I’ve used both. Not in a lab. In my messy home office, with coffee rings on the desk and a cat on my keyboard. I sold real stuff. I broke a few pages. I fixed them. Here’s what actually happened.
For the full spreadsheet-of-doom version of this showdown, check out my hands-on ThriveCart vs ClickFunnels test.
If you’d like an official, feature-by-feature look at how the two tools stack up, ThriveCart’s own team has an in-depth ThriveCart vs ClickFunnels comparison that digs into pricing, testimonials, and more.
What I sold and why it matters
- A $27 mini-course called “Reel Planner.”
- A small pack of templates for $9 as a “bump” (a quick add-on at checkout).
- A $37 one-click upsell.
- Later, a live workshop funnel where I aimed to sell a $297 coaching spot.
Two tools. Same me. Same audience. Different jobs.
ThriveCart: Fast checkout, no fluff
I first used ThriveCart because I wanted a clean, quick checkout for the $27 mini-course. I connected Stripe and PayPal in about 15 minutes. Apple Pay worked on my phone without any drama—nice when you’re selling on Instagram Stories and people don’t want to type.
I used the “cart + bump + upsell” stack:
- Checkout page with the $27 course
- A $9 template bump
- One-click upsell for $37
Week one numbers:
- 4.3% checkout rate (from 2,311 visits)
- Bump take rate: 28%
- Upsell take rate: 11%
- Average order value: $34.60
Then I ran a simple A/B test in ThriveCart. I changed three tiny things: a shorter headline, trust badges under the button, and a money-back line near the price. After two days, the new version won:
- Checkout rate bumped to 5.1%
- Average order value rose to $36.20
Not huge, but real money for a tiny offer.
Little things that felt big
- Taxes: I had buyers in Germany and France. ThriveCart handled VAT without me doing math. It just… worked.
- Dunning (payment rescue): When a card failed on a subscription test, ThriveCart sent smart reminders. I got two payments back that I would’ve lost.
- Speed: My checkout pages loaded fast—under a second on my laptop. On mobile, still snappy. People stay when it’s quick.
- Styling: The pages aren’t “pretty pretty.” They’re more “gets the job done.” But honestly, that helped me keep focus.
If you prefer to roll your own pages inside WordPress, I measured that angle in my ClickFunnels vs WordPress deep dive.
Where I hit a wall
- Design freedom is limited. I couldn’t drag, float, and stack like a full page builder.
- Support was helpful but not instant. Email replies took a bit, though they were clear.
- Learn (their course area) is simple. It worked fine for my mini-course videos and PDFs, but there’s no built-in community feel.
ClickFunnels: Full funnels and flashy pages
Then came my live workshop funnel. I wanted a full path: teaser page, email sign-up, video page, order page, and a thank-you that felt kind. ClickFunnels made that easy to build in one spot. Drag. Drop. Move blocks. Make it pretty. I even added a timer and a testimonial slider in minutes.
My funnel steps:
- Email sign-up page
- Video page with a short pitch
- Order page with an order bump
- Thank-you with next steps
I ran a headline test on the sign-up page. Short and bold vs long and soft. The short one crushed it. My sign-up rate went from 28% to 41%. Then I cut the form to just name and email, and it moved to 44%. I added two social proof notes under the button. That nudged it to 46%. Wild how tiny touches add up.
Sales day stats (48 hours):
- 1,902 visitors
- 876 sign-ups
- 83 sales at $297
- Order bump take rate: 22%
- Revenue: a hair over $27k
What I liked most
- The builder. I could shape pages fast. It felt like Lego for grown-ups.
- Flow view. I could see the path end to end and spot bottlenecks.
- Bundled goodies. Emails, automations, and a basic course area live inside. Fewer tools to juggle.
Need an all-in-one with a stronger course and membership vibe? My ClickFunnels vs Kartra story covers that angle.
If you’ve also got Builderall on your radar, my Builderall vs ClickFunnels field notes lay out the warts and the wins.
Where it poked me in the ribs
- Load time. My prettiest page took about 2.4–3.1 seconds on mobile. That’s not awful, but it’s not zippy. My plain version (fewer blocks) did better.
- Overbuild risk. It’s fun to keep adding stuff. Timers, popups, badges, all the things. Too much can slow the page and hurt sales. I learned that the hard way.
- Cost. It’s a monthly bill. Worth it for launches. Painful in quiet months.
I dug even deeper into the speed debate in this ClickFunnels vs Unbounce launch-level face-off.
Landing-page purists can also peek at my Instapage vs ClickFunnels use-case comparison to see how the builders differ.
Support, setup, and the human bits
- Setup speed: ThriveCart was faster for checkout and taxes. ClickFunnels was faster for full, fancy pages.
- Support: ThriveCart gave me careful email help. ClickFunnels had more how-to videos and a big user group, which made me feel less alone at 1 a.m.
- Integrations: Both played nice with Stripe, PayPal, and my email tool (I used ConvertKit). Webhooks and Zapier were fine.
For a look at a newer contender with a pipeline-first mindset, here’s my Pipeline PRO vs ClickFunnels breakdown.
A small hiccup: my ClickFunnels course welcome emails landed in spam for about 6% of new buyers until I changed my sender domain settings. Not a bug, just one of those tech chores. ThriveCart’s email receipts were clean out of the box.
If email is the core of your funnel, my ClickFunnels vs GetResponse honesty test digs into deliverability and automation quirks.
Money talk (the part no one likes but needs)
For me, ThriveCart was a one-time buy, plus a pro add-on. I paid once and kept using it. ClickFunnels was a monthly plan during my launch months. I turned it off when I wasn’t building funnels. That’s how I stayed sane.
Anyone juggling physical inventory might like my ClickFunnels vs Shopify battle report for the nitty-gritty on carts and shipping.
And if ClickFunnels just isn’t clicking for you, I rounded up a handful of real alternatives that actually worked for me.
For ClickFunnels’ own perspective on how it stacks up against ThriveCart—including features, integrations, and pricing—check out their official comparison article.
If you sell small offers all year, that one-time thing feels sweet. If you run big pushes with lots of pages and tests, the monthly tool can pay for itself in a weekend.
If you want to compare those price models with dozens of other funnel and cart platforms side-by-side, check out the no-fluff chart on WebsiteBuilderTools.net.
Side note: if your funnel experiments ever wander into the dating or nightlife niche—areas where mainstream ad platforms can be extra picky—you might want a quick way to validate offers with zero upfront cost; the no-cost signup over at FuckLocal’s “Fuck Free” page gives you immediate access to a local audience and lets you stress-test conversions before you spend a dime on ads or premium tools. Likewise, if your promotion leans toward massage or relaxation services in Massachusetts, the