beehiiv

beehiiv is a terrific platform. However, we only recommend it over Ghost if you want to display ads on your website and ads in your newsletter. Basically beehiiv takes the Ad monetization newsletter approach.

1. What is beehiiv?

beehiiv is an all-in-one newsletter platform designed to help creators and businesses build, grow, and monetize their email lists. Founded by former employees of Morning Brew, beehiiv’s tools are shaped by firsthand experience in scaling a successful newsletter to millions of subscribers. The platform emphasizes:

• Simplicity: Easy to get started, no technical or coding expertise required.
• Growth: Integrated features like referral programs, subscriber analytics, and segmentation to expand your audience.
• Monetization: Paid subscriptions, sponsorships, or premium content can be managed directly.

Whether you’re an emerging creator, a growing startup, or an established brand seeking to amplify your newsletter strategy, beehiiv aims to streamline the entire process under one roof.

2. Key Features of beehiiv

2.1. Newsletter Creation and Management

• Intuitive Editor: Draft and design your newsletter using a user-friendly, block-based editor. You can embed images, GIFs, videos, and more without fuss.
• Template Library: If you don’t want to start from scratch, beehiiv offers pre-built templates. Customize fonts, colors, and layout to match your brand’s aesthetic.
• Scheduling & Drafts: Prepare multiple issues in advance and schedule them for optimal send times. Save drafts for future editing and collaboration.

2.2. Advanced Growth Tools

• Referral Program: Inspired by Morning Brew’s wildly successful referral strategy, beehiiv lets you easily set up a referral program to incentivize existing subscribers to share your newsletter with friends.
• Subscriber Analytics: Dive deep into metrics like open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and engagement trends. Detailed data helps refine your content and sending strategy.
• Lead Generation Forms: Embed subscription forms on your website or landing pages. beehiiv also provides pop-ups and other lead capture methods to grow your list.

2.3. Monetization and Paid Newsletters

• Built-in Payments: You can integrate Stripe (and possibly other payment providers) to offer paid subscriptions directly. No complicated third-party setups required.
• Segmented Content: Release free content to a wide audience while reserving exclusive articles or bonus newsletters for paying subscribers.
• Sponsorship Management: If you monetize via ads and sponsorships, beehiiv’s analytics and segmentation features can help you offer better targeting and track sponsor ROI.

2.4. Audience Segmentation & Targeting

• Custom Segments: Tag or group subscribers based on interests, engagement, or subscription level.
• Personalized Emails: Deliver content tailored to each subscriber segment, increasing open rates and conversions.

2.5. Analytics Dashboard

• Real-Time Tracking: Monitor subscriptions, unsubscribes, and referral-driven signups in one place.
• Subscriber Heatmaps: Understand when your audience is most active and the types of content they engage with the most.
• Referral Funnel Insights: Track how many new readers each existing subscriber refers, identify your top evangelists, and reward them accordingly.

2.6. No-Code Setup

• Hosted Platform: No need to deal with web hosting, domain configuration, or software maintenance. If you prefer a simple, hosted solution, beehiiv does the heavy lifting.
• Custom Domains: If you want your newsletter landing page to reflect your brand, you can use a custom domain (e.g., newsletter.yourbrand.com).

2.7. Community & Support

• Growing User Base: While smaller than WordPress or Ghost, beehiiv’s focused community shares insights on newsletter best practices, growth hacks, and monetization strategies.
• Dedicated Support: Because beehiiv is a hosted SaaS, their support team helps troubleshoot issues related to deliverability, design, and subscriber management.

3. Why a Business Might Choose beehiiv Over WordPress or Ghost

Although WordPress and Ghost can send newsletters or manage memberships via plugins or built-in features, beehiiv stands out for organizations that place newsletters at the center of their strategy. Here’s how beehiiv compares:

3.1. Comparing beehiiv to WordPress

Why Some Businesses Prefer beehiiv:

1. Laser-Focused on Newsletter Growth: WordPress is extremely versatile for blogs, eCommerce, or business sites, but you’ll typically need multiple plugins to replicate beehiiv’s out-of-the-box features.
2. Simplicity and Speed: With beehiiv, you can sign up, configure your newsletter, and launch within minutes—WordPress might require more time for setup and plugin integrations.
3. All-in-One Solution: Beehiiv includes built-in payments, referral programs, analytics, and email sending, making it easier to track everything in a single dashboard.

