Beehiiv vs ConvertKit: Which is the Better Newsletter Tool?

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You’ll find tons of “Beehiiv vs ConvertKit” blogs and articles out there. Some are pitching for Beehiiv, while others are recommending ConvertKit as the better alternative. Expect things to be a little different in this article.

I tried and tested both Beehiiv and ConvertKit in detail for a period of at least 3 weeks. During this time span, I used both newsletter tools extensively, side by side. This article compares primary features, user experience, drawbacks, pricing options, pros and cons, and much more.

What is Beehiiv?

A growth-focused newsletter platform, Beehiiv, made its entrance in 2021. This tool is the brainchild of Tyler Denk (ex-Google product manager), Jacob  Hurd, and Benjamin Hargett.

Marketed as “the most creator-friendly newsletter platform,” the most attractive selling point of Beehiiv is its easy and smooth customizability. Users can customize the newsletter and change site aesthetics based on their preferences.

That’s not all! What makes Beehiiv stand out even more is it’s pricing strategy. Creators aren’t penalized on a scale. Rather, the platform allows you to scale your business by charging prices that are not only low but also predictable.

What is ConvertKit?

In 2013, Nathan Barry, primarily a blogger, founded ConvertKit. This revelation came to him as he himself was searching for a creator-friendly, affordable email marketing tool. With no such platform in sight, he decided to create ConvertKit, an impressive newsletter platform that boasts over 660,246 creators today.

As mentioned, ConvertKit is a creator-friendly and user-friendly email marketing tool. The platform itself is easy for you to get used to and offers incredible tools that will assist you in convincing your audience and increasing conversions.

Niche ConvertKit features such as the newsletter referral system and the ability to sell subscriptions and digital courses and products are not offered by other newsletter tools.

But if your budget is tight and you are looking for affordable services or you desire flexibility in creating ad campaigns, there’s a chance you’ll find it quite suffocating.

Getting Started with the platforms:

Beehiiv

Head to the official Beehiiv website.

Go ahead and click on Start Trial. It’ll be in the top-right section. Use your preferred ID. We’d recommend using your work ID.

Fill in your credentials and select Get Started.

You need to open your email and confirm your email address.

Select Verify to continue getting started with Beehiiv.

Select Newbie if you’re just getting started with newsletter and email marketing campaigns. Otherwise, choose Experienced. If you’re simply lurking around and wish to learn more about newsletters and related tools & platforms, go ahead and click on Curious.

These selections will allow the platform to personalize your profile and experience based on your needs.

Name your profile and upload an appropriate image.

Click on Start Free Trial to finish setting up your Beehiiv profile.

You can either start the guided tutorial by clicking on Show Me or simply head to the Beehiiv Dashboard by choosing Close.

Finally, this is what a fresh Newbie Beehiiv Dashboard looks like.

ConvertKit

Let’s visit the ConvertKit official site this time.

Click on the Sign up free in the upper-left corner of your browser. It’ll redirect you to the following window.

Fill up the details and click on Get started.

Make your selection based on your needs, whether or not you’re just starting out or migrating from another email marketing tool. Choose Continue after that.

Choose your audience size, creator type, and goal. Click on Continue.

Finally, provide as many social media accounts as you’d like to. Although optional, this will add credibility to your ConvertKit account.

This ends the ConvertKit account setup. You can either take a guided tour by watching the video or skip directly to the dashboard.

This is what a new ConvertKit dashboard looks like.

Beehiiv vs ConvertKit: Feature Comparison

Ready to be disappointed? Why? Because the features are very similar. It basically boils down to 3 things: your pet peeves, your preferences, and your end goal. I may very well end this blog here, but let’s dive in even deeper.

Based on the ad campaign or marketing type, you will find marked differences between Beehiiv and ConvertKit.

