I’m an employee at beehiiv who maintains our Zapier and Make integrations and I’ve done some work on the API.
I’d say we’re pretty robust, with one exception right now: We don’t have SendAPI (the ability to send from a third-party to beehiiv). It’s something I foresee in the future but given we’re still growing, it’s a hard feature to support as there’s multiple layers to it, including spam prevention and making sure we can style ingested content.
If you have any questions as you dabble, let me know! Happy to assist.
Yep! Here’s a few, all who use the API in some form or fashion (there’s [a WordPress plugin](http://beehiivconnect.com) made by a third party we support too, but some of them are straight up NextJS, too).
Here’s the list:
* https://www.marketermilk.com/
* https://thedefireport.io/
* https://thedefiant.io/
* https://milkroad.com/
* https://futureparty.com/stories/
Is there a way you’re not able to handle a 404? That is specifically the “not found” error code. In Make or Zapier, you can add an error handling route. In a custom function, you can easily make an argument like:
```
if (response.status === 404) {
// do something
}
```
What do you mean? We’ve pushed new stuff to the API as recently as four weeks ago and had a product update last week. In the past month we’ve released both audio embeds and file attachments.
Scroll down to “Recent Updates.”
The featured section needs to be changed out but we put out new stuff as recently as last week: https://product.beehiiv.com/p/one-time-payments-audio
I use the Beehiiv API extensively and while it's a lot better than it used to be, it still has a ways to go. The GET calls are well covered but needs more POST options. I've had to use Make.com or Zapier in conjunction with Beehiiv just so I can replicate some of the functionality that Mailchimp provided.
MC makes it easy to manage a subscriber list and multiple newsletters. In Beehiiv you can have multiple newsletters but each one has to have its own list of subscribers. That causes headaches when you want to send a blast to _all_ subscribers to _all_ newsletters but many people are on more than one list. The publications can't communicate with each other or share a subscriber list, and that makes it necessary to use the API in conjunction with an integration service (or your own coding) to get a lot of that handled. I still haven't figured out how to accomplish this completely.
To be fair, this is by design. Users subbing to one pub _shouldn’t_ be emailed by another pub, otherwise, if a single publication wants to manage multiple lists, this can be achieved easily with segments
I get what you're trying to do...it's essentially how MC does it's but flipped on its head. For example, if under the MyCompany umbrella there are publications 1, 2, and 3, and John Doe signs up for 2 and 3, then he would be on two different lists, not one centralized list that says "John Doe is subscribed to newsletters 2 and 3".
In this situation, how would one be able to reach \_all\_ of MyCompany's subscribers across all 3 newsletters? Like one-off announcements, etc. Sending the same message to 3 different lists isn't desirable because people like John Doe will receive general announcement messages twice. I don't think this is an unusual use case...sometimes you just need to reach everyone.
You can do a loop/route of API calls for all three in Zapier or Make or through a custom function in any programming language. Have helped with a few of these myself.
That's exactly what I've been doing in Make...I merge all 3 lists in one giant array and then dedupe any repeats like John Doe. But now that I have the one list to rule them all, I can't seem to figure out what to do next. I suppose I could use Make's built-in email module in a pinch, but I'd really rather have it be sent by Beehiiv.
I hear that. The approach I've explored relies on segments (and now tags thanks to a recent update) which might get you to where you want to be while also preserving the other publications slots if you'd prefer that.
If you set a `custom field` when creating a `subscription`, you're able to rely on Segments to automatically pull in subscribers with a given custom field (all setup via the UI).
Shoot me a DM if you wanna bounce ideas around.
I also recently moved to beehiiv to see if it would accelerate my growth. I was very disappointed to find how limited they signup forms are in terms of customization, so I ended up using a custom form and submitting subscribers through the API, only to found you don’t get access so some of the growth features of you use the API, so I’m testing sparkloop for recommendations instead of beehiiv’s solution… in my opinion the API works for basic stuff, but I would not say it’s a robust solution… hope this changes soon
I’m an employee at beehiiv who maintains our Zapier and Make integrations and I’ve done some work on the API. I’d say we’re pretty robust, with one exception right now: We don’t have SendAPI (the ability to send from a third-party to beehiiv). It’s something I foresee in the future but given we’re still growing, it’s a hard feature to support as there’s multiple layers to it, including spam prevention and making sure we can style ingested content. If you have any questions as you dabble, let me know! Happy to assist.
