Every week here at uSERP, I write a newsletter that reaches 10,000 CEOs, marketers, and founders.

In the last 30 days, it produced $4,417.

I’ve tested 5 different newsletter platforms trying to find the perfect balance between email delivery rates, ease of publishing, monetization of my newsletter, and affordability.

Beehiiv, ConvertKit, Substack, you name it, I tested it.

Beehiiv is growing fast, but is it worth the hype?

What is beehiiv?

Beehiiv is a combination of an email autoresponder and a blogging platform. It’s a creator-friendly newsletter platform that doubles as a website builder.

Think next-level email marketing for creators that goes beyond just blasting email sequences.

It’s a toolbox overflowing with features to help you build, grow, and profit from your audience.

My personal experience with beehiiv and testing multiple newsletter platforms

As a newsletter creator, I’ve searched for the ultimate newsletter platform for years.

Substack seemed cool at first, but its customization options were like training wheels — I needed more control.

Revue (RIP) seemed promising initially. It offered a simple interface and integration with Twitter, which was a plus. However, it quickly became clear that it lacked the advanced features I needed to truly grow my audience.

Then, I tried ConvertKit. Powerful and feature-rich, but clunky and not exactly user-friendly.

Then I discovered beehiiv.

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Right off the bat, the clean interface and helpful feature feast blew me away.

I switched to beehiiv from ConvertKit because it has everything built into the platform, allowing me to earn revenue and grow my newsletter.

Other platforms force you to buy a bundle with a million extras you don’t really need. I found that beehiiv offered just what I needed to create a gorgeous, fully functional website and run a growing email newsletter at a fair price.

Keep reading to see what I mean.

Essential features walkthrough

Here’s a closer look at the beehiiv features that take your email marketing from “meh” to “money maker”:

Newsletter builder

I love how you can drag-and-drop your way to beautiful newsletters with beehiiv’s intuitive builder.

screenshot of newsletter builder

Pre-designed templates and customizable elements make creating stunning emails a breeze.

Newsletter referral programs

Referral programs are a great way to grow an audience, but have you ever tried running one?

DIY referral programs are time-consuming and don’t scale. Also, using third-party solutions adds costs and complexity.

Beehiiv solves both problems. It makes it easy to build and run referral programs. It also makes it simple to embed referral codes in emails from within the same platform.

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I use this feature all the time! For example, I offer free access to my copywriting course as a reward for five referrals.

The built-in referral program is one of the reasons we switched from ConvertKit. Before, I had to combine ConvertKit with other platforms to get referrals. It all meant:

• Higher monthly costs
• Harder management
• Longer setup times

While ConvertKit is updating its platform to integrate features like this one, I don’t feel it’s at the same level as beehiiv.

Subscribe forms and welcome surveys

With beehiiv’s customizable landing pages and subscribe forms, I can capture leads like a pro. Additionally, forms and surveys seamlessly integrate with my website.

Ok, I won’t say this is a unique feature — practically all newsletter platforms have it!

But beehiiv got it right.

Setting up and embedding forms into your website is dead simple. Plus, you can choose between full, fixed, or slim width.

You can also add a welcome survey.

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Welcome surveys make it easy to collect data on new subscribers right away so I can:

• Give my sponsors the data they need to decide if my audience is the right fit.
• Segment them and give them more relevant content.

Magic links

This is a cool feature I haven’t seen anywhere else.

Magic links let you create special one-click links that automatically subscribe people to your newsletter when they click. By automatically, I mean without filling out a subscription form!

Magic Links are perfect for embedding in social media bios or blog posts, and they’re compatible with most major email marketing platforms like:

1. beehiiv (obviously)
2. Active Campaign
3. Hubspot
4. Mailchimp
5. MailerLite
6. Constant Contact
7. Other platforms that support dynamic content

Since every step needed to convert is a chance to lose a conversion, Magic Links helps improve conversion rates by reducing the necessary steps to just one.

Landing pages with featured posts

I always wanted to give my to-be subscribers a taste of what they’d get when signing up for SEO Power Plays. Beehiiv gave me the perfect solution.

Beehiiv’s landing page builder lets me add featured posts. This feature makes the landing page look more like a blog, where readers can preview the content before signing up.

Screenshot provided by author

Why does this matter?

• First, it gives your newsletter more credibility in the eyes of potential subscribers.
• Second, it ensures that those who sign up have a better idea of what to expect. This makes it more likely they’ll open your newsletter when they see it in their inbox.

Think about it!

What good is a 100K email list if only a tiny fraction of them interact with your content?

I’d rather have 10K engaged subscribers than 100K subscribers that only open 1 out of 3 emails I send!

Beehiiv’s internal ad network

One of beehiiv’s newsletter monetization options is its built-in ad network.

Screenshot provided by author

Just choose who you want to promote in your newsletter based on your audience’s interests, and beehiiv will handle the rest. It’s as simple as it comes.

If you asked me, this is what running ads should look like!

Tracking acquisition source

This is another unique feature. Beehiiv tracks where your subscribers come from, giving you better insight into what works and what doesn’t.

I have links to my newsletter everywhere I publish content, but I don’t publish the same content on all platforms. So, for me, knowing where my subscribers come from (social media, blog posts, etc.) is mission-critical.

I use this info daily to tailor my acquisition strategies for the greatest impact.

Data analytics

Data is king, and beehiiv knows it, so they offer comprehensive analytics.

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Deep dive into analytics to track your newsletter’s performance.

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Open rates, click-through rates, subscriber demographics – all the intel you need to grow your email list, optimize your content, and skyrocket engagement.

Website hosting

Beehiiv goes above and beyond to become a newsletter creator’s all-in-one solution. Another way it accomplishes this is by letting you create an entire website alongside your newsletter. You can even buy a custom domain to go with it.

I don’t use this particular feature. We use Cloudflare because we need better performance, security, and extensive customization (especially for our developers).

But if you’re looking for no-frills website hosting to support your growing newsletter, beehiiv might be a good choice. It’ll save you time, money, and login headaches.

Newsletter recommendations

Beehiiv plays matchmaker for your audience. It recommends other popular newsletters to your active subscribers based on their interests. It also recommends your newsletter to other creators’ subscribers.

For example, if you run a crypto newsletter, beehiiv will recommend it to an audience segment subscribed to similar content.

Recommendations foster a sense of community and potentially drive traffic to complementary content creators.

Boosts

Recommendations are passive, but beehiiv also offers an active way to give your newsletter an extra push.

Beehiiv’s “Boosts” feature lets me promote my newsletter with other content creators’ audiences so my subscriber count grows.

Screenshot provided by author

Boosts maximize the reach of my most important campaigns for an agreed-upon fee or CPA.

Think of it as partnering with another content creator and running an ad campaign in their newsletter.

Monetizing beehiiv

Beehiiv offers several monetization features, in addition to a range of features to help my newsletter grow to over 10,000 subscribers.

These helped me earn $4,417 in the last 30 days.

Here’s how I turned my audience into a revenue stream with beehiiv and how you can do it, too:

Running ads – strategic partnering for profits

As I said before, beehiiv lets you display targeted ads directly on your website or within your newsletter.

Here’s how it works:

1. Beehiiv automatically connects me with relevant sponsors based on my audience’s interests.
2. They pitched me a sponsorship offer with a CPC and estimated earnings.
3. I can accept the offer, and beehiiv will handle the rest.
4. I choose the date, and beehiiv handles payment — end of story.

I don’t have to do anything else, not even create the ad spot, because beehiiv creates it for me (I can choose between two options).

I just sit back and check my ad performance with beehiiv’s built-in analytics.

Joining the beehiiv Partner Program – a.k.a. affiliate program

I use the beehiiv Partner Program to leverage the power of the community to generate revenue. The basic idea is to promote beehiiv with your subscribers (and anyone who cares to listen).

Partner Program screenshot

Here’s how it works:

• When you join the program, you get a unique affiliate link you can share online with anyone.
• When someone clicks on that link and joins beehiiv, you’ll earn a 50% uncapped commission on every cent that person spends during the first 12 months of membership.

So, with the average monthly revenue of $87 per beehiiv user, that translates to a little over $40 per month per successful referral. In other words, it’ll only take 25 referrals to earn a passive income of around $1,000 a month for an entire year.

Fifty percent is an impressive commission. If you don’t believe me, consider this:

• The average referral fee across different industries is around 5% to 10%.
• Most SaaS companies pay 10% of total revenue, or the equivalent of two months of the contract value, according to Capterra.

Beehiiv’s commission is 5X higher than the average. On the flip side, it stops providing revenue after one year, so it’s not a permanent source of passive income.

Boosting other people’s email newsletters

Beehiiv’s “Boosts” feature is a growth powerhouse, but it’s also a revenue engine. Just as I can run ads for my newsletter on other successful newsletters, other content creators can grow their email subscribers by advertising on mine.

I’ve found beehiiv’s model to be very attractive:

• I can leverage beehiiv’s targeting options to promote other creators’ newsletters to specific segments of my audience that are most likely to enjoy their content.
• I also get to choose who to promote, ensuring I only work with content creators whose values align with mine.

By promoting relevant content, I offer value to my audience and help other creators grow their audiences. This fosters a collaborative environment where everyone wins‌ — ‌my audience, the creators I promote, and myself.

Extra revenue stream – managing premium subscriptions

Besides ads, boosts, and the Partner Program, beehiiv also empowers you to offer premium content, early access perks, or exclusive benefits to paying subscribers.

I put this down as an “extra revenue stream” because I don’t use this monetization option myself.

The SEO Power Plays newsletter’s purpose isn’t to make money. It’s to help my readers understand the importance and relevance of SEO and link building while generating leads for our SEO services. So, I offer all the content I create for free.

That $4K monthly revenue is just a nice, fat cherry on top made easy with beehiiv.

But that may not be the case if you’re a dedicated blogger or content creator. If ad revenue isn’t enough to support the premium content you want to create, beehiiv’s premium subscriptions are just what you need.

How to embed beehiiv forms on your website

Seamless opt-in forms are crucial for email list growth. As a modern newsletter platform, beehiiv understands this and made it a breeze to embed beautiful, customizable subscribe forms directly on your website.

Create new form screenshot

Here’s the skinny:

1. Go to audience> Subscribe Forms > Create new form.
2. Give your form a name and fill out the rest of the form details, like the header, description, and button text.
3. Choose between three embed styles: full width, fixed width, and slim.
4. Copy the embed code for the style you want, paste it into your website’s desired location, and Boom! Start collecting those valuable email addresses.

Beehiiv email automation

Automations are my favorite part of modern email newsletter platforms, and beehiiv doesn’t disappoint. If you’re a busy guy like me, you’ll appreciate beehiiv’s robust automation engine. Here are some things you can do with automation:

• Create many automation triggers and nodes with custom conditions and sophisticated time delays.
• Create conditional branches within workflows
• Configure settings around re-entry.
• Drag-and-drop workflow builder.

With these automation tools, you can create:

• Welcome email sequences to automatically send warm greetings to new subscribers, encouraging engagement.
• Abandoned cart emails for those offering paid subscriptions or digital products.
• Birthday and anniversary emails for a bit of extra personalization.

These are just a few examples. With some creativity, you can design automated email sequences for various subscriber segments and campaign goals.

Beehiiv integrations

Ok, so beehiiv is an all-in-one solution for most of my newsletter needs, but it doesn’t have “everything” anyone could need.

That’s why beehiiv developed several integrations to supercharge your email marketing efforts. As of today, you can:

• Push content from beehiiv to WordPress and Webflow via a plugin or a Zapier account and sync all the content you publish on beehiiv to your website.
• Collect emails on WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, and Privy and send them directly to your beehiiv account.
• You can also push emails to beehiiv via Zapier, indirectly integrating the former with the many tools that connect to the latter.

Payment gateways: Accept secure payments for subscriptions and digital products directly through beehiiv.

Beehiiv pros/cons

As always, no tool is ever perfect, and while beehiiv has some amazing features, there’s always a tradeoff.

Pros

After testing many platforms for newsletters, beehiiv’s key highlights are:

• An intuitive interface that makes navigating the platform a breeze.
• An all-in-one solution from website hosting to email marketing under one roof.
• Four profitable monetization options through subscriptions, affiliate marketing, ads, and Boosts.
• Engaging features like newsletter referral programs, acquisition tracking, and recommendations.
• A powerful automation engine to save time and effort on repetitive tasks.

Cons

Beehiiv’s downsides include:

• Slightly higher pricing compared to other email marketing platforms. For example, ConvertKit’s highest-tier plan costs $66/mo while beehiiv’s costs $99/mo. Yet, considering the all-in-one functionality and advanced features, the value proposition remains strong.
• Limited design flexibility over website and newsletters. I’d also love more detailed acquisition source tracking. For example, tracking the particular publication a subscriber came from.

Beehiiv’s pricing

Beehiiv offers three subscription plans, one free and two paid:

• The Launch plan is free and offers basic features for up to 2,500 unique subscribers to get you started.
• The Grow plan costs $49/mo when billed annually. It adds custom domains, premium subscriptions, and more for up to 10,000 subscribers.
• The Scale plan costs $99/mo. It has a limit of 100,000 subs and adds access to the internal ad network, automation, Boosts, and more.

Additionally, you can opt for a custom Enterprise account for more premium perks.

Beehiiv alternatives

While beehiiv is a powerful platform, it’s not the only game in town. Here are a few noteworthy alternatives to consider:

• ConvertKit: This is the platform I was using right before discovering beehiiv. It’s a popular choice for email marketing with robust features and integrations. But, its interface can be less user-friendly than beehiiv’s.
• Substack: An ideal option for writers and journalists. It prioritizes a clean reading experience and subscription monetization options. I find it more content-focused, with limited design customization capabilities, though.
• Mailchimp: Mailchimp is a classic, well-established email marketing platform. It offers a user-friendly interface and many features. Regardless, its pricing can become expensive as your audience grows. Also, advanced features might need extra add-ons.

The verdict – hype or hero?

So, is beehiiv just another overhyped marketing tool, or does it deserve a spot in your arsenal? Here’s my honest opinion based on experience:

Beehiiv is a game-changer for SEOs, agencies, marketers, and website owners looking to scale their online presence.

This email platform offers hosting, email marketing, analytics, and monetization under one roof. It also turns your audience into a subscription revenue engine with built-in features. The latter include subscriptions, affiliate marketing, targeted ads, and Boosts.

Add in many easy-to-set-up automation and integrations, and you’ll be laughing!

Sure, there are alternative platforms out there.

But beehiiv’s user-friendly interface, comprehensive feature set, and focus on audience growth and monetization make switching from competitors like ConvertKit to beehiiv a no-brainer. Plus, it’s super easy – I just had to import our subscriber base, and that was it!

Is beehiiv perfect? Not quite.

Pricing is slightly higher than some competitors. Also, some users might crave even more granular control over website and email design.

But here’s the bottom line:

If you’re looking for a powerful, all-in-one platform to streamline your workflow, grow your audience, and unlock new revenue streams, beehiiv is definitely worth a try.