I've spent four years building funnels for clients: local businesses, six-figure coaches, seven-figure course creators.

I started with ClickFunnels because everyone said it was the best. Clean templates. Fast setup. The whole "funnel hacker" community made it feel like the only choice.

Then I discovered GoHighLevel.

At first, I dismissed it. Another "all-in-one" platform promising to replace everything? Yeah, right.

But here's what changed my mind: One of my clients was burning $1,500/month on eight different tools. ClickFunnels for funnels, ActiveCampaign for emails, Calendly for booking, Twilio for SMS, Zapier for automations, and a separate CRM for pipeline management.

I migrated them to GoHighLevel. Same functionality. $97/month total.

"One of my clients was burning $1,500/month on eight different tools. I migrated them to GoHighLevel. Same functionality. $97/month total."

They saved $1,400/month. Immediately.

That's when I realized these platforms aren't competitors. They're built for completely different businesses.

ClickFunnels is a funnel builder with some extras. GoHighLevel is an entire marketing operating system that happens to build funnels.

In this post, I'm breaking down both platforms. No affiliate BS, no "one is always better" nonsense. Just the truth about pricing, features, limitations, and which one makes sense for your business.

By the end, you'll know exactly which platform to choose.

Let's get into it.

Quick Comparison: ClickFunnels vs GoHighLevel (TL;DR)

Here's the quick answer if you're in a hurry:

The Verdict in 60 Seconds:

ClickFunnels is for solopreneurs and small businesses who want a simple, polished funnel builder. It's plug-and-play with beautiful templates, but you'll hit limits fast. And you'll need other tools for CRM, SMS, and client management.

GoHighLevel is for agencies and established businesses who need everything in one place. It's more complex to learn, but once you're in, you get unlimited funnels, full CRM, multi-channel automation, white-label capabilities, and the ability to resell the platform to clients.

My take? If you're just starting out and need a quick landing page, ClickFunnels wins. If you're running a real business with clients, leads, and follow-up sequences, GoHighLevel will save you thousands per month in tool costs. And it's not even close.

Still not sure? Keep reading. I'll break down every feature, price point, and limitation so you can make the right call for your business.

My Background: Why You Should Trust This Comparison

I'm not a software reviewer. I'm a funnel builder who's been in the trenches for four years.

I started with a local agency helping small businesses get leads online. Basic websites, simple funnels, nothing crazy. That's where I cut my teeth with ClickFunnels.

Eventually, I moved upstream to bigger clients. Online coaches, course creators, consultants doing six and seven figures. The funnel complexity went up. The tech stack got messy. And the monthly software bills started looking insane.

That's when I discovered GoHighLevel.

Now? I run Havstock, where we sell funnel templates and work with a select group of clients on done-for-you projects. We're not chasing every lead that comes through. We choose who we work with based on fit, not desperation.

The template business gives us leverage. The client work keeps us sharp and in touch with what actually converts in the real world.

Everything runs on GoHighLevel. Client accounts, template systems, automation workflows, the whole operation.

I've built hundreds of funnels on both platforms. I know where ClickFunnels shines and where it falls apart. I know where GoHighLevel saves you money and where it gets complicated.

This isn't a biased take. It's pattern recognition from years of real-world use.

So if you're looking for an honest breakdown from someone who's actually used both platforms to run a business, you're in the right place.

Let's break it down.

What is ClickFunnels?

ClickFunnels was born in 2014 when Russell Brunson decided to solve a problem: building sales funnels was too complicated for most entrepreneurs.

Before ClickFunnels, you needed a developer, a designer, and a dozen different tools just to get a basic funnel live. Russell built a drag-and-drop platform that let anyone launch a funnel in hours, not weeks.

It took off. The "funnel hacker" community exploded. Entrepreneurs started treating funnels like a religion. And ClickFunnels became the default choice for anyone selling online.

In 2022, they launched ClickFunnels 2.0. This wasn't just a facelift. They added courses, membership sites, e-commerce stores, and a basic CRM. The goal was to evolve from "just a funnel builder" into a full business platform.

What ClickFunnels Does Best:

ClickFunnels is built for speed and simplicity. You get polished, conversion-tested templates. Drag-and-drop editing. One-click upsells and order bumps. Everything you need to launch a funnel fast.

