Sales Funnels, Marketing Automation

September 2020

Best ClickFunnels Alternative?

Kartra and ClickFunnels are two of the most popular funnel builders used by digital marketers and entrepreneurs today.

While both of these tools have several features in common, the tools differ greatly in terms of scope and focus.

To summarize, ClickFunnels is a dedicated sales funnel building software, whereas Kartra is an all-in-one marketing and operations suite that also builds sales funnels.

In this article, we will conduct an in-depth comparison of Kartra and ClickFunnels and discuss where they are similar, where each excels, and finally which one is better overall.

ClickFunnels and Kartra Similarities

We begin by looking at the similarities between the two solutions and where you could say the offerings are basically even. 

1. Pre-Built Funnel Templates

One of the most common similarities between the two software tools is the availability of a wide range of pre-built funnel templates.

They both cover many of the same uses cases and feature very similar pre-built campaigns including list builders, book offers, up-sells and so on. 

However, as Kartra has more functionality, there are a few more funnels that cater to those features that aren't available in ClickFunnels.

Also, as email automation is an optional upgrade in Clickfunnels, these components aren't as integrated into the funnels in contrast to Kartra where they are built into every campaign from the start.  

Otherwise, everything is more or less the same in terms of pre-built funnel templates.

2. Drag and Drop Page Builder

Both Kartra and ClickFunnels feature robust drag-and-drop, WYSIWYG style page builders.

Both offer dozens of beautifully designed templates and easy-to-use interfaces. Both allow you to not just design from templates but add individual pre-designed components and layouts to cater pages to your needs.

There are nuanced differences between the layouts and individual features, but these are so minor that you can't really give a leg up to either product. 

3. Analytics

Detailed analytics are standard for both solutions. You can get a micro-level view of each individual asset within a sales funnel or look at the performance of the campaigns as a whole. There are also various filters to help you slice and visualize the data in any way you need.

One benefit Kartra has here is that it has more integrated reporting for the additional features it supports since your data is available right within the tool for those elements. For example, if you're hosting a video, all video data is directly inside Kartra and as ClickFunnels doesn't have video built in, no such data exists within it. 

Again this is a difference in the scope of functionality. When comparing just the features they both provide, the analytics are certainly comparable. 

What ClickFunnels Does Better

1. FunnelFlix

FunnelFlix is a video learning portal offered by ClickFunnels that helps you to improve your understanding of sales funnels and business strategies among other things.

It offers many different in-depth courses that can help you grow your business in a structured manner and learn essential marketing skills. It's a mini-Netflix strictly for business and funnel success in a sense!

Kartra also offers a training program, however it is not as sophisticated or varied in scope as ClickFunnels.

2. Webinar Funnels

ClickFunnels offers an integrated webinar funnel system which allows you to do live and pre-recorded webinars for your prospects and customers.

While the webinar software isn't included, having the ability to add webinars into your funnels and knowing how to use them via the pre-built campaigns to maximize effectiveness is a big deal. 

Kartra, on the other hand, does not offer any integrated webinar funnels at this time. Kartra does have an integration with its sister company WebinarJam but again, you're left to figure out how to incorporate webinars into your funnels manually.

3. Community

ClickFunnels has a bigger community of users as compared to Kartra because it is simply more popular and has been around for longer.

This means that you're going to find more people sharing tips and making templates and tutorials for ClickFunnels. 

ClickFunnels also runs various in-person events to further engage its audience, something Kartra doesn't do. 

4. Learning Curve

In terms of learning curve, ClickFunnels has less features than Kartra so logically, it will take you less time to learn. Kartra offers more functionalities and integrates all of these, so getting the most out of it is a bit more complex than ClickFunnels.

ClickFunnels also books a 1:1 training call with you when you sign up so that can help you get off the ground a little quicker.

Kartra offers group Q&A calls twice a week so you'll want to take advantage of those if you're choosing Kartra.

5. Better Name

Okay, this one doesn't really matter at all but if I had to say, ClickFunnels is a better name than Kartra 😝

What Kartra Does Better

1. Built-in Functionality

Kartra provides several built-in features that ClickFunnels simply doesn't offer. Helpdesk, calendar, lead capture videos, and heat maps are just some of the exclusive inclusions.

Moreover, each of these tools are linked and share one database. So this means that you can see how many appointments a client has booked, which videos they've watched, how many helpdesk tickets they've submitted, which pages they've viewed and hundreds of other data points all in one place.

This allows you to make some incredibly detailed and personalized campaigns and automations that you can't do in ClickFunnels as you would need external solutions to get all of these features.

2. Behavioral Adaptive Marketing

Kartra's Behavioral Adaptive Marketing feature is a game changer! This allows you to automatically customize practically any asset in Kartra including sales copy, emails, special offers, webpages and more based on different customer tags and interactions with other tools.

For example, you could automatically show a special bonus offer section on a webpage to only people who've watched half of a particular video or only to people who came through a particular traffic source or funnel path.

ClickFunnels does not offer this level of automation and adaptability. 

3. Email Automation

Simply, Kartra provides you with more fully featured email automation than Clickfunnels. 

Firstly, Kartra features a visual editor that allows you to drag-and-drop each step and see how your entire sequence comes together.

And as every behavior taken in every tool in Kartra can be tagged, you can trigger customized email sequences from any action thereby making the email a seamlessly integrated feature with anything your customers do. 

Kartra also allows you to create logic triggers for your emails with IF / Then statements and sequence splits leading to some truly advanced email sequences.

4. Membership Portals

While both products offer membership portals or subscription sites, once again, Kartra offers the more fully featured tool set. 

Key features lacking from the ClickFunnels implementation that Kartra offers are progress tracking and micro-credentialing (badges). 

Also, as video, one-on-one live sessions, and support are huge parts of running a successful membership site or online course, having these features built into and automatically integrated in Kartra are a huge advantage. 

Again, ClickFunnels requires you to purchase all of these individually in the form of external, unintegrated solutions.