Substack vs. Beehiiv and why?

When evaluating Substack versus Beehiiv for newsletter creation and distribution, several key differences emerge that can influence your choice depending on your specific needs, goals, and preferences: Ease of Use and Simplicity: Substack is known for its straightforward, user-friendly interface that caters particularly well to writers and journalists. Its design focuses on simplicity, making it easy for creators to start writing without much technical know-how. It automatically publishes posts to a public blog with minimal customization options, which might be appealing for those who want to concentrate on content rather than design. Beehiiv, on the other hand, provides a more customizable environment. It offers an intuitive editor with options for rich media integration, which can be more appealing for creators who want to enhance their newsletters with images, quotes, and other multimedia elements. However, this comes with a bit of a learning curve due to its more advanced features. Monetization: With Substack, monetization is primarily through paid subscriptions, but it charges a 10% fee on these revenues plus payment processing fees. This model can become costly as your subscriber base grows. However, it's free to use until you monetize, which might be advantageous for new creators or those not yet focused on paid content. Beehiiv offers a zero platform fee on subscriber revenue, making it financially more attractive for those planning to monetize through subscriptions or other methods like ads, events, or merchandise. It supports multiple revenue streams beyond just subscriptions, which can be crucial for creators looking to diversify their income. Growth and SEO: Substack benefits from a built-in audience and community features, which can help in organically growing your subscriber base. It has a network effect where other users on the platform can discover your newsletter, akin to a social media platform for writers. However, its SEO capabilities are somewhat limited. Beehiiv emphasizes SEO tools and content control, offering creators more options to optimize their content for search engines, which can be beneficial for attracting readers from outside the platform. It provides robust analytics for better understanding audience engagement. Beehiiv also supports growth through its customization options, allowing for a more tailored approach to subscriber acquisition. Pricing and Plans: Substack has a free tier with no subscriber limit but introduces fees when you start charging for subscriptions. There's no fixed monthly cost until you monetize. Beehiiv provides a free plan for up to 2,500 subscribers, which is quite generous for starting creators. However, once you exceed this subscriber count, you'll need to opt for a paid plan which varies based on the features and scale you need. The pricing model is more predictable with a flat fee structure, beneficial for larger or growing newsletters. Community and Engagement: Substack has built-in features for fostering community, like comments and discussion threads, which can enhance reader engagement. Beehiiv focuses more on content growth and monetization tools, but it's catching up with social features. It's noted for having less of a social aspect compared to Substack, although it's improving in this area. Integration and Automation: Substack lacks a public API, limiting its integration capabilities with other services, which might be a drawback for creators looking to automate or expand their tech ecosystem. Beehiiv provides an API and Zapier integration, allowing for better automation and connectivity with other tools, which can be significant for creators looking to streamline their workflow or integrate with other platforms for marketing or sales. Choosing between Substack and Beehiiv largely depends on whether you value simplicity, community engagement, and network effects (Substack) or if you prefer customization, a broader set of monetization options, and SEO capabilities (Beehiiv). Each platform serves different creator profiles: Substack might be ideal for those starting out or focusing on community-driven content, while Beehiiv could be better for those aiming to scale with a business approach to newsletters.

Substack vs. Beehiiv: Substack: Pros: Simple, community-focused, no cost until monetization, built-in audience. Cons: 10% fee on paid subscriptions, limited customization, SEO challenges. Beehiiv: Pros: Customizable, no platform fee on revenue, SEO-friendly, free up to 2,500 subscribers. Cons: Steeper learning curve, less community engagement. Choose Substack for: Simplicity, writing focus, community interaction. Choose Beehiiv for: Customization, monetization options, growth through SEO.

If you want to be promoted at the top of the newsletter, you can claim the spot: https://passionfroot.me/business... Soon, I will also record YT interviews with known members from #buildinpublic community. You can inform for sponsor spots as well.

ATM, I am team of Substack. Today, I will post an article, how to grow it through outreaching (my little experiment). Feel free to sign up: https://businessandmarketing.sub...

I've been using both and prefer Beehiiv overall. The customization options and flexibility with monetization are key for me. I can tailor my newsletter exactly how I want and have more control over my content and revenue streams beyond just paid subscriptions. The SEO tools are great too for attracting new readers. Substack is solid if you want something simple and has a built-in audience, but Beehiiv gives me more room to grow and treat my newsletter like a real business.

Substack is ideal for simplicity and writers focused on content creation, while Beehiiv offers more customization, analytics, and monetization tools, making it better for growth-focused creators. Choose based on your needs: ease vs. scalability.

I have started on convertkit. The growth was reasonable, but had to be driven from other sources (mostly my YT channel). The open rate was 80%. I moved to substack, same audience, same everything, open rate went to 60%. Not sure why. What I like about substack today is it brings people I would not have found. But it is a medium-term play. At some number of subscribers I will migrate it again to a paid platform.