Kartra vs ClickFunnels: Best Funnel Building Tool in 2024?

Kartra vs ClickFunnels. Which is best for lead generation and growing your business?

When it comes to building funnels, ClickFunnels has long held the crown for being the best and most popular funnel-building option. When you think of funnels, you probably think of ClickFunnels.

But in recent years, a newcomer, Kartra, has started to gain massive momentum.

Many people are now saying it’s even better than ClickFunnels… Is that true? Is Kartra better than ClickFunnels?

As someone who has used both Kartra and ClickFunnels extensively, in this article, I’ll help you answer:

What is the big difference between Kartra and ClickFunnels?

And…

• What is cheaper, ClickFunnels or Kartra?
• What is more powerful, ClickFunnel or Kartra?
• What is easier to use, ClickFunnels or Kartra?

And… Finally… Overall, which is the BEST funnel building tool for you and your business?

Let’s find out…

Note: This comparison is based on my personal experience using both ClickFunnels and Kartra. For full transparency, I’m an affiliate of both, so I am not financially motivated to promote one over the other. This article will be based on my honest experience using both systems, and I’ll give you both the pros and cons so you can decide which solution is best for you.

One more thing: If you decide to use Kartra or ClickFunnels and want to see the EXACT funnel I use for my own business (and clients) to generate predictable leads and sales appointments each month on autopilot, then click here to watch my free online Masterclass training where I reveal how it all works.

You can watch a video version of this article here:

ClickFunnels vs Kartra: What’s the big difference?

ClickFunnels is designed primarily to build landing pages for your funnels in the easiest and quickest way possible.

AND, as a bonus, ClickFunnels (through what they call “FunnelFlix”) provides lots of training to help you succeed.

Kartra is designed to be an all-in-one online marketing solution for your business.

In other words, you get a similar landing page builder like ClickFunnels, but you also get email marketing software, lead automation, video hosting, advanced marketing analytics, online payment options and more, without needing to purchase additional software.

Is Kartra a jack of all trades?

My original worry about Kartra was that because it does so many things, it won’t do any of them very well.

However, I’ve found this (for the most part), to be false.

Kartra does an excellent job of allowing you to build funnels, email marketing campaigns, host your videos, take payments online and more.

Side note: the only extra feature in Kartra I don’t like is “Kartra Calendars”. Yes, it works, but from a design perspective it still doesn’t work as well as Calendly, which is what I currently use to allow potential clients to book sales appointments.

Is ClickFunnels the best landing page builder?

ClickFunnels has decided to focus primarily on being the best landing page-building software.

ClickFunnels requires you to integrate with whichever third-party software you prefer for other parts of your funnel (such as email marketing, video hosting, etc.).

What was ClickFunnels thinking behind this? 

ClickFunnels would rather focus on what they do best (building landing pages), rather than do everything else mediocrely.

As a result, I agree that Clickfunnels has a much better landing page builder than Kartra (and other funnel-building tools).

Is focusing on ONE feature better than trying to do everything?

ClickFunnels approach of focusing on doing ONE thing really well (building landing pages), rather than trying to do everything sort-of well, sounds reasonable.

But, there’s a big problem with this approach…

A funnel is NOT just a few landing pages linked together.

A high converting sales appointment funnel includes many different pieces working together behind the scenes, including:

• Email marketing
• Payment processing
• Video hosting
• Analytics
• CRM
• Memberships
• And more

For many non-techy clients that I’ve worked with over the years, having to link together many different pieces of software for a funnel to function properly makes ClickFunnels slightly more difficult to use and needlessly more complicated (not to mention more expensive, too).

The biggest difference between Kartra and ClickFunnels

Unlike ClickFunnels, Kartra provides an all-in-one digital marketing solution so you can do most things, if not everything, out of the box… Without needing to pay additional software fees to 3rd parties.

This makes it both easier to use and more cost-effective.

That is the biggest difference between ClickFunnels and Kartra.

