Website Builder Tools

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:

1. Email sign-up page
2. Video page with a short pitch
3. Order page with an order bump
4. 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

I’m Kayla Sox. I build funnels for my small studio in Portland, and I’ve used both Kartra and ClickFunnels for real launches, real clients, and my own little side projects. I’ve broken stuff, fixed stuff, and hit publish with shaky hands. You know what? Both tools can work. But they feel very different.
If you’d like to see how Kartra itself stacks up the two platforms, you can skim the official Kartra vs ClickFunnels comparison they publish.

Here’s what I saw. (If you want the long-form narrative—numbers, screenshots, the good and the goofy—you can peek at my ClickFunnels vs Kartra deep dive.)

Quick take: who each one fits

• Kartra felt like a tidy home. Pages, email, memberships, help desk, calendar—under one roof.
• ClickFunnels felt like a race car. Fast to build, quick to test, easy to sell.

If you want one system for most things, Kartra made my life calm. If you want to move fast, test fast, and stack funnels, ClickFunnels made me grin.

Real project 1: a 5-day yoga challenge (ClickFunnels 2.0)

I ran a 5-day yoga challenge for a local teacher, Jess. We used ClickFunnels for the whole flow.

• Traffic: 1,830 visitors from Instagram and two Reels
• Lead capture rate: 34% on the sign-up page
• Tripwire: $27 “Beginner Flow Pack” right after sign-up
• Upsell: $97 “30-Day Plan” on a one-click page
• Stripe handled payments. We also added PayPal, because folks asked.

What worked:

• The page builder was fast. I made three versions of the headline and ran a simple A/B test. The shorter one won by a mile.
• One-click upsells felt smooth. No typing again for buyers. That helped conversions.
• The team feature helped. Jess wrote copy right inside the page, and I fixed spacing after.

What bugged me:

• The email tool was fine, but I missed a few small rules I like (simple lead tags tied to link clicks). I had to set a few extra steps.
• The membership area looked okay, not pretty. It worked, but I did some CSS to make it feel like her brand.

Results after 10 days:

• 622 sign-ups
• 58 tripwire sales
• 31 upsells
• Gross: $7,421
• Ad spend: $1,210
• Net, before fees: $6,211

I built the whole thing in two days, then tweaked for the next week. Speed matters when you’re living on cold brew.

Real project 2: a watercolor mini-course (Kartra)

This was mine. A cozy, beginner course called “Loose Flowers 101.” I wanted a tidy back end, fewer apps, and easy support.

• Lead magnet: a free brush guide (PDF) on a Kartra page
• Nurture emails: 6 emails over 9 days
• Course delivery: Kartra memberships with drip lessons
• Support: Kartra help desk with a simple ticket form
• Calendar: 20-minute student calls booked right inside Kartra

Numbers from the first 30 days:

• 3,940 page visits
• 1,210 sign-ups (31% on the sign-up page)
• 236 sales at $49
• Gross: $11,564
• Refunds: 7 (handled fast in Kartra)
• Email open rate average: 41%
• Click rate average: 7%

What I liked:

• All parts talk to each other. If someone watched Lesson 1 and not Lesson 2, I tagged them and sent a short nudge the next morning. Simple.
• The help desk saved me time. No “where’s my password?” black hole in my inbox.
• The membership setup looked neat right away. I added my brand colors and a cover image, and it felt “finished.”

What made me sigh:

• The page editor sometimes lagged. I’d move a block; it would stick for a second. Not a deal breaker, just… a pause.
• Mobile spacing took extra care. I had to tweak text sizes for small screens.
• VAT rules took me a minute. The tax settings work, but it’s not plug-and-play.

Build time:

• Two and a half days for the pages, emails, and course shell
• A few hours for the help desk and calendar

Page builders: speed vs. neatness

• ClickFunnels felt snappy. I could test ideas fast, and that helped reach a clean headline without fuss.
• Kartra pages looked tidy out of the box. It took me longer to move blocks exactly where I wanted.

If you like quick sprints, ClickFunnels is your friend. If you want calm, matching parts, Kartra wins.

Email and automation

• Kartra email felt strong. Easy tags, easy rules, clean stats. My deliverability stayed solid for my tiny list.
• ClickFunnels email worked, but I needed more steps to make edge cases happen (like “clicked but didn’t buy, send coupon in 24 hours”).

Small note: I still keep a MailerLite account for bulk newsletters. Old habits, you know?

Checkouts and upsells

• ClickFunnels: One-click upsells were smooth and fast to edit. Coupons were very easy.
• Kartra: Checkout pages looked more “brand safe,” and taxes were built in. Upsells worked, but I clicked through more screens while setting it up.

