Brutally Honest Clickfunnels vs WordPress Comparison – Which one is right for you

If you want to sell anything on the internet, you need a sales funnel; atleast that's what they say. This comparison is between Clickfunnels and WordPress to create a high converting sales machine. However, it will also give you a clear picture between self-hosting a sales funnel or using a monthly subscription software.

My Quick Background

I have used Clickfunnels and WordPress both for creating sales funnels since 2018. This current sales funnel and blog are hosted on WordPress with WPX hosting.

I stopped using Clickfunnels in 2020 and moved completely to WordPress. Let me break down the difference between launching your funnel on Clickfunnels and self hosting on WordPress.

I love Russell Brunson as an entrepreneur. You can count me in the die-hard fans of Russell since I have learned a lot about internet marketing from him.

But that doesn't stop me from sharing the good and worse of Clickfunnels as an online business owner.

I have spent days and nights binge-watching his videos. In fact, Going through his One Funnel Away challenge was the one of the best decisions of my life. I have learned so much with him and I will continue to do so.

What I am sharing here about Clickfunnels vs WordPress is something that gurus are not opening talking.

In fact, I have stopped using all fancy software tools that I used to flex a few months ago.

Note that I am comparing Clickfunnels with default WordPress setting for creating your sales funnels. And you need to read it carefully. Especially if you are a budding entrepreneur with limited resources.

Which one You should pick - Clickfunnels vs WordPress

WordPress is an open source and free website builder, or in other words, Content management system. You can install it on your own computer, or you can use a hosting provider like WPXHosting, where you can create up to 5 WordPress websites. This is exactly what I am doing as well.

But WordPress alone is not powerful. You can not create a converting sales funnel on WordPress. So you need extra themes and plugins with it.

Think of WordPress as a blank book waiting for you to write on it. WordPress helps you create a website or a blog that you can update regularly.

On the other hand, Clickfunnels is a completely different thing. Comparing Clickfunnels with Simple WordPress is like comparing Apples with Oranges.

So in short, WordPress helps you build blogs and websites and Clickfunnels helps you design automated sales systems.

Why Clickfunnels is a better option than Clickfunnels

Clickfunnels is an all-in-one CRM system.

It helps you create sales funnels. That means, landing pages, checkout pages and creating membership area accessible only to your paying customers.

After the recent updates of 2.0, You can even host online courses and create blogs with this platform. Also, it lets you create an online community just like platforms like Kajabi or Skool. And you can send emails right from your dashboard similar to Kit.

With features like your own Affiliate program, one-click AI Funnels and thousands of funnel templates, Clickfunnels truly outshines any other funnel software.

Here are a few reasons that might inspire you to go and take a free trial of Clickfunnels; Especially if you are not a tech-savvy person and don't have plenty of time to learn WordPress.

• Clickfunnels offers exclusive membership site features for customers in its Advanced package (starts from $97 per month).
• You get sales funnel hosting and a complete funnel deployment system
• You can create a one-page checkout system for your funnels
• Order bumps and Upsells with Clickfunnels help you add more money into your bank account.
• You can select from hundreds of pre-built sales templates to create your sales funnels.
• And you can create a marketing automation engine all in one place with Clickfunnels.

I have read reviews of people sharing why "<a random competitor trying to be like Clickfunnels>" is a good alternative and I chuckle.

People who compare Kartra with Clickfunnels, Dropfunnels, Kajabi or Groovefunnels vs WordPress are doing it for the sake of affiliate commission.

They are not understanding why these sales funnel builders are nowhere close to the capabilities of Clickfunnels. 

But the big question is, 

Do you really need all that complexity to sell your products

I asked myself the same question and my answer was NO.

If it is a Yes, for you! Clickfunnels is the right tool for you. 

For me, I don't need that fancy looking, shiny funnel that I was designing on Clickfunnels.

And I have used WordPress for years to turn it into anything I want.

Here is what you need to create a sales funnel in your business

1. An opt-in page that converts strangers into your leads.
2. A Sales page builder that doesn't suck (because most WordPress themes and Plugin do suck)
3. A Checkout system to take payments with the capability to upsell them your more products
4. A membership or course platform or a system to deliver your products and service

While WordPress does not provide these features, it have benefits over Clickfunnels that made me move from Clickfunnels to WordPress

Benefits of WordPress over Clickfunnels

• WordPress is a self-hosted platform.

That means you own your sales pages, landing pages, opt-in forms, upsell pages, online course material and anything you create.

When you want to "pause" your business for some time, because you are busy with product development, you can do it without paying extra money.

It is less about money and more about who controls what in your business

• WordPress comes with freedom of "organic growth". 

Building your funnels that SaaS companies like Shopify and Clickfunnels can not provide it. Your blogs will rank on Google and it will bring you more traffic.

• WordPress has an inbuilt SEO engine that helps you rank on websites like Google and Bing. 

And you can enhance it further with the help of SEO plugins. It makes everything smooth when it comes to integrating with other platforms like Pinterest, YouTube, Google search console and so on.

• Digital marketing is less about sales funnels and more about "Brand Authority".

And you will need a blogging system for building an authority. WordPress offers a better blogging system than Clickfunnels if you use the right Themes and Plugins.

But it comes with it's own disadvantages.

And you need to pick if you are willing to compromise with WordPress cons over Clickfunnels.

Disadvantage of WordPress (And how I overcame them)

• WordPress is a self-hosted platform. So you will need a good website hosting service for it. And you will have to do it by yourself

Since I am saving thousands of dollars when I am not using a SaaS funnel software, I use it for buying a strong website hosting with great support.

I use WPX Hosting after testing over a dozen website hosting platforms like Bluehost or A2Hosting (recommended), which is a cheaper alternative.

I don't really need to do anything by using WPX Hosting as their support takes less than 1 minute to reach. This is the best thing I found for my website.

•  WordPress will be more technically challenging to use than Clickfunnels for newbie entrepreneurs 

To build a good sales funnel on WordPress, you need to use the right Theme and plugin combination. The only problem with using tens of different tools like Elementor, CartFlows and a third-party tool is, website becomes overwhelmingly heavy.

This is why I picked Thrive suite annual membership for just $299 (or $149/Qtr) and now I can do way more than what I could do with Clickfunnels. I have explained this in more details in my Thrive themes review.

Note that you will need to use Woo-commerce for WordPress checkout.

Or if you need a complete WordPress sales system with built-in checkout and upsell feature, you can explore OptimizePress3.0 over other "pretending WordPress funnels".

• WordPress is a DIY system when Clickfunnels comes with a support.

This is important to understand. Clickfunnels is backed with a strong community. This is why I invested in One funnel away challenge before doing anything.

WordPress has a community based support and most users are freelancers and professionals. So you are on your own when it comes to getting support while building a WordPress website.

Clickfunnels on the other hand comes with incredible support from the team.

On the top, Clickfunnels education around Sales funnels is priceless.

Take next One Funnel Away challenge.

So as you can understand, the choice between Clickfunnels or WordPress (Thrive Themes) based funnel depends on your technical skills and current requirements.

The simple WordPress website can not be compared with Clickfunnels at all. But if you are playing a game of the long-run, you need a WordPress website. It will give you more organic reach and establish you as an authority in your niche.

Built-in blogging capabilities in WordPress also give you an opportunity to add more sources of income with affiliate marketing.

Since WordPress alone can not create an amazing website for you that brings conversion, I moved to Thrive membership and WordPress.

When you should use WordPress over Clickfunnels

• You are a beginner entrepreneur and need "Sales funnel" and "Website" because you can do it with Thrive themes for less than $50 a month. (save 90% of what you are investing in Clickfunnels that you can use in advertising)
• You are a blogger or coach who is planning to become an expert in your industry and not just a salesperson.
• You are comfortable with WordPress blogging and know the basics of WordPress (you can learn it within a day)

In all other cases, Clickfunnels $97 plan is better than WordPress for the time, energy and money you save.

When you are new to internet marketing, it doesn't make sense to spend thousands of dollars on software you are not even sure about.

Technically, WordPress, along with Thrive themes is revolutionary. It has everything that you need to start with. And it is coming with a choice to move away whenever you want.

Making a converting sales funnel on WordPress is possible with Thrive themes. 

You can use any checkout system like Woo-commerce or Thrivecart if you need these features. Once you have access to Thrive cart, you can use it for lifetime.

Getting a checkout system is always better than giving control of your data to a different software when you are in the initial days of your journey.

Further Advantages of using WordPress with Thrive themes instead of Clickfunnels

The sales funnel is about making money by selling your products and services. This is why some features are quite necessary for creating a high converting funnel.

Split testing two versions of pages

A/B testing of sales pages to check, which one is converting better is critical to increasing conversions.

It's not directly possible in WordPress but works best in Clickfunnels. With Thrive Themes you can remove this limitation.

Email marketing integration and email automation

A key feature of Clickfunnels is integration with tens of email marketing software like Getresponse and Drip. With thrive themes, you can connect the same with WordPress much easier than Clickfunnels.

Payment gateway

WordPress has it's own e-commerce engine called Woo-commerce. Now Thrive themes are integrated with woo-commerce and you can easily take payments from over 27 payment gateways with Thrive themes and woo-commerce.

Search engine optimization

A big problem with most funnel building tools like Clickfunnels is, they completely ignore Search marketing and Search engine optimization.

Search engines like Google are 65% of all internet traffic and ignoring them is not a good idea. With WordPress, you have this extra advantage.

If you are going for a hosting provider like WPX Hosting, you will be in total peace. They will do most of the things for you including installing WordPress, setting up emails and everything.

And they don't take more than 2 minutes to reply (some times I feel they have super-powers)

Check WPX Hosting here

Here is my observation

A new 2024 update: I feel a lot has changed in the last few years. A WordPress hosting also costs nearly $70/mo. On the contrast, Clickfunnels costs $81 for an annual plan. With the easy of use, Clickfunnels now might be a better option for quick start. 

However WordPress is still a better option if you want the ability to move to a different hosts after a period.