GoHighLevel Vs ClickFunnels (2024) – An Unbiased Comparison

Looking for an unbiased comparison of GoHighLevel vs ClickFunnels?

If so, you’re in the right place because I’ve compared both tools in detail in this post. 

In case you didn’t already know, GoHighLevel is an all-in-one sales and marketing platform built for agencies. ClickFunnels is a website and sales funnel builder targeted toward entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Both platforms share some overlapping features (their page and funnel builders are pretty much identical). But when you look at the whole picture of what each has to offer, they’re worlds apart.

Full disclosure: I’m an agency owner myself and have used both ClickFunnels and GoHighLevel extensively in the past. In this GoHighLevel vs ClickFunnels comparison, I’m going to share my first-hand experience with each tool and reveal why I felt GoHighLevel was the right choice for our agency. 

I’ll also compare all the key features and tools to help you decide which is the right choice for your business.

Let’s get started!

GoHighLevel vs ClickFunnels Overview

First, let’s start with a quick overview of each tool and the key differences between them.

ClickFunnels is an all-in-one sales funnel builder built by renowned marketer Russel Brunson. Since its inception in 2014, it’s grown to become one of the most successful marketing SaaS platforms around. 

The core of ClickFunnels is its funnel builder. You can use it to create a series of landing pages that guide your website visitors toward a conversion event and turn them into leads or customers.

On top of that, it also comes with other tools to help you grow your business, including:

• Email marketing and automation (Follow-Up Funnels)
• Affiliate marketing system (Backpack)
• Landing pages
• 1-way SMS capability
• Shopping cart

GoHighLevel is an all-in-one marketing platform designed specifically for digital marketing agencies. It was founded in 2016 by Shaun Clark, who wanted to offer all the tech tools agency owners need under one roof.

Like ClickFunnels, you can use GoHighLevel to build landing pages and complete sales funnels for both your agency and your clients. But beyond that, it also offers a ton of other marketing and sales tools that agencies need, including:

• An integrated calendar/appointment setting app
• Email marketing and automation
• Advanced CRM (customer relationship management) solution
• 2-way SMS capability
• White labeling
• Call tracking
• Etc. 

Fun fact: The agency I run was so impressed with GoHighLevel’s CRM functionality and local agency features that we actually decided to switch over to it from Activecampaign. We’ve also tried using ClickFunnels in the past for PPC campaigns, but as a local agency, it wasn’t a good fit.

GoHighLevel vs ClickFunnels Key Differences

Next, we’re going to dive into an apples-to-apples comparison of the features GoHighLevel and ClickFunnels share. 

But before we do that, here’s a quick TL;DR version of the key differences between them:

• GoHighLevel has a broader feature set than ClickFunnels. GHL replaces more tools out of the box than ClickFunnels, including WordPress, Pipeline, Calendly, MailChimp, HubSpot, Teachable, etc. In that sense, it’s a ‘true’ all-in-one marketing solution that can replace an agency’s entire tech stack, whereas ClickFunnels relies pretty heavily on integrations.
• ClickFunnels is much easier to use. The drawback of GoHighLevel’s broad feature set is that it’s a little overwhelming. ClickFunnels has fewer features, but it’s much easier to get the hang of, and we found the interface to be a lot cleaner.
• GoHighLevel has more agency & team-focused features. That includes a CRM, calendar/appointment setting app, white-label feature, etc. ClickFunnels focuses more on the features that SMBs and entrepreneurs need.
• GoHighLevels offers unlimited sub-accounts, but ClickFunnels doesn’t. On GHL’s Agency Unlimited plan, you can add unlimited sub-users. On ClickFunnels equivalent plan, you only get 3 sub-users for the same price—and you can’t host client funnels on your account per the T&Cs. As such, ClickFunnels is not really suitable for teams and agencies

GoHighLevel vs ClickFunnels Main Features

Now that we’ve covered the differences let’s talk about their similarities. Here are the core features both tools share and how they compare.

Funnel Builder & Page Builder

Both GoHighLevel and ClickFunnels let you build landing pages and connect them together to create whole sales funnels for yourself or your clients. And interestingly enough, the landing page/funnel builder interface looks very similar across both tools.

Here’s how it works on ClickFunnels. First, you open up the Funnel Builder. Then on the left, you’ll see an overview of your funnel steps. Each step is basically another landing page. You can reorder the steps and add new ones from the sidebar.

Click on any step in the funnel and then choose a page template on the right. Once you’ve chosen your page template, you can customize it by clicking on Edit Page. This will open up the drag and drop builder. 

From here, you can change all the elements on the page as needed. The page editor uses a grid-based interface, which means you can only place elements within set rows and columns (you can’t move them around freely). 

Once you know how to use ClickFunnels funnel builder, you know how to use GoHighLevel’s funnel builder, too—it works more or less exactly the same way.

First, navigate to Funnels & Websites > Funnels. Next, open up a funnel, and you’ll see an overview of all the steps on the left, just like in ClickFunnels.

Like ClickFunnels, you can reorder and add steps from the left sidebar or set up split tests and choose page templates for each step from the right.

Again, you can click Edit Page to customize the template for any funnel step in GoHighLevel’s page editor. It uses a grid-based system like ClickFunnels, and the UI is very similar.

Related:

• GoHighLevel Funnel Templates

If you’ve already built your funnels/pages on ClickFunnels but want to switch over to GoHighLevel, you can import them in a couple of clicks.

The bottom line:

It’s impossible to pick a winner in this category as both platforms are so similar. It’s almost as if GoHighLevel has created an exact replica of ClickFunnels’ funnel and page builder, which isn’t a bad thing. We appreciate how simple and straightforward the funnel-building process is on both tools.

Website Builder

Neither GoHighLevel nor ClickFunnels specializes in building full websites, but you can still use them to build basic websites. It’s just that they can’t really compete with dedicated CMS solutions like WordPress or Wix.

GoHighLevel has a website builder that’s as easy to use as the funnel builder. In fact, the website builder interface is pretty much the same as the page builder interface, with just a couple of additional elements.

The main difference between the page editor and the website editor is that the latter comes with a desktop navigation menu that becomes a hamburger menu when viewed on mobile:

Related:

• GoHighLevel Website Templates

ClickFunnels doesn’t have a website builder tool, but you can still put together a website using the funnel builder, in theory. 

This isn’t ideal, though, as you’d have to link a lot of pages together, and the interface isn’t really made for that. Plus, navigation options would be limited.

The bottom line:

GoHighLevel is the best choice if you want to build complete websites. It’s not as good as dedicated website builders just yet, but it does the job.  You can check out some real GoHighLevel website examples here.

And if you’re an Agency Unlimited Plan holder, having access to the website builder means you can also offer websites to your clients in addition to your usual digital marketing services. This provides you with a new revenue source that could help you to scale your business.

Courses & Membership Sites

Both GoHighLevel and ClickFunnels can be used to create an online course or membership site and sell subscriptions. ClickFunnel makes the process quick and easy, but GoHighLevel offers more advanced course creation tools and allows for greater customization.

With ClickFunnels, you build your membership site like any other sales funnel. They actually have a dedicated membership funnel template, which you can roll out in one click and then customize. 

This is good for basic, high-converting membership sites, but if you want to build a more complete course curriculum, it’s probably not going to cut it.

GoHighLevel, on the other hand, offers a more full-featured course creation tool. It’s designed to replace dedicated course creation platforms and has obviously used Kajabi as inspiration.

You can start building your course from scratch or use a pre-designed template to put the foundations in place.

There are templates for different types of course products, including sprint courses, marathon courses, and memberships. 

Here’s what a typical course page looks like once you have everything ready: 

The bottom line:

Both ClickFunnels and GoHighLevel offer can be used to sell courses and set up membership sites, but of the two, we preferred GoHighLevel’s course features.

Related:

• GoHighLevel Membership Examples

Email Marketing & Automation

Email is an essential marketing channel for all online businesses. Fortunately, both GoHighLevel and ClickFunnels come with built-in email marketing tools to help you follow up with the leads you capture on your landing pages and usher them down your sales funnel. You can also use both to automate your marketing efforts with powerful automation features.

Here’s how they compare.

True to form, GoHighLevel seems to have tried to emulate another SaaS provider with its email marketing system. This time, it’s ActiveCampaign that they’ve taken inspiration from.

The drag-and-drop editor lets you build very visually appealing emails with tons of widgets and customization options:

You can send out broadcasts manually or use the HighLevel Workflow Builder to set up automated email sequences that nurture your leads. The Workflow Builder has an intuitive UI that looks similar to what is on ActiveCampaign:

As you can see, it’s laid out like a flow chart, on which you can add trigger events and actions. 

Aside from email, you can also use GoHighLevel to run SMS and voice drop campaigns, which you can manage from the Campaigns tab of your marketing automations dashboard.

GoHighLevel also lets you organize and segment your leads into Smart Lists. This enables you to send out more personalized marketing communications via email or SMS to different segments of your target market. 

ClickFunnels email marketing and automation tools are grouped together in a feature called Follow-Up Funnels (previously Actionetics), which is only available on the Platinum Plan or above.

The idea is that your sales funnels turn your visitors into leads, and Follow-Up Funnels let you nurture those leads through advanced automated email sequences. You can use ClickFunnels to send out the right marketing messages at the right time based on action-based automation triggers.

As with GoHighLevel, you can target your follow-up funnels to specific audience segments. But unfortunately, you can’t build SMS campaigns on ClickFunnels. The best you can do is send leads a one-time welcome message when they opt-in to your funnel.

The bottom line: 

GoHighLevel wins when it comes to marketing as it does the work of four different specialist tools, with more powerful automation functionality, SMS campaigns, and a more flexible email builder. 

GoHighLevel Pros & Cons

Pros

• Value for money. GoHighLevel is an all-in-one solution that replaces tons of different tools and works out to be a much better value compared to paying for everything separately. By having everything on one platform, you can save thousands of dollars on SaaS subscriptions.
• Run your own white-label SaaS business. One of the best things about GoHighLevel is its white label feature. It lets digital marketing agencies sell access to the platform under their own branding as part of their service offering. And with unlimited sub-users, you can sell at any price point and still make a profit on the cost of an Agency Unlimited subscription.
• CRM. GoHighLevel has a complete customer relationship management platform built-in. You can use this to manage your leads, client communications, and sales pipelines. ClickFunnels also offers a basic CRM as part of its Follow-Up Funnels feature, but it isn’t a scratch on GHL.
• Advanced analytics. GoHighLevel offers deeper insights than ClickFunnels. On the dashboard, you can see an overview of your leads and the profits all of your businesses have generated over time. There’s a reporting tool you can use to dive into even more data.
• Fully-integrated toolkit. One of the coolest things about GoHighLevel is how all of its different tools work together seamlessly. Your agency account and client sub-accounts are connected, so your account managers can switch between them seamlessly.
• Appointment setting capabilities. ClickFunnels can replace Calendly with a built-in calendar tool that you can use to book and manage appointments.

Cons

• Overkill for entrepreneurs and SMBs. If you’re not running a digital marketing agency, you can still use GoHighLevel to run your online business. However, it might not be the best choice as it’s bloated with tons of features that you may never use.
• Steep learning curve. It took us a while to get used to GoHighLevel’s interface. There are a lot of different tools and features on there to learn, and it can be a little overwhelming for beginners. 
• A little buggy. GoHighLevel has some known bugs that the development team is still ironing out.

ClickFunnels Pros & Cons

Pros

• Very easy to use. Even if you haven’t ever built a sales funnel or website before, you’ll find ClickFunnels easy to use. The funnel and page builder is super intuitive, and there’s no coding required.
• Large selection of pre-built templates. ClickFunnels has an extensive library of templates for all kinds of funnels and landing pages. GoHighLevel has templates, too, but in our opinion, they can’t beat ClickFunnels in terms of quality.
• Ideal for selling digital products. ClickFunnels isn’t suitable for agencies, but it converts well for simple eCommerce businesses that sell courses, ebooks, and other digital products. 
• Active community. ClickFunnels has somewhat of a cult following, so there’s a big community of users out there to network and share tips and advice with. The ClickFunnels Facebook group has over 270k members and is super active, so there’s always someone in the community available to answer your questions.

Cons

• Limited features. ClickFunnels doesn’t have as many features out of the box as GoHighLevel. Its CRM and marketing automation features are very limited, and it’s missing out on SMS and appointment setting capabilities.
• Limited sub-users. Even on the highest-price plan, ClickFunnels caps you at 3 sub-users. As such, it’s not suitable for agencies or large marketing teams. You also can’t use it as a white-label platform or host client accounts on it like you can with GoHighLevel.
• Not designed for building complete websites. ClickFunnels is great for building small sales funnels, but if you want a fully-functioning website, you’re better off looking elsewhere.

GoHighLevel vs ClickFunnels Pricing Plans

Interestingly, GoHighLevel and ClickFunnels both offer two main plans with identical pricing. In both cases, the entry-level plan costs $97/month, and the premium plan costs $297/month.

That said, you get more bang for your buck with GoHighLevel as the premium plan includes unlimited sub-users, email and SMS marketing tools, and white-labeling.

Here’s a full breakdown of GoHighLevel plans:

• Agency Starter Account ($97/month): This is a single account plan for one user only (your agency or one of your clients). It comes with all the core tools and unlimited users, funnels, and pages.
• Agency Unlimited Account ($297/month): This plan includes everything in the Starter plan, plus unlimited sub-accounts for you and your clients and a branded desktop app. 
• White Label Mobile App + Custom Zap Upgrade ($497/month): This is an add-on that you can purchase on top of your Agency Unlimited account. It unlocks the customized white-label mobile app and custom Zap. 

Note on the plans: you can save on HighLevel with their annual discount, and all plans come with standard support.

For comparison, here’s what you can get on ClickFunnels subscription options:

• ClickFunnels Basic ($97/month). This plan includes the core funnel and landing page building tools but doesn’t include Follow-Up Funnels or Backpack. It’s limited to one sub-user, 20 funnels, and 100 pages. 
• ClickFunnels Platinum ($297/month). This plan comes with everything in Basic plus unlimited funnels and pages and three sub-users. It also unlocks Follow-Up Funnels, Backpack, and additional training and support. 

You can test both platforms out with a 14-day free trial.

The Final Verdict

That concludes our in-depth comparison of GoHighLevel vs ClickFunnels—so which is best?

Fortunately, while both are excellent platforms in their own ways, the verdict is fairly straightforward here:

GoHighLevel is the obvious choice if you run an agency. It’s an all-in-one software solution that everything agency owners need in one place: sales funnels, landing pages, a CRM, lead-tracking features, powerful automation, and white labeling. 

If you’re not an agency, GoHighLevel is still worth considering, but you might be better off with ClickFunnels. It’s ideal for selling digital products and makes creating sales funnels that convert like clockwork quick and easy.

And remember, if you’re still not sure, you can try both platforms out for free and see which one you like best. Good luck!

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• GoHighLevel versus ActiveCampaign
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• GoHighLevel versus Systeme
• GoHighLevel versus Kartra
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