Now that you know the BIGGEST difference between ClickFunnels and Kartra, the BIG question becomes…

BIG QUESTION: Is it better to use ClickFunnels and then integrate other third-party software to do whatever else you need it to do? Or is Kartra’s all-in-one solution as good (or even better) than integrating third-party software?

Well, let’s find out….

In this Kartra vs. ClickFunnels comparison, I’m going to look at:

• Which is cheaper?
• Which has more and better features?
• Which is easier to use?
• Which has the best sign-up bonuses/perks?
• Which one is the best overall?

By the way, click here to see the real-life funnel I use for clients to get high-quality leads and sales appointments each month.

ClickFunnels vs Kartra: Price Comparison

When it comes to pricing, there are quite a few different packages available with ClickFunnels and Kartra.

So I’m not going to compare every single pricing option.

Instead, I am going to compare only the starter package from both ClickFunnels and Kartra – as this is the package most people will start off with.

ClickFunnels Starter Package

Main Features in this ClickFunnels starter package include:

• 20 pages
• 100 funnels (unlimited funnels on the $297/month package only)
• 3 Custom domains
• No email marketing included (will need to purchase separately)
• No video hosting included (will need to purchase separately)

Price: $97/month for ClickFunnels

Price for additional software: $20-100/month

Total price: $97 + whatever extra you need to spend on additional software

Note: ClickFunnels does have a package for $297/month that includes email marketing, but it is very basic. Most people who are on this package still use 3rd party software for their email marketing campaigns.

Click here to learn more about ClickFunnels Starter Package (opens in new tab)

Kartra Starter Package

Main Features in this Kartra starter package include:

• 100 pages
• Unlimited funnels
• 1 Custom Domain (extra domains cost $10/month per domain)
• Email marketing included
• Video hosting with analytics included (50gb bandwidth per month)

Price: $99/month

Price for additional software: $0

Total price: $99/month

Click here to learn more about Kartra’s Starter Package (opens in new tab)

The winner: Kartra

Because you don’t need to purchase much (or any) additional software with Kartra, it is a more cost effective solution compared to ClickFunnels.

IMPORTANT: ClickFunnels offers a 14-day free trial, but Kartra does not normally offer any trial period. It’s $99/month from day one. However, if you use my Kartra affiliate link by clicking here, you’ll be able to get a 14-day trial for only $1.

Kartra vs ClickFunnels Price: Which is cheaper?

ClickFunnels starts from $97/month and their “all-in-one” package costs $297/month. However, even with the all-in-one package many customers still need to purchase additional software.

Kartra’s starter package is also an “all-in-one” package and it costs only $97/month. It does not require any additional software.

Winner: Kartra

Kartra is definitely the most cost effective funnel building solution. Kartra’s $99/month package does everything ClickFunnel’s $297/month package does and MORE!

ClickFunnels vs Kartra: Features Comparison

Because each software has so many different features, I’m only going to compare the most important features that I’ve used for myself and clients.

Landing Page Builder

A good landing page builder will allow you to quickly and easily create high converting landing pages to take people from strangers, to leads and finally new clients.

ClickFunnels Landing Page Key Features:

• All pages load extremely fast and have been optimized for speed
• User experience is easier to use than Kartra
• Includes lots of landing page funnel templates

Kartra Landing Page Key Features

• Fast pages which are optimized for speed
• Lots of landing page templates to choose from
• Your Kartra pages integrate directly with Kartra’s other features (like video hosting, email marketing, etc) which saves a lot of time and makes your life easier
• The user experience when editng pages is (just slightly) not as good as ClickFunnels

The Winner: ClickFunnels

Both ClickFunnels and Kartra offer a great landing page builder, but it’s no surprise that ClickFunnels wins this one. ClickFunnels is focused on being the BEST landing page builder. And it is slightly easier when build landing pages on ClickFunnels compared to Kartra.

For example, on ClickFunnels you can just click on text to change what it says. On Kartra, you need to click on the text, then click on a “pencil icon” to edit what it says. It’s a small extra step, but it’s small things like this that make the user experience on ClickFunnels slightly better.