Courses and memberships

• Kartra: This is where it shines. Drip, progress, comments, and a clean lesson list. My students said it felt simple. I even lined it up against GoHighLevel in a separate side-by-side test and the course tools still came out ahead.
• ClickFunnels: It has courses, but I kept tweaking styles to make it match the sales page vibe.

Integrations and tools I used

• Stripe and PayPal on both
• Zapier to ping a Slack channel when high-ticket buyers came in
• Google Sheets for a quick sales log
• Loom videos embedded in both systems

If you’re curious how the same funnel best-practices show up in entirely different niches, take a peek at a French casual-dating landing flow over at PlanCul that leans on a single compelling CTA and ultra-fast mobile load times; a quick browse shows how they keep sign-ups friction-free, which is a helpful reference when you’re trimming the fat on your own pages.
Closer to home, you can watch the same lean-page principle in action on a U.S. classified-dating site; the Backpage Greenbelt listings on OneNightAffair show a geo-targeted landing flow that relies on minimal form fields and bold call-outs, and it’s a quick real-world reference if you want to study how location-based copy can lift sign-ups without adding design clutter.

Kartra needed fewer outside tools day to day. ClickFunnels played nice with outside tools and felt lighter. If you're shopping beyond these two, I also documented the alternatives that actually worked for me so you can skip the duds.

Support and community

• ClickFunnels chat replied fast during U.S. hours. Their big Facebook groups are lively, which can be noisy, but I find answers.
• Kartra support tickets were steady and clear. Fewer memes, more “here’s the fix.” I like both, for different moods.

Cost (what I paid, your plan may vary)

• My Kartra plan ran around $100/month in 2024 for my small list and 1 domain.
• My ClickFunnels 2.0 plan was about $150/month for the basic setup.

Plans change. Check current pages, but that’s what hit my card. You can see the raw signup costs, refunds, and revenue pulls broken out in my Kartra vs ClickFunnels spreadsheet story.
If you’d like a deeper side-by-side specs chart, I’ve posted one on Website Builder Tools that covers feature limits and hidden costs.
ClickFunnels has also weighed in with their perspective—worth a read if you want their take on feature gaps and updates in 2.0—here's the ClickFunnels blog breakdown.

Little annoyances I noted

• ClickFunnels: The editor autosave hiccuped once. I lost five minutes of tweaks. I learned to hit save like it’s a reflex.
• Kartra: Domain mapping took longer than I wanted. Once set, it was stable.
• Both: Mobile spacing. Always test on your phone. Then test again.

Two quick stories from launch week

• Black Friday warm-up: I pushed a 48-hour sale for the watercolor course with Kartra. I set a countdown that synced across the emails and the page. Clean. 82 sales, no weird clock bugs.
• Live stream promo: With ClickFunnels, I built a same-day page for a live yoga

I’m Kayla Sox. I build funnels for clients and for my own stuff. I also tinker late at night with tea, a hoodie, and way too many tabs open.

This fall, I ran two real projects side by side for 90 days. One on ClickFunnels 2.0. One on DropFunnels. I didn’t plan to keep both. But you know what? They each did some things better. And a couple things drove me a little nuts.

Let me explain.

Quick context: what I built

• A 5-day “Strength at Home” challenge. Free sign-up. One low-ticket upsell. One bump.
• A booking funnel for high-ticket coaching. Lead magnet. Webinar replay. Call booking page.

Same copy. Same images. Same offer. I sent equal traffic from Facebook and my email list. I used Stripe for payments, and ActiveCampaign for emails (though I tested ClickFunnels’ built-in flows a bit too).

Build and design: comfy vs controlled

ClickFunnels felt comfy from minute one. The drag-and-drop blocks are clear. Templates look shiny. I moved fast. But mobile spacing got fussy. I’d fix a headline on desktop, and it would nudge weird on my phone. Then I’d chase margins like a cat chasing a light. It worked—just took time.

DropFunnels felt more lean. Fewer blocks. Fewer shiny toys. But the editor stayed snappy, and styles stayed put on mobile. I loved global colors and fonts. Set once, done. I did miss a couple fancy widgets I use in ClickFunnels, like a slick pop-up timer. Still, I got clean pages without wrestling.

Small gripe on both: the “auto-save” is not your friend. I hit save like it was a game button.

Speed and SEO: this part surprised me

I care about load time. Cold traffic is picky. If a page yawns, they bounce.

With my “Strength at Home” landing page:

• ClickFunnels mobile load: around 3.6 seconds on my tests.
• DropFunnels mobile load: about 1.8 seconds.

Desktop was fast on both. But mobile matters. I saw bounce rate drop about 8 points on DropFunnels for cold ads. That’s real money.

If you're hunting for an additional deep-dive on the topic, the ClickFunnels team put out a solid ClickFunnels 2.0 vs DropFunnels comparison that digs into feature sets and pricing in even more detail.

SEO? DropFunnels won for my blog content. It sits on WordPress under the hood, so I posted three related articles. Two hit page one for long-tail terms in about five weeks. My ClickFunnels blog area felt… basic. Fine for updates, not my main content hub.

If you want to compare even more site builders head-to-head, I found this breakdown super handy.

I also leaned on a bunch of deep-dive comparisons during my research. If you’re weighing different combos, these first-person tests are gold:

• DropFunnels vs ClickFunnels: 90-Day Tear-Down
• ThriveCart vs ClickFunnels
• Builderall vs ClickFunnels
• ClickFunnels vs Shopify
• ClickFunnels vs Unbounce
• Pipeline Pro vs ClickFunnels
• Instapage vs ClickFunnels
• ClickFunnels vs GetResponse
• ClickFunnels vs Kartra
• Kartra vs ClickFunnels

Email and automation: do you want “all-in-one”?

ClickFunnels 2.0 has flows, tags, and a nice visual builder. I ran a small 9-email nurture there for the challenge. It worked fine. Deliverability was okay for me. Not jaw-dropping. Not bad.

DropFunnels can send emails, but I stuck with ActiveCampaign. The native tools felt lighter. Zapier made the handoff easy. Tag on sign-up. Tag on purchase. Simple.

If you want one system for pages, emails, and CRM, ClickFunnels fits better. If you already love your email app and want fast pages, DropFunnels feels calmer.

Checkout and upsells: both made me money

I set Stripe on both. Order bumps worked on both. One-click upsells worked on both.

ClickFunnels checkout felt more “out of the box.” Coupons, trial toggles, and taxes were fast to set. DropFunnels made me map a couple Stripe products by hand the first time. Not hard, but I had to think. After that, smooth.

Receipts: ClickFunnels sent a neat, branded receipt without me poking much. I had to tweak DropFunnels receipt styling to match my brand. Ten minutes, done.

Real numbers from my tests

Challenge funnel landing page (cold traffic):

• ClickFunnels: 28% sign-up rate
• DropFunnels: 32% sign-up rate

Average order value on the tripwire:

• ClickFunnels: $27.60
• DropFunnels: $27.10

Booking funnel (warm list):

• ClickFunnels page view to booked call: 7.4%
• DropFunnels page view to booked call: 7.2%

So, DropFunnels won the first click (speed helped). ClickFunnels edged the tiny AOV bump for me (could be checkout layout, could be luck).

Editing hiccups and support

ClickFunnels editor froze on me twice in one week when I stacked three timers. I refreshed and lost a few tweaks. Not fun. Live chat answered in about 6 minutes and pointed me to a lighter timer block. It worked.

DropFunnels never froze on me, but I hit a weird SSL hiccup moving a custom domain. Email support replied the same day with clear steps. It felt personal, like, “Hey Kayla, try this.” I followed the steps, and it clicked.

For another neutral angle on how the two tools measure up, I found this Perspective article on DropFunnels vs ClickFunnels especially thoughtful when it comes to conversion-focused design choices.

One side experiment I ran here: Could a quick live-chat box boost bookings? The deeper I dug, the clearer it became that not all chat widgets are created equal. This no-fluff breakdown—Why Most Free Chat Websites Suck—lays out the sneaky branding, feature caps, and performance issues hiding behind “free.” Skimming it can save you from bolting a clunky chat tool onto an otherwise-fast funnel and watching conversions dip.

Cost and limits

My monthly bill was lower on DropFunnels by a chunk. About 40% less than my ClickFunnels plan. As my pages and funnels grew, ClickFunnels nudged me toward a higher tier sooner. DropFunnels gave me more room before I felt squeezed.

If you need many team seats, ClickFunnels has more knobs and controls built in. That can matter for agencies.

A quick note on moving stuff

I tried moving one ClickFunnels page straight into DropFunnels. No easy export. I rebuilt by hand in two hours. Honestly, it was a good excuse to clean up messy sections. I trimmed a whole block and conversions went up. Funny how that works.

Little things I noticed

• Mobile fonts: DropFunnels kept my line height tight without me fiddling. Nice.
• Pop-ups: ClickFunnels has more patterns out of the box.
• Blog: DropFunnels wins. I ranked two posts and pulled “free” traffic to my challenge.
• Black Friday test: both handled a spike. DropFunnels felt snappier when I watched real-time analytics, but both stayed up.

One real-world sandbox I like to spy on for punchy copy ideas is the classifieds space: short headlines, direct offers, clear CTAs. For a live example, scroll through Backpage Fitchburg—each listing acts like a micro-funnel, so you can quickly see which photos, urgency phrases, and geo-targeted keywords are actually moving traffic right now.

So… which one did I keep?

Both. I know, that sounds silly. Here’s why.

• For cold ads and content traffic, I send people to DropFunnels. It’s fast and helps my blog pull in steady search clicks.
• For clients who want one home for pages, email, CRM, and an affiliate program, I build in ClickFunnels. Less tool-hopping. Fewer moving parts to explain.

If you want a one-tool setup, and

I’ve used both for real work. Not a quick test. I ran my own candle shop emails in ActiveCampaign. I also built a full sales funnel in ClickFunnels for a friend’s parenting course. Two very different jobs. Two very different moods.

You know what? They both helped. But not in the same way.

I still use both, but not for the same thing. If you want a deeper, step-by-step comparison, I wrote this full blow-by-blow here. For an unbiased industry overview, Forbes Advisor also published an in-depth comparison of ActiveCampaign and ClickFunnels you might find useful.

The short, honest summary

• ActiveCampaign: best for email, tags, and smart follow-ups. Great reports. Clean sends.
• ClickFunnels: best for pages, carts, and the whole “buy now” flow. Fast to launch.

I still use both, but not for the same thing.

How ActiveCampaign saved my candle shop

I sell three scents. Lavender, Citrus, and Cedar. Cute, right? I set up tags like “Lavender Lover” and “Citrus Clicked.” When someone clicked a Lavender email, they went into a little path. It sent:

• Day 1: a note about how I pour small batches
• Day 3: a simple care tip
• Day 5: a gentle coupon for first-time buyers

I also added an abandoned cart email. Nothing pushy. Just, “Hey, your cart is waiting.” That one email paid for the tool in the first week. Open rate sat near 45%. Clicks around 8%. Not wild, but steady.

The builder felt like Lego. Triggers, actions, goals. I built a “win-back” flow too. If a person didn’t buy for 90 days, they got a warm note. If they clicked, they got bumped into a new path. It was smooth. And the reports? Clear. I could see which email made money, and which one flopped.

What bugged me? The form builder looked a bit plain. I styled it, but it took a minute. Also, the email drag-and-drop editor sometimes nudged my padding. Tiny thing. Still, I noticed.

How ClickFunnels carried a course launch

My friend runs a small parenting workshop. We needed speed. A landing page. A checkout. An upsell. And a thank-you page. All in a weekend. So I spun up ClickFunnels 2.0.

The steps were clear:

• Page 1: a simple video and a signup form
• Page 2: checkout with an order bump (a printable workbook)
• Page 3: one-click upsell for a Q&A call
• Page 4: thank you with next steps

I A/B tested the headline. Version B won by a mile. Signup rate jumped from 23% to 31% in two days. The order bump hit 27% take rate. The upsell grabbed 11%. Revenue per visitor went up 19%. That felt great.

What bugged me? The page builder is strong, but the design can look “ClickFunnels-y” if you don’t tweak it. I had to adjust spacing on mobile. Also, pages were heavy with extras, so I kept images tiny. Deliverability on their email tool was fine, but my segments felt flat. I missed the deep tags and goals from ActiveCampaign.

Ease of use: day one feels

• ActiveCampaign: The automations take a beat to learn. But once it clicks, it clicks. The map view helps.
• ClickFunnels: Pages and checkout are fast. The flow builder makes sense. You see the steps like a chain.

Email power: no contest here

ActiveCampaign is the email champ. Better tagging, better triggers, and cleaner sends. It handled site tracking and “if this, then that” rules like a pro. I even tested “predictive sending.” It picked good times. My opens nudged up 5%.

ClickFunnels email (in 2.0) is handy if you want one tool for all. But my smarter segments lived in ActiveCampaign. So for launches, I built pages in ClickFunnels and sent emails through ActiveCampaign. Best of both worlds. Some folks ask why I don’t just use GetResponse instead—if you’re curious, here’s my side-by-side on ClickFunnels vs. GetResponse.

Funnels and checkout: ClickFunnels wins

Want a full sales path with bumps, downsells, and timers? ClickFunnels makes that simple. Stripe and PayPal plugged in with no fuss. I could set a one-click upsell in minutes. You can do that with other tools too, but it’s built-in here.

If you’re mostly after sleek landing pages, you might peek at my Instapage vs. ClickFunnels field test or the ClickFunnels vs. Unbounce comparison—both dig into how those page builders stack up for conversion work.

ActiveCampaign can make landing pages now, but they’re basic. No serious cart flows. No real upsell magic.

Data and reports: different, not equal

• ActiveCampaign: Deep email reports. Heat maps. Link clicks. Revenue per email if you connect your store. I could slice by tag, last click, or last purchase.
• ClickFunnels: Clear funnel stats. Views, conversion, and checkout data. Great for quick wins. Not as rich for email behavior.

I also tracked UTM tags in both. ActiveCampaign gave me cleaner source data for emails. ClickFunnels helped me see which page step lost people.

Integrations I used

• ActiveCampaign: Shopify, WooCommerce, Typeform, Zapier, Stripe (through store), and a WordPress plugin. No drama.
• ClickFunnels: Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, Deadline Funnel, Google Analytics. Also smooth.

Price feel, not just numbers

ActiveCampaign charges by contact count. If your list grows fast, the bill grows too. ClickFunnels is a flat plan by features. It can feel pricey, but you get pages, checkout, and more. Here’s how I judge it:

• Big email list, slower sales flow? ActiveCampaign first.
• Smaller list, but ready to sell? ClickFunnels first.
• Running real launches? Use both.

On the budget side, some marketers swap in Builderall instead of ClickFunnels—my warts-and-wins write-up on that matchup breaks down where the savings show up.

Annoyances and gotchas

• ClickFunnels: Domain mapping took me two tries. Also, 2.0 is better, but some old guides are for Classic, which caused a bit of “huh?” for me.
• ActiveCampaign: The form themes feel dated. The email editor sometimes shifts spacing. Not a deal-breaker, just a sigh.

When I pick one over the other

• I pick ActiveCampaign when:

  • I need smart tags and deep segments
  • I care about deliverability and clear email reports
  • Sales happen on Shopify or WooCommerce already

• I pick ClickFunnels when:

  • I want a page, checkout, and upsell by Friday
  • I need A/B tests on pages fast
  • I want a simple stack for a launch

My current stack (and why)

For campaigns, I run pages in ClickFunnels, take payments with Stripe, and send all emails with ActiveCampaign. I connect them with Zapier. A buyer tag fires. The welcome path starts fast. It’s simple, and it works. Less stress. More sales. If you’d rather wire them up without Zapier, the platforms provide a step-by-step official integration guide that walks you through the native connection.

Real quick examples you can copy

• Local gym: I tagged “Yoga,” “HIIT,” and “Weights” in ActiveCampaign based on clicks. Yoga folks got a calm sequence and a Sunday class invite. Show-up rate went up 14%.
• Community event organizer in El Monte: they drummed up early RSVPs by posting in local classifieds; if you want to see a living example of where small businesses advertise around that city, swing by this Backpage El Monte listings roundup—it showcases the kinds of offers locals are browsing, giving you fresh ideas for copy angles and lead magnets.
• Handmade soap shop: ClickFunnels order bump for a mini travel bar raised average order value by $6. Small thing, big change.
• Webinar launch: I used ClickFunnels for the pages and checkout. ActiveCampaign sent a 3-part reminder series—48 hours, 2 hours, and 10 minutes before the event. Show rates were much better with the last short reminder.
• Fitness coach: After a holiday weekend campaign, I sent subscribers an evidence-based email explaining how a few drinks can suppress testosterone levels for up to 24 hours—see this research summary from Chad Bites for a solid

I’m Kayla. I run a small marketing shop, and I teach, too. I’ve built funnels for a dentist and a local gym in GoHighLevel. I also launched my own course and community on Kajabi. So yeah, I’ve lived with both. Some days were smooth. Some days… not so much. I also broke down the matchup feature-by-feature in this stand-alone guide if you need even more detail — GoHighLevel vs Kajabi: my granular comparison.

Let me explain what actually happened when I used each one.

Quick gut check

• GoHighLevel feels like a full toolbox for leads and client work. Think CRM, calls, texts, funnels, calendars—everything packed in.
  If you’d like to see every single tool spelled out, here’s the deep dive into GoHighLevel features.
• Kajabi feels like a bright studio for courses, coaching, and a smooth checkout. Pretty, steady, no fuss.

