Kartra vs Clickfunnels

Kartra vs Clickfunnels: When people started to take notice of Kartra (despite it being founded earlier than Clickfunnels), the funneling platform was touted not only as a Clickfunnels alternative, but perhaps the superior… As most Clickfunnels alternatives reviews will tell you, CF still dominates the sales funnel software industry, but Kartra has some features you don’t want to miss.

While Clickfunnels might be more appropriate for those looking for general convenience, Kartra has the upper-hand in more advanced, detailed revisions to the business scheme.

So what is it exactly about the two SAAS’ that make one appropriate for a certain group over the other?

Kartra vs Clickfunnels 2023 TL;DR

The main difference between Kartra and Clickfunnels is the immense online following (Clickfunnels blows Kartra out of the water). Kartra is closing the gap by offering a more all-in-one solution with built-in video player (Clickfunnels requires 3rd party host), built-in helpdesk, and built-in calendar functionality.

Here are more differences between Clickfunnels and Kartra in 2023:

• Gain access to more support with Clickfunnels over Kartra.
• Get started with Kartra once you feel comfortable with e-commerce.
• Clickfunnels is best for beginners that are looking to just get into e-commerce. They have live training courses and a very large community that is willing to help any technical issues that beginners may stumble across on.
• Kartra scores best in terms of scalability. You should be able to scale your business with Kartra very well thanks to its leads as well as the large number of admins/editors that you can add on your website.

Free Trial?

Kartra

Good news: Kartra offers up to three weeks of the trial sessions for only one dollar. This is usually longer than any other funneling/e-commerce building platform, putting Kartra almost in the first place as far as preview/trials go. For beginning entrepreneurs, this is especially exciting as you’d be able to launch your business (or at least preview what it is going to look like) without much cost. But as all things go in life, if there’s the goods, there are the bads.

Here’s the bad news: Kartra doesn’t always offer this three week trial for everyone that happens to stumble across their website on the Internet. In fact, you have to sign-up to Kartra through specific links (likely affiliate links) in order for you to have a shot at the offer. Other times they offer a two-week trial for $1. In short, the free trial system is quite inconsistent, and you might not really find out whether or not you are eligible for the three-week trial or the two-week trial until you actually go on the website to purchase their services yourself.

In the free trial, you can use most of the website building software/plug-ins as a part of their services, but it’s difficult to make precise edits that make your website both computer and phone-friendly. The number one rule when it comes to e-commerce is to make sure that your website/products are engaging for the audience. With a non-friendly user interface, you won’t exactly achieve the results that you’ve hoped for.

But even if Kartra does let you customize your website, it won’t really do much good for you in the trial because you won’t be able to launch your website without purchasing a domain. The website can be built through Kartra, but, unfortunately, there are no free trials for domains. Even if you get all of this settled, you still have to deal with payments, and customization is limited only until you choose and purchase a plan.

To summarize, it’s pretty much impossible for you to profit off of your business through Kartra’s free trial. You won’t be able to collect payments, have your website go online, and customize your store for maximum compatibility. However, this very cheap trial is great for those that are just testing the waters. You’ll still be able to create your website, evaluate how well it looks, and once you are happy with how the overall appearance is like, you can then choose a plan and officially launch your business! If you choose that e-commerce isn’t right for you, you won’t be charged automatically, but there is no official statement claiming that they will delete your data.

Clickfunnels

Clickfunnels is the most popular funneling service that most e-commerce owners use. Because their mission is to lower the entry barrier for anyone that is looking to start a business online, unlike Kartra, they offer a completely free two-week trial. Clickfunnels makes it explicit that the two-week trial session should be used for users to explore Clickfunnel’s services rather than launching a business and generating revenue immediately. This statement on the funneling platform’s free trial is backed up by how many tools they provide to their users.

Here’s one example: when it comes to website building, the interface is pretty much the same as what paid users get to use. This is a huge advantage over any other funneling services because this takes away the time that you have to take to learn all of the paid features. Super easy for you to transition/continue building your business even after you select a completely different plan! If you were to use another funneling service, you might have to make edits to the way you set up your website because you realize there are other features that simplify the checkout service. For Clickfunnels, this won’t ever be the case.

