Beehiiv vs Substack: Which tool to level up the content of our newsletters?

Choosing appropriate software to manage and grow with our newsletters is key for a strong online presence. This should reflect our brand, selecting an attractive name and a custom domain that reinforce our company’s identity and recognition with every send.

In this context, Beehiiv and Substack stand out as two of the most popular alternatives on the market when it comes to creating newsletters and monetizing them, but… which one to choose? Before committing to a subscription, we should carefully compare them to see which best fits our strategy and resources.

In today’s article, we will offer you a comparative guide between Beehiiv and Substack. This will help you choose the best platform for your needs by analyzing the prices of both services, what we get for those prices, and delving into details such as the integrations they offer, DMARC protocol support, or the AI and anti-spam functionalities of each. The goal is to answer a simple question in just a few paragraphs: Which platform should we choose to take our newsletters to the next level?

Beehiiv: Platform for Creating and Monetizing Your Audience

Beehiiv focuses on providing us with an excellent visual editor, deep analytics, and above all, integrated monetization. It offers us a newsletter builder with text and image blocks, customization through HTML, and responsive templates for all types of screens, highlighting its features and functionality for the creator.

Among its functions, we find the ability to create customized landing pages and capture websites, facilitating the promotion and management of subscribers. The editor supports different content types, such as articles, stories, and multimedia, to enrich the newsletter.

Beehiiv also facilitates a quick start on the platform, allowing any user to begin creating professional email campaigns and newsletters in minutes. The target audience includes independent journalists as well as brands and companies looking to scale their digital presence. It also offers resources and specific programs for entrepreneurs who want to monetize and grow their audience.

Regarding Beehiiv's plans and pricing, there is a free plan with up to 2,500 subscribers and then tiered rates starting at €39 per month with no commission on paid subscriptions managed through the platform.

Its open architecture allows us to use the Beehiiv API, its integrations with Zapier, and also its direct connections with Shopify to integrate the tool into our current stack. Beehiiv offers comprehensive solutions for creating, distributing, and monetizing newsletters. It includes various mechanisms to ensure effective email delivery and with Beehiiv's artificial intelligence (AI), we can speed up writing and optimize segmentation.

Additionally, the platform provides the possibility to customize campaigns and segment audiences according to the creator's needs. After mentioning integrations, it's important to highlight that Beehiiv facilitates newsletter promotion through social networks, extending the reach of each campaign.

Regarding usability, the control panel allows efficient management of email campaigns, and email administration is simple and centralized. The platform grants full control to the user over customization and the function of each newsletter, allowing the experience to be adapted to each audience. Advanced subscriber management facilitates segmentation and database analysis. Deep analytics provide key information for strategic decision-making and newsletter growth.

The anti-spam protection is very comprehensive, minimizing the risk of our campaigns ending up in the spam folder. The learning curve is quite moderate, especially thanks to the design of its panel, which improves the user experience from start to monetization, marking a clear path for growth. The panel is optimized so the user can easily manage their audience and campaigns. The support team offers tutorials and step-by-step guides to facilitate both initial implementation and daily maintenance.

Finally, Beehiiv allows the creation and customization of subscription forms to efficiently capture new subscribers. The active user community encourages the exchange of best practices and the formation of a loyal group of subscribers around the newsletter.

Pros and cons of Beehiiv

Why look for alternatives to Beehiiv?

Although Beehiiv is a benchmark due to its focus on growth and monetization, we can find limitations in automation and design customization when compared to other alternatives. The lack of more complex workflows prevents the implementation of complete email sequences. If what we are looking for is to manage remarketing campaigns or have dynamic triggers, both functionalities require connecting external tools, something to keep in mind. 

While some users have mentioned having difficulties migrating large volumes of subscribers from other systems, it should also be considered that the cost increases in steps according to the number of subscribers. At this point, although the basic plan is very attractive, companies with really large lists may consider other options with more flexible pricing models.

