Website Builder Tools

I’m Kayla Sox. I build things on the web for a living. I’ve used both ClickFunnels and WordPress for my own stuff and for clients. I’ve sold a course, filled a webinar, and ran a small online shop that smells like vanilla and wax. You know what? Both tools made me money. But they feel very different in real life.

If you want to dive even deeper into the side-by-side details, I documented the nitty-gritty numbers in this extended write-up: ClickFunnels vs WordPress—my full test results and takeaways.

Here’s the quick take: ClickFunnels is fast for selling one thing. WordPress is a full home you control. I still pay for both, but for different reasons.

The super short recap

• ClickFunnels: Great for quick funnels, launches, and simple offers. It’s pricey, but fast.
• WordPress: Great for blogs, stores, and content. It’s cheaper, but takes more setup.
• My rule: If I need speed and conversions this week, I use ClickFunnels. If I need a brand, SEO, and many pages, I use WordPress.

If you want a broader view of how these stack up against dozens of other platforms, I keep this comparison chart from WebsiteBuilderTools bookmarked for quick gut-checks. For another take with more feature-by-feature scoring, the Forbes Advisor ClickFunnels vs WordPress comparison is worth a skim.

Let me explain with real stuff I shipped.

My ClickFunnels weekend that paid for itself

Two summers ago, I built a webinar funnel in ClickFunnels 2.0 over one long weekend. Lots of coffee. Simple steps:

• Page 1: Email sign-up page with a headline, image from Canva, and a big blue button.
• Page 2: Thank-you page with a calendar link.
• Page 3: Order page for a $97 mini course. I added an order bump for $17. Then a one-click upsell for $47.

I ran a small Facebook ad. I also sent three emails to my tiny list.

Here were my real numbers from that run:

• 1,284 leads in 10 days
• $3.12 cost per lead
• 8.4% bought the $97 course
• The order bump hit 28% take rate
• The upsell hit 12% take rate

I also ran a split test. I changed the button color from gray to blue and added “Starts Tuesday.” That alone raised clicks by 18%. Wild.

What I loved:

• Templates. I dragged, dropped, and shipped. No code.
• Built-in checkout with Stripe. Fast setup.
• One-click bumps and upsells. Money I would’ve left on the table.
• Stats in one place. I could see the whole funnel like a map.

What bugged me:

• The price. I pay $147/month for the basic plan. It adds up.
• Design limits. I fought spacing on mobile. I still remember that stubborn hero image.
• Vendor lock-in. If you leave, you can’t just “move” your pages like normal pages.
• Page speed. Pretty pages, but sometimes heavy. My GTmetrix grade was “fine,” not great.

Still, that weekend paid for six months of the tool. So yes, I smiled.

My WordPress shop that grew slow and steady

Now my candle site. I built it on WordPress with WooCommerce. Hosting on SiteGround. Theme: Astra. Page builder: Elementor. Extra helpers: WP Rocket for speed and Yoast for SEO.

It took me about three weeks to get the store, blog, and branding right. Why longer? Because I wanted control. The color system. The blog layout. The checkout fields. I fussed over it like a garden.

Real results from that site:

• 60% of sales come from Google now
• Top blog post brings ~1,100 visits a month (“how to fix candle tunneling” — yes, that’s a thing)
• Average order value is $42
• Site speed got good after I added WP Rocket and WebP images

What I loved:

• Full control. Font kits, layouts, custom fields… all mine.
• SEO power. Blog posts rank. I can add schema, alt text, and neat slugs.
• Cost. My stack runs about $20–$30 a month across hosting and plugins.
• Flexibility. I can add a podcast page, a recipe card, a quiz—no gate.

What tripped me up:

• Plugin fights. One update broke my checkout once. I rolled back with a backup.
• Learning curve. Not hard, but there’s a lot of tiny knobs.
• No single dashboard for funnels. You stitch tools together.

Cost in real life (what I pay)

• ClickFunnels 2.0 Basic: $147/month
• WordPress stack:
  • SiteGround hosting: $12/month for my plan
  • Elementor Pro: paid yearly (about $5/month if you split it)
  • WP Rocket: paid yearly (about $5/month)
  • WooCommerce: free for my setup

So WordPress is cheaper. ClickFunnels is simpler. That’s the trade. If you want to see how thousands of users rate both tools on price, ease, and support side by side, check the G2 comparison page.

Speed to publish vs power to grow

ClickFunnels is fast. I can ship a fresh funnel in a day. Great for a flash sale, a book funnel, or a webinar.

WordPress is a slower start, then smooth. Once I set my theme and parts, I can publish posts in minutes. It’s good for steady traffic and long-term stuff.

Honestly, I like both rhythms. A launch feels like a sprint. A blog feels like a long walk.

Design and brand control

ClickFunnels gives you nice blocks. But it still feels like their world. I can match colors and fonts, but deep layout tweaks can be messy.

WordPress feels like clay. If I want a custom header that changes by category, I can do it. If I want a sticky add-to-cart on mobile only, I can do that too.

Small thing, big deal: microcopy. In WordPress, I can edit tiny field labels or error text. In ClickFunnels, little labels sometimes stay… little strangers.

Sales tools that matter

• Upsells and bumps: ClickFunnels makes these dead simple. On my WordPress store, I used a WooCommerce add-on to copy that flow. It worked, but took setup.
• Split tests: ClickFunnels has this built in. On WordPress, I used Google Optimize before it ended, then moved to a simple headline testing plugin. It’s okay, not as clean.
• Email: I used ClickFunnels’ email tool once. Delivery was fine for reminders, but for my main list I still use ConvertKit. On WordPress, I use ConvertKit forms with a plugin. Works great.

If you happen to be in a niche where the “product” is live video itself—think creators who earn through tips rather than checkouts—then a purpose-built cam platform can sometimes outperform both WordPress and ClickFunnels. One of the biggest marketplaces is BongaCams, and this in-depth BongaCams review gives you concrete traffic numbers, payout percentages, and marketing features so you can quickly gauge whether plugging into an established cam network could earn more than building your own funnel from scratch.

SEO and content

This is where WordPress wins. Hands down.

My candle site ranks because:

• I can write big, helpful posts
• I can organize by category and tags
• I can control meta data and internal links

ClickFunnels can host a blog, but it’s not a blog tool. I tried. It felt cramped.

For very location-based businesses, sometimes you don’t even need a full site or funnel at first—you just need to make sure you’re discoverable in the directory your audience already trusts. For example, massage studios in the Houston suburbs often see a quick bump in walk-in traffic simply by claiming or optimizing their listing on Rubmaps Deer Park, a localized review page that surfaces photos, operational details, and candid customer feedback so prospects can decide whether to visit—all without you lifting more than a phone to verify the info.

Speed and hosting

With WordPress, I’m in charge. That’s good and bad. I use:

• Cloudflare for CDN
• WP Rocket for caching
• ShortPixel to crunch images
• A weekly backup to Google Drive

ClickFunnels hosts it all. Less to manage. Fewer knobs. But also fewer ways to tune. On a heavy traffic night, my funnel held up fine. So credit where it’s due.

Support and “who helps me at 2 a.m.”

ClickFunnels chat helped me fix a checkout bug in under an hour once. That was nice.

WordPress support is spread out. Host, theme, plugin. When my checkout broke, SiteGround helped roll back, and the plugin dev pushed a patch the next day. It worked, but I had to be the glue.

Little hiccups I hit

• ClickFunnels: A countdown timer didn’t show on Android for one test. I rebuilt that block and it was okay.
• WordPress: Elementor and a shipping plugin clashed. I

Quick outline

• My use case and set-up
• What ClickFunnels got right and wrong
• What Kartra nailed and where it tripped
• Real numbers from my launches
• Email, design, speed, and support
• Who I’d pick for what
• My current stack

Here’s the thing: I’ve built funnels for my own tiny shop and for clients. I’ve used both ClickFunnels and Kartra for live launches, evergreen sales, and simple lead magnets. I’ve broken pages at midnight. I’ve fixed them at 12:07. So this isn’t theory. It’s the stuff I learned the messy way.

Quick reality check: When you’re scrolling through glossy sales pages for funnel software, it feels a lot like swiping dating profiles—everything looks flawless until you realize you’ve been catfished. Catch the cautionary tale here and learn the subtle red-flag signals so your next SaaS “match” doesn’t burn your launch budget.

Want another quick lesson in how stripped-down pages can still drive decisive user action? Take a look at how a niche local directory structures its call-outs on Rubmaps Palm Bay — the walk-through shows how tight headline hierarchies and above-the-fold reviews nudge visitors to click, giving you swipe-worthy inspiration for simplifying your own high-conversion layouts.

My set-up (so you see the whole picture)

• Niche: online courses and a physical planner.
• Payments: Stripe + PayPal.
• Email: ConvertKit for ClickFunnels. Native email in Kartra.
• Extras: Facebook Pixel, Google Tag Manager, UTM tracking, and Zapier.

Now, the juicy parts.

ClickFunnels: Fast hands, fast build… with a few squeaks
The first weekend I used ClickFunnels 2.0, I built a three-step funnel for a $37 Instagram Reels mini-course. I used a clean template, dropped in a short demo video, and set up one order bump ($9 captions pack) and a one-time offer ($67 content vault).

What went great

• Speed to build: I made the core funnel in two hours. No joke. Drag, drop, done.
• A/B test: I tested two headlines. “Make Reels in 10 Minutes” beat “Reels That Sell” by 18%. The tool made it simple.
• Checkout magic: Order bump took 23% of buyers. The one-time offer took 12%. That extra cash felt like free money.
• Templates: The pre-built layouts looked clean. Less tinkering. More selling.

What bugged me

• Email: The native email felt thin for me. I moved to ConvertKit after one week so I could tag people by product and clicks.
• Mobile quirks: My hero image looked great on desktop but crushed on iPhone. I had to stack rows and add custom spacing. Not hard, just fussy.
• Script weight: My pages looked fast in the editor. But real load time on 4G? Meh. When I trimmed countdown timers and social proof widgets, mobile bounce dropped by 7%.

For ClickFunnels’ own point-of-view on where they shine (and where Kartra doesn’t), you can skim their in-depth comparison for extra context.

Real numbers from that weekend launch

• Page views: 2,412
• Sign-ups on the free training page: 41%
• Sales page conversion: 4.9%
• Average order value: $58.30 (thanks to the order bump + offer)
• Refunds: 1.6%
  I ran traffic from Instagram Stories and one small email blast. Tracking UTM links inside ClickFunnels was fine, though I leaned on Google Analytics to be sure.

Kartra: One roof, many rooms
Two months later, I ran a 5-day “Email Bootcamp” and used Kartra for everything. If you’d like to see Kartra’s own head-to-head feature checklist, they publish an official comparison against ClickFunnels you can browse.

What went great

• Email and tags: I built a 9-email path with tags like “Bootcamp Day 3 Watched” and “Did Not Click.” If someone skipped Day 2, they got a gentle nudge. Open rates stayed near 36%.
• Membership area: I made a simple members portal for the replays and worksheets. Drip by day. No plugin chase.
• Video hosting with actions: When folks watched 75% of a lesson, Kartra tagged them. Day 5 buyers were mostly those 75% watchers. Handy for retargeting later.
• Helpdesk: One page for FAQs, tickets, and a chat window. I set rules so billing tickets hit my inbox first.

Where it tripped me up

• Page builder lag: The editor felt heavier. Saving took a few seconds. Not a deal breaker, but I felt it.
• Design freedom: I could make pretty pages. But ClickFunnels gave me more “snap.” Kartra felt… boxy unless I fussed with spacing.
• Checkout styling: Solid and safe, but less “wow.” My designer brain wanted one more font weight and a bolder button state.

Real numbers from the bootcamp

• Sign-up page conversion: 38% from a similar warm list
• Show-up rate on Day 1 live: 29%
• Sales page conversion on the last day: 3.6%
• Average order value: $72.40 (lower base price, stronger bundle)
• Support tickets resolved inside Kartra: 57 in the first 48 hours

Email: where each one shines

• ClickFunnels + ConvertKit: Best for me when I want fancy rules, link triggers, and pretty broadcasts. I loved creating “clicked but didn’t buy” groups.
• Kartra Email: Not as flashy, but plenty strong. Tags, sequences, split sends, and goal steps. My deliverability held steady. Warm list. Clean domain.

Design and build feel

• ClickFunnels: Feels like quick Lego bricks. I can test a new hero in minutes. Great for rapid-fire offers, upsells, and holiday flash sales.
• Kartra: Feels like building a house with rooms. Slower, but everything fits—pages, email, courses, helpdesk, calendar. Less glue, fewer zaps.

Speed and stability
I ran a Black Friday promo on both in different years.

• ClickFunnels: One countdown script went wild and slowed mobile. I turned it off mid-campaign and the page snapped back. Sales recovered.
• Kartra: Traffic spike was fine, but the editor had a five-second delay while saving changes during peak time. Front-end for shoppers stayed stable.

Money talk (what I actually felt on my bill)
With ClickFunnels, I paid more for the builder and used extra tools for email and video. With Kartra, I paid one bill that covered most of my stack. When my contact list grew, Kartra’s plan jumped faster. With ClickFunnels, the jump came when I needed the higher features (like the full affiliate center). So costs evened out for me over a few months.

Support and help

• ClickFunnels: Chat was fast during U.S. hours. The Facebook group threw quick answers too, though hit or miss.
• Kartra: Tickets were steady and clear. Not fast-fast, but I got human replies that fixed my issue.

For readers who want another layer of nitty-gritty comparisons—across pricing tiers, feature roll-outs, and load speeds—I keep a living spreadsheet over at WebsiteBuilderTools that you can browse before making the leap. For a blow-by-blow narrative—including the features that surprised me, screenshots, and updated performance numbers—you can check out my full ClickFunnels vs Kartra deep-dive anytime.

Little things I loved

• ClickFunnels: A/B tests were brain-dead simple. Order bumps looked sharp. Cloning funnels for client work saved me hours.
• Kartra: The helpdesk + membership combo cut chaos. I also liked the video call-to-action pop-ups at the 4:10 mark.

Odd contradictions (that still make sense)
ClickFunnels felt faster to build, yet sometimes loaded slower for visitors if I stacked on scripts. Kartra felt slower to build, yet the visitor side stayed smooth, even when I piled on tags and video triggers. Funny how that works.

Who should pick what

• Pick ClickFunnels if: You move fast, love split tests, and live on upsells and order bumps. You’re cool pairing it with a strong email tool like ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign.
• Pick Kartra if: You want one home for pages, email, membership, video, calendar, and support. Your brain likes tidy systems more than heavy design tricks.

Still on the fence and wondering how ClickFunnels stacks up against a classic WordPress setup? I ran both side by side and summed up the wins, fails, and final numbers in this ClickFunnels vs WordPress case study.

My current stack (today, not forever)
I run ClickFunnels for quick sales pages and limited-time offers. I pair it with ConvertKit for email. For bigger course launches with replays, tags, and a helpdesk, I use Kartra. Two tools. Fewer headaches than you’d think.

Tiny setup recipes you can steal

I’m Kayla. I sell a small digital planner line and a tiny candle side gig from my garage. I also run a short video class for beginners. I’m busy, a little scrappy, and I work while my kid naps. So tools have to earn their keep.

I spent one month with GetResponse and two big launches with ClickFunnels. I built real pages. I sent real emails. I paid real bills. Here’s what actually happened.
(If you want my longer, nuts-and-bolts comparison, I laid out every test in this ClickFunnels vs GetResponse deep dive.)

Quick vibe check

• ClickFunnels felt like a “sell now” machine. Fast builds. Strong checkout. Big on upsells.
• GetResponse felt like an “email brain.” Clean sends. Smart tags. Great for long games and webinars.

I liked both. I also got annoyed at both. Let me explain.

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My ClickFunnels week: sell fast, tweak later

(Considering another contender? I also pitted ClickFunnels against Kartra and shared the candid results in this hands-on story.)

I built a 3-step funnel for my $27 digital planner bundle.

• Page 1: a simple sign-up page with a short video and big button
• Page 2: sales page + checkout with Stripe
• Page 3: thank-you page with a one-click upsell for a $47 mini video class
• Plus a cute $9 “sticker pack” order bump at checkout

Build time: about 3 hours with coffee and a dog at my feet. The drag-and-drop editor was quick. I used one of their bold templates. Fonts were a touch loud, but I tuned them.

Real numbers from my first push:

• Ad spend: $200 on Facebook
• Visitors: about 1,000
• Sales: 24 of the $27 bundle
• Order bump: 10 people grabbed the $9 pack
• Upsell: 6 people took the $47 class

Revenue in two days: around $1,020. I was happy. My average order got a nice lift from the bump and upsell. That’s the ClickFunnels sauce.

What bugged me:

• Mobile spacing got weird. I had to tweak “mobile only” settings on a few rows. Not hard—just fussy.
• Page load on my older Android felt slow—about 4–5 seconds on cell data. I cut image sizes and that helped.
• Price. My plan ran me $147 per month. Fine for launch weeks. Painful when I wasn’t pushing hard.

Support chat was super friendly, but a bit salesy. They nudged me toward higher plans. I get it, but still. Curious how other small businesses rate their experiences? Browse the aggregated reviews on G2. And just like software, local services live or die by candid ratings—if you ever find yourself vetting massage spots while passing through northern Nevada, this Rubmaps Sparks directory lays out honest customer reviews, prices, and safety notes so you can make a quick, informed choice.

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My GetResponse month: email brain with steady hands

I moved my list and set up a welcome flow, weekly tips, and a small webinar.

What I built:

• A sign-up page with a clean, calm look
• A 5-email welcome series with tags like “warm” and “new buyer”
• A live webinar called “Plan Your Week in 30 Minutes”
• A simple funnel to sell the same $27 planner bundle after the webinar

Real numbers from that month:

• 350 people signed up for the webinar
• 220 showed up live
• My reminder emails hit about 42% opens and 9% clicks (nice bump for me)
• I sold 18 copies live, then 11 more from the replay emails over 7 days

Total from the webinar push: 29 sales x $27 = $783, with no ad spend. Most sign-ups came from Instagram Stories and a pinned post.

What I liked:

• Emails landed well in Gmail and Outlook for my list.
• The automation map was clear. If someone clicked the planner link but didn’t buy, I sent a gentle follow-up two days later.
• The webinar tool saved me from juggling three apps. Fewer tabs, fewer oops moments.

What bugged me:

• The landing page builder felt a bit stiff next to ClickFunnels. Fewer loud templates. Fewer fancy blocks.
• Finding things took clicks. Lists. Tags. Workflows. Then goals. It’s tidy, but the menu maze made me sigh.
• Cost grows with contacts. I started free at first. When I hit around 5,000 people and turned on automation, my bill landed around $59 that month. Still fair, but it creeps.

Support was calm and thorough. Not as fast as my ClickFunnels chat on busy days, but they sent clear steps and screenshots.

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Head-to-head: where each one shines

ClickFunnels won for:

• Fast funnels and bold sales pages
• Easy upsells and order bumps that boost cart value
• Launch weeks where speed and checkout matter most

GetResponse won for:

• Clean email sends and tagging
• Webinars without another tool
• Evergreen selling and steady list growth

Ease of use:

• ClickFunnels felt quick right away. But I had to fix mobile spacing and watch page weight.
• GetResponse took longer to set up. Once it clicked, my weekly sends ran like a smooth train.

If you want a side-by-side feature grid and pricing table beyond my own experiments, check out this in-depth review on Website Builder Tools. You can also see how the two tools compare in this Forbes Advisor analysis.

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Money talk (the part that hurts or helps)

• ClickFunnels: my bill was $147 per month. Worth it for launches. I paused once when I wasn’t selling much.
• GetResponse: first I was on the free tier (tiny list). Then I paid about $59 once my list grew and I used automation and webinars.

Could you run both? Yeah. I did. I kept ClickFunnels for two launch windows and ran GetResponse all year for email and webinars.

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Little things that mattered to me

• Editing on phone: ClickFunnels editing on mobile is rough. I used my laptop. GetResponse has an app for checks, so I peeked at stats while waiting in the car line.
• A/B tests: In ClickFunnels, I split-tested headlines on the front page. In GetResponse, I split subject lines. Both helped.
• Tracking: I used Stripe for payments and a simple Google Sheet via Zapier for a quick sales log. Not fancy. But it worked.
• Design: ClickFunnels pages felt big and hype-y. That matched ads and launch energy. GetResponse pages looked calm. That matched my weekly email vibe. (Curious how ClickFunnels pages stack up against a DIY WordPress setup? I shared what actually worked for me in this ClickFunnels vs WordPress comparison.)

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Real example: one week vs one month

Launch week with ClickFunnels:

• Day 1: build funnel and connect Stripe
• Day 2: test mobile, cut image sizes
• Day 3–4: run ads and a small warm list blast
• Day 5: swap headline after a split test
• Day 6–7: watch sales and tweak button copy

One month with GetResponse:

• Week 1: move list, tag buyers, set welcome series
• Week 2: build webinar and reminders
• Week 3: host, sell softly, send replay
• Week 4: weekly tips, two plain-text emails, a few more sales trickled in

Different rhythm. Both worked.

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So… which one did I keep?

Both, but not full-time.

• For heavy launches or a new product push, I turn on ClickFunnels. I want the upsell power and that bold sales flow.
• For daily life, I live in GetResponse. It keeps my list warm, runs webinars, and keeps my voice steady.

Choosing marketing software can feel a bit like choosing a dating app: each platform promises connections, but the real chemistry only shows once you’re inside clicking around. If you’d like to see how that plays out in the swipe-world, take a peek at this in-depth Zoosk review that breaks down real user experiences, pricing, and success tips so you can understand how thoughtful courting (or careless tapping) affects results.

If you sell one product hard and want bigger carts fast, go ClickFunnels. If you live on email and want steady growth with less drama, go GetResponse. And if you’re me? You time them. You use each when it shines.

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Tiny tips that saved me

• Keep images light. My ClickFunnels page got faster when I shrank hero pics under 200 KB.
• Plain-text emails sell more than you think. My short note with a simple P.S.

Note: This is a dramatized first-person account, written to feel like a real walkthrough.

Quick story time

I ran two very different projects. Same laptop. Same coffee. Two tools.

• Project A: fast pay-per-click landing pages for a summer kids’ soccer camp. Tight ad budget. Speed mattered. I used Instapage.
• Project B: a small digital course called “Phone Photo 101.” I needed a checkout, an order bump, and a one-click upsell. I used ClickFunnels.

If you’d prefer a data-driven, vendor-supplied breakdown, Instapage publishes an in-depth Instapage vs ClickFunnels feature comparison that’s worth skimming before you choose.

Both jobs had pressure. Different pressure, though. One needed clean clicks and high sign-ups. The other needed smooth sales and a higher cart value. Here’s how it went. If you’re curious about every tiny difference between the two, you can read my deeper, first-hand Instapage vs ClickFunnels comparison.

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Instapage: Clean, fast, and picky in a good way

I opened Instapage and felt calm. The editor let me place stuff exactly where I wanted—text, buttons, forms—without fighting the layout. I dragged a “Sign Up” form above the fold, added a big photo of kids playing soccer, and set the headline to match my Google Ads keyword. That match matters more than folks think. People need to see the same words they just searched.

I ran heatmaps to see where people stopped scrolling. Guess what? Most didn’t reach the coach bio section. So I moved the camp dates higher and trimmed fluff. Simple fix. Better results.

Then I ran an A/B test. Page A had a blue button; Page B used bright orange. Page B won. I didn’t expect it. I never do with colors.

For speed, Instapage just felt quick. I didn’t touch code. I still saw faster loads than my usual WordPress stack. That helped my Google Ads score and lowered my cost per click. Tiny gains add up.

A few bits that helped:

• Dynamic text swap: my headline changed based on the ad group. “Summer Soccer Camp” for one ad. “Girls Soccer Camp” for another.
• Instablocks: I saved a “trust bar” with camp logos and reused it on four pages.
• Easy hooks: I pushed form sign-ups to Mailchimp and sent a ping to Slack through Zapier. No drama.

But here’s the rub. Instapage is not a full sales machine. I needed a clean landing page and a thank-you page. Perfect. When I wanted a fancy checkout or an upsell? I hit a wall. You can stitch Stripe in with extra steps, but it’s not its sweet spot.

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ClickFunnels: Sell, sell, sell (even if the editor nags you)

When it was time to sell the “Phone Photo 101” course, I switched to ClickFunnels. The funnel template gave me four parts: landing, checkout, one-click upsell, and thank-you. I added an order bump for “Mobile Presets Pack.” One checkbox on the checkout page. Easy.

I connected Stripe for payments. I set a timer on the upsell page for a little nudge. I don’t love fake hype, so I kept it honest: “Save $20 if you add it now.” That’s it.

The page editor? It did the job, but spacing felt fussy. I’d nudge a headline, something else would jump. Not a dealbreaker—just a sigh and a sip of coffee. Mobile tweaks took an extra pass.

Still, the money stuff worked. My average order jumped. The $29 course turned into $41 on average once the order bump and upsell kicked in. Not every buyer clicked, of course. Enough did.

ClickFunnels also handled email follow-ups. I tagged buyers, sent a welcome note, and queued a tips series. Not fancy, but it worked. If you're weighing ClickFunnels against an email-focused option like GetResponse, my no-BS comparison might save you hours of tinkering.

What slowed me down:

• Styling feels boxy. Getting pixel-perfect layouts took extra time.
• Pages loaded fine, but not “zippy.” My ad pages felt snappier on Instapage.
• Reports were okay. Good for funnel steps. Less deep for granular page study.

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Real moments that stuck with me

• Soccer camp ads: I matched the ad text to the Instapage headline and moved the sign-up form higher. Warm weather hit, and sign-ups spiked. The coach teased me about my “giant orange button.” Hey, it worked.
• Photo course launch: I used a “behind-the-scenes” video on the ClickFunnels page. People loved it. The order bump for presets surprised me. I thought it would be a tiny add-on. It became a steady chunk of revenue.
• Black Friday: I cloned my ClickFunnels funnel in a snap, swapped the headline, and ran a 48-hour sale. The timer helped. I kept the copy short and clear. No shouting, just “Here’s the deal.”
• Shelton massage studio: While building a quick Instapage page for a friend’s boutique spa in Connecticut, I researched what locals were already saying about similar businesses and stumbled on the ultra-niche review directory—the detailed Rubmaps Shelton guide—which surfaced the exact services, opening hours, and price points customers raved about; mining those candid insights let me mirror the language in our ads and headline, boosting relevance and conversions right out of the gate.

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Where each one tripped me up

Instapage downsides:

• Cost feels high if you only need a page or two.
• Not built for a full store. Checkouts and upsells feel patched.
• You’ll use other tools for emails and memberships.

ClickFunnels downsides:

• Editor can feel clunky. Design finesse takes patience.
• Load times can lag on heavy pages.
• Reports and heatmaps aren’t as deep. I missed Instapage heatmaps.

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How I choose now

Here’s the thing: they’re different on purpose. If you’re still on the fence, it helps to scroll through real-user ratings—G2’s crowdsourced ClickFunnels vs Instapage comparison page surfaces pros, cons, and satisfaction scores from hundreds of marketers.

• If I’m running paid ads and every second counts, I reach for Instapage. Clean design. Speed. Easy tests. Great for agencies and campaigns.
• If I’m selling a product or course and want bumps, one-click upsells, and a simple membership area, I use ClickFunnels. It’s a sales stack in a box.

Think of it like this:

• Instapage = sharp landing page knife.
• ClickFunnels = full kitchen set. A little messy, but you can cook the whole meal.

And for anyone eyeing Kartra as another all-in-one rival, I’ve documented every win and gap in this ClickFunnels vs Kartra field report.

If you’d like to see how these two stack up against dozens of other landing page and funnel platforms, my go-to comparison cheat sheet lives on WebsiteBuilderTools.net.

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Small setup notes I wish someone told me

• Domains and SSL: connect early. Don’t wait until launch day.
• Tracking: both tools let you drop in pixels. I ran Meta Pixel and GA4 without a fight. Just test events with a friend’s phone too.
• Email: Instapage plays nice with Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and others. ClickFunnels can send emails itself or pass leads to your tool of choice.
• Teams: Instapage comments on page drafts kept feedback clean. ClickFunnels “share funnel” let me clone a setup for a partner fast.

One unusual but surprisingly effective trick: when I'm stuck on copy, I hop into a niche chat room to get raw, unfiltered reactions from real humans—in particular, many of my most candid brainstorming sessions happen in the welcoming LGBTQ space over at InstantChat's gay chat room. You’ll find a lively community there 24/7, and spending five minutes sharing a draft headline can return brutally honest (and often brilliant) feedback you can apply to your landing page immediately.

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Final call

• Go Instapage if you live on Google Ads or Facebook Ads and want fast pages, clean tests, and tight message match. It shines when you need sign-ups right now, without the full store baggage.
• Go ClickFunnels if you’re selling, plain and simple—course, coaching, or a small digital product—and you want bumps, upsells, and a smooth checkout in one place.

You know what? I still use both. Different jobs. Different tools. That’s not a cop-out; it’s the truth. Use the knife when you need a slice. Use the kitchen when you’re serving dinner.

Quick note up front: I used both tools in my own work. I built real funnels, sent real emails and texts, ran payments, and ran ads to them. Some numbers below are from my tests. Prices change, so take those as my snapshot.

Why I tried both

I run a small marketing shop. I help local brands and a few coaches. I needed pages, checkout, email, texts, and a simple CRM. Friends kept saying, “Use ClickFunnels.” A client then asked me to set up Pipeline Pro. So I tried both. And I kept them long enough to see what broke under stress.

The two projects that shaped my view

• My ClickFunnels test: a 6-week fitness bootcamp. I built a landing page, a 2-step order page, a bump, and one upsell for a meal plan.
• My Pipeline Pro test: a local dental clinic promo. Free whitening with a cleaning. I needed forms, a calendar, SMS reminders, and a tight pipeline to track no-shows.

Different jobs, same goal: get people to say yes.

Setup and my first hour

• ClickFunnels: I made an account like I was ordering socks. Smooth. The first hour felt easy. I grabbed a template and was building right away.
• Pipeline Pro: Setup took longer. I had to connect a phone number for texts and set sender stuff for email. Not hard, but it felt more “CRM-ish.” I like control, but still.

You know what? If you hate settings, ClickFunnels will feel calmer on day one. Tip: I documented the entire setup slog, with screenshots, in my full Pipeline Pro vs ClickFunnels breakdown.

Building pages and funnels

ClickFunnels pages are pretty. Drag, drop, done. I built my bootcamp funnel in about 45 minutes, and it looked clean on mobile. I did tweak spacing for small screens, but it wasn’t bad.

If you’re weighing ClickFunnels against a pure landing-page specialist, my Instapage vs ClickFunnels test shows where each one wins.

Pipeline Pro can build full funnels too. It’s solid. But the page editor felt a bit stiff. On mobile, some columns slid around on me. I fixed it, but it took time. The good part? It ties the page to the CRM and the follow-ups right away. That saved me clicks later.

Real results: did people buy?

• ClickFunnels bootcamp:

  • 2,130 visits over two weeks
  • 111 orders (5.2%)
  • $9,870 gross
  • I ran a headline test. “Get Fit Before Summer” vs “Drop 2 Sizes in 6 Weeks.” The second won by 18% on the order page. That felt good.

• Pipeline Pro dental promo:

  • 203 leads in 10 days
  • 71 booked on the calendar
  • 12 no-shows
  • After I added SMS reminders (24 hours and 2 hours before), no-shows dropped by about one-third the next week. The front desk hugged me. Well, almost.

Emails, texts, and follow-ups

ClickFunnels email was fine. My Gmail tests hit Promotions most of the time. That’s normal for promos. I built a 7-email nurture, and it was easy. The editor felt friendly. For texts, I used an add-on, and it worked, but it felt like an extra puzzle piece.

For an email-first angle, I ran ClickFunnels against GetResponse; the results surprised me.

Pipeline Pro owned this part. I set up:

• Missed-call text back (“Hey, saw you called. Want to book?”)
• A “cold lead wakes up” sequence (day 1, 3, 7 with SMS and email)
• Smart wait steps, tied to pipeline stage

We even used round-robin routing for two hygienists. When one was full, the other grabbed the next slot. It felt like watching Tetris, but for teeth.

Another local service case we scoped (a wellness spa that offers therapeutic massage) highlighted how directory traffic interacts with funnel tech. Potential clients often start their search on review hubs that catalog massage spots in their city. To see what one of those listings actually looks like—and why capturing the click-to-call from it matters—check the Rubmaps Leander profile. You’ll see how the page surfaces ratings, hours, and a phone number right at the top, which makes it painfully obvious why a missed-call text-back or quick-fire funnel follow-up closes more appointments.

Payments and checkout

ClickFunnels checkout was the smoothest. My order bump and one-click upsell worked right away. Refunds were simple. That’s their jam.

And if you’re curious how it fares against an “all-in-one” rival, my ClickFunnels vs Kartra story digs into the details.

Pipeline Pro worked with Stripe for me. No big drama. I did mess with taxes and coupon codes a bit longer. Not hard, just more clicks.

CRM and pipeline view

ClickFunnels has lists and a light CRM view. It’s fine for course sellers and coaches who don’t live in a CRM all day.

Pipeline Pro is a proper pipeline. I dragged cards from “New Lead” to “Booked” to “Showed.” I could see who needed a nudge. I could record calls. The front desk used it all day. That mattered.

Speed and stability

• ClickFunnels: My bootcamp landing page felt heavy on one test day. Mobile on 4G loaded in about 3 seconds for me. Not slow, not blazing.
• Pipeline Pro: My dental page felt a touch faster, around the mid-2s seconds on mobile. Could be the simple layout. Either way, both were okay for paid traffic.

Tiny note: Compress your images. It helps both.

A/B tests and reporting

ClickFunnels makes split testing easy. I made two headlines and swapped them fast. The report is clean.

Pipeline Pro can test, but I had to poke around more. The reporting is deeper for leads and calls, though. For local service, that’s gold.

Templates and design

ClickFunnels templates look like a pro did them. I changed colors and fonts and I was set.

For site owners comfy with the open-source route, I did a ClickFunnels vs WordPress mash-up to see which shipped pages faster (and ranked better).

Pipeline Pro has templates too, but I did more design work. It’s fine if you know what you want. If you want to “plug and play,” ClickFunnels wins here.

Integrations and extras

• Both worked fine with Stripe.
• I used Calendars inside Pipeline Pro. Loved it.
• Zapier helped me push ClickFunnels buyers into my accounting app.
• Pipeline Pro chat widget grabbed late-night questions. Two became booked calls. Not bad for a tiny bubble in the corner. If you’re curious about leveling-up your site conversations with more engaging—even playful—tools, take a peek at this curated list of “sexy” chat apps worth trying this year—it breaks down standout features, privacy perks, and best-fit audiences so you can choose a chat experience that turns casual browsers into eager leads.

For a broader look at how other funnel and site builders stack up, you can check the detailed comparisons over at WebsiteBuilderTools. For an in-depth side-by-side, I also found this comprehensive Pipeline Pro vs ClickFunnels study useful.

Support and learning curve

ClickFunnels chat replied in about 20 minutes when I asked about a checkout rule. The help docs were clear.

Pipeline Pro support replied overnight by email. There’s a user group that helped me with SMS flows. Once I set it up, I was fast. But that first week felt like… homework.

What each did better for me

Where ClickFunnels shined:

• Fast page building
• Pretty templates
• Smooth checkout and upsells
• Simple A/B tests

Where Pipeline Pro shined:

• CRM and pipeline tracking
• Built-in SMS that felt native
• Calendars and no-show control
• Missed-call text back (this won real money)

What bugged me

• ClickFunnels: Some edits didn’t “stick” until I refreshed. Also, the email tool is fine, but nothing special.
• Pipeline Pro: The page builder felt clunky on mobile layout. And setup for email/SMS took time. Worth it, but still time.

What I paid (my snapshot)

• ClickFunnels: I paid $147/month for my test plan.
• Pipeline Pro: I paid $97/month for my CRM plan plus texting costs.

Your prices may be different. Plans change. Text costs add up if you send a lot.

So… which one should you choose?

• Pick ClickFunnels if:
  • You sell courses,

I’m Kayla. I build pages for a living, and sometimes for fun. I’ve used both ClickFunnels and Unbounce on real campaigns that had real money on the line. I’ve had wins. I’ve had small messes. You know what? Both tools can work. But they’re not the same job.

Quick note: if you’d like the full blow-by-blow version with extra screenshots and spreadsheets, you can skim my expanded launch report right here: my hands-on ClickFunnels vs Unbounce breakdown.

Let me explain.

For an even wider lens on how the two platforms differ in features, pricing, and user feedback, you may want to dive into this comprehensive comparison of ClickFunnels and Unbounce.

What I used them for (real stories)

• ClickFunnels: I ran a live webinar to sell my $297 course on email writing. I used a full funnel: signup page, confirmation, live room, order page, one-click upsell, and a small add-on.
• Unbounce: I ran Google Ads for my printable planner (a $29 digital product) and a lead form for a local yoga studio’s summer bootcamp. Think fast pages, tight tests, and clear tracking.

Different goals, different tools. That’s the big theme.

ClickFunnels: When I needed the whole store, not just the front window

For my webinar launch, I wanted a smooth flow. People signed up, got reminders, watched, bought, and then saw an upsell. I didn’t want to stitch five tools.

Here’s how it went:

• Build time: one weekend. I used their sections/rows to stack pages fast. The templates looked “funnel-y,” if that makes sense.
• Money bits: I connected Stripe in minutes. I added an order bump for $27 and a one-click upsell at $97.
• The numbers:
  • 2,300 ad clicks
  • 38% signed up (874)
  • 41% showed up live (359)
  • 7.9% bought the $297 course (28 sales = $8,316)
  • 16 people took the $27 bump ($432)
  • 6 people took the $97 upsell ($582)
  • With ad spend near $2,700 and one month of fees, I ended up in the green.

What I liked:

• One place for pages, checkout, upsells, and emails. Less duct tape.
• The order bump and upsell were dead simple. No code. No tears.
• Their training videos gave me clear steps, even if the tone is a bit hype-y.

What bugged me:

• Page speed. Some pages felt heavy on mobile. Not awful, but not sleek.
• Design control is blocky. Pretty good, not pixel-perfect.
• A/B tests work, but the data view is basic. I had to double-check with my ad platform.
• Customer chat was helpful, but slow on a Sunday—right when my nerves were hot.

Would I use it again? Yes—when I need checkout, upsells, members, and emails in one neat box.

Unbounce: When I needed speed, clean tests, and paid ads magic

For my planner and the yoga studio, I cared about fast pages and tight ad matching. This is Unbounce’s sweet spot.

Here’s what I did:

• I built three versions of a landing page from scratch. Precise spacing. Clean typography. No fuss.
• I used dynamic text to match the ad keywords. “Daily Planner for Students”? The page said that. “Daily Planner for Moms”? The page shifted text to match.
• I ran split tests and turned on Smart Traffic. It sent each visitor to the version most likely to convert.

The numbers:

• Planner campaign: from 2.6% to 5.1% conversion after two weeks of testing. Same ad spend. Double the sales. That felt nice.
• Yoga bootcamp leads: went from 3.2% to 6.8% after headline and form tweaks. The sticky bar with a deadline helped near the end of the month.

While digging around for inspiration on local-search landing pages, I also looked at how niche review hubs structure their geo pages. A good example is Rubmaps New Berlin — check it out and you’ll see how tightly packed location cues, user ratings, and trust badges can nudge foot-traffic style conversions, ideas you can lift straight into an Unbounce or ClickFunnels build aimed at local audiences.

What I liked:

• The builder is smooth. It feels like design software. Pixel-perfect stuff.
• Pages load fast. My quality score held up in Google Ads.
• A/B testing and Smart Traffic were simple. The data made sense at a glance.
• Popups and sticky bars helped me push gentle promos without getting pushy.

What bugged me:

• No native checkout. I had to send buyers to a separate cart for the planner. That meant more steps.
• Building a “funnel” means linking pages by hand. It’s fine, but it’s not a full system.
• You pay by plan tiers tied to traffic and conversions. I had to watch my monthly counts.

Would I use it again? Every time I buy traffic and want clean control.

Design feel: block builder vs freehand

• ClickFunnels felt like Lego bricks. Fast to stack. Harder to make “bespoke.”
• Unbounce felt like a blank canvas. I could nudge a button one pixel and it stuck.

I like both, for different reasons. For a flash sale? I’ll take the Lego speed. For a paid search page that needs tight message match? Canvas, please.

Speed, SEO, and tracking

• Unbounce pages loaded faster in my tests. That helped my ad costs and bounce rates.
• ClickFunnels was fine for email traffic and social. For search ads, I saw better results with Unbounce.
• Tracking: Unbounce made it easy to place pixels and goals. ClickFunnels worked, but I had to do extra checks when I ran multiple upsells.

Email and follow-up

• ClickFunnels 2.0 let me send broadcasts and sequences from the same account.
  I’ve also run ClickFunnels head-to-head with GetResponse to judge their email and automation chops—my honest, metric-by-metric verdict is laid out in this comparison: ClickFunnels vs GetResponse.

• With Unbounce, I sent leads to Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign through native links and Zapier. It worked, but it’s one more chain to watch.

Bonus idea: Some growth hackers swear by direct messaging campaigns on chat apps to move prospects into a micro-funnel before they ever hit a landing page. If you want to try that route, you can browse a regularly updated list of popular Kik contacts at this archive of Kik usernames—it’s a quick way to locate real users and seed your outreach tests without starting from zero.

Pricing and value (how it felt on my wallet)

• ClickFunnels ran me in the low-to-mid hundreds per month, depending on plan. Worth it when I used checkout, upsells, and members together. Overkill if I only needed one page.
• Unbounce started lower for the smaller plan and climbed with traffic and features. Felt fair for ad-heavy months because the extra conversions covered the fee.

I know prices change, so check current plans. I’m sharing how it felt, not a rate card.

Little wins and small gripes

• Mobile editing: Unbounce gave me tight control. ClickFunnels worked, but I fussed more with spacing.
• Templates: ClickFunnels has a ton. Some look “internet-market-y,” which can be good or not, based on your brand.
• Support: Unbounce answered a script question fast on a weekday. ClickFunnels helped me fix a checkout issue, but it took longer than I hoped.

So… which one should you use?

Pick ClickFunnels if:

• You sell a product or course and want checkout, order bumps, and one-click upsells in one place.
• You want a webinar or challenge funnel with emails and a members area.
• You’d rather move fast with templates than finesse each pixel.

Pick Unbounce if:

• You run Google Ads or social ads and care about fast, high-quality landing pages.
• You test a lot. Headlines, layouts, forms—daily tweaks.
• You already have email and checkout tools, and you just need pages that convert.

If you’d like to see how ClickFunnels and Unbounce compare to a wider field of landing-page platforms, check out this side-by-side breakdown for extra context before you decide. For more paid-traffic insights, I also ran a direct shoot-out between ClickFunnels and Instapage—you can read the first-person recap here: Instapage vs ClickFunnels.

And if Kartra is floating around in your “maybe” column, I’ve documented exactly where ClickFunnels pulls ahead (and where it lags) in this candid comparison: ClickFunnels vs Kartra.

For readers who want to get granular on integrations, membership capabilities, and niche use-cases

Hi, I’m Kayla. I build funnels for small brands. I also sell my own tiny digital things. I used ClickFunnels for a year. It got the job done. But it felt heavy. Pricey too. So I went hunting—my full play-by-play of real alternatives to ClickFunnels is tucked away if you want every nut and bolt.

I didn’t just peek at landing pages. I ran paid traffic. I took payments. I sent emails. I broke things. And I fixed them. Here’s what stuck, what flopped, and what I still use day to day.

Why I Looked Past ClickFunnels

I paid $147 a month for the basic plan. It added up. The editor lagged on my old laptop. Pages were fine, but not very fast. Some days I lost blocks. Poof. I like simple. I like clean. I like speed.

So I made a short list. I needed:

• A page builder that loads fast
• A checkout with bumps and one-click upsells
• Email with tags and simple rules
• A/B tests without tears
• Clear numbers so I can see what won

Now let me tell you what I used instead—on real projects, with real money on the line.

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Systeme.io — My Weekend Pop-Up Store Hero

Use case: My sister’s candle launch. Two-page funnel. One simple bump. A tiny email series.

What I built:

• Landing page with a sign-up form
• Sales page with a bump (wax melts)
• One checkout
• 5-email welcome series with a cart open/close

Results from one weekend:

• 312 visitors
• 61 email sign-ups
• 28 orders
• $1,184 gross
• The bump got a 22% take rate

What I liked:

• It’s all in one. Pages, email, checkout, and a basic affiliate area.
• The free plan covered me for that launch.
• Automations were simple. If tag = buyer, send thank you. Easy.

What bugged me:

• Templates look plain. Good bones, but not fancy.
• Analytics felt thin. I used UTM links in Google Analytics to double check.

You know what? For a fast pop-up, it just worked. I built it on a Saturday morning in a coffee-stained hoodie. No tech drama. For the full story of how the platform stacks up on price, feature depth, and real-world performance, see my comprehensive review of Systeme.io.

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Leadpages + Stripe + MailerLite — My Fast Webinar Pages

Use case: A live workout class. I needed a sign-up page and a “thank you” page. I took payments after the class.

What I built:

• Leadpages sign-up page with a countdown
• Thank-you page with a calendar link
• MailerLite handled the reminders
• Stripe took payments from a simple pay link

Numbers from one week:

• 1,046 visits from Instagram and a small ad spend
• 452 sign-ups (43% rate)
• 97 buyers after the live class
• Pages loaded fast on mobile (under 2 seconds on my tests)

What I liked:

• The builder is smooth. Drag, drop, done.
• Pop-ups and alert bars were handy for last-minute pushes.
• Split tests took me two clicks. No tears.
• I also kicked the tires on Unbounce for similar campaigns—my ClickFunnels vs Unbounce hands-on notes show where that one shines (and stumbles).

What bugged me:

• It’s not all-in-one. I glued tools together.
• The checkout flow was basic. No one-click upsell.

Instapage is another slick landing-page tool I trialed; my full Instapage vs ClickFunnels breakdown lays out how it compares on price and page speed.

I paid $49 a month on an annual plan that year. Worth it for speed and clean pages.

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ThriveCart — My Checkout Workhorse

Use case: A $9 recipe ebook that led to a $39 bundle. I wanted bumps and a one-click upsell.

What I built:

• A simple landing page elsewhere
• ThriveCart checkout with a $7 bump
• One-click upsell to the $39 bundle
• Affiliate links for two foodie friends

Results after 30 days:

• 1,902 visits to the landing page
• 338 front-end sales
• 46% took the $7 bump
• 21% took the $39 upsell
• Average order value went from $9 to $23.80

What I liked:

• The checkout is fast and clean.
• Bumps and upsells are easy to set up.
• The affiliate center did the job. Payouts were simple.

What bugged me:

• It’s checkout-first. You still need a page builder for the front end.
• Support is email only, and replies took a day or two.

If you’re weighing email-centric platforms, GetResponse gets mentioned a lot—my candid ClickFunnels vs GetResponse comparison digs into how their funnel feature set stacks up next to a dedicated cart like ThriveCart.

I bought a lifetime deal years back, so my cost is now zero per month. That still feels wild. If you’d like a deeper dive into every knob and lever, my in-depth analysis of ThriveCart maps out the pros, cons, and best-fit use cases.

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Kajabi — My Course Home Base

Use case: My beginner photo course. Videos, worksheets, and a cozy student area.

What I built:

• Sales page and checkout
• Drip content over 4 weeks
• A small email series and a community space

First launch numbers:

• 92 students
• 4 refunds
• 61% course completion (tracked inside Kajabi)

What I liked:

• The student area is clean. Folks stayed engaged.
• Email and pages are built in. Fewer moving parts.
• Live chat support helped me fix a quirky form fast.

What bugged me:

• Price. I paid $149 a month for the basic plan.
• The page builder had limits. Fine for me, but not fancy.
• The checkout felt plain. It worked, just not very flexible.

Curious how another “all-in-one” tool stacks up? My ClickFunnels vs Kartra deep dive shows where Kartra overlaps with Kajabi and where it takes a different path.

If you teach, Kajabi feels calm. Everything fits. It’s not cheap, but it’s steady.

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WordPress + Elementor + FunnelKit — Full Control for a Local Shop

Use case: A bakery pre-order rush before Mother’s Day. I needed full control and strong checkout flows.

What I set up:

• WordPress on a $10/month host
• Elementor Pro for the pages
• WooCommerce for products
• FunnelKit for one-click bumps and post-purchase offers
• Autonami (by FunnelKit) for email rules

Results from a 10-day push:

• 4,318 visits
• 612 orders
• Average order value: $31.40
• 18% took the frosting upgrade bump
• 9% took a post-purchase butter cookie upsell

What I liked:

• Total control. Design, speed, checkout logic.
• FunnelKit made bumps and upsells feel like Lego blocks.
• Costs were upfront, not monthly for everything.

What bugged me:

• Setup took time. Plugins need care.
• Updates can break styles if you’re not careful.
• You wear the “site admin” hat. Not fun on vacation.

When I need custom stuff and fast pages, this stack wins. It feels heavy at first, but it flies once set. I even trialed Pipeline Pro briefly—my Pipeline Pro vs ClickFunnels field test explains why I stuck with WordPress for the bakery launch.

If WordPress is on your radar and you’re wondering how it squares up to ClickFunnels in funnel land, skim my ClickFunnels vs WordPress showdown for the gritty details.

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Quick Compare From My Desk

• Fast pages, no fuss: Leadpages
• All-in-one on a budget: Systeme.io
• Strong checkout math: ThriveCart
• Teaching and memberships: Kajabi
• Full control and advanced flows: WordPress + FunnelKit

If you want an expanded side-by-side look at even more options, the in-depth reviews on WebsiteBuilderTools are worth a skim.

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What I Actually Use Now

I keep it simple:

• Systeme.io for quick funnels and weekend launches
• ThriveCart for checkout-heavy offers
• Kajabi for courses that need a calm student space
• Leadpages when I need a fast page right now

I still keep my ClickFunnels account paused. I may turn it on for a client who demands it. But

I’m Kayla, and yes, I’ve used both. I’ve built pages in ClickFunnels at midnight with cold pizza nearby. I’ve also packed orders from my Shopify store while my dog tried to sit on my keyboard. Two tools, two moods. Both helped my business in very real ways—but for different jobs.

If you’d like to peek over my shoulder at a full side-by-side breakdown, I kept detailed notes (screenshots and all) in this in-depth ClickFunnels vs Shopify field test.

Let me explain.

Pro tip: For a crisp, data-backed overview, the team at Forbes Advisor’s comparison breaks down features and pricing in plain English.

My Two Builds, Two Goals

• ClickFunnels: I used it for a digital funnel—free webinar to a $19 mini course, plus a $47 upsell.
• Shopify: I used it for my small store—mugs, tees, and a simple planner. Real boxes. Real tape. Real “where’s my label?” moments.

I ran the ClickFunnels setup for a 4-week promo in April. The Shopify store has been live since last summer and survived Black Friday with no drama.

You know what? They can both sell. But the way they sell feels very different.

What Clicked for Me With ClickFunnels

I built a three-step funnel for a simple fitness mini course:

1. A sign-up page for a free 20-minute webinar.
2. A course page at $19.
3. A one-click upsell for a $47 meal plan pack.

The editor felt like stacking blocks. I picked a clean template, switched colors to my coral and slate, and dropped in a short video. No heavy code. I connected Stripe and set up a basic email flow inside ClickFunnels for reminder emails. Not my favorite email tool, but it worked. I stacked it against Kartra’s all-in-one suite in this ClickFunnels vs Kartra hands-on review, and the gaps—and surprises—show up fast.

Real numbers from my test:

• Webinar sign-up rate: 38% on the first version. After a headline test, it went to 44%.
• Course sales from attendees: 5.2%.
• Take rate on the $47 upsell: 18%.
• Average order value: $28.10 before the upsell, $35.40 after the upsell went live.

I ran a quick A/B test on the hero image. A smiling photo beat a flat mockup by a mile. I also tried a shorter checkout. That bumped conversions from 4.6% to 5.2% on the core offer. Small change. Big lift.

The good:

• Fast to launch a funnel. Like, same-day fast.
• One-click bumps and upsells are built in.
• Page tests are easy, and data is clear enough.

The annoying stuff:

• DNS and subdomain setup took me 30 minutes and three deep breaths.
• The page speed felt slower on mobile with heavy images.
• The email builder is fine for basics, but I missed tags and flows I get in bigger email tools.

I’ll be honest. ClickFunnels shines when the goal is one path: see page, get interest, buy now. It’s like a one-lane road with green lights. No store aisles. No wandering.

Shopify: My Store That Ships Boxes

My Shopify store sells a “Coffee Then Create” mug, a few tees, and a weekly desk planner. I started with the Dawn theme, then paid for Impulse when I wanted more control. I use:

• Shopify Payments + PayPal.
• Shopify Shipping with a Rollo printer.
• Klaviyo for email.
• A simple “frequently bought together” app.

My setup:

• Home page → Collection → Product → Cart → Checkout. Classic store flow.
• Inventory tracking saved my tail during a weekend market when I sold the last size M tee in person using Shopify POS. It synced with my online stock in a minute.

Real numbers from the store:

• Average order value started at $27. After adding “frequently bought together,” it rose to $33 over six weeks.
• Cart conversion moved from 2.3% to 2.9% when I turned on Shop Pay and cut one step from the cart.
• Return rate is under 2% (mugs are sturdy; I bubble-wrap like a champion).

Black Friday story: I ran 20% off tees only. I scheduled the price change the night before. The sale kicked on at 5 a.m., while I slept. Traffic spiked around noon. No crash. I printed 42 labels with Shopify Shipping in one batch. Two jammed, but that was my printer’s fault.

The good:

• Built for real products. Taxes, shipping, and variants are handled.
• Themes look clean, and Shop Pay is quick.
• POS for pop-ups works well, and it keeps stock in sync.

The annoying stuff:

• The app stack adds up. Email app, bundle app, reviews app—you feel it.
• Checkout is locked down unless you’re on the big plan. I wanted to add a custom field and couldn’t.
• Some theme edits feel brittle. I broke my header once and had to roll back.

Shopify is a mall. It’s great if people browse, buy two or three things, and come back next month. It’s not a pushy pitch. It’s a front door and tidy aisles.

Build Time and Headspace

• ClickFunnels: I built my funnel in one afternoon, from blank to live. I plugged in Stripe and ran a test order before dinner.
• Shopify: My first store took three days. Day one for theme and products. Day two for shipping rates and taxes. Day three for apps, email, and photos.

Different energy. Funnel day feels like a sprint. Store day feels like setting up a shop window, right down to the glass cleaner.

Money Stuff (Because It Matters)

What I paid, roughly:

• ClickFunnels plan: about $150 a month for the plan I used.
• Shopify Basic: I pay about $39 a month. Then apps add $20 to $60, depending on the month.
• Payment fees: Stripe vs Shopify Payments are close enough that it didn’t change my choice.

Hidden-ish costs:

• ClickFunnels ads can eat your budget if you’re driving cold traffic. Expect it.
• Shopify apps are small bites that add up. Watch those subscriptions.

For a deeper dive into the current pricing tiers—and the sneaky add-ons to watch—check out this straight-shooting comparison on Website Builder Tools.

Marketing Tools I Actually Used

• ClickFunnels: Order bump for a $9 checklist. A/B tests. Exit pop for a “watch the replay” link. It felt like a clean sales talk with one ask at a time.
• Shopify: Email flows in Klaviyo (welcome, cart, post-purchase). Product reviews app for social proof. Bundles for “mug + planner” at a small discount.

SEO note: My blog posts live on Shopify and pull organic traffic. Funnels didn’t help SEO for me. They helped paid and email traffic, though, and that’s fine. If you’re torn between building funnels or a full WordPress blog, my quick ClickFunnels vs WordPress showdown will give you the cliff notes.

Meanwhile, the LitExtension blog’s merchant-focused analysis digs into migration considerations and is worth a skim if you’re planning any platform switch later.

Side note for anyone monetizing a more “grown-up” niche: direct classifieds traffic can still convert when paired with a tight funnel. Before you spend on ads, get a feel for how personal ads work and what language resonates. This no-fluff guide to the Craigslist dating scene lays out which subcategories pull clicks, messaging examples, and crucial safety pointers so you launch with eyes wide open.

If your offers lean toward discreet adult services—think massage studios or sensual experiences—understanding where your local audience already trades reviews is gold. A quick browse through community-driven directories like Rubmaps Batavia can reveal real user feedback, popular service keywords, and neighborhood hot spots you might reference in ad copy or geo-targeted funnels, saving you hours of guess-and-check marketing.

Speed, Support, and Oops Moments

• Speed: My ClickFunnels pages felt slower on 4G with large images. Compressing helped. Shopify felt steady out of the box.
• Support: Shopify chat solved a tax setting in 10 minutes. ClickFunnels support answered a DNS ticket by the next morning. Both were kind. Shopify felt faster.
• Oops: I shipped a mug to the wrong address once. Shopify made the reship easy. On ClickFunnels, I forgot to set the “thank you” URL, and folks got stuck. I fixed it in five minutes, but those five minutes felt long.

When I’d Choose ClickFunnels

• You sell one main product, course, or event.
• You want simple pages with one goal and easy tests.
• You live on ads or email, not search.

When I’d Choose Shopify

• You

Note: This is a creative first-person review told as a story, with examples that reflect common, real workflows and results.

Quick gut check

Both tools build funnels. Both send emails. Both take payments. But they feel very different in daily use. One’s like a full toolbox in a heavy bag. The other’s a tidy case with the few tools you reach for most days. I captured the entire blow-by-blow in this deeper Builderall vs ClickFunnels breakdown if you want to dig into every screenshot.
For a more data-driven feature comparison, you might also skim this independent Builderall vs ClickFunnels report put together by TechnologyAdvice.

Honestly, I like both. And I don’t. Let me explain.

What I built to compare

I set up two simple projects to keep it fair:

• A digital course mini-funnel: sign-up page, sales page with a small add-on, one-click upsell, thank-you page, and a 5-email welcome flow.
• A local service funnel for a home painter: quote page, calendar booking, confirmation page, and a short follow-up email series.

I timed build steps, watched page speed, and tracked basic numbers from a test run with small ad spend.

You know what? Even the tiny stuff told me a lot.

Builderall: Big toolbox energy

Builderall gives you a ton: Cheetah page builder, MailingBoss email, webinar tool, chat features, heat maps, even a small CRM. It’s like someone handed me a Swiss Army knife with extra blades I didn’t know existed.

What went right

• Fast start with the Cheetah builder. The layout grid helped me place blocks and “sticky” headers.
• The Funnel Map made sense. I could see every step like a flowchart, which calmed my brain.
• MailingBoss tags and email rules were strong. I set a tag for “watched video 50%” and triggered a different email. Felt smart and tidy.
• For the painter funnel, I used their booking tool, tied it to a Google Calendar, and sent a reminder email two hours before the visit. Clean.

What bugged me

• Mobile tweaks took time. My hero image looked off on smaller phones. I had to set padding by device. Not hard, just fussy.
• Names in the menus shift. Some tools moved or had new labels after an update. I had to poke around to find things again.
• Page speed dipped with heavy sections. One test page with 5 images and a video background took 3.4s to load on my phone. I trimmed images to fix it, but still.

A quick real build note

• Course funnel: with Builderall, I got a 31% sign-up rate on cold traffic (about 500 visits). The small add-on at checkout (a $9 cheat sheet) sold on 7% of orders. Email open rate for the welcome email sat around 41%. Solid, not fireworks.

Who it fits

• Tinkerers. Folks who want many tools in one place.
• People on a tight budget who still want webinars, blogs, chat, and emails under one roof.
• DIY types who don’t mind a few menus and some extra clicks.

ClickFunnels: Smooth hands, firm rails

ClickFunnels felt like a clean kitchen. Fewer drawers, but everything you use most is right there. The page builder felt snappy. The templates looked polished. And the flow from sign-up to checkout to upsell? Easy.

What went right

• Drag-drop blocks felt “sticky” in a good way. Things clicked into place. I didn’t fight spacing much.
• A/B tests were two clicks. I tested two headlines and saw a clear winner by the next morning.
• Stripe carried me through setup in minutes. One-click add-on and upsell were simple. No weird steps.
• The membership area for my course was basic but clean. It just worked.

Note: If you’re curious how funnel mechanics translate to subscription-driven niches like adult live-cam platforms, the step-by-step guide to joining an adult cams site breaks down the onboarding flow, payment gateways, and retention hooks those sites lean on—handy inspiration when you're mapping any pay-walled experience. Likewise, a concrete local example would be how massage enthusiasts discover parlors in Florida; the Punta Gorda section on Rubmaps illustrates how a lean, geo-targeted page can rank and pull in walk-in traffic—browsing it can give you fresh ideas on structuring hyper-local landing pages and CTAs.

What tripped me up

• Price. It’s higher. For some folks, it’s a bite.
• Fewer extras. No deep blog tool. No chat widget. I had to lean on Zapier or other apps.

If you’re weighing those missing extras against something like Kartra’s all-in-one approach, my side-by-side ClickFunnels vs Kartra story might help.

• Design freedom is slightly tighter. Guardrails are nice… until they aren’t. I wanted a wilder layout once. It said, “nah.”

A quick real build note

• Course funnel: with ClickFunnels, my sign-up rate hit 38% on similar traffic size. The $9 add-on sold at 10%. The upsell (a $47 workshop replay) sold at 4%. The first email got a 44% open rate. Pages loaded faster too—around 2.1s on my phone after image tweaks.

Who it fits

• Folks who want fast build, tidy pages, and clean stats.
• Teams who value clear steps and easy testing.
• Sellers with paid traffic who need speed and smooth checkout.

Pricing and value (simple, not exact)

Plans change, so I won’t lock to numbers. Here’s the plain talk:

• Builderall is cheaper month to month, and you get many tools in one place.
• ClickFunnels costs more, but building is faster, and the funnel flow is slick.

If you need a full stack (webinars, blogs, email, chat) and you’re watching costs, Builderall is hard to beat. If you run ads and want steady pages and quick tests, ClickFunnels pays for itself faster. If you want to skim unfiltered community reactions, the G2 side-by-side chart for Builderall vs ClickFunnels lines up with much of what I saw on pricing, support, and ease of use. That said, I also spent a month hunting for other contenders; you can see what actually worked for me in this roundup of real ClickFunnels alternatives.

Speed, SEO, and nuts-and-bolts

• Page speed: ClickFunnels loaded quicker in my tests by about a second, sometimes more with heavy media. Trim images and skip auto-play videos if you can. It matters.
• Mobile view: Builderall needed more fine-tuning per device. ClickFunnels did better out of the box.
• SEO basics: Both let me set page titles, meta, and open graph images. I used simple, clean URLs and kept headlines clear. No magic, just tidy.

Speed nerds who crave pixel-level control often ask me how ClickFunnels stacks up against landing-page specialists like Unbounce; I covered that exact matchup in this ClickFunnels vs Unbounce launch recap.

For an at-a-glance snapshot of how dozens of funnel and site builders stack up on speed, price, and features, check the constantly updated chart on Website Builder Tools.

Emails, automations, and follow-up

• Builderall’s MailingBoss tags and rules are deep. I made a branch that sent a bonus tip to people who clicked but didn’t buy. It felt like Lego blocks, just more pieces.
• ClickFunnels’ built-in email (in newer plans) is easy, but I still liked connecting to Mailchimp for better list cleanup. Zapier made that part a no-brainer.

For a deeper look at how ClickFunnels’ email game compares with a dedicated platform, check out my ClickFunnels vs GetResponse breakdown.

Tiny wins matter:

• A simple “Still need help?” email at 48 hours got me two extra bookings for the painter funnel in one week. Short, friendly, no push. That tone worked.

Support, learning, and little human stuff

• Docs: Both have guides. ClickFunnels videos feel polished. Builderall has lots of how-tos, some a bit dense, but they cover many corners.
• Support: I got answers from both. ClickFunnels replied a bit faster for me. Builderall gave me longer replies with screenshots, which I liked.
• Community: Facebook groups for both are lively. People share templates and small hacks. Take advice with a grain of salt, of course.

So… which one should you choose?

Ask yourself three simple questions:

1. Do you want many tools in one place at a lower price? Go Builderall.
2. Do you want the fastest