Another benefit that comes with being a part of Clickfunnels’ free trial is that you still have access to the great community that seeks to help people out. The platform has a larger user base, which makes it easy for you to get help whenever you need to solve technical problems. It might not seem like a lot, but being able to Google issues that you are faced with and finding that they have been solved by the community can really come in handy.

At the same time, Clickfunnels does have its disadvantages, but not necessarily in its free trial. There is a slight learning curve because of how many services Clickfunnels offers for its users, but you will be able to learn and make adjustments during the two-week free trial. This is another reason why we strongly recommend looking into Clickfunnels: you won’t have to make any financial contributions before you get familiar with their services! There shouldn’t be any downtime before you officially launch and generate revenue from your business thanks to their helpful free trial.

All in all, Clickfunnels’ free trial session is a very insightful one. You get a very good look at what the e-commerce scene is really like thanks to having access to one of the largest funneling communities and the relatively similar services offered by the free trial version and the paid plan.

But how does pricing compare? Which service should you choose when strictly looking through a financial lens?

Kartra vs Clickfunnels Pricing Comparison

For both Kartra and Clickfunnels, there are many different plans for users to choose from. While this offers a great deal of flexibility when it comes to pricing, it might make it difficult for you to decide which one is more cost-effective over the other. 

Good news! We did the research and compiled it for you to look at the overall picture to help you figure out what works best for you. 

Beginner Tier

Clickfunnels $97/month(​$1,164/year)	Kartra Starter$99/month($1188/year) OR save $240 with annual billing	Kartra Silver $199/month($2388/year) OR save $600 with annual billing
– Create up to 20 funnels- Add up to 100 pages- 1 other user to access your website- 3 different payment gateways- Connect to 3 different domains- Funnel Hacker Forum- Connect with different training courses from Funnel Flix	– Maximum of 2,500 leads- 1 custom domain- 15000 follow-up emails per month- 50 GB bandwidth- Host 100 different pages- Add 50 videos- Sell up to 20 products- Build 2 membership sites- Add 1 other admin/collaborator for your site- Connect 1 helpdesk	– Maximum of 12,500 leads- 3 custom domains- Unlimited follow-up emails- Unlimited bandwidth- Unlimited number of different pages- Upload unlimited videos- Sell an unlimited number of products- Build as many membership sites as you’d like – Add any admin/collaborator for your site- Unlimited helpdesks- Kartra Agency

Comparison

Clickfunnels, compared to Kartra’s Starter plan, is $2 cheaper. As such, it’s actually pretty difficult to generalize which option is the best option for everyone as every service has their pros and cons. 

First of all, you won’t be able to upload videos via Clickfunnels. Embedding them is the only option. This doesn’t seem or sound all that bad until your customer realizes this on your website and immediately deems your website to be less credible and unprofessional. 

On top of this, follow-up emails are only available for Kartra’s Starter plan. This is another essential aspect of creating a successful e-commerce business! Too often will your customer enter your “store”, browse through the item, maybe even add them to their cart, and leave the website because they changed their mind. Follow-up emails will allow you to connect with your customers even if they might not be on your website, inevitably leading to more sales. Not having this can be detrimental to generating revenue. 

One aspect that Clickfunnels does provide that Kartra does not is the community (aka the Funnel Hacker Forum). Yes, you can look up technical bugs on Google for Kartra and find some answers, but Q&A culture is really developed in the Clickfunnels community. Gurus are very willing to help and, because of how the user base is, there are already many questions that have been answered previously. The resources are inevitably unmatched because of how large Clickfunnels is as a community. 

Another advantage that comes with purchasing Clickfunnel’s beginner service is that you have access to Funnel Flix, Clickfunnel’s official training course. This is great for those that are just starting their first e-commerce business. This makes the service 100% more appropriate for beginners, but for those that are quite familiar with how they should go about growing their business, these Funnel Flix won’t be as useful. 

Now, Kartra Silver is also an option, but the additional benefits that come with an extra $100 is not really worth it for those that are trying to start a small e-commerce business (which is usually recommended for beginners). This is, however, certainly for those that are looking to create an empire for themselves! You get multiple websites, unlimited leads, follow-up emails, and more. But, obviously, this is a bit of an overkill if you’re just getting started.

To summarize, Clickfunnels’ beginner plan is a better option for, well, beginners, while Kartra’s plans are more for those that are looking to really create a profitable business. If you are going into the e-commerce industry with more of a “let me try this out” mindset, we recommend Clickfunnels as it is more beginner friendly. If you feel ready to launch a business (and investing a lot of your time since follow up emails take a long time to set up), Kartra’s beginner plan is the right way to go for you. Kartra’s Silver plan is definitely not appropriate for beginners, let alone those that are looking to create one side-revenue. Unless you are looking to create multiple businesses and feel very comfortable with e-commerce, stay away from Kartra Silver. The price is just not worth the perks!

Upper Tiers

CF Platinum$297/month($3,564/year)	CF Two Comma Club X$2,497/month($29,964/year)	Kartra Gold$299/month($3588/year)OR save $840 with annual billing	Kartra Platinum$499/month($5988/year)OR save $1440 with annual billing
– Unlimited Funnels- Unlimited Pages- 3 Contributors- 9 Payment Gateways- 9 Domains- Unlimited Follow-ups- Priority Support- Weekly Peer Review- Access to Funnel Forum- Access to training courses (Funnel Flix)	– Unlimited Funnels- Unlimited Pages- 10 Contributors- 27 Payment Gateways- 27 Domains- Unlimited Follow-ups – Priority Support + VIP Phone Support- Weekly Peer Review- Access to Funnel Forum- Access to training courses	– Maximum of 25,000 leads- 5 custom domain- Unlimited follow-up emails- Unlimited bandwidth- Unlimited number of different pages- Upload unlimited videos- Sell an unlimited number of products- Build as many membership sites as you’d like – Add any admin/collaborator for your site- Unlimited helpdesks- Kartra Agency	– Maximum of 50,000 leads- 10 custom domain- Unlimited follow-up emails- Unlimited bandwidth- Unlimited number of different pages- Upload unlimited videos- Sell an unlimited number of products- Build as many membership sites as you’d like – Add any admin/collaborator for your site- Unlimited helpdesks- Kartra Agency

Comparison

Before we proceed to compare the upper tier plans, we must make it clear that these higher tiers are definitely not for beginners or for those that arel booking to start a business out of a whim. Rather, these are for those that have a product that has been proven to work and is projected to be scalable. The minimum monthly cost for these tiers is Clickfunnel Platinum’s $297 per month, which means you have to make at least $297 in revenue to break even. If you don’t have an established brand or a product that has succeeded in the market, purchasing this plan can be a very risky maneuver. Yes, you have access to many different resources, but really, the upgrades are mostly for scaling. Unlimited funnels, pages, more contributors, and more payment gateways all simply mean they’ll be able to expand their customer base. But all this becomes pretty much useless if you aren’t able to gain traction from your audience in the first place. 

With that being said, let’s say you launched your first e-commerce business and found some success. Maybe a few hundred bucks in profit with the most basic Clickfunnels or Kartra plan. You feel like you might be able to expand this business to generate even more revenue. The tiers that are in similar ranges in terms of pricing in such cases would be Clickfunnel Platinum, Kartra Gold, and Kartra Platinum. 

As we’ve mentioned in pretty much every section, each plan has its pros and cons, but we will strictly be speaking in the hypothetical situation that you have an established business and are looking to expand it. When we look to grow our customer base, website design is essential. Instead of having yourself going through the basic drag-and-drop editor for your site, you can hire professional web designers to turn your website into a more engaging, customer-friendly one. You might also want other professionals accessing your website like writers, business sales people, and even statisticians. It’s clear that you need a bit more manpower in your workforce to grow your business, making Kartra’s Gold/Platinum plan the way for you to go. Because they don’t have a limit in the number of collaborators/admins that you can add to your website, you will be able to add everyone in your team so that they have administrative access to your funnel! 

So which one should you choose: Kartra’s Gold plan or the Platinum plan? If you believe that you will be able to come in contact with more than 25000 customers per month, then you should probably go with the Platinum plan. But, again, under the same assumption that you are just starting to look for ways to scale your business, the Gold plan should sustain you pretty well. 

And then there’s the Clickfunnels Two Comma Club X, probably one of the most expensive plans in the whole funnel platform industry. But is it worth it? It is, if you have more than 10 partners that are willing to work with you to grow your business into a global mega conglomerate. But even then, we believe that it’d be cheaper and more effective if you completely move away from funneling. At that point, you should have your own web developer, business expert, and other professionals running the project with you. In short, this plan isn’t really recommended for anyone except for those that have a large business but still want to rely on Clickfunnel’s services. If you are willing to pay nearly $2500 a month, there are many other ways to go about running an e-commerce business than using Clickfunnels. 

But you don’t really have to think too hard about this! You can switch plans whenever without too big of a penalty. In other words, you are not bound to a contract, which makes this whole process super convenient. You can start off with Kartra’s Starter Plan, move up to Silver, and, if you really think you can do well, go up to Gold or Platinum!

Clickfunnels vs Kartra Key Feature Comparison

Clickfunnels and Kartra, even though they are both funneling services, have various benefits and features that make one plan more appropriate over the other for different entrepreneurs. Here are a few of the most important ones that we’ve collected just for you!

Features	Clickfunnels	Kartra
Checkout Form	Yes	Yes
Drag & Drop Builder	Yes	Yes
Funnels	Yes	Yes
Leads	Yes	Yes
Email Autoresponder	Yes	Yes
Text/SMS Autoresponder	Yes	Yes
Membership	Yes	Yes
Affiliate Program	Yes	Yes
Official Marketplace	Yes	No
Third-party Marketplace	Yes	Yes
Video Player	No	Yes
Calendar	No	Yes
Multiple Users	Yes (certain plans)	Yes (certain plans)
Self-Hosted	Yes	Yes
Evergreen Timer	Yes	Yes
Live Training Courses	Yes	No
Community Forums	Yes	No
Evergreen Webinars	Yes	No
Behavioral Adaptive Marketing	No	Yes
Helpdesk	No	Yes
SEO Features	No	Yes
Heatmap Tool	No	Yes
Mobile Responsiveness	No	Yes
Easy Split Testing	Yes	No
Affiliate Management	Yes	No

While there are many similarities between Kartra and Clickfunnels, there are certain features that make one platform preferable for specific groups of people over the other. Take, for example, SEO Analysis Features. SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization, which is a process that basically allows the user to test how high their websites would rank if other people searched certain keywords. For store traffic that might have lots of descriptions or even a blog that goes along the business, Kartra would be a preferable option for this reason.

But you have Clickfunnel’s split testing, which allows for you to test certain portions of your website without having to leave the whole editing panel. Although not having this might seem like a mere inconvenience, the feature can really make the revision processes on your website easier. Debugging won’t be too hard, and you’ll be able to figure out if the video of yours will play on your website as you wanted it to. 

What we would really want to emphasize here, though, is the training course available to everyone that is a Clickfunnels subscriber. Commonly referred to as Funnel Flix, the platform gives its users all the information they need in order to shape the website that they’ve pictured in their minds and launch a successful business. Kartra doesn’t offer this option, making it more difficult for beginning users. 

All in all, the point of this comparison is for you to recognize which product is a better fit for whatever you want to accomplish through your funnels. If you need more organic traffic on the Internet, SEO features would be crucial, meaning Kartra is the right option for you. On the other hand, if you have lots of plug-ins in your website, you might want to test them out for any bugs. In such cases, there is no better funneling platform than Clickfunnels.

Clickfunnels vs Kartra Funnel Templates

Clickfunnels

Clickfunnels has so many different free templates that you can choose from! Some of these funnel templates are actually used by 7 or even 8-figure e-commerce businesses. They have been proven to succeed, and you have the opportunity to use them at no cost as a beginner! 

Once you are a bit more comfortable with what Clickfunnels can do, you can move towards finding custom templates or even buying a premium one on the Clickfunnels Marketplace. With the price ranging between $50 to $300, you will be able to create the landing page that you’ve always dreamt of. Now, as a beginner, the price can be quite daunting, but if you’ve used a default template and your business has been generating revenue, add some flavor to your website with these premium templates. 

If you are trying to put your e-commerce business to an end, you can share your templates for others to use. This is the best part of having a large e-commerce funneling community in Clickfunnels: you have access to other users’ experiences as well as resources, making resources not a problem as you launch your first business. 

If none of the user-created and default templates entice you, you can always revert to the very root of website designing: HTML and CSS. However, it’s pretty difficult to make these templates unless, of course, you have prior knowledge in coding. Even then, you have to have a pretty good eye for art, color, and design (which some might lack in). But if you do, then making small tweaks to your website can make your landing page much more pleasant.

Kartra

Kartra has a few free templates, but they tend to follow the generic overall picture of a regular e-commerce store. For customers that are familiar in such industries, the commonplace design might bore them. This is one of the main reasons why we recommend looking into unofficial Kartra template stores. 

Unlike Clickfunnels, Kartra does not have an official marketplace in which you can purchase premium templates fully compatible with Kartra. But the platform where people buy and sell Kartra templates is amazing! Most of the paid templates are very well-designed (a few super well-designed to the point where you don’t have to make any edits). 

Unfortunately, if we did have to point out a flaw, it is that you won’t be able to get a lot of help from Kartra’s helpdesk. Because they are usually only familiar with the way HTML and CSS codes are structured in their default templates if you do end up stumbling across a bug, you won’t be able to get much help. On top of this, the relatively small Kartra community makes it even more difficult for you to get help from other Kartra experts. But if you really like the premium template, do go for it!

A great part of Kartra’s template is that you don’t really have to be a coding expert. Kartra has its own template builder, which makes website building just that much easier! But, of course, the software has its limitations. It’s difficult to make your website look professional due to the lack of available functions. But if you are looking for a quick way to make your landing page, this is the way to go.

Support and Community

Clickfunnels

If you live in the United States, all you have to do is call Clickfunnel’s customer support to get help with your funnel! WIth 1-888-411-0243, you’ll be able to fix most of the bugs on your website as well as get answers to payment questions. The only limiting factor here is that you would have to call during their work hours. This doesn’t really work if you are trying to start an e-commerce business as a way to make side-income, since, by the time you get off work to work on your business, Clickfunnels won’t be there to help you.

If that is the case, we recommend that you check out their Clickfunnels Help Center/FAQ section. Most of the questions that beginners ask are along the same line such as website bugs, payment gateways, and custom domain inquiries. Also, thanks to Clickfunnels’ large community, the General Questions section tends to have a lot of insightful information.

You can also access help via live chat, but these chats are usually active during working hours. If you are in the United States and can contact support during working hours, calls will be a much more efficient option. If you are out of the country, the live chat option is a great way for you to come in contact with additional help.

Most importantly, Clickfunnels has one of the best communities not only because the support desks are so willing to help, but also because the users in Clickfunnels try to be as helpful towards each other. Their forums are very active and you can usually find someone else struggling with the same problem that you are experiencing!

Kartra

Kartra’s customer support number is 1-872-777-2727, but not a lot of Kartra users use this number to find out what technical problems their websites are experiencing.

Instead, most people turn to sending messages to the technical support team on their website.

So yes, they do have a live chat. 

But perhaps support is one of Kartra’s largest weaknesses: because their userbase is a lot smaller than that of Clickfunnels, they have less debugging data from which they can come up with more applicable FAQ answers.

Moreover, the Facebook group is not the place for you to get technical support (as they highlight in their guidelines before you join the group. It’s difficult to find a forum where people can freely discuss how to make small tweaks in their websites, unlike Clickfunnels.

Verdict

Clickfunnels definitely has the better support. Now, this might not necessarily be because Clickfunnels has better staff groups, but rather because they have such a great community. And in the world of business, networking is almost everything: having the right teachers can be essential to succeeding, Clickfunnels can provide exactly that!