Substack: Create and send professional newsletters in minutes

When we talk about what Substack is, we talk about a proposal focused on simplicity and an integrated community that leads us to discovery. Substack offers us a minimalist editor similar to a collaborative document, automatic sending of Substack newsletters, and a public archive for each publication. 

We can enjoy a free Substack plan for text publications, in which we pay a 10% commission on the paid subscriptions we obtain. Thanks to Substack's API or its app, we can manage our audience, enable comments, notes, and chats to encourage much more direct feedback. 

We can check basic data of our subscribers and open metrics. Regarding Substack pricing, besides the free plan, there are several that evolve alongside our needs and subscribers. In general, opinions of Substack revolve around the excellent design of its interface and the native discovery network, which greatly facilitates the acquisition of new readers. 

If needed, we can export our contacts and migrate lists easily, while compatibility with audio or video newsletters expands possibilities well beyond text. 

Why look for alternatives to Substack

Substack is a benchmark in the market for its ability to simplify the publishing process to the maximum, but on the other side of the coin we find a fixed commission and limited automation options. The 10% retention on each premium subscription directly affects income. The analytics system provides basic data on opens and list growth but lacks more advanced segmentations or integrated A/B testing. 

It also does not offer certain more complex email flows or internal CRM tools, which forces us to connect with external services. Template customization can be basic and requires direct editing of CSS and/or HTML to make certain specific visual changes. Data analysis is limited to open rates and list growth metrics without access to complete engagement insights. 

To integrate external marketing tools, it is necessary to resort to additional services, increasing costs and implementation complexity. Finally, but by no means less important, dependence on the native network implies that our audience is part of a shared ecosystem with other creators.

Direct Comparison: Beehiiv vs Substack

Pros and cons of Substack

Differences and similarities between Beehiiv and Substack

At this point it becomes clear that, although both platforms manage newsletters and audience growth, they do so with different approaches. Beehiiv convinces us with commission-free monetization, while Substack draws our attention with its simplicity and internal discovery network. On one hand, they share integration with payment gateways and public spaces to archive content. On the other hand, Beehiiv offers us deeper analytics and more detailed segmentation options, while Substack comes with greater ease in initial acquisition. 

Regarding more technical integration, both platforms support REST API, although the implementation curve of a solution based on it varies greatly depending on the scope of the project. For its part, the pricing models contrast notably: one is based on the number of subscribers, and the other applies a percentage on revenues. 

The subscriber management in Beehiiv allows advanced tags and automatic segmentation according to behaviors, while Substack simplifies —for better and worse— administration with predefined lists. Both systems offer compatibility with Zapier and third-party tools. Here Beehiiv stands out for its connectivity with the marketing ecosystem and Substack for its social connectivity.

Beehiiv or Substack: Which is better for your business?

The final decision will depend on our needs. Beehiiv stands out if our main focus is on maximizing revenue with monetized newsletters, leveraging Beehiiv's AI to generate content, and having analytics to make decisions. It is also the clearest solution if we need enterprise-level integrations with the Beehiiv API, Zapier, or direct connections to Shopify. 

Substack, on the other hand, is more suitable if we want a solution without worrying about hosting or maintenance. If we have a small technical team, the Substack app makes it easy to manage everything from anywhere. It is also worth highlighting that this solution is excellent for projects that require launching newsletters immediately, where besides Substack's free plan we can benefit from the native network to start with an advantage. 

Verdict: Which platform to choose to level up our newsletters?

The comparison of Beehiiv vs Substack shows us, once again, that each platform offers several clear advantages depending on our approach. With Beehiiv, we will enjoy direct monetization, in-depth analytics, and flexible integration with our marketing ecosystem. With Substack, we get speed in launching, a discovery network, and publication management designed for creators seeking simplicity.

The ideal choice depends on goals and model, as we need to consider subscriber volume, available budget, and the automation, segmentation, and community features we require. Trying both services with their free options or demos will allow us to compare workflows and, to some extent, results. Whichever we choose, we will certainly be closer to leveling up our newsletters.

Ultimately, the best option will be the one that fits our specific needs and goals as content creators.