Email Marketing

It’s essential you follow up with all your leads through email marketing automation to get the best results from your sales funnel.

ClickFunnels Email Marketing Main Features:

• Requires the $297/month package to access some basic email marketing features
• Integrates with 3rd party email marketing software (such as ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, Mailchimp, etc)
• Fairly easy to use and create automatic follow up email sequences
• Requires more technical knowledge to use because of required integrations with other email marketing software
• It’s not a true “built-in” email marketing solution
• Gives you access to “Actionetics” which provides you with more data on your leads (such as their social media profiles)

Kartra Email Marketing Main Features:

• Kartra email marketing is available on the $99/month starter package
• Does not require any additional 3rd party integrations for it to work
• High email deliverability through Kartra’s servers (with automatic list cleaning and spam detection features)
• Email marketing integrates well with the other features of the Kartra ecosystem

As great as Kartra Mail is, it does have ONE annoying feature:

All emails you send via Kartra have a small “Powered by Kartra” logo at the bottom. This really bugs me and I wish you could turn it off.

Here’s what it looks like:

The “Powered by Kartra” image on the footer of emails is not a huge deal, and many other email platforms also use a “powered by….” line, but I’d still prefer it if it didn’t have this.

The Winner: Kartra

Overall, Kartra’s email marketing solution is amazing. I’ve used Mailchimp, ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign in the past for email marketing and I still prefer Kartra’s email marketing solution than anything else I’ve tried. Plus, the fact that it comes included with Kartra means you don’t have to pay any extra monthly email marketing software fees.

Online Payment Processing

Online payment processing is needed in your funnel if you want to take payments online either via PayPal or a credit/debit card.

ClickFunnels Payment Processing Main Features:

• Integrates with Stripe and PayPal easily
• Options to create different packages and recurring payments
• Requires slightly more work in the back-end to create advanced payment options, like payment plans or recurring payments
• Can track sales your affiliates make IF you purchase the ClickFunnels $297/month package

Kartra Payment Processing Main Features:

• Integrates with Stripe and PayPal easily
• Options to create different packages and recurring payments are super simple
• Lots of flexibility (like payment plans, trials, recurring payments, etc) all out of the box
• Does not need a lot of back-end integration for it to work
• Can track sales your affiliates make on the $99/month starter package

The Winner: Kartra

Both ClickFunnels and Kartra have solid checkout and online payment processing options, but overall, Kartra provides more features and customization when taking payments online.

Plus, there are dozens of smaller features Kartra has included (such as automatic emails if a payment fails or card expires, etc) all built into their system… which saves you so much time vs doing this all manually!

Video Marketing

ClickFunnels Video Marketing Features:

• You can embed videos on the ClickFunnel landing pages
• No built-in ClickFunnels video hosting.
• You need to integrate your videos with YouTube for free (which isn’t great for sales videos) or Vimeo (which is a paid service) if you want to use videos with ClickFunnels

Kartra Video Marketing Features:

• Includes built-in video hosting out of the box (no extra fees!)
• Track visitors and leads who watch your video through advanced video analytics
• Tag leads based on how much of the video they watch
• Customize video branding, speed, chapters, lead opt-in and many other features

The Winner: Kartra

Kartra is without a doubt the BEST video marketing automation platform. You can see an example of how I use Kartra’s video hosting features in my free online Masterclass here.

Memberships

Memberships allow you to have free or paid online courses that people can only access by logging in to a membership area.

ClickFunnels membership features:

• Membership features are built into ClickFunnels
• Different membership access levels
• To host your membership training (e.g. videos) you need to host them somewhere else (such as Vimeo)

Kartra membership features:

• Beautiful membership template designs (that look better than ClickFunnels membership templates in my opinion)
• Different membership access levels
• Host your membership training (e.g. videos) directly within Kartra (no extra software needed!)
• More accurately track how your leads progress through your training
• Tag leads and set up automation rules based on how they interact within your membership area

The Winner: Kartra

Kartra has a very solid online membership feature, similar to Kajabi. Here’s an example of our lead generation online course with Kartra.

Calendars / Appointment Scheduling

An appointment scheduling feature allows leads to book appointments straight in your calendar.

ClickFunnels calendar features:

• ClickFunnels has no built-in calendar feature
• To use Calendars on ClickFunnels you need to integrate 3rd party scheduling software (such as Calendly)

Kartra calendar features:

• Decent built-in calendar feature with Kartra Calendars
• Only integrates well with Google Calendars (not outlook calendars)
• Design is almost identical to Calendly (which is a good thing)

The Winner: Kartra

Kartra has a built-in calendar feature and ClickFunnels doesn’t. So Kartra wins by default.

However, I still prefer to use Calendly rather than Kartra Calendars. Why? Because Calendly has automatic text reminders and it sends a calendar invite (rather than an email) directly to whoever books an appointments with you.

But the Kartra calendars feature is still a decent alternative.

Analytics

Analytics allows you to look at the data of your funnel to see how it can be improved.

ClickFunnels analytics main features:

• ClickFunnels gives you an overview of website visitors to your landing pages
• ClickFunnels gives you an overview of your email marketing stats
• You can split test different landing pages and track the conversion rate statistics

Kartra analytics main features:

• Kartra gives you detailed analytics for every feature (landing pages, email marketing, videos, forms, memberships, payments, etc)
• Kartra allows you to split test both landing pages and follow up emails
• Kartra gives you details stats on almost every aspect of your funnel.

The Winner: Kartra

Kartra has way more detailed analytics and split testing features compared to ClickFunnels.

Helpdesk

A helpdesk allows you to respond to support tickets from your customers.

ClickFunnels helpdesk features:

• ClickFunnels does not have a built-in helpdesk feature
• To use support tickets in your business you’ll need to integrate 3rd party tools such as ZenDesk, Support Ninja or FreshDesks

Kartra helpdesk main features:

• Kartra has a built in helpdesk feature
• Kartra helpdesks allow you or your team to respond to support tickets

The Winner: Kartra

Kartra’s helpdesk features allows you to cancel any existing support subscriptions you’re already paying for.

Forms, Quizzes and Surveys

Forms are needed to get a persons contact information. You can have short forms (name & email only) or longer application forms (to pre-qualify leads).

ClickFunnels forms features:

• ClickFunnels has a built-in opt-in form which you can use on their landing pages
• Click Funnels does not have any built in quiz or survey features, so you’ll need to purchases TypeForm (or something similar) if you want more advanced form features

Kartra forms main features:

• Kartra has a built in op-tin form features
• Kartra has built in application form, surveys and quiz features
• Kartra forms have built-in memory. This is huge! If a lead has entered their name on ANY Kartra form in the past (even if it’s not on your funnel), their name will be pre-filled on any Kartra form they see in the future. This makes it easier for you to generate more leads!

The Winner: Kartra

Kartra forms look beautiful and work really well. Plus, the fact that Kartra forms have built-in “form memory” gives it a nice edge over other form solutions.

Leads CRM / Management

Both Kartra and ClickFunnels have a built-in CRM feature for your leads.

ClickFunnels CRM features:

• Track a leads activity on your funnel and emails
• If you’re on the $297/month you get access to ClickFunnels “Actionetics” which gives you additional insights on your leads

Kartra CRM main features:

• Track a leads activity on your funnel, emails and website (even if the website is NOT hosted with Kartra)
• Unlike ClickFunnels, there is no “Actionetics” feature to give you additional insights on your leads
• Any lead info Kartra collects has to be provided by the lead itself

The Winner: It’s a tie

Both Kartra and ClickFunnels offer a similar lead CRM experience. ClickFunnels has a slight advantage with the “Actionetics” feature. But Kartra also has an advantage by allowing you to track what pages leads visit on your website.

See also: The best AI lead generation tools

Kartra vs ClickFunnels: Which is easier to use?

ClickFunnels is slightly easier to use when it comes to building and editing your sales funnel landing pages.

However, to use ClickFunnels properly, you need to integrate it with additional 3rd party software (like 3rd party email marketing or video hosting software), which makes it complicated to use.

Kartra has so many features which can make it seem a little bit overwhelming at first. Because of all the features, there is a greater learning curve in the beginning for most people.

However, with Kartra, once you learn the basics of how it all their features work, it is a lot easier to use since you don’t need to integrate and manage lots of 3rd party software to make your funnels work properly.

The Winner: Draw

Both options have a fair amount pros and cons when it comes to ease of use.

There will be a learning curve with both systems, no matter which option you choose. ClickFunnels is easier at building sales funnel landing pages. Kartra is easier at connecting lots of other features together since everything is built-in natively.

Kartra vs ClickFunnels: Which has the best sign up bonuses?

This isn’t so much about the “software” itself, but more about the perks you get when you use the software.

To be honest, I wasn’t even sure whether to include this section.

But seeing how it could influence whether someone buys ClickFunnels or Kartra, I thought in the end it would be good to at least talk about the perks and bonuses each platform gives you.

ClickFunnels Sign Up Bonuses

The big bonus with ClickFunnels, is that when you join, you get access to FunnelFlix.

What is FunnelFlix?

According to ClickFunnels, it’s like Netflix, but for educational marketing and sales training videos.

Is FunnelFlix worth it?

Truth is, I don’t know. I cancelled my ClickFunnels account and moved over to Kartra just before they released FunnelFlix – so I didn’t get to try it.

But from what I’ve heard fro others who HAVE used it, the quality of the training is very good.

Kartra Sign Up Bonuses

Kartra’s main sign up bonuses are done-for-you campaigns, many of which are from marketing legend Frank Kern. However, similar to ClickFunnels, when I signed up for Kartra, I already knew which funnel I would be using (an automated appointment funnel) to generate leads and sales appointments predictably, so I had no need for any of their done-for-you campaigns.

In your case, if you have no idea what type of funnel to create, Kartra’s done-for-you campaigns might be very helpful and save you a lot of time.

That being said, I can provide you with my own done-for-you campaigns for Kartra.

These are tried and tested campaigns designed specifically to generate leads and sales appointments on autopilot.

My done-for-you campaign includes the landing pages, the email marketing automation sequences, the forms, the video templates and everything you need to get people into your funnel using LinkedIn, Facebook, Google and YouTube.

If you’d like to learn more about my done-for-you campaigns then sign up for my free Masterclass training by clicking here.

Kartra vs ClickFunnels: Which one is the best overall?

Go with Kartra if… You’re looking for software that does everything ClickFunnels does PLUS gives you more built-in features such as email marketing, video hosting, analytics and automations… All for a lower monthly cost.

Go with ClickFunnels if…. You’re looking for software to ONLY create landing pages for your funnels and you don’t really need (or care about) other features like email marketing or video hosting. You just want a simple landing page builder that works well.

Although both options can work well, overall, I believe Kartra is the best solution for most business owners.

Note: Kartra does not normally offer a trial period. It’s $99/month from day one. However, if you use my Kartra affiliate link by clicking here, you can get a 14-day trial for $1.

Is Kartra the best ClickFunnels alternative?

In my own business, I used to use ClickFunnels for landing page software, ActiveCampaign for email marketing and Vimeo for video hosting and I love that now I can do everything through one software – Kartra – all at a lower price.

For many clients who are just starting out, they’ve also found using Kartra has been a better and easier solution. They have been more than happy with the power and features built into it.

As one final note… Just remember this last thing:

Having a funnel on its own, is NOT enough to get results. You need a way to get people into the funnel. I have a system that I use to get predictable leads and sales appointments each month into the funnel, in a way that is automated, scalable and profitable from day one. To learn how it all works, click here to sign up for my online Free Masterclass Training.

So, whichever software you decide to use (ClickFunnels or Kartra), make sure you have a way to also generate leads with the funnel in a way that is automated, predictable and scalable.

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