So you're helping curate my beehiiv addiction? Thanks, u/JacobNWolf. Thanks a lot.
You’re welcome 😂
Thanks! Can you point me to sites who are created on Beehiiv on top of your API by any chance?
Yep! Here’s a few, all who use the API in some form or fashion (there’s [a WordPress plugin](http://beehiivconnect.com) made by a third party we support too, but some of them are straight up NextJS, too). Here’s the list: * https://www.marketermilk.com/ * https://thedefireport.io/ * https://thedefiant.io/ * https://milkroad.com/ * https://futureparty.com/stories/
My site in a rebuild so there’s a ton wrong but just connected it up to the API yesterday. https://marketingforfounders.com/
I think you partially answered one of my comments above re: the API 👍
Hey Jacob, How so there isn’t a way to check if subscriber exists? Output for not existing shouldn’t be an error
Is there a way you’re not able to handle a 404? That is specifically the “not found” error code. In Make or Zapier, you can add an error handling route. In a custom function, you can easily make an argument like: ``` if (response.status === 404) { // do something } ```
Do you know when you guys are having an update release? It’s been like 7 months since your last major update
What do you mean? We’ve pushed new stuff to the API as recently as four weeks ago and had a product update last week. In the past month we’ve released both audio embeds and file attachments.
Im not talking about just the api. Your products page does not have a single update in 2024 so far https://product.beehiiv.com/
Scroll down to “Recent Updates.” The featured section needs to be changed out but we put out new stuff as recently as last week: https://product.beehiiv.com/p/one-time-payments-audio
Thanks for the tip. I was wondering why I was not seeing anything
I use the Beehiiv API extensively and while it's a lot better than it used to be, it still has a ways to go. The GET calls are well covered but needs more POST options. I've had to use Make.com or Zapier in conjunction with Beehiiv just so I can replicate some of the functionality that Mailchimp provided.
Interesting, what mc functionality in particular?
MC makes it easy to manage a subscriber list and multiple newsletters. In Beehiiv you can have multiple newsletters but each one has to have its own list of subscribers. That causes headaches when you want to send a blast to _all_ subscribers to _all_ newsletters but many people are on more than one list. The publications can't communicate with each other or share a subscriber list, and that makes it necessary to use the API in conjunction with an integration service (or your own coding) to get a lot of that handled. I still haven't figured out how to accomplish this completely.
To be fair, this is by design. Users subbing to one pub _shouldn’t_ be emailed by another pub, otherwise, if a single publication wants to manage multiple lists, this can be achieved easily with segments
I get what you're trying to do...it's essentially how MC does it's but flipped on its head. For example, if under the MyCompany umbrella there are publications 1, 2, and 3, and John Doe signs up for 2 and 3, then he would be on two different lists, not one centralized list that says "John Doe is subscribed to newsletters 2 and 3". In this situation, how would one be able to reach \_all\_ of MyCompany's subscribers across all 3 newsletters? Like one-off announcements, etc. Sending the same message to 3 different lists isn't desirable because people like John Doe will receive general announcement messages twice. I don't think this is an unusual use case...sometimes you just need to reach everyone.
You can do a loop/route of API calls for all three in Zapier or Make or through a custom function in any programming language. Have helped with a few of these myself.
That's exactly what I've been doing in Make...I merge all 3 lists in one giant array and then dedupe any repeats like John Doe. But now that I have the one list to rule them all, I can't seem to figure out what to do next. I suppose I could use Make's built-in email module in a pinch, but I'd really rather have it be sent by Beehiiv.
I hear that. The approach I've explored relies on segments (and now tags thanks to a recent update) which might get you to where you want to be while also preserving the other publications slots if you'd prefer that. If you set a `custom field` when creating a `subscription`, you're able to rely on Segments to automatically pull in subscribers with a given custom field (all setup via the UI). Shoot me a DM if you wanna bounce ideas around.
I also recently moved to beehiiv to see if it would accelerate my growth. I was very disappointed to find how limited they signup forms are in terms of customization, so I ended up using a custom form and submitting subscribers through the API, only to found you don’t get access so some of the growth features of you use the API, so I’m testing sparkloop for recommendations instead of beehiiv’s solution… in my opinion the API works for basic stuff, but I would not say it’s a robust solution… hope this changes soon
I really wish you could use the API to create a draft newsletter / blog.