has gone over.
I likewise significantly value how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product statements regarding some layout enhancements to the web design features really contained a little problem with the web content width. I just replied to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the CEO:.
That very same day, the problem was taken care of.
Few days later, I provided one more idea …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to activate automations based upon the embed kind made use of was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I actually value.
Another significant point of differentiation below is the price. Both systems offer cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies a lot more ability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more favorable. ConvertKit seems less costly in the beginning glance due to the fact that their pricing page shows reduced numbers, however the client limitations are much lower and your price swiftly increases as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same size listing 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 utilize), you can expand your listing approximately 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 annually, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different organization when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase rates? They might as time takes place. Yet, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things proceed.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you most definitely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to evolve instead quickly and make brand-new product announcements somewhat often, but there are some basic features I actually desire they had that I need to just wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on membership kinds where I could select an automation to run right at the kind level. That would certainly be outstanding for many reasons. Currently, subscription types look OK, but there’s extremely little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would behave to have marking at the subscriber degree. This would be effective.
I think webhooks must belong to automations to make integrated automations much easier and minimize dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor management interface changes that would certainly come in handy. For example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to mass edit articles (as an example, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some even more modification alternatives for the site (such as even more flexible color options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t perfect and absolutely not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It most likely never ever will be, either. As I said, the function is different so it would not much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation system. I think you never ever recognize, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a great deal. Enough where I decided to switch my very own newsletters over to the system in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting version specifically, I saw enough worth in their platform to require the change.
Keep 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, yet I deliberately have points establish to make sure that I likewise keep my checklist “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. However, 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 will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are making use of Substack today, I ‘d certainly consider switching to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and various demands. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch should be rather simple.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a huge e-mail list 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 rapidly. There’s additionally a pretty good possibility you’re not also using several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a much better and much more cost effective fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be very willful regarding growing a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is just one of the very best video games in town today. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be fairly feature abundant.