The platform is designed for solopreneurs and small teams who want to sell a product or service online without getting bogged down in technical complexity.

Where It Falls Short:

ClickFunnels is still primarily a funnel builder. The CRM is basic. The email system works, but it's not robust. And if you're managing multiple clients or need advanced automation across SMS, calls, and messaging, you'll hit the ceiling fast.

It's a great tool for getting started. But it's not built for scale or complexity.

What is GoHighLevel?

GoHighLevel launched in 2018 with a completely different philosophy than ClickFunnels.

It wasn't built for solopreneurs. It was built for agencies.

The founders saw agencies drowning in software costs. ClickFunnels for funnels. ActiveCampaign for email. Calendly for appointments. Twilio for SMS. A separate CRM. A separate call tracker. The bill would hit $500, $1,000, sometimes $2,000 per month per client.

GoHighLevel said: what if you could do all of that in one platform?

So they built an all-in-one system. Funnels, websites, CRM, email, SMS, voicemail drops, appointment booking, call tracking, pipelines, automation workflows. Everything in one login.

But the real game-changer was the white-label feature. Agencies could rebrand the entire platform as their own and resell it to clients for $97, $197, or $297 per month. Recurring revenue without building software.

What GoHighLevel Does Best:

GoHighLevel is a marketing operating system. It replaces 10+ tools and gives you full control over client communication. Email, SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, phone calls. All in one unified inbox.

It's built for agencies, consultants, and anyone managing multiple clients or complex marketing systems.

Where It Falls Short:

The learning curve is steeper. The interface can feel overwhelming if you're used to ClickFunnels' simplicity. And email deliverability is hit or miss unless you integrate Mailgun (which adds cost).

It's not the best choice if you just need a quick landing page. But if you're serious about scaling, it's hard to beat.

The 9 Key Differences That Actually Matter

#1 - Funnel Building: Speed vs Power

This is where most people start. And it's where the differences become obvious fast.

ClickFunnels: Built for Speed

ClickFunnels gives you polished, conversion-tested templates right out of the box. They're clean. They're professional. And they're designed to sell.

The drag-and-drop editor is intuitive. You can launch a funnel in an afternoon without touching code. Universal Sections let you edit one element and update it across multiple pages instantly.

Where ClickFunnels really shines is conversion optimization. One-click upsells. Order bumps. Downsell sequences. A/B split testing. Everything is built around getting people to buy.

If you need a simple funnel fast, ClickFunnels wins.

GoHighLevel: Built for Power

GoHighLevel has more templates than ClickFunnels. But they're not as polished. They feel more functional than beautiful.

Where GoHighLevel pulls ahead is customization and scale. The funnel builder is fast once you know it. And the real power is in Snapshots.

Snapshots let you clone entire marketing systems. Funnels, automations, workflows, calendars, pipelines, email sequences. Everything. You build it once, save it as a Snapshot, and deploy it to unlimited clients in minutes.

For agencies, this is a game-changer. You're not rebuilding the same funnel 50 times. You clone it.

GoHighLevel also lets you trigger multi-channel workflows. Someone fills out a form? Send an email, fire an SMS, drop a voicemail, and create a task in the CRM. All automatically.

ClickFunnels can't do that.

Winner: ClickFunnels for beginners who need speed. GoHighLevel for agencies who need power and scale.

#2 - Pricing: The Real Cost (Hidden Fees Exposed)

This is where things get interesting. Because the advertised price is never the full story.

ClickFunnels Pricing:

ClickFunnels has three tiers:

• Starter Plan: $97/month (unlimited funnels, limited courses)

• Pro Plan: $297/month (unlimited everything, API access)

• Funnel Hacker Plan: $497/month (priority support, additional features)

Sounds straightforward. But here's what they don't advertise upfront:

Hidden ClickFunnels Costs:

• Video hosting: $0.10 per video + $10 per 1TB of bandwidth

• Integrations: $0.01 per integration call (adds up fast with Zapier workflows)

• Email deliverability: If you're serious, you'll need a third-party ESP like ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign

If you're sending a lot of video content or using heavy integrations, your $97/month plan can balloon to $200+ real fast.