Clickfunnels vs Kartra Examples: Who is Using Them?

Clickfunnels

If you talk to everyone in the world that’s involved in e-commerce, you’ll most likely stumble across more Clickfunnels users than Kartra users. In fact, as of July 2020, the keyword “Clickfunnels” has been getting around 60 to 70 searches per day. And this trend has been an upwards trend ever since Clickfunnels was released to the public, indicating a growing number of users. 

You can also take a look at the number of websites built using Clickfunnels. As of July 2020, there are around 365 thousand websites created with Clickfunnels or with services provided by Clickfunnels. If you don’t trust the reviews on their website, just look at the amount of users that the funnel service is able to gather! 

To be able to gather more than 365 thousand users in a short span of five years is a dream come true for most entrepreneurs. Even better, currently, 50 percent of Clickfunnels visitors are those that made it via social media, meaning there are other entrepreneurs promoting the funneling platform’s services. 

This is most likely because Clickfunnels users are those that are new to funneling yet are somewhat knowledgeable or interested in e-commerce. As they watch e-commerce related videos, they inevitably stumble across videos promoting Clickfunnels, realize that their services are great for beginners and have reasonably priced plans, and proceed to visit the website. 

Kartra

But there’s also Kartra, which is arguably the second largest funneling platform used by e-commerce entrepreneurs in the United States. With around 12 thousand websites built with Kartra (July 2020), the community is still quite small, but it’s growing. 

As a matter of fact, a large portion of Kartra’s users find Kartra through organic Google search. This means they are more knowledgeable in the area of funnel marketing and are looking for the best options for them to start a legitimate e-commerce business. Now, if Kartra is able to keep up the quality of their services, it’s only a matter of time until mainstream media and beginning e-commerce entrepreneurs start to take notice of this alternative. 

Kartra is great for beginners because it has a starter plan cheaper than Clickfunnels, but it simply doesn’t get enough attention from beginners because Kartra tends to be buried under Clickfunnels on social media websites such as Facebook and YouTube. You’ll find that most Kartra users are intermediates to experts in selling products online, as most users find this alternative through Google searching. 

Affiliate Program Comparison

Clickfunnels

Clickfunnels has many different benefits for its affiliate marketer. The most obvious one is the two different ways to make affiliate commission: an approved affiliate or a regular affiliate. Regular affiliates usually receive $100 via front end products such as programs sold by Clickfunnels themselves and 20% of any monthly payments that other users make through their affiliate links.

However, by becoming an approved affiliate, you get to make 30% monthly commission. On top of this, if you have more than 40 people sign up on Clickfunnels and subscribe to a plan through your link, you’ll make up to 40%.

Needless to say, becoming an affiliate marketer for Clickfunnels is a great way for you to make another source of monthly income. But we would still like to remind you that the affiliate marketing industry for Clickfunnels is already pretty saturated, meaning large social media influencers are starting to take notice of this new way to make money. It would inevitably steal some of your potential affiliate customers, but it’s still worth a try since it’s 100% free for you to join their program!

Kartra

Kartra is similar to Clickfunnels in that its affiliate program offers 40% commission for every sale and recurring payment that Kartra’s customers make. Another way for you to make commission if you don’t have the large platform that many social media influencers might have is to join a team of JV brokers, where you are a part of a larger group in charge of promoting Kartra’s products and services. Unfortunately, the commission here is less, only around 10% in monthly commission.

Compared to Clickfunnels, Kartra has a simpler affiliate program and is more than welcoming for those that aren’t very experienced with promoting other products for commission. As demonstrated by their JV Program, there are many ways for beginners to become a partner! In this sense, Kartra’s affiliate program is much more flexible than that of Clickfunnels. 

Final Verdict: Is Kartra Better than ClickFunnels?

All things considered, Clickfunnels is a better option for those that are looking to get into e-commerce.

It’s cheaper than Kartra (Clickfunnels is free while Kartra is $1) and you can also get more help from the Internet/Clickfunnels community as a newcomer to the e-commerce industry!

Related Questions