Beehiiv Features That ConvertKit Lacks

Features	Beehiiv	ConvertKit
Advanced Analytics	✅	❌
RSS Feeds	✅	❌
Email Verification in Real Time	✅	❌
1-click Audience Polls	✅	❌
Integrated Referral System	✅	❌

I strongly recommend Beehiiv to those users who want to focus their ad & marketing campaign and newsletters on:

1. Content
2. Effective Audience Growth and Community Building

Furthermore, you’ll especially love Beehiiv if you appreciate and value email designs and customizations. Beehiiv offers you the flexibility to fine tune your account based on your needs.

ConvertKit Features That Beehiiv Lacks

Features	ConvertKit	Beehiiv
Digital Downloads, Event Sales, Sell Coaching, etc.	✅	❌
Complex Email Automations; for example – Link Triggers	✅	❌
Email Countdown timers	✅	❌
Specific dashboard for Integrated payment	✅	❌
Tipjar	✅	❌
Pay-what-you-want Pricing	✅	❌
Email Templates + Landing Page availability	More than Beehiiv	Less than ConvertKit

If selling digital assets (coaching products, services, courses, etc.) is your primary goal, close your eyes and choose ConvertKit. The email marketing platform offers a plethora of mind-blowing features that allow you to prepare custom landing pages and build funnels. This further provides a much smoother and more efficient method to convert email lists into paying customers.

Beehiiv vs ConvertKit: Comparing Content Editors

The user interface, design, tools, ease, and usability of Beehiiv’s Writing Editor is much superior to those of ConvertKit. Moreover, Beehiiv offers ample customizable tools.

Why does that matter? Well, you can write and post newsletters and emails that are visually appealing to your audience.

• Beehiiv Content Editor

• ConvertKit Content Editor

Beehiiv vs ConvertKit: Comparing Integrations

When I say “integrations,” I specifically refer to the platform’s ability to integrate third-party tools and software such as Shopify, Teachable, Mighty Networks, Segment, Pipedream, Card, etc.

Keep in mind, that there are two types of integrations that tools like Beehiiv and ConvertKit may offer: Direct and Indirect. Direct integration allows the platform to integrate with third-party apps directly. On the other hand, tools with indirect integration require the services of other platforms, which can be quite annoying and expensive.

Unfortunately for Team Beehiiv, the platform offers limited direct integration. To integrate tools other than these, you’ll require third-party services such as Integrately and Zapier. Mind you! These services aren’t cheap, either. What makes it even worse is that the integrations aren’t stable, even in the case of direct integrations.

Conversely, ConvertKit is popular for seamless, versatile integrations. I’d say this tool is made to integrate. It offers smooth and easy direct integrations with many well-known third-party services like Shopify and Teachable, among many others.

Beehiiv vs ConvertKit: Comparing Automations

There’s no contest here: ConvertKit takes it all by default. Why? Beehiiv doesn’t offer email automations. But there are other forces at play here, namely, Sequences, Segmenting, and Rules.

Keep in mind that Beehiiv offers Sequencing features, but nothing in comparison to ConvertKit’s Sequencing. That’s specifically due to the big difference in Integration levels offered by these tools.

Let’s say, for instance, I wish to sell a product on Shopify. First, ConvertKit directly integrates with Shopify. Second, it then allows me to create and specify a rule that tags the buyers of the product that I’m selling on Shopify. I can easily segment product buyers in this manner.

Such features become crucial and a must-have when selling products on platforms such as Shopify.

Beehiiv vs ConvertKit: Monetization

Both Beehiiv and ConvertKit offer various Monetization strategies and pricing options.

You have, at your disposal, a variety of ways to monetize your newsletter. Allow me to break it down for you and compare Beehiiv & ConvertKit at the same time.

Paid Options

You can start monetizing your newletters by offering a paid subscription to your readers. This works similar to Patreon, where paid subscribers have access to certain services.

Every member, with a paid or free subscription, will receive the free emails, but only paid subscribers will receive additional emails.

Sell Digital Products & Courses

Monetize your email list through the sale of digital products and coaching courses.

ConvertKit definitely leaves Beehiiv in the dust by offering this integrated monetization feature.

You can sell products using Beehiiv as well, but not directly. It’ll require you to indirectly integrate third-party apps such as Gumroad, which will cost you additional dollars.

