ConvertKit VS. BeeHiiv - Creator Newsletters

Battle For The Best ESP:

ConvertKit VS. BeeHiiv

First things first: I'm Mike Romaine! I'm The Creator Newsletter Guy.

If you don't already know anything about me, here's some of the things I have done the last 10+ years:

Made over 7 figures online with my newsletter(s).
Built multiple 6+ figure businesses and newsletters.
Collected over a MILLION email addresses organically.
Featured in The New York Times, Business Insider, and more.
Have used ESPs like Aweber, MailChimp, MailerLite, ConvertKit, BeeHiiv and many more, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and some with years of testing.

That last bullet is probably the most important piece of information for you here, but I wanted to at least let you know why you should care about my opinion on this subject.

Secondly: The purpose of creating this quick breakdown is to help friends who have asked my opinion of these two top ESPs, but you can also support me by signing up with the links (I don't make much, so don't worry either way).

Here are my affiliate links if you want to support me by using them:

Why Are We Only Discussing

ConvertKit and BeeHiiv?

As I mentioned above, I have used virtually every ESP there is, and even have a list of 100K+ subscribers on MailerLite still - but would never recommend it for a Newsletter Creator.

ConvertKit and BeeHiiv are the top choices in the industry, and continue putting out more and more updates to stay that way.

Want a plain email list with some automation and plug and play systems?

Sure, there are a ton of other options for you.

Want the absolute best ESP for extreme internal growth tactics, referrals, recommendations, giveaways, networking and more?

Well then ConvertKit and BeeHiiv are your ONLY options.

These are BY FAR the two best (and in my opinion, ONLY) options for both Creators and Media Brand newsletters.

Big Advantages Of ConvertKit and BeeHiiv:

#1: Recommendations

Right off the bat you're given access to:

ConvertKit's Creator Network
BeeHiiv's Recommendations

Have you ever seen the pop up that comes up when you subscribe to a creator's newsletter that recommends other newsletters?

That's what this is.

ConvertKit and BeeHiiv have this built in.

ConvertKit gets a check in the plus column here considering there are much more creators (BeeHiiv is popular among media brands) to collaborate with and share recommendations for.

#2: Referrals, Giveaways, Paid Recs and More

Once you hit 3,000-5,000 subscribers you're going to really want to start taking advantage of internal growth tactics.

There are three ways to grow your list: Organic Growth, Internal Growth and Paid Growth.

ConvertKit and BeeHiiv make it seamless to take advantage of all of them.

ConvertKit now owns SparkLoop (you can start with BeeHiiv's built in growth tactics like Magic Links and Boosts, but will eventually want SparkLoop), so all of this is made extremely easy to integrate (and basically free).

We're talking about things like:

Paid Recommendations (Earn): Get paid to recommend other creators/newsletters. This is an amazing way to self liquidate paid acquisition.

Paid Recommendations (Grow): Pay others to drive subscribers to you. This is an incredible way to get active subscribers on your list that are already reading newsletters.

Giveaways: Run giveaways to your list or other newsletters to promote growth.

Referral Programs: This one is MASSIVE for growth. You can offer free things for referring other likeminded subscribers to join your list. (If someone on your list refers X amount of friends to join yours, then they get something free).

And this is just the broad overview of what can be done with these tools.

As a creator, you CANNOT pass them up as growth tools if your newsletter is an important part of your business (and of course it is...).

So Which Do I Choose?

I personally prefer ConvertKit.

My newsletter The Creator Newsletters is on ConvertKit, and I almost always recommend it for creators.

As you read above, there are perks of using it for access to more creators in the Creator Network, the fact that they also own SparkLoop for easy integration, and more.
ConvertKit also has more robust automation, and easier integrations with things like sales carts and other landing pages.

For example: with just a few clicks I'm all set up between ConvertKit and ThriveCart so everything is automated.

With BeeHiiv I have to use Zapier as a middle man.

BUT, there are some creators that will still want to go with BeeHiiv for one main reason....

BeeHiiv makes it easier to host your website/blog as an all in one solution.

What does this mean?

Right now you're reading this on a WordPress website that I built and host myself. I write articles on it, and I then send them out to my newsletter.

Other creators write their newsletter and then have them auto-post over to their blog that they host.

With BeeHiiv, they make the process of hosting the website/blog much easier than ConvertKit (even though ConvertKit is trying to compete with them on that end as well).

Here are a few examples of BeeHiiv newsletters that are all in one:

And here are a few creators that use ConvertKit with a self hosted website:

Quick Recap...

Both ConvertKit and BeeHiiv are great options.

I work with both. My personal newsletter is on ConvertKit and my brother's newsletter (The Restaurant Launch) is on BeeHiiv (which I run).

Here's what it comes down to:

ConvertKit is the overall best option.
BeeHiiv is great, but should really only be chosen if it's an issue to host your website separately and you want an all in one solution.

Here are my affiliate links again if you want to support me by using them: