Brutally Honest Clickfunnels vs WordPress: Which One Is Right for You?

If you want to sell anything on the internet, you need a sales funnel; at least 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.

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. His DotCom Secrets is on my list of books every entrepreneur should read.

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 one of the best decisions of my life. I have learned so much with him and I will continue to do so.

One Funnel Away now comes free with the 14-day ClickFunnels trial, so you get the One Funnel Away training and the software together.

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

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.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I will appreciate if you use them.

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 WPX Hosting, whose plans start at one website. This is the setup I used for years.

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 WordPress

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.

Since ClickFunnels 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 built-in AI tools, a large template library and your own affiliate program (on the Optimize plan and above), ClickFunnels outshines most 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.

• Every ClickFunnels plan includes courses and communities (3 of each on the $97 Launch plan).
• 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 (Teachable’s WordPress plugin is one way to connect the two)

While WordPress does not provide these features, it has 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”.

It gives your funnels an organic traffic source that funnel-first SaaS tools handle less well. Your blog posts can rank on Google and 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 its 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 saved thousands of dollars by not using SaaS funnel software, I spent part of it on strong website hosting with great support.

I used WPX Hosting after testing over a dozen website hosting platforms like Bluehost or A2 Hosting (now Hosting.com), which is a cheaper alternative.

I didn’t need to do much myself with WPX Hosting, as their support took less than a minute to reach. This was 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, which costs $299 for the first year, then $599 a year, or $149 a quarter. It let me do more than I could with ClickFunnels, because Thrive Suite’s plugins cover pages, opt-ins, quizzes and courses in one membership.

Thrive Apprentice has a built-in Stripe checkout for courses. For other products, you will need WooCommerce or a separate checkout tool.

Or if you need a complete WordPress sales system with built-in checkout and upsell feature, you can explore OptimizePress over other “pretending WordPress funnels”. Its checkouts and funnels start on the Scale plan at $199 a year and support upsells and downsells. Thrive’s checkout covers only courses, which is the main difference between these two WordPress sales funnel themes.

• WordPress is a DIY system, while ClickFunnels comes with 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 the 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 a “Sales funnel” and a “Website”. Thrive Suite ($299 for the first year) plus basic hosting costs less than a ClickFunnels plan in year one, leaving more for 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, the ClickFunnels Launch plan ($97 a month, or $81 billed yearly) 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 WooCommerce or ThriveCart if you need these features. ThriveCart sells monthly and annual plans and still offers a lifetime option.

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. Testing only helps when the copy is good, and Funnel Scripts, the tool Russell built with Jim Edwards, writes that copy from proven templates.

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 tools like GetResponse and Drip. With thrive themes, you can connect the same with WordPress much easier than ClickFunnels.

Payment gateway

WordPress has its own e-commerce engine called WooCommerce. Thrive Themes integrates with WooCommerce, so you can take payments through many payment gateways.

Search engine optimization

A big problem with most funnel building tools like ClickFunnels is, they treat search marketing and search engine optimization as an afterthought.

Search engines like Google send a large share of all website 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.

In my experience, they rarely took more than 2 minutes to reply (sometimes I felt they had super-powers).

Check WPX Hosting

Here is my observation

So now you know why WordPress can be better software than ClickFunnels for building a sales funnel and how can you do it.

Also, you learned why ClickFunnels is the best software for creating sales funnels when you are getting enough sales and your concern is scaling up.

You can create an entire website with WordPress or a sales funnel alone. Using a tool like Thrive suite can be a gamechanger if you have experience with WordPress.

Update: A lot has changed in the last few years. ClickFunnels Launch now costs $81 a month billed yearly, or $97 monthly. WordPress hosting can start lower (WPX from $17.99 a month), but Thrive Suite renews at $599 a year after the first year. With its ease of use, ClickFunnels might be the better option for a quick start.

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

FAQ

Is ClickFunnels better than WordPress for sales funnels?

ClickFunnels is better if you want a fast, all-in-one funnel builder with checkout, email and courses included. WordPress is better if you want to own your site, rank blog content on Google and keep running costs lower over time.

How much does ClickFunnels cost in 2026?

ClickFunnels costs $97 a month for Launch, $197 for Scale and $297 for Optimize. Billed yearly, those plans drop to $81, $164 and $248 a month.

Is WordPress cheaper than ClickFunnels?

It usually is in the first year. WordPress itself is free, and managed hosting such as WPX starts at $17.99 a month. Thrive Suite costs $299 for the first year but renews at $599, so the gap narrows from year two.

Can you build a sales funnel on WordPress?

Yes. You need hosting, a page builder such as Thrive Architect or OptimizePress, an email tool and a checkout. Thrive Apprentice has a built-in Stripe checkout for courses, while other products need WooCommerce, ThriveCart or OptimizePress.

Does ClickFunnels have a free trial?

Yes. ClickFunnels offers a 14-day free trial. The One Funnel Away Challenge is included free with that trial, and billing starts after day 14 unless you cancel.

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