GoHighLevel Pricing:

GoHighLevel keeps it simple:

• Starter Plan: $97/month (everything included, unlimited contacts, funnels, users, 24/7 live Zoom and chat support)

• Unlimited Plan: $297/month (white-label, unlimited sub-accounts, resell to clients)

The $297 plan is where agencies make their money back. You can resell GoHighLevel to clients for $97-$297/month and keep the profit. Sign up three clients and you've covered your cost.

Hidden GoHighLevel Costs:

• Email sends: $0.01 per broadcast email (adds up if you're sending to large lists)

• SMS, calls, and voicemail drops: Usage-based fees charged in $20 increments

• Email deliverability fix: You'll need Mailgun integration (around $35/month) if you're serious about inbox rates

Real-World Cost Comparison:

Let's say you're running a coaching business with 5,000 contacts, sending 50,000 emails/month, using SMS follow-ups, and hosting video courses.

ClickFunnels total: $297/month (Pro Plan) + $50/month (video hosting) + $50/month (ActiveCampaign for email) = $397/month

GoHighLevel total: $97/month (Starter) + $50/month (email usage) + $35/month (Mailgun) + $40/month (SMS usage) = $222/month

GoHighLevel saves you $175/month. And that's before factoring in the CRM, appointment booking, call tracking, and 24/7 live support you'd need separate tools for with ClickFunnels.

"GoHighLevel saves you $175/month. And that's before factoring in the CRM, appointment booking, and call tracking you'd need separate tools for with ClickFunnels."

Winner: GoHighLevel for volume and agencies. ClickFunnels for simplicity if you hate usage-based billing.

#3 - CRM & Contact Management

This is where the gap between the two platforms becomes a canyon.

ClickFunnels: Bare Minimum

ClickFunnels 2.0 added basic CRM functionality. You can store contacts. Segment them by tags. See what they've purchased.

That's about it.

There's no pipeline management. No deal tracking. No way to see where a lead is in your sales process. If you're running a high-ticket offer or managing multiple clients, you'll need HubSpot, Pipedrive, or another CRM on top of ClickFunnels.

The contact management works fine for simple funnel businesses. But if you need to track conversations, follow-ups, or deal stages? ClickFunnels isn't built for that.

GoHighLevel: Full Sales Operating System

GoHighLevel was built as a CRM first. Everything else came after.

You get full pipeline management. Visual deal boards. Custom stages. Drag-and-drop deal tracking. Task assignments. Notes on every contact.

But here's where it gets powerful: unified inbox.

Every conversation with a lead happens in one place. Email. SMS. Facebook Messenger. WhatsApp. Phone calls. Voicemail drops. All in one thread.

"Every conversation with a lead happens in one place. Email. SMS. Facebook Messenger. WhatsApp. Phone calls. All in one thread."

You can see the entire history of every interaction with a contact. No more jumping between tools to figure out what you said last week.

GoHighLevel also includes:

• Appointment booking (replaces Calendly)

• Call tracking (see which campaigns drive calls)

• Social media planner (schedule posts to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn)

• Reputation management (pull reviews from Google, Facebook, Yelp)

If you're managing client relationships or running any kind of service business, GoHighLevel replaces 5+ tools out of the box.

Winner: GoHighLevel. And it's not close.

#4 - Email Marketing & Automation

Email is where both platforms get the job done. But the approaches are wildly different.

ClickFunnels: Simple and Reliable

ClickFunnels has clean, straightforward email marketing. You can send broadcasts, set up autoresponder sequences, and trigger emails based on funnel actions.

The email builder is intuitive. The templates look good. And the deliverability is solid right out of the box.

Where ClickFunnels shines is simplicity. You don't need to worry about Mailgun integrations or sender reputation. It just works.

The workflows are basic but effective. Someone opts in? Send a welcome series. Someone abandons cart? Trigger a follow-up. It's not advanced, but it covers 90% of what most businesses need.

GoHighLevel: Multi-Channel Powerhouse

GoHighLevel doesn't just do email. It orchestrates entire communication sequences across every channel.

One trigger can fire an email, send an SMS, drop a voicemail, create a task in the CRM, and book a follow-up call. All automatically.

The workflow builder is visual and powerful. You can build complex automation that would require three different tools in a ClickFunnels setup.

But here's the catch: email deliverability is inconsistent.

Out of the box, GoHighLevel's email performance is hit or miss. If you're serious about inbox rates, you'll need to integrate Mailgun (around $35/month) and configure proper DNS settings.

And remember those email costs? At $0.01 per send, a 10,000-person broadcast costs you $100. That adds up fast.

GoHighLevel also lets you A/B test emails, which ClickFunnels doesn't support natively.

Winner: ClickFunnels for pure email simplicity and deliverability. GoHighLevel for multi-channel automation and power users who don't mind the setup.

#5 - Course & Membership Features

Both platforms added course functionality to compete with Kajabi and Teachable. But the execution is very different.

ClickFunnels: Recently Added, Still Limited

ClickFunnels 2.0 brought courses and memberships into the platform. You can organize content into modules and lessons, drip-feed content over time, and lock lessons behind paywalls.

It's functional. But it feels like an afterthought.

The course builder is basic. No quizzes. No certificates. No community features. And here's the kicker: you're limited by your plan tier.

The $97/month Starter plan only gives you 3 courses. If you want more, you're forced into the $297/month Pro plan.

For simple course funnels where you're selling one or two programs, it works. But if you're building a full course library or running a membership community, you'll outgrow it fast.

GoHighLevel: Unlimited and Feature-Rich

GoHighLevel gives you unlimited courses on every plan. From day one.

You get:

• Course builder with modules, lessons, and sections

• Drip-feed scheduling to control content release

• Completion tracking so you can see who's finishing what

• Quizzes and assignments to test knowledge

• Certificates for course completion

• Community discussions built into each course

GoHighLevel also lets you import courses directly from Kajabi. If you're migrating from another platform, that's a huge time-saver.

The course player is clean. The student experience is solid. And because it's all in one platform, you can trigger automations based on course progress. Someone finishes Module 3? Send them an upsell offer automatically.

Winner: GoHighLevel. More features, unlimited courses, better automation.

#6 - White Label & Agency Features

This is where the two platforms aren't even playing the same game.

ClickFunnels: Not Built for Agencies

ClickFunnels doesn't offer white-label capabilities. At all.

You can manage multiple funnels for different clients, but everything still says "ClickFunnels" in the backend. Your clients see the ClickFunnels branding. You can't resell it as your own platform.

If you're an agency, you're stuck buying separate ClickFunnels accounts for each client (at $97+ per month each) or cramming everything into one account and dealing with organizational chaos.

There's no clean way to manage 10, 20, or 50 clients. ClickFunnels just wasn't designed for that model.

GoHighLevel: Built for Agency Resale

GoHighLevel's entire business model is built around agencies white-labeling and reselling the platform.

For $297/month (Unlimited plan), you get:

• Full white-label branding (your logo, your colors, your domain)

• Unlimited sub-accounts (one for each client)

• Snapshots to clone entire setups in minutes

• Client billing built into the platform

Here's how it works: You pay GoHighLevel $297/month. You create a sub-account for each client. You charge them $97, $197, or $297/month for "your" software. You keep the profit.

Sign up three clients at $97/month and you've covered your cost. Everything after that is pure margin.

For agencies, this is a game-changer. You're not just selling services anymore. You're selling software as a recurring revenue stream.

And because you can deploy Snapshots, you're not rebuilding funnels from scratch for every client. You clone your best-performing setups and customize them in minutes.

Winner: GoHighLevel. ClickFunnels doesn't even compete in this category.

#7 - Integration & API Access

If you need to connect your funnel platform to other tools, the integration options matter. A lot.

ClickFunnels: Limited Unless You Upgrade

ClickFunnels integrates with the usual suspects. Mailchimp, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Stripe, PayPal. The basics are covered.

But here's the problem: API access is locked behind the $297/month Pro plan.

If you're on the $97 Starter plan and need custom integrations, you're stuck using Zapier for everything. And Zapier charges per task, which adds up fast if you're running high-volume automations.

ClickFunnels also charges $0.01 per integration call. So if you're syncing thousands of contacts or triggering complex workflows, those pennies turn into real money.

For most small businesses, the native integrations are enough. But if you need custom API access or advanced automation, you're forced to upgrade or pay Zapier fees on top of ClickFunnels.

GoHighLevel: API Access on All Plans

GoHighLevel gives you full API access from day one. Even on the $97/month plan.

That means developers can build custom integrations, connect proprietary systems, and automate workflows without upgrading or paying third-party fees.

GoHighLevel also has native integrations with the tools agencies actually use:

• WhatsApp Business API (built-in, no Twilio needed)

• Facebook Messenger (direct integration)

• Google My Business (for reputation management)

• Stripe and PayPal (for payments)

• Twilio (if you want more control over SMS/calls)

Because GoHighLevel is all-in-one, you need fewer third-party tools in the first place. Email, SMS, calls, voicemail drops, and booking are all native. You're not cobbling together five different apps via Zapier.

Winner: GoHighLevel. API access on all plans, native integrations for multi-channel marketing, fewer dependencies on third-party tools.

#8 - Ease of Use & Learning Curve

Speed to value matters. If a platform is too complicated, you'll never use half its features. If it's too simple, you'll outgrow it fast.

ClickFunnels: Faster to Your First Funnel

ClickFunnels wins on initial simplicity. Hands down.

The interface is clean. The navigation makes sense. The funnel builder is intuitive. You can pick a template, customize it, and launch a funnel in an afternoon without watching a single tutorial.

Everything is organized around one goal: get your funnel live as fast as possible.

The drag-and-drop editor feels polished. The learning curve is gentle. And if you get stuck, the UI guides you through the next step.

For solopreneurs or small business owners who just want to launch a lead magnet or sell a product, ClickFunnels is plug-and-play.

GoHighLevel: More Power, Steeper Climb

GoHighLevel is powerful. But that power comes with complexity.

The first time you log in, it can feel overwhelming. CRM. Pipelines. Workflows. Calendars. Campaigns. Opportunities. Automations. Funnels. Websites. Memberships. Reporting.

There's a lot going on.

The interface isn't bad. But it's built for agencies managing multiple clients and complex marketing systems. If you're used to ClickFunnels' simplicity, GoHighLevel will feel like drinking from a fire hose.

The good news? Once you get past the learning curve, everything clicks. The workflows make sense. The CRM becomes second nature. And you realize you're doing things in one platform that used to require five.

Plus, you can jump on a live Zoom call with support at any time and have them walk you through setup in real-time. That safety net makes the learning curve way less intimidating.

Expect to spend a week or two getting comfortable. Watch tutorials. Join the Facebook group. Clone a Snapshot or two to see how things are built. And when you hit a wall, hop on a Zoom call with support.

Winner: ClickFunnels for speed and simplicity. GoHighLevel for long-term power once you've mastered it.

#9 - Support & Community

When you hit a roadblock at 11pm before a launch, support and community resources can save your campaign.

ClickFunnels: Massive Community, Standard Support

ClickFunnels has been around since 2014. That means a decade of tutorials, forum posts, YouTube videos, and third-party courses.

The "Funnel Hacker" community is huge. Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members. Entire YouTube channels dedicated to ClickFunnels tutorials. If you have a question, someone has already answered it.

Official support is decent. You get email support on all plans. Response times are usually 24-48 hours. If you're on the $497/month Funnel Hacker plan, you get priority support.

But here's the thing: because the community is so massive, you rarely need official support. Someone in a Facebook group will answer your question in 20 minutes.

GoHighLevel: 24/7 Live Support Wins

This is where GoHighLevel blows ClickFunnels out of the water.

GoHighLevel offers 24/7 live support via Zoom and chat. Not just on premium plans. On the $97/month Starter plan. Even during your trial.

You can jump on a live Zoom call with a support rep at 2am and get real-time help. No waiting for email responses. No back-and-forth for three days. Just immediate answers.

The support team is fast, knowledgeable, and agency-focused. They understand complex setups because they're helping agencies build them every day.

The community is smaller than ClickFunnels, but it's growing fast. The official Facebook group is active, and because GoHighLevel is agency-focused, the conversations tend to be more advanced. You're learning from people running real client campaigns, not just beginners asking basic questions.

GoHighLevel also has an active community of "SaaS Pro" members who build and sell Snapshots, share automation templates, and collaborate on client strategies.

The downside? Fewer third-party courses and YouTube tutorials. You'll rely more on official documentation and the core community.

Winner: GoHighLevel. 24/7 live Zoom support on all plans (including trial) beats ClickFunnels' email-only approach.

Real-World Use Cases: Which Platform for What?

Let's cut through the feature lists and get practical. Here's when you should choose each platform based on real business scenarios.

Choose ClickFunnels If:

• You're a solopreneur or small business owner who needs a simple funnel up fast. You're selling a course, a coaching program, or a digital product. You don't need CRM complexity or multi-channel automation. You just need a landing page that converts.

• Email deliverability is critical to your business. You're running cold email campaigns or nurture sequences where inbox placement makes or breaks your revenue. ClickFunnels' native email works better out of the box.

• You want polished, conversion-tested templates. You don't have time to design from scratch. You want something that looks professional and has been proven to convert.

• You prefer all-inclusive pricing. You hate usage-based billing. You'd rather pay $297/month flat and not think about per-email costs or SMS charges.

• You're brand new to funnels. You've never built one before. You want the fastest path from idea to live page without getting overwhelmed by features you don't need yet.

Choose GoHighLevel If:

• You run an agency or manage multiple clients. You need separate workspaces, white-label branding, and the ability to resell the platform as your own SaaS product.

• You need a full CRM with pipeline management. You're tracking deals, managing sales stages, following up with leads across multiple channels, and need everything in one unified inbox.

• Multi-channel marketing matters. Your business relies on email, SMS, phone calls, voicemail drops, and WhatsApp to nurture leads. You need automation that orchestrates all of it in one workflow.

• You want to replace 5-10 tools. You're currently paying for ClickFunnels, ActiveCampaign, Calendly, Twilio, a CRM, and a social media scheduler. You want one platform that does it all.

• You manage multiple clients and need rapid deployment. Snapshots let you clone entire setups in minutes. You're not rebuilding the same funnel 50 times.

• You need unlimited everything. Unlimited funnels, unlimited contacts, unlimited users, unlimited courses. You don't want to hit arbitrary plan limits as you scale.

• You're okay with a learning curve if it means more power long-term. The 24/7 live Zoom support makes this easier. You can get walked through setup in real-time instead of figuring everything out alone. You're willing to invest a week or two mastering the platform because you know it'll save you thousands per month in tool costs.

Bottom line: ClickFunnels is for simplicity and speed. GoHighLevel is for power and scale.

Why I Chose GoHighLevel (And You Might Too)

I'll be honest. I didn't want to switch.

I'd spent two years mastering ClickFunnels. I knew every feature. I had templates dialed in. Clients were happy. Why mess with what was working?

Then I hit a wall.

I had a client running a high-ticket coaching program. They needed funnels, email sequences, SMS follow-ups, appointment booking, pipeline tracking, and a way to manage leads across Facebook, Instagram, and phone calls.

The tech stack was a nightmare. ClickFunnels for funnels. ActiveCampaign for email. Calendly for booking. Twilio for SMS. Pipedrive for CRM. Everything was disconnected. Data was siloed. And the monthly bill was over $600.

I migrated them to GoHighLevel. One platform. One login. One bill. $297/month total.

Same functionality. Better automation. And the client could finally see every interaction with a lead in one place instead of jumping between five different tools.

That's when it clicked.

GoHighLevel wasn't just another funnel builder. It was the operating system I'd been piecing together manually with duct tape and integrations.

"GoHighLevel wasn't just another funnel builder. It was the operating system I'd been piecing together manually with duct tape and integrations."

I switched my entire business over. Built Havstock on it. Started offering done-for-you builds for select clients. And honestly? I can't imagine going back.

What I miss about ClickFunnels:

The templates are prettier. The onboarding is smoother. And email deliverability just works without extra configuration.

What makes GoHighLevel worth it:

Everything is in one place. I can see