3.2. Comparing beehiiv to Ghost

Why Some Businesses Prefer beehiiv:

1. Purpose-Built Referral Features: Ghost offers memberships, but for advanced referral or reward programs you’d need to integrate additional services or develop custom solutions.
2. Newsletter-Centric Focus: If your main product is the newsletter itself—and you don’t need a full CMS for blogging or multi-page websites—beehiiv’s streamlined approach is a major selling point.
3. Hosted Simplicity: With beehiiv, you don’t worry about server maintenance, Node.js deployments, or custom domain configurations (beyond a simple DNS update). Ghost can be managed or self-hosted, but it still requires a bit more technical legwork.

4. Scalability and Growth Potential

Even if you’re starting small, beehiiv can handle substantial subscriber volumes and expanding monetization models. Key aspects include:

• Robust Infrastructure: Beehiiv manages deliverability and server resources to ensure your newsletters reach your audience’s inboxes promptly.
• Referral Flywheel: By incentivizing subscribers to invite friends, your audience can grow exponentially with minimal extra marketing spend.
• Segmentation & Targeting: As your subscriber base grows, segmenting them by interests or paid vs. free tiers helps deliver relevant content and maintain high engagement.

5. Cost Considerations

• Free & Paid Plans: Beehiiv typically offers multiple tiers, including a free plan with basic features. As your audience grows, you may need to upgrade to unlock advanced analytics, referral tools, or custom domains.
• Transaction Fees: If you charge for memberships or paid newsletters, you’ll pay Stripe (or your payment provider) fees. Beehiiv’s own fees may vary based on your plan.
• Hosted Platform: You save on hosting and server management costs (which you’d have if using WordPress on your own VPS or hosting Ghost yourself).

Exact pricing can change, so always check beehiiv’s pricing page for the latest details.

6. Ease of Use and Ongoing Maintenance

1. Sign Up: Create an account on beehiiv; no coding or server setup required.
2. Customize Your Newsletter: Choose a template, customize your logo, brand colors, and layout.
3. Configure Referral Settings: If you want to use beehiiv’s referral program, set up tiers or reward thresholds.
4. Integrate Payments (Optional): Connect Stripe or another supported payment service for paid newsletters.
5. Ongoing Maintenance: Beehiiv handles security, updates, and server performance, leaving you to focus on content creation and community growth.

7. Ideal Use Cases for beehiiv

1. Independent Writers & Creators: If you’re looking to quickly establish a newsletter, monetize through subscriptions, and track growth, beehiiv is an immediate fit.
2. Startups & Small Businesses: Perfect for building a targeted audience around product updates, thought leadership, or curated industry news.
3. Media & Publications: Larger publications seeking a dedicated newsletter product can utilize beehiiv’s referral mechanics to rapidly grow subscriber lists.
4. Brands Testing Newsletter MVPs: If you want to validate a newsletter concept before investing in a more robust CMS or building custom solutions, beehiiv’s low overhead is ideal.

8. Conclusion

Why beehiiv Stands Out

• Purpose-Built for Newsletter Growth: From its referral engine to integrated analytics and segmentation, beehiiv is laser-focused on helping you grow and engage an email audience.
• Monetization Made Simple: Paid newsletters, sponsorships, and premium content are supported without juggling multiple third-party tools.
• Hosted Convenience: No server maintenance or technical configuration. Just sign up, set up, and start publishing.
• Fast, Intuitive Setup: Ideal for those who want minimal friction and maximum focus on content creation and subscriber engagement.

While WordPress and Ghost can be customized to handle newsletters, they often require more plugins or technical know-how. beehiiv is a specialized newsletter platform that provides turnkey features for growing and monetizing your audience—making it a compelling option if your top priority is building a thriving email-based community.

Ready to supercharge your newsletter?

• beehiiv offers an ecosystem of tools built on proven strategies for explosive email list growth. If you’re seeking a user-friendly platform with advanced referral and monetization features—without the overhead of managing a full-blown website—beehiiv might just be the perfect solution for your business.