ClickFunnels vs Kartra? That’s the latest ongoing debate in the internet marketing community. Whether you are new to internet marketing or an established player looking for more info about each platform, stick around. I’m giving a review of the overall pros and cons of ClickFunnels and Kartra, and giving you tips on how to use either platform as the best internet marketing software to help you start (or scale) your business.
At first glance, it might look like ClickFunnels and Kartra offer the exact same thing. However, after taking a closer look it becomes obvious that while both platforms have a lot to offer, there is at least one substantial difference that separates the two. Mainly, ClickFunnels is for the task-oriented business owner focused on building sales funnels and landing pages, while Kartra is a goal-oriented, all-in-one business solution. Want an explanation of how a platform can be either task-oriented vs goal-oriented? Keep reading…
Kartra vs. ClickFunnels
Here’s what I’m going to cover:
Most new entrepreneurs begin their business with success in mind. They usually go searching the internet to find the best internet marketing tools to help them grow their business. Naturally, they come across quite a few marketing programs meant to help launch their business. And it’s at this point that the confusion usually starts to set in.
Which marketing platform is the best? Which isn’t a complete waste of time (and money!)? How long will it take for me to learn the system so I can use it effectively? Is there a chance to make money as an affiliate if I enjoy the product and know it will add value for others in the same position as me right now? Those are all good questions to ask when picking a marketing platform.
What is ClickFunnels?
No doubt you have come across a lot of articles, blogs and videos touting ClickFunnels as the holy grail of internet marketing platforms. I won’t argue with anyone who loves it. In fact, I have used it with success myself. One unique thing about ClickFunnels is the good reputation it has among internet marketers across many niches. From the career coach to the food blogger, down to the network marketing newbie, you can find a great many people from almost every industry imaginable using the platform to launch successful internet marketing businesses.
Most beginning internet marketers find ClickFunnels appealing because they don’t have the time to learn how to develop or style a website and ClickFunnels does that for you. The platform uses simple WYSIWYG drag and drop functionality to help you create a professional looking website, landing page and/or sales funnel.
What Makes ClickFunnels Unique?
The most popular feature found within ClickFunnels is funnels, funnels and more funnels. With a name like ClickFunnels, you would expect the platform to include the ability to create different funnels to market your business and you would be right. Creator and Founder Russell Brunson developed the platform because he had firsthand experience with the challenges beginning internet marketers faced when starting their entrepreneurial journey. Some of the funnels he found most useful were sales page funnels, lead capture funnels and webinar funnels. So whether you are promoting a service-based program (like coaching services), selling goods and services or hosting evergreen webinars to market your program and/or services, ClickFunnels can be a massive benefit to you.
How Does ClickFunnels Work?
ClickFunnels uses a very easy to follow guide to help you build a website, landing page or sales funnel sequence. Once you log into the platform, the first thing you do is choose a specific type of sales funnel for your business. There are literally hundreds of plug-and-play funnels for you to choose from. Many come pre-designed and you can find the one that best suits your needs by product or service category. You can customize your funnel by adding specific brand colors and inserting your own text to create a unique user experience.
If you are truly a newbie to internet marketing and don’t have any idea of which funnel would work best for your business, you can always request ClickFunnels free guide, called the Free Cookbook. In it, you’ll find a detailed outline of how to use each type of funnel found in ClickFunnels, complete with an outline of how to optimize the best funnel for your business.
After selecting a funnel, the next step is choosing a page design. Remember, Russell Brunson has been in your shoes before so he’s made the process of customizing the design of your funnel as easy as possible. There are many internet marketers who use this platform and their websites and funnels don’t look the same. The ClickFunnels team has designed a pretty comprehensive suite of web page design options. This allows you to completely customize your website, sales funnels and landing pages without fear or looking like every other ClickFunnels user.
The first time I set up my website using the platform it took less than an hour and the site looked pretty good for a newbie. It was a very simple process.
How Much Does ClickFunnels Cost?
There are two pricing options with ClickFunnels (well, three if you count the free option). There is a 14-day free trial that leads to one of two options to upgrade. The basic plan is $97 a month. That gives members access to create 100 pages and up to 20 unique funnels. It includes unlimited email contacts and members, and is great for beginners with web traffic up to 20,000 visitors a month.
|
Options |
ClickFunnels |
ClickFunnels Platinum |
|---|---|---|
|
Pricing |
$97/month |
$297/month |
|
# Of Funnels |
20 |
Unlimited |
|
# Of Pages |
100 |
Unlimited |
|
# Of Visitors |
20,000 |
Unlimited |
|
Custom Domains |
3 |
9 |
|
Billing Integrations |
1 type per |
3 type per |
The “big boy” version of ClickFunnels is called ClickFunnels Platinum. It is $297 a month. For internet marketing beginners, this option may be a stretch unless you already have some recurring business and are looking to scale out your operation. With this option you can create unlimited funnels and pages, and your website can have unlimited visitors as well. It also includes the new FunnelFlix!
What is Kartra?
If the idea of a drag-and-drop website seems a little unrefined, then Kartra is for you. With Kartra, you can do virtually everything you can with ClickFunnals. However the process is different. Kartra’s page options are more seamless and, some feel, more polished than ClickFunnels. Simply put, with ClickFunnels you can run the risk of creating an “ugly” website that makes money. Whereas Kartra’s functionality lets you create a website, landing page and sales funnel that looks like a professional marketing team developed it. This is a great option for the internet marketer with a long-term vision who doesn’t want to continually tweak their website to improve on its look.
How Does Kartra work?
Speaking of long-term vision, if you are the type to plan your business based on the end goal, then I recommend you go with Kartra for your internet marketing needs. Why? Because Kartra is a goal-oriented platform. Whereas ClickFunnels is all about the task at hand (creating a website to get your goods or services sold fast), the Kartra process asks its users to create with their long-term vision in mind.
For example, if you want to create a landing page to capture emails for your list, in Kartra you would start by creating your email drop-down (or thank you page) first. In ClickFunnels, you would design it in a linear manner (with the promo or freebie to capture the email designed first, then the email capture second). This distinction between the two doesn’t seem like a big deal but if your mind doesn’t work the way Kartra is asking it to, you will find yourself deeply dissatisfied with the platform in general.
How Much Does Kartra Cost?
The plans are broken down into 4 pricing tiers:
For full details, visit my Kartra Pricing page.
- The Starter plan ($99/month) limits you to 2,500 contacts, 15,000 emails per month, 100 pages, 20 products and 100 automations.
- The Silver plan ($199/month) members can have up to 12,500 contacts, unlimited emails per month, and unlimited pages, products and automations.
- The Gold plan ($299/month) members can have up to 25,000 contacts, unlimited emails per month, and unlimited pages, products and automations.
- The Platinum plan ($499/month) members can have up to 50,000 contacts, unlimited emails per month, and unlimited pages, products and automations.
If you want a bigger discount, you can opt to pay annually.
This will bring the cost to:
- Starter plan to $79/month
- Silver plan to $149/month
- Gold plan to $229/month
- Platinum plan to $379/month.
All Kartra plans allow you to try a 14-Day trial for only $1
Direct Comparison of ClickFunnels vs Kartra
I’ve given some insight to both tools. Now it’s time to compare them head on.
The Similarities
Both ClickFunnels and Kartra are amazing at building sales funnels because they offer unique features. So let’s have a look.
1. WYSIWYG (Drag & Drop)
Kartra and ClickFunnels require no coding skills. All you have to do is drag and drop the elements you want onto the page and edit it to your needs. What’s also awesome about it, is the way it looks while editing it, is exactly how the finished design will look.
2. Prebuilt Funnel Templates
ClickFunnels and Kartra comes with tons of pre-designed funnel templates that you can customize to fit your design needs.
3. Membership Site Creation
Both platforms will allow you to set up a complete membership portal for your courses, online program or anything that requires restricted access. This means you can assign login credentials for your customers to access your material.
I actually prefer the Kartra option over ClickFunnels.
4. Affiliate Management Tool
Do you have products/courses that you’d like to attach to an affiliate program? Both platforms have the capability to assign and manage affiliates who help drive customers to your business and you can reward them through commissions.
5. Built-in Email Automation
ClickFunnels has a feature called follow-up funnels for following up customers via email and text messaging.
Kartra has a similar feature allowing users to easily manage leads and segment customers.
6. Shared Funnels
ClickFunnels and Kartra give you the option to share your funnels with others by sharing a unique funnel link to others to be downloaded immediately into their accounts.
7. Shopping Cart Solution
You don’t need to purchase any third-party shopping cart solutions to sell your products or services online. They both come with shopping cart and checkout software built in.
8. Affiliate Program
Both platforms have affiliate programs which pay very well. You can apply to promote either of them without being a user of the platforms. They both pay 40% recurring commissions as long as your referred users remain paying customer.
The Differences
Let’s get into the differences between ClickFunnels and Kartra.
1. Sales Funnel Goals
With ClickFunnels you build your funnels in a sequential order making it a more of a straight forward funnel building process.
Kartra is Goal-Oriented as opposed to task-oriented platforms like ClickFunnels.
So what do they mean by Goal-Oriented?
Well, instead of going about your sales process from beginning to end, Kartra wants you to think in reverse – think first about what you’re trying to accomplish, not the first steps.
2. Video Hosting
ClickFunnels doesn’t have its own video hosting, but allows for integrating 3rd party video platforms into your funnels.
Kartra has it’s own video platform and allows you to integrate 3rd party platforms as well.
3. Appointment Calendar App
ClickFunnels does not have an appointment app.
Kartra does have an appointment calendar app that makes it easier than ever to schedule clients and also integrates with other parts of your funnel.
4. Helpdesk Feature
Kartra Helpdesk is a great feature that takes care of your customer ticketing, knowledge base, and Livechat.
ClickFunnels has no helpdesk feature.
If you think ClickFunnels is for you, that’s great! Here are the pros and cons of that decision…
ClickFunnels: The Good and Bad
Pro’s & Cons
Pros
ClickFunnels will be easy to use…
As an internet marketer, we all want the same thing. More leads. More opportunities to convert customers. And a better way to do that. In that sense, ClickFunnels will make you pretty happy. By focusing on the task at hand (sales), ClickFunnels have made it easy to build and launch a functioning website, landing page or sales funnel as quickly as possible. Will there be a learning curve with the platform? Of course. Unless you have some level of design skill or practice with the drag-and-drop website model (similar to Wix), then building your first site will take some practice. However, the learning curve is substantially less complicated than if you used WordPress or something comparable.
ClickFunnels has made the process of building an internet marketing business as easy as possible and for you, the internet marketing newbie, that is a good thing.
ClickFunnels is pretty forgiving to new internet marketers…
Want to know the reason ClickFunnels is everywhere? Because internet marketers far and wide believe in the platform and have become evangelists for it. You are probably here because you heard someone online mention it and you wanted more information. You might even be here because you encountered a ClickFunnels hater and you want to see what all the fuss is about.
Love it or hate it, the truth is that ClickFunnels serves a growing market of entrepreneurs; the ones who are ready to take the plunge into running an online business but don’t know where to start. Not too long ago, that was me. In my quest to build my business I have used everything from WordPress and Thrive Themes to Mailchimp and Active Campaign. As someone with a little time under his belt in internet marketing, I still use some of those programs. That’s why I can say, without a doubt, that ClickFunnels is the easiest thing for a newbie to learn. It’s very forgiving to the person trying to earn while they learn.
ClickFunnels gives you exactly what you need…
This is a lesson many new business owners have to come to terms with. What you might want and what you need right now are not always one in the same. Yes, it’s nice to have a website that looks great and makes you feel proud of your work. At the same time, it’s better to have sales coming in so you can invest in yourself and move your business forward. That is not to say you can’t design a stunning website with ClickFunnels because you can. The platform allows you to focus on your most immediate need though, which is bringing in sales.
ClickFunnels allows you to choose a template for your business, build a landing page, integrate it with a sales page and convert traffic to sales. For a newbie internet marketer, that’s really all you need to get your business going.
If you already use platforms like Paypal and Stripe, there’s integration for that so you can continue to get paid with ease. Using ConcertKit or Mailchimp? They integrate there too. If you’re planning to do webinars to build your business, ClickFunnels has integrations covered with platforms like Webinar Jam and Go-To Meeting. Because they are a growing platform, there will be more integrations to come so choosing ClickFunnels for your business is a safe bet.
Cons
Remember that learning curve I talked about…
It’s real, especially for the internet marketer with a desire to put out a perfect product.
Before we continue, let me give you some unsolicited advice:
Perfection is the enemy of done. It’s better to be done than it is to be perfect.
And while there isn’t anything technically wrong with wanting a perfect product, the truth is perfection is futile and fleeting. What you consider “perfect” today can change tomorrow so just focus on getting things done. Not perfect.
Back to the subject at hand. ClickFunnels makes designing a webpage easy, but you might need some help setting up integrations and automation. For this reason, there are all kinds of tutorials on YouTube that provide guidance on those things. And you can join the ClickFunnels facebook group for more support as well.
ClickFunnels design is limited..
While there are hundreds of pre-made sales pages, landing pages, and order forms, the options are but so many. If you need a robust buildout of sites, funnels and sales pages, unless you have some design skills handy, a lot of them will end up looking the same. Over time as you learn the system, you will learn how to tweak that. But, in the beginning, that might be a frustrating drawback.
Thinking Kartra is the way to go? Congrats! Here are the pros and cons you can expect…
Kartra: The Good and Bad
Pro’s & Cons
Pros
Your business. Your way….
If you don’t like the “hand-holding” approach of ClickFunnels, then choose Kartra. The platform allows you to embrace your inner entrepreneur and build your own concept with your websites, landing pages and sales funnels.
While ClickFunnels gives newbies around 22 sales funnel types to choose from, you can also design your own from a blank canvass. However, Kartra allows you to do that also. In fact, Kartra gives you all those features, plus different options for landing pages, templates, pages options, video sales pages, and sales funnels.
As you build out in the Kartra platform, you will find that your options increase, where they stagnate with ClickFunnels. This is a great thing for those who are truly ready to take control of their business and stand out from the sea of marketing integrated into the ClickFunnels universe. While perfect is the enemy of done, a timeless website attracts a high caliber clients. If that’s your end goal, then Kartra is a great choice.
All-in-one marketing system at your fingertips…
While ClickFunnels lets you build amazing landing pages and sales funnels, Kartra is a complete marketing system designed to sustain your business. It has everything you need to run and scale your business successfully over time.
Similar to the ClickFunnels platform, you can build sales funnels in Kartra. However, you can design shopping carts, automate your email process, and so much more! If you are looking to truly earn a passive income, then Kartra is a great choice because of how easy it is to automate your marketing using the platform. You can actually schedule auto-posts in some instances; something that is simply not possible using ClickFunnels.
Cons
Less well-known…
If you got into the internet marketing game to be like everyone else, then going against ClickFunnels is considered blasphemy. Kartra is an excellent platform, but it’s not as popular in the internet marketing industry. However, I don’t consider this a con, per se. If you are an affiliate marketer who is looking to build a long-term passive income, do you really want to compete with the gurus pushing ClickFunnels? Probably not. However, if you have the patience to learn Kartra and establish yourself as an expert on the platform, you can certainly begin seeing a return on your investment in less time compared to becoming a ClickFunnels affiliate.
Affiliate Management Program
Kartra:
Kartra pays 40% to their affiliates for every recurring payment made by referrals as long as they are members of Kartra. Your commissions get updated when your referrals update their account plans.
Those with a network of affiliates can earn 10% from every sale and recurring payment made by the affiliates.
ClickFunnels:
ClickFunnels’ affiliates can earn commissions from every product offered, they also get to earn recurring commissions by making use of ‘sticky cookies.’
The sticky cookies follow your visitors to whichever device they are using. Even when your visitor registers for a webinar at home and views it on their tablet/iPad, sticky cookies make sure that you earn recurring commissions.
Once registered, you can visit the affiliate center on the site, grab your affiliate links, and start promoting. ClickFunnels pays their affiliates up to 40% recurring commission.
ClickFunnels also gives you the chance to win your dream car. Once you get 100 people to use the software, you will receive $500 monthly, with which you can pay for the lease on your vehicle. As you reach 200 people, you will receive $1,000 monthly.
The Final Say
Which platform you choose ultimately comes down to your goals as a business owner. If you are a newbie who is in a hurry to make money and not worried about the overall look and feel of your website, then ClickFunnels is an excellent option. However, if you want to stand out and don’t want to be a “flash in the pan”, “fly by night” internet marketer, consider establishing yourself as a Kartra expert.
I have been an early adopter of Kartra and I really like it for the most part. Sure, there are some growing pains with the platform. However, in my opinion, it’s a very powerful tool and gives internet marketers and entrepreneurs in general everything they need to build and scale their business.
Though the price may seem like a barrier, initially, the platform is actually better than most of the competition and it will save you money in the long run. With Kartra, you can eliminate the need for hosting, creating a website and reduce the long list of other 3rd party applications to be integrated into the platform. ClickFunnels allows for many integrations, but that’s because the platform has to since it wasn’t built to be an all-in-one solution for internet marketers. Like they say in the tech world, “the integrations are a bug, not a feature.”
And, while I have a favorable opinion of the Kartra (and really ClickFunnels as well), I have to be honest. Neither will ever be suited as a replacement for a WordPress website, especially if your goal is to rank organically for SEO in your niche market.
I am someone who successfully uses blogging to build my business, I receive a ton of traffic from it. As a result, I could never replace that part of my business with an all-in-one solution. Again, if you are looking to build a business and blog, you can do that. But in my opinion, Kartra is best for the first part (building) and not the other (blogging). When it comes down to both services I think you get more bang for your buck with Kartra and that’s why I would highly recommend them.
Kartra vs ClickFunnels FAQ
Which software are you personally using the most?
I’m a paying customer of both softwares, but I actually use ClickFunnels more since I’m much more familiar. It’s easier for me to create funnels quickly with it since I also design funnels.
Which is more cost effective for my business?
I all comes down to your business needs and how you plan to use the software. If you primarily need a sales funnel builder then ClickFunnels does the job. If you need more than that, to also include email marketing, then Kartra is your choice. However, once your list size starts growing, then ClickFunnels starts to be cheaper since it’s email marketing is a fix cost.
Which one has the better affiliate program, Kartra or ClickFunnels?
ClickFunnels has made some recent changes to its affiliate program that make it less appealing. I think ClickFunnels has the better value ladder and brand recognition. But Kartra has the higher stick-rate. I notice that those who purchase Kartra tend to remain customers longer than those that use ClickFunnels. Also Kartra has a more straight-forward commission structure than ClickFunnels. So I’d say Kartra has the better affiliate program.
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Mike Garvey JrFounder of BrandTheBoss.com
Work From Home
Want to learn how to start an online business and work from home like I do?
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