Are you a content creator looking for a newsletter platform that can help you connect with your audience and grow your following or business?
Beehiiv might be worth considering.
We recently came across Beehiiv when looking for a new platform to publish our weekly newsletter.
What attracted us to this fairly new platform was the fact that a number of popular Twitter creators we followed started using it.
For example, Shaan Puri from the My First Millions podcast, launched his crypto newsletter Milk Road and scaled it to over 250,000 subscribers in just 10 months using Beehiiv.
In this review, we'll cover the main features of Beehiiv, discuss some alternatives, highlight the pros and cons, and touch on pricing.
But first, let's get an overview of what Beehiiv is.
What is Beehiiv?
Beehiiv (an apparent misspelling of beehive) is an all-in-one newsletter platform designed to help content creators build and monetize their audience. It enables you to create, distribute, and track email newsletters.
The platform was founded in 2021 by Tyler Denk, Benjamin Hargett, and Jake Hurd. The founders previously worked at Morning Brew and were responsible for some of the tools built at the newsletter giant. They noticed a gap in the market and used what they learnt at Morning Brew to launch Beehiiv into the world.
Beehiiv features
Beehiiv has a robust set of features to help content creators succeed at launching and growing their newsletter.
Email newsletter editor
The email editor is arguably the most important feature for any newsletter publisher. Beehiiv delivers a sleek minimalist editor which feels very similar to tools like Notion.
The editor offers you the ability to add basic elements into your email such as headers, lists, quotes, links, images, buttons and more. On a paid plan you can also add more advanced elements such as HTML snippets, referral programs, paywalls, polls and a few other neat elements.
Template design
Beehiiv lets you have granular control over your newsletter template design. By visiting the 'Design Lab' section in your settings tab you can customize elements such as the background color, text size, button style, email header and footer and a lot more.
Web hosting
Beehiiv also offers you a SEO-optimized website to host your newsletters. If you've used Substack previously, you'll find it looks fairly similar.
Your website acts as a place to store previous posts and lets visitors search and filter posts. You also get a basic landing page which you can use to collect emails.
You're also given some basic design controls for the website including the color palette, layout, theme and more.
If you're using the free plan, you're website is hosted on a Beehiiv subdomain. If you upgrade to a paid plan you can use your own custom domain and remove the Beehiiv branding.
Forms
You've written the content, but now it's time to get subscribers.
Beehiiv has you covered with its neat forms feature. Subscribers can sign up either through your Beehiiv website or through an embed code you can place on an existing site.
On a paid plan, you can build more forms to collection additional information about your subscribers. This feature can be used to better segment your subscriber base and offer a more personalized experience.
Premium subscriptions
Setting up premium subscription tiers has become a popular way to monteize a newsletter.
Beehiiv lets you easily set up a paid subscription tier through Stripe for customers to access exclusive content. You can even introduce offers to encourage people to upgrade.
When you enable a paid subscription, new subscribers are given the opportunity on sign up to continue with the free tier or upgrade to the paid one.
You will need to be on a paid plan to use this premium subscription feature.
Referral program
Word of mouth is arguably the best way to grow your newsletter.
And with Beehiiv's referral program feature you can easily encourage readers to promote your newsletter and reward them for it too.
You can create reward milestones and track each subscribers performance via your dashboard. You can make the rewards whatever you like, for example you could give them a shoutout on Twitter or send them some merchandise.
The referral program feature is only available on paid plans.
Boosts
Boosts by Beehiiv is the ultimate tool for newsletter growth and monetization.
It's a feature that allows newsletters to accelerate growth through paid recommendations. On the flip side, newsletters can also earn by making these recommendations. The process is straightforward: set your price, tap into a vast network of newsletters, and only pay for active, engaged subscribers.
Ad Network
Beehiiv's Ad Network is a win-win for both publishers and brands.
It's the largest native ad network in the newsletter industry, meticulously crafted to deliver results. Publishers can effortlessly monetize their newsletters with premium sponsors, while brands can tap into thousands of top newsletters, reaching millions of engaged readers. The platform connects brands to publishers with the most relevant audiences, ensuring revenue growth without any hassle.