Sponsored Newsletters

Getting sponsorships for your newsletters is an excellent strategy. ConvertKit and Beehiiv both offer a platform for sponsored posts and newsletters.

But I recommend you do not invest time and energy into sponsored posts yet. The reason is that this feature on both platforms is still in the early stages and the ROI data is simply not tangible enough.

I advise you to reach out to sponsors yourself. Surely, it is additional work, but the returns are equally worth it.

Co-Registration

It is undoubtedly the simplest monetization method; you earn by recommending other newsletters. The payment you receive depends on a “per-active-subscriber” basis. Beehiiv and ConvertKit both offer this monetization feature.

Beehiiv provides monetization in the form of Boost.

On the other hand, the same is offered by ConvertKit through Sparkloop. With the latest acquisition of Sparkloop by ConvertKit, the latter confirmed, yet again, its dedication to helping its creators earn a living online.

In a battle between Boost vs Sparkloop, I can safely confess that I lean towards the latter. There’s a silver lining for Beehiiv creators – they can choose to use Sparkloop instead of the integrated Boost feature.

Beehiiv vs ConvertKit: Price Comparison

Now, let’s compare Beehiiv vs ConvertKit prices based on the first 2 Subscriber count ranges.

• Up to 1000 subscribers
• Up to 75,000 subscribers

Up to 1000 Subscribers

Beehiiv Pricing

You can choose from 1 free and 3 paid monthly or annual Beehiiv subscription plans. The price comparison between the Monthly vs Annual Beehiiv plans is listed for you in the table below.

Plan	Monthly	Yearly	Price Difference
LAUNCH	$0	$0	$0
SCALE	$39/month ($468 billed annually)	$34 ($408 billed annually)	$60
MAX	$99/month ($1188 billed annually)	$86 ($1032 billed annually)	$156
ENTERPRISE	Custom Pricing	Custom Pricing	Custom Pricing

ConvertKit Pricing

Users can choose from 3 newsletter plans: Free, Creator, and Creator Pro.

Plan	Monthly	Yearly	Price Difference
Free	$0	$0	$0
Creator	$29/month ($708 billed annually)	$25 ($624 billed annually)	$4
Creator Pro	$59/month ($1548 billed annually)	$50 ($ billed annually)	$9

Up to 75,000 Subscribers

Beehiiv Pricing

Plan	Monthly	Yearly	Price Difference
LAUNCH	$0	$0	$0
SCALE	$249/month ($2988 billed annually)	$218 ($2616 billed annually)	$372
MAX	$349/month ($4188 billed annually)	$308 ($3696 billed annually)	$492
ENTERPRISE	Custom Pricing	Custom Pricing	Custom Pricing

ConvertKit Pricing

Plan	Monthly	Yearly	Price Difference
Free	$0	$0	$0
Creator	$499/month ($5988 billed annually)	$416 ($4992 billed annually)	$996
Creator Pro	$663/month ($7956 billed annually)	$553 ($6636 billed annually)	$1320

Price Analysis

As you can see from the above price comparison, ConvertKit is cheaper than Beehiiv for subscriber count up to 1000. Even up to 2500/3000 subscribers, ConvertKit is comparatively the more affordable option.

But tides turn when we move higher up the ladder, as is evident from the prices for 75000 subscribers.

So if you’re tight on budget but have a considerable amount of subscribers, I recommend you go for Beehiiv.

Beehiiv vs ConvertKit: Main Drawbacks

After listing all the amazing features, let me introduce you to some drawbacks of both of these tools. Personally, I feel that if these points are addressed, Beehiiv and ConvertKit will become even better email marketing tools.

Beehiiv is great, but I wish it offered a larger pool of form options and templates to choose from.

The other issue is regarding the Beehiiv Enterprise Plan. Having to go through the sales team to get a personalized quote is a bit unnecessary, in my opinion.

My complaints with ConvertKit are simple and twofold: reporting options are too limited, and the price is too high.

Pros and Cons

Beehiiv:

ConvertKit: