I’m Kayla. I run a small marketing studio. I build funnels, emails, and follow-up for local brands. I’ve used both Keap and GoHighLevel for real clients. Not a test list. Real money. Real results. And yes, a few facepalms. If you want an even deeper side-by-side breakdown, I wrote up my full Keap vs. GoHighLevel comparison after months of toggling between the two.
Here’s the thing—both tools work. They just work different. And sometimes my choice changed by project and season. That’s real life.
Quick context (so you know where I’m coming from)
- 18 months using GoHighLevel across 14 client accounts
- 12 months using Keap for my own shop and two stores
- Clients: a bakery, a gym, a spa, a plumber, and one B2B service team
- My goals: more leads, faster follow-up, less manual stuff, and clean payment flows
You know what? I wanted one tool to rule it all. But I kept two. Let me explain.
Keap: calm, steady, and tidy for one brand
Keap felt like a neat desk. I could find things fast. My team liked that. For a deeper dive into Keap’s CRM, automation features, and pricing, check out this review for a comprehensive breakdown.
What I set up in Keap
- Email series with tags and goals
- Sales pipeline with simple stages
- Quotes and invoices with Stripe
- A basic checkout page for gift cards
- Appointment booking tied to Google Calendar
Real example: Mother’s Day bakery promo
- Offer: “Buy a cake, get a cupcake box 50% off”
- Built a 5-email series in Keap’s builder
- Used a checkout form with a one-time code
- Result: 173 orders in 6 days, 38% email open rate, 19% click rate
- We also sent one SMS nudge (add-on): 44 extra orders in 24 hours
The nice part? The checkout + invoice felt solid. Payments cleared. No fuss.
Real example: Spa birthday coupons
- Rule: send an email 7 days before the customer’s birthday
- If no click, send a softer reminder with a photo
- Results over 3 months: 62 redemptions, avg $97 per visit
What bugged me with Keap
- The page builder felt stiff. Pretty, but limited.
- I paid more as contacts grew. That stung.
- SMS costs were extra. Not massive, but it adds up.
- Mobile app was fine, not great.
Still, for a single brand that wants email + payments + pipeline? Keap just hums.
GoHighLevel: the busy toolkit for agencies and local hustle
GoHighLevel (GHL) felt like a Swiss Army knife. It does a lot—sometimes too much—but it’s built for speed with many clients. To explore GoHighLevel’s full slate of marketing, sales, and CRM tools, you can skim this resource that covers the platform end-to-end.
What I set up in GHL
- Funnels, websites, calendars, and forms
- Calls and 2-way SMS (LeadConnector)
- Missed call text back (a sleeper hit)
- Review requests and a chat widget
- Social posts for 5 brands from one spot
- Snapshots to clone setups to new clients
Because GHL’s chat widget sits on your site 24/7, I dug into other industries that thrive on always-on conversation. I stumbled across what really goes down in sex chat rooms which unpacks how anonymity, immediacy, and human curiosity drive engagement; even if you’re in a totally different niche, the behavioral psychology nuggets are gold for crafting stickier chat experiences.
Bonus rabbit hole: I also studied how local classified boards engineer lightning-fast hook-ups between supply and demand. A quick scroll through Backpage Carlisle reveals how stripped-down listings, geo-targeted filters, and click-to-contact buttons can inspire messaging strategies that push prospects to act immediately.
Real example: plumber lead flow (spring rush)
- Facebook Lead Ads link straight into GHL
- Missed call text back: “Hey, saw your call. Want us to text you a time?”
- Auto tag + pipeline stage + task for the tech
- Result: 41 booked jobs in 3 weeks, 27 came from the text back alone
- One more thing: we sent a review request after the job. 19 new Google reviews.
My phone buzzed like crazy. But in a good way.
Real example: gym 6-week challenge
- Funnel page + calendar link + SMS reminder series
- A quick ringless voicemail on day 2 (yes, that still hits)
- Results: 112 leads, 36 trials, 14 paid plans. Coach was thrilled.
What bugged me with GHL
- Setup was heavy on day one. Lots of toggles.
- The page builder lagged with big pages. Not always, but often.
- Email “land in inbox” took work—warm domain, clean lists, clear headers.
- Client permissions took time. I had to test each role.
- Billing lines stack up (software + phone + email sending). Watch it.
For anyone who likes the idea of an all-in-one tool but not necessarily GHL itself, I field-tested a handful of real GoHighLevel alternatives and ranked what actually held up under client pressure.
Once it’s rolling, though, cloning a whole system for a new client took me 30 minutes. That’s the part I loved.
Email and SMS: who won for me?
- Keap: emails felt clean and safe. My bakery list got strong inbox rates.
- GHL: fine once warmed. I had to teach clients to keep lists clean.
- SMS: GHL wins for speed and control. Missed call text back pays for itself.
If you rely on heavy email sales, Keap felt easier. If you need fast text follow-up and calls, GHL had more power.
Automation builder: tags vs. workflows
- Keap: the builder is simple. Goals and tags make sense. Great for a neat flow.
- GHL: workflows do more. Branching by call, text, form, page hit, task, you name it.
If you’re comparing GHL’s workflow muscle to funnel-centric tools, my Kartra vs. GoHighLevel showdown lays out where each shines.
For one brand, Keap felt tidy. For many use cases and channels, GHL was stronger.
Payments and quotes
- Keap: quotes looked pro, and getting paid felt smooth. I liked the flow.
- GHL: good with pay links and recurring plans. It worked, but felt a bit rougher.
For my spa and bakery, Keap won this part. For the gym and plumber, GHL was fine.
Reporting I check daily
- Keap: revenue by campaign, email stats, and pipeline moves. Clear.
- GHL: pipeline value, call logs, text threads, source tracking, recordings.
I even pitted GHL against heavyweight CRMs like Salesforce in this first-person comparison if you’re curious how it stacks up.
I used Keap when money tracking was the star. I used GHL when speed-to-lead was the star.
Support and learning
- Keap chat helped me fix a checkout hiccup in under 10 minutes. Nice.
- GHL has a huge user group and tons of how-to videos. I learned fast from peers.
- Both have decent docs. I still watch clips while I sip coffee.
What actually broke (yep, real stuff)
- Keap: a tag misfire skipped two people in a birthday flow. My fault, but hard to spot.
- GHL: a calendar time zone bug on a gym landing page made 3 people book the same hour. I now test with a dummy time before we go live.
Mistakes still happen. I build checklists now. I test twice.
Costs I paid (your price may vary)
- Keap: I paid about $189 per month for Pro with ~2,500 contacts, plus a small SMS fee.
- GHL: Agency Pro ran me $497 per month, plus usage for phone and email sending. My average add-ons sat near $70 per month.
If you’re one brand, Keap may cost less. If you serve many clients, GHL pays off fast.
Speed check (real, not lab stuff)
- Keap emails went out fast. Pages were steady, if plain.
- GHL funnels loaded fine, but heavy pages felt slow while editing. Live pages were okay.
Not a deal-breaker. But I felt it.
So, which one did I keep?
Both. Mild contradiction, I