With Beehiiv's Ad Network, newsletter monetization has never been easier.
Analytics
The ability to track and analyse key metrics is a must for any content creator.
Beehiiv offers an easy-to-use analytics dashboard that lets you dive into your subscriber growth and post performance.
The analytics dashboard gives you a bird's eye view of important data such as subscriber acquisition attribution, open rates, email deliverability and a lot more.
It should be noted that you need a paid plan to use the analytics dashboard.
Beehiiv pricing
- Launch Plan: The Launch plan is free and offers access to essential features such as the email editor, web hosting, CMS, and allows you to grow your newsletter up to 2,500 subscribers. It includes unlimited sends, campaign analytics, a recommendation network, and optimized deliverability.
- Grow Plan: Priced at $42 per month (billed annually), the Grow plan builds upon the Launch plan and is suitable for up to 10,000 subscribers. It introduces features like custom domains, premium subscriptions, advanced segmentation, audience polls, survey forms, multiple team members, and API access.
- Scale Plan: For $84 per month (billed annually), the Scale plan offers everything in the Grow plan and is designed for larger audiences of up to 100,000 subscribers. Additional features include an advanced web builder, ad network, referral program, automations, boosts, 3D analytics, Beehiiv AI, A/B testing, and priority support.
- Enterprise Plan: Tailored for newsletter powerhouses, the Enterprise plan offers a range of advanced features and customizations. Specific pricing details are not listed, and interested users are encouraged to contact Beehiiv's sales team for more information.
Beehiiv FAQ
What is Beehiiv used for?
Beehiiv is an all-in-one newsletter platform designed to help content creators build and monetize their audience. It enables users to create, distribute, and track email newsletters. The platform offers a range of features, including a sleek email editor, SEO-optimized web hosting, premium subscriptions, a referral program, and more.
Can you make money on Beehiiv?
Yes, you can make money on Beehiiv. The platform offers features like premium subscriptions that allow content creators to monetize their content by setting up paid subscription tiers. Additionally, Beehiiv has a native ad network and a referral program, providing multiple avenues for revenue generation.
What is the difference between Substack and Beehiiv?
- Publication Website: Both platforms offer a publication website, but Beehiiv provides more granular control over its design and features.
- Monetization: While both platforms allow for premium subscriptions, Beehiiv stands out by allowing creators to keep 100% of their revenue, whereas Substack takes a 10% cut.
- Customization: Beehiiv offers custom domains, embeddable subscribe forms, user authentication, paywalling, promotions, free trials, and an integrated referral program.
- Features: Beehiiv boasts advanced features like 1-click audience polls, advanced audience segmentation, API access, custom fields, advanced analytics, custom HTML in emails, and real-time email verification.
- Ecosystem & Simplicity: Substack is known for being a part of an ecosystem for writers and offers simplicity without many additional features. It also allows content to be accessible in their mobile app.
Is Beehiiv free?
Beehiiv offers a free "Launch" plan that provides access to key features such as the email editor and web hosting. This plan allows users to grow their newsletter up to 2,500 subscribers. However, to access advanced features, users would need to opt for one of the paid plans.
Beehiiv pros and cons
Here are some of the pros and cons we found when using Beehiiv.
Pros
- Built by the team behind Morning Brew
- Sleek email editor with tonnes of features
- SEO optimized web hosting
- Premium subscriptions to monetize content
- Magic links which makes converting customers easier
- Referral program to supercharge your organic growth strategy
Cons
- Website customization might be limited for those looking for advanced designs
Verdict
We found Beehiiv to be an excellent email newsletter platform with all the features you need to grow. The drag and drop editor makes creating content simple, while the web hosting and forms allow you to easily build a subscriber base. The premium subscription feature enables monetization, and the referral program encourages organic growth. Overall, we think Beehiiv is a platform worth checking out.
Beehiiv offers a free trial for all plans, so you can give it a try before committing to the paid plan. We recommend taking advantage of this to see if Beehiiv is right for you.
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