ConvertKit vs beehiiv (I Sent 500,000 Emails on Each)

If you’re writing an e-mail newsletter, there are really only two software providers to consider: ConvertKit and beehiiv.

Which one should you choose? I’ve sent over 500,000 e-mails on both platforms, here’s my take…

tl;dr – both are solid options, but I recommend beehiiv over ConvertKit

My Experience With ConvertKit and beehiiv

In early 2023, I launched a sports newsletter to pair with one of my e-commerce brands. I started the newsletter on beehiiv, and quickly grew it to 25,000 subscribers through paid ads.

At that point, I thought I wanted to take advantage of more advanced automation rules (something ConvertKit excels in). So I moved my newsletter over to ConvertKit.

After 60 days or so on ConvertKit, I ended up closing up shop and moving the newsletter back to beehiiv.

Here are the pro’s and con’s of each platform, and why I ultimately chose to return to beehiiv.

E-mail Editor: ConvertKit vs beehiiv

If you’re writing a newsletter, you’re going to spend a lot of time in the e-mail editor window of your software provider. So it’s important that it doesn’t drive you nuts.

beehiiv’s editor is amazing. It feels like a more modern web app than ConvertKit, and supports all sorts of embeds.

I love how easy everything is to access through their slash commands:

beehiiv also supports embedding content extremely well. It’s super easy to drop an Instagram or YouTube link and have it formatted perfectly into your e-mail:

Another great feature about beehiiv’s content editor is you can paste images directly from your clipboard into e-mails.

beehiiv allows you to create polls, which subscribers love (and are great for your e-mail engagement).

These all seem like little things, but they really add up. You can create beautiful emails FAST in beehiiv.

ConvertKit’s editor is “fine.” You can’t paste images into it directly from the clipboard. It handles YouTube links pretty clumsily (it constantly tries to embed them, even if you want to just add a hyperlink). It’s by no means horrible, but it is definitely clunkier and slower than beehiiv’s.

At the end of the day, it just took me a lot longer to write an e-mail with ConvertKit than it did with beehiiv.

Winner: beehiiv.

Deliverability: ConvertKit vs beehiiv

E-mail deliverability is measured by how many of your subscribers are opening and clicking your e-mails.

It’s easy to get hung up on these stats… but I don’t 100% trust them. Apple Mail now opens 100% of e-mails for many users, which muddies these numbers. And your e-mail platform is incentivized to make you think you are crushing it on engagement metrics.

With beehiiv, I’m getting open rates in the mid 50%’s (solid).

ConvertKit definitely reported higher engagement rates, the low 60%’s.

In my experience, ConvertKit’s deliverability was a solid 10-15% better than beehiiv’s.

Winner: ConvertKit.

Pricing: ConvertKit vs beehiiv

If you’re just starting out, ConvertKit offers a free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers. beehiiv’s free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers.

But to unlock the real features of these e-mail providers (like sending e-mails from a custom domain) you’ll need a paid plan.

ConvertKit and Beehiiv both gates some of their features like referral systems behind their Pro plans.

Number of Subscribers	ConvertKit Monthly Price	beehiiv Monthly Price
500	$15 (free plan available)	$49 (free plan available)
5,000	$79 or $111 for Pro	$49
50,000	$379 or $519 for Pro	$99 (Scale plan, all features)

Yea, if you’re just starting out maybe you’ll save a few bucks with ConvertKit. But as your newsletter grows you’ll quickly be saving money by running things on beehiiv.

beehiiv’s pricing is also a lot more predictable, and caps out at $99 per month until you break 100,000 subscribers. With just over 25,000 subscribers, I was paying ConvertKit $363/month for their “Pro” plan.

Not cheap!

Winner: beehiiv.

Final Thoughts on ConvertKit vs beehiiv

You really can’t go wrong with either of these platforms. They are both best-in-class e-mail providers for newsletters.

Ultimately for me, I prioritized time and ease of use and ended up back with beehiiv. I could just write e-mails a lot faster, and with a lot less brain damage suffered, using beehiiv’s content editor instead of ConvertKit’s.

If deliverability is king for you or your business requires advanced automations, ConvertKit could be a better fit.

It’s easy to get paralyzed picking the right software stack. At the end of the day, this is just a form of procrastination. Pick one, start writing, and grow your e-mail list.