What's better for newsletter+blog? Substack or Beehiiv?

6 points by mfnex 3 years ago | 9 comments

I am a freelance researcher/author/teacher.

I am considering starting a newsletter+blog on one of the platforms created just for this purpose. Main goals would be to give much more visibility than today to all my activities, not just the newsletter, and of course make some extra money if possible.

After some research, Substack and Beehiiv seem the best candidates, but I am not sure yet, and there may be others.

Ideally, I would need a platform that:

0. supports paid subscriptions

1. supports comments

2. has no *fixed* costs

3. allows *migrating* every post to a personal blog, after a month or so, leaving in the platform just a message like "this post is now available <here>

4. lets me say below each post or email "I also do other stuff, and you can support that other with donations"

IIUC, ONLY Substack checks the first 3 marks, but (even AFTER reading their Publisher Agreement) I am not sure if it allows n. 4 or not.

Every feedback is welcome, including pointers to other platforms that I may have missed!

Thanks!

nithinjawahar 3 years ago |

I've been testing substack for my newsletter and while I like that it's free, it doesn't feel a mature platform. The analytics isn't very good, deliverability keeps on fluctuating and editor could be much better. I feel convertkit is way better and much more powerful too. You should check convertkit.It's free for the first 1000 subscribers.

mfnex 3 years ago |

thanks to everybody who answered, but here is some more info that hopefully make my question clearer:

I ALREADY have a blog, with plenty of content. If enough people saw it and told me "it sucks, just stop", I would accept it, nobody owns me anything. BUT...

The reason to look for a newsletter is that as things stand now, I have plenty of proofs that almost nobody ever gets to even *see* it. THAT is the problem I need to solve.

It's the fact that these days:

1: almost nobody uses RSS, because they're sincerely convinced that "it stopped working when Google killed Reader" (I've lost count of how many times I've heard this specific bit of falsehood)

2: on social media, almost nobody bothers to click and read the conclusion of any article at its original URL. And I can't stand anymore having to give answers like "please note that the third paragraph of this post that I shared explicitly answers what you just asked"

3: point 2) would not change at all by switching to another CMS

4: points 2 and 3 are irrelevant anyway because Twitter, FB etc... just shadowban whoever does not pay them. As I say, I have plenty of proofs that almost nobody ever gets to SEE what I post there. Even stuff that should surely get through, e.g. polite notification that there was a typo in a post, or requests to provide further reading on some topic

Summarizing, if the only way left these days to be sure that people do SEE AND READ all I wrote from top to bottom, at least once or two is a newsletter... so be it. But it has to be something optimized for "newslettering", that facilitates as much as possible to find subscribers, and SURELY allows points 3 and 4 of my original question. So what about them?

Thx

brett24etpitch 3 years ago |

Hi I’m the founder of bulletpitch, a newsletter that highlights startups shaping the next generation. We were on substack for a bit and found the lack of customization frustrating. Plus, beehiiv team is constantly dropping new features. You can check out our letter here (https://bulletpitch.xyz) and lmk if you have any more questions :)

brett24etpitch 3 years ago | |

Oh and beehiiv doesn’t take money from paid subscription

achempion 3 years ago |

What you describe (newsletters, comments, blog posts, payments, customization) sounds very similar to what ghost.org offers. You can self-host if you want or pay them to manage it for you.

mfnex 3 years ago | |

Thanks, but the same question as for Substack and Beehiiv remain, see points 3 and 4 of my original post.

I already have a blog, want to keep it online as it is, and I have no problem writing with my current editor software. What I am looking for is a way to publish NEW content FROM NOW ON:

1. FIRST as newsletter, with its own associated blog. Just because that seems the only medium left that people who do read a whole article still tolerate

2. THEN, 1/2 week a post has been published there, migrate it out of that platform and into my existing blog, leaving in the platform just a "This post migrated here, just click" notice. Because that's the only way to guarantee that that content lives as long as possible, always at the same URL.

webspinner 3 years ago |

If either self-hosted Wordpress, or ordpress.com would be too much, something like micro.blog or write.as would probably work well for you.

CrankyBear 3 years ago |

After looking over Substack, Medium, and Beehiv, I've went with Beehiv. So far, it's working well.

mfnex 3 years ago | |

thanks, but as I wrote in the OP Beehiiv does not pass points 1-2 there.

Still, I may use it if it turns out that Beehiv does allow points 3 and 4 of the same post. Do you know what the answer to them is?

Thx