I have made use of a lot of different email list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a big advocate of digital sovereignty and having your own system. For that reason (and the outstanding features), I have been using Working at Beehiiv.
So, it is certainly a strange move for me to choose to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted 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 newsletters. I want to attend to the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d also like to deal with why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Shift In Strategy, I spoke about how and why I chose to transform my recreational vehicle blog right into mainly a newsletter. I determined that was the business version I intended to pursue with that said residential or commercial property.
But, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email listing for Gladly recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little a waste. Extra on that in a bit.
As I stated because concern of the newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools built into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog) and send the email at the same time without having it be 2 different actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I choose to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The platform was literally developed by the people who built up the innovation for Early morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I may without a doubt be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I simply went all out. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own property to ensure that I can expand it extra intentionally too.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown independently. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so simple to shift. However, The Early morning WP (formerly The Side) was hidden in a sea of things here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly always be carefully connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not need to belong of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email List
There’s a difference between an e-newsletter platform and just an e-mail listing.
You can host your email listing anyplace you desire and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting means that it is going to your site and to your email subscribers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that website. However, you are additionally sending off to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much less complex.
With the majority of email platforms, any e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built totally individually from your internet site. So, as an example, you could release a write-up to WordPress however after that you would need to individually develop and send an email to your listing to send it to clients. These are then 2 separate collections of archives and two separate actions since post and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter platform is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it virtually “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the very same thing. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong option if I wished to remain to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the development tools that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally features a different collection of requirements than a regular email checklist.
You do not generally require much marketing automation. You do not generally need autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless posting experience and growth devices to assist you develop your customer base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was going to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I chose to select BeeHiiv, that does not imply I assume Substack draws. In fact, since Substack has actually been about longer, it is elder and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that initially obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly customized to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is literally built by the same people who constructed the modern technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I want here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally suggests that BeeHiiv has some rather big brand names and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo makers. Once again, it just informs me the customer character difference between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only factor I would consider trembling things up is if I thought I can GROW the list quicker. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I really do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being more direct competitors.
But, let’s dive deeper than simply the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by people that comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more geared toward designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom areas on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still quite limited in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an e-mail. However, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have new triggers in addition to new actions, such as customizing personalized fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply since I started using the platform. For instance:
- Ability to cause automations based on which details embed kind they can be found in on.
- Ability to instantly do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can’t do this since the target market of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an email online marketer.
When it concerns writing your newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is just much more geared toward e-newsletters. Actually, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I find it to be more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing interface behaves and clean, but it would be more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than simply form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and after that put anything you want in it. Then, you can put Visibility choices on that area to show it just to paid subscribers, hide it from email, hide from clients, reveal only to customers, etc. Substack provides nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs membership design, BeeHiiv does not take any type of income. Actually, you actually attach up to your very own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Relying on the number of customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, however what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv work with the outside using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more developed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was constructed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs seem far better developed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually stated, Substack placements itself towards “creators” more than e-mail marketing experts and e-newsletter owners. For that reason, you see some points geared a lot more toward individuals that simply think in regards to content development.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support several publications, they are dealt with fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … awesome for individuals who might require it.
Substack additionally has even more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host chats with clients. It also has a “Notes” feature which works type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. On the whole, Substack is set up to be more like a social media which supports long-form content.
Generally, Substack is also extra … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it comes to actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better matched. I looked for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however truthfully … I have a difficult time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically through to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at creators (like Substack), yet it is a lot more highly accommodating people who do it for service. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and more. ConvertKit is an actually nice platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature failure here. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, below’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has more adaptability when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is just a standard feature of e-mail checklists that enables segmentation in an even more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling at some time quickly, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Working at Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now provide the capability to market things using their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always select an extra direct choice anyway. For me, I choose to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and for that reason has way extra integration options. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. As an example, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this much more very closely places ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you be able to release to your site and your email checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with rewards, yet you can also pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are truly outstanding features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you understand ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most well known viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall of what this indicates for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Working at Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise means that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed almost regular release of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t puny little features … yet huge features that are quite essential. Their speed of growth now has gone over.
I likewise significantly value how responsive they are. In fact, one of their item announcements regarding some design improvements to the website design features in fact included a little problem with the material width. I merely replied to that email to tell them. I swiftly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the problem was taken care of.
Few days later, I provided an additional tip …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to set off automations based upon the embed kind utilized was contributed to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I really appreciate.
Another major factor of differentiation here is the price. Both systems provide complimentary plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers extra capacity and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also FAR more favorable. ConvertKit seems less costly at first glance because their pricing web page reveals lower numbers, however the subscriber limits are FAR reduced and your rate swiftly enhances as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), however 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 “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally utilize), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A listing of that size would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, also. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different organization when it pertains to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately raise prices? They could as time goes on. But, I’m thinking people like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you certainly need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to progress rather quickly and make new item news rather commonly, however there are some standard features I really want they had that I need to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setting on membership kinds where I could select an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be AWESOME for numerous factors. As of now, subscription types look OK, but there’s very little setups for them to help in division.
It would behave to have tagging at the customer level. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks need to become part of automations to make integrated automations much easier and reduce reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are likewise some small management user interface changes that would be handy. As an example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Ability to bulk edit posts (for instance, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental fields as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some more modification options for the site (such as more flexible shade choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t best and absolutely not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM product.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I said, the function is different so it wouldn’t much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation system. I guess you never ever recognize, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Sufficient where I determined to change my very own newsletters over to the system in spite of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting design particularly, I saw enough value in their platform to warrant the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, but I deliberately have things establish to ensure that I additionally maintain my listing “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is simply an excellent insurance policy, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the concern is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack today, I ‘d definitely think about switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and various needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch must be quite simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a huge email checklist and are therefore being wooled with their high month-to-month expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are repeating rapidly. There’s additionally a respectable opportunity you’re not also utilizing several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t also need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv could easily be a better and a lot more affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be really deliberate about growing a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is developed to be, it is one of the most effective video games in the area now. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves checking out for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the totally free account to be rather feature abundant.