I like both. But not for the same job.
If you're still weighing other platforms too, this detailed website builder comparison guide lays out the pros and cons of most major players in one spot. On the CRM front specifically, you might want to see how GoHighLevel measured up against the heavyweight HubSpot in my real-world agency trial — read that story here.

My week with GoHighLevel (agency life, real mess, real wins)

I moved a gym off Wix and Mailchimp into GoHighLevel. I set up:

• A Facebook ad to a landing page (built right inside GHL).
• A form that fed a pipeline.
• A trigger that sent a text right away from a local number.
• A calendar so people could book a trial class.
• Review requests after the visit.

Here’s the thing: the texts did the heavy lifting. Two-way SMS made it feel human.

Real result: In week one, the gym got 38 leads. Nineteen booked a free class. We had five no-shows, but the “Hey, can we reschedule?” text brought three back. That math made my client grin.

For a dentist, I used:

• A funnel with a free whitening offer.
• Missed-call text back (if they called and no one picked up, they got a text right away).
• Call recording so we could coach the front desk.
• A review link that sent them to Google.

Real result: 24 new patients in the first month. Not huge. But steady. The dentist kept the system.

Quick side note: GHL isn't just for gyms and dentists. I helped a friend who runs a “meet local Latinas” singles night sketch out a funnel, and curiosity-driven landing pages work like crazy in that niche. For inspiration, skim the lead-in copy on this sample Latina dating offer — you’ll see how the page keeps friction low and captures intent right away.

Another real-world example of a classifieds-style dating hub that relies on localized hooks and punchy calls to action is Backpage Woodland—browsing that page shows how concise copy and geo-specific keywords drive fast opt-ins, which can spark new angles for your own funnels.

What tripped me up?

• DNS. Email went to spam until I set SPF and DKIM. I used Mailgun for sending. Took an hour and a coffee.
• 10DLC rules for texting. My first batch failed. I had to register the brand and campaign. It felt fussy, but it stuck after that.
• The builder isn’t pretty. It works, but sometimes I needed three clicks for a simple tweak.
• Support was helpful, but chat wasn’t instant during my late-night sprints.

Why I still use it:

• Pipelines + texts = fewer leaks.
• Calendars + reminders = fewer no-shows.
• Reputation tools = more reviews.
• White-label lets me hand clients their own portal. They think I’m fancy. I’m not. It’s GHL.

Price talk? It starts around a hundred bucks a month and climbs if you need the full agency setup. I pay more because I host clients inside it. Worth it for agency work.

My week with Kajabi (course creator hat on, cozy and clean)

I launched a small course called Client TLC. Six modules. Short videos. Checklists. I built:

• A simple sales page with a countdown.
• Stripe and PayPal for payments (Apple Pay worked through Stripe).
• A 7-email welcome series.
• A community space for Q&A.
• Drip schedule for lessons.

Real result: 118 students on a Black Friday promo. Two refunds. Average email open rate was 44% on the first week. Students told me the player felt smooth. I didn’t tweak much. It just ran.

What I loved:

• Upload a video, pick a thumbnail, done. Wistia is baked in.
• Coupons didn’t break anything. I made a 20% code in two minutes.
• Affiliate links were easy to set up for my friends.
• The community felt calm. No noisy feed. Clean app.

Where I hit walls:

• No native SMS. You can hack it with Zapier, but it’s not built-in.
• CRM is basic. Tags and segments are okay, but it’s not a full sales board.
• Pages are nice, but not wild. If you need fancy, you’ll feel the edges.
• If a file is big, video processing can lag. I learned to upload at night.

Price talk? It’s not cheap. But the polish saves time. I slept better during launch week. No fires.
If you want the exhaustive list of everything it can do, check out this summary of Kajabi features.

Head-to-head: how it felt in real use

• Funnels and automations:

  • GoHighLevel wins. Triggers, tags, calls, SMS, pipelines—made for lead flow.
  • Kajabi can do simple rules but not the heavy stuff.
    If you’re curious how it fares against an all-in-one funnel player like Kartra, I put both through the paces in this hands-on test.

• Courses and students:

  • Kajabi wins. It’s built for lessons, quizzes, and a clean player. Students stay on track.
  • GoHighLevel has memberships. They work, but they feel basic.

• Email:

  • Kajabi’s editor is smooth and deliverability felt strong out of the box.
  • GoHighLevel is powerful, but set your DNS and sending domain or you’ll fight spam.
    I also compared GoHighLevel’s automations with Keap’s (the tool formerly known as Infusionsoft) — you can see the exact workflows side-by-side in this breakdown.

• SMS and calling:

  • GoHighLevel, hands down. Two-way SMS, call tracking, missed-call text back. It’s a machine.
  • Kajabi doesn’t play here.

• Calendars and bookings:

  • GoHighLevel shines. Round robin, buffers, reminders, all that.
    For a look at how its pipeline tools stack up against the enterprise giant Salesforce, my first-person review is right here.
  • Kajabi doesn’t focus on this.

• Design polish:

  • Kajabi looks finished. Pages and checkout feel nice.
  • GoHighLevel works hard, but the UI can feel clunky.

• Teams and clients:

  • GoHighLevel is great for agencies. Sub-accounts, snapshots, and white-label help a lot.
  • Kajabi is great for solo creators, coaches, and small teams.

Real problems I hit (and how I fixed them)

• GoHighLevel email went to spam:

  • Fix: Added SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on my domain. Switched to a warm sending domain. Better in two days.

• GoHighLevel texts failed on day one:

  • Fix: Registered 10DLC. Used a local area code. Delivery improved.

• Kajabi video upload was slow:

  • Fix: Compressed videos with HandBrake. Uploaded at night. No waiting during work hours.

• Kajabi taxes on checkout felt messy:

  • Fix: Used Stripe’s tax settings. Clearer receipts for buyers.

• Moving from Teachable to Kajabi:

  • Fix: Exported CSV, imported students into Kajabi offers. Asked folks to reset passwords. Took an afternoon.

Can you use both? I do.

For my course, I still use Kajabi. It keeps students happy. But I send new buyers into GoHighLevel with a Zap. Then I text them a quick welcome note and a link to book a kickoff call.

It sounds extra. It’s not. It feels personal, and people show up.

Quick flow:

• Purchase in Kajabi.
• Zapier tags the contact in GoHighLevel.
• GHL sends a welcome text and a calendar link.
• Two reminders go out. Show-up rate went from

I run two tiny worlds.
One sells real stuff you can hold. The other sells lessons and a little hope.

• My candle shop lives on Shopify. We keep 12 scents, two sizes, and a few bundles.
• My coaching and workshop stuff runs through ClickFunnels. Think: one page, one story, one clear “yes.”

Same person. Two tools. Very different jobs.
For a deeper side-by-side feature breakdown, I’ve charted both platforms (plus a dozen others) on WebsiteBuilderTools so you can spot the right fit in under a minute.
If you’d like an even more comprehensive analysis of how ClickFunnels and Shopify stack up in terms of features, pricing, and use cases, you can dive into this detailed comparison for extra context.

Want the full, unfiltered diary of how each platform treated me day-to-day? I jotted it all down in this honest breakdown after a month of bouncing between tabs.

What I Actually Built

• Shopify: A clean store with product pages, a cart, a checkout, a blog, and email sign-ups. I used the free Dawn theme at first, then bought a paid theme later. I track orders, inventory, taxes, and shipping labels in one place.
• ClickFunnels: A funnel for a 90-minute workshop about “holiday pop-ups that don’t flop.” One page to explain. One checkout with a small add-on. Then a one-click upsell for the VIP Q&A replay.

Sounds neat, right? It mostly was. But let me explain how it felt. If you’d rather skim my late-night log of tiny wins and bigger stumbles, you can peek at my real-world take from long nights to big wins.

Setup: The Week That Chewed Me Up (Then Paid Me Back)

Shopify took me a weekend to look decent. It looked like a “real store” even before I added fancy apps. I set up Shopify Payments, added tax rules, and plugged in Pirate Ship for cheaper labels. Not fun, but it made sense after a cup of coffee and a few sighs.

ClickFunnels was faster for pages. I had a landing page live in an afternoon. The drag-and-drop builder felt like Lego. But getting my domain pointed, email sending, and Stripe tied in—yeah, that took a little patience. I kept asking, “Why is this button gray?” Then I found the setting. Classic.

Real Numbers From My Two Worlds

• Candle shop on Shopify:

  • Month 1: 2.4% checkout conversion. AOV (average order value) was $36.
  • After I added a small “Add a $6 wick trimmer?” on the thank-you page using ReConvert, AOV climbed to $42.
  • A holiday bundle page, built with PageFly, bumped conversion to 3.1%. Small change, big grin.

• Workshop funnel on ClickFunnels:

  • 482 visitors over 3 days from Instagram and my tiny list.
  • 41% joined the waitlist page. 7.2% bought the base ticket at $39.
  • 28% of buyers grabbed the $9 add-on at checkout (a worksheet set).
  • 17% took the $29 VIP replay upsell.
  • Final AOV: $47. Not bad for one page and a simple story.

Different paths. Different wins.

Design and Speed: Pretty vs Punchy

Shopify felt sturdy. The product pages looked clean, and the cart worked on every phone we tested. My paid theme ($320) added nice sections and quick view. Page speed stayed fine when I kept apps light. When I added too many, pages slowed and my bounce rate crawled up. So I trimmed.

ClickFunnels pages load fast enough, but some blocks felt heavy on older phones. Still, for short funnels, the speed was fine. And the editor made testing headlines easy. Example: “Stop guessing at your pop-up table” beat “Holiday pop-ups that sell” by 19% clicks to checkout. The catchy line won. I’ve also tested WordPress funnels in the past; if you’re weighing that route, my gritty ClickFunnels vs WordPress comparison lays out what actually moved the needle for me.

Speed-obsessed? I even pitted ClickFunnels against Unbounce in a landing-page sprint—see the blow-by-blow here if milliseconds matter to you.

Payments, Taxes, and The Boring Stuff That Matters

• Shopify: Shopify Payments was simple. Sales tax rules by state set themselves once I turned them on. Shipping zones took me 30 minutes, with coffee and a cookie. Labels printed clean from the dashboard.
• ClickFunnels: I used Stripe and PayPal. It handled digital delivery and a members area just fine. Taxes were easy since it was mostly U.S. services. No boxes to ship, so no label mess. That was a relief.

Upsells and Add-Ons: Where The Money Hides

This part is why I keep both.

• ClickFunnels: Order add-ons and one-click upsells are baked in. They’re bold and simple. I made back my ad spend with the upsell alone one weekend.
• Shopify: You can do upsells too, but you’ll likely use an app. I used ReConvert for post-purchase and added Zipify OCU for one-click. It worked, but every app adds cost and a bit of weight to your store.

Some readers ask if Builderall can pull off the same upsell tricks. My hands-on Builderall vs ClickFunnels story shows where each one shines (and where they trip).

If you're exploring an adults-only niche where discretion, storytelling, and community building are critical—think of a daring blog or membership that celebrates the “slut wife” lifestyle—you can peek at fucklocal.com/slut-wife to see a real-world example of how spicy content creators weave narrative, foster loyal fans, and monetize through premium access and upsells. Looking for a boots-on-the-ground view of how location-based service providers craft attention-grabbing classifieds that funnel readers into private conversations? Check out the detailed listings on Arcadia’s Backpage alternative to study concise headlines, persuasive copy, and clear calls-to-action you can swipe for your own offer pages.

Email and Follow-Up

• Shopify Email is fine for simple blasts. For serious flows (welcome series, abandoned cart, VIPs), I moved to Klaviyo. My candle “scent quiz” feed tags and sends the right notes. Result: more repeat buys.
• ClickFunnels has email built in. It’s okay for basic sequences. I ran a 5-day “warm-up” before the workshop and it did the job. For fancier segments, I still like Klaviyo or ConvertKit. If you’re eyeing an all-in-one tool with deeper automation (think Kartra), check out my ClickFunnels vs Kartra deep dive before you decide.

Apps and Extras (Where Your Wallet Groans)

• Shopify monthly: $39 for Basic when I started, plus apps. My stack was about $71 extra per month: Page builder, upsells, reviews, and shipping. Worth it once sales grew, but it sneaks up on you.
• ClickFunnels monthly: Mine was $147. It felt high, but remember it includes hosting, the page builder, checkout, upsells, some email, and a basic course area. For single-offer launches, it paid for itself fast.

Prices change, but the pattern holds. Shopify is cheaper at first. ClickFunnels is pricey, but it’s built to sell one thing hard.

Support, Learning, and “Please Help Me”

• Shopify chat got me answers fast. Theme help varied, but the core help was steady.
• ClickFunnels support was fine, and the templates taught me a lot. The community groups gave me real tips, like headline swaps that actually moved sales.

When I Pick Which One

• If I sell many SKUs, manage stock, ship boxes, and want clean product pages: I pick Shopify.
• If I sell one hero offer, run a challenge, or push a timed launch: I pick ClickFunnels.
• If I need both? I link them. Funnel for the big sell. Shopify for the long tail and repeat buyers.
  For an in-depth comparison that zeroes in on each platform’s core strengths and weaknesses, this resource digs even deeper.

A Quick Cheat Sheet

• You love catalogs, filters, and smooth checkout: Shopify.
• You want one page, one story, bigger AOV from upsells: ClickFunnels.
• You want email flows that tag buyers by scent, size, or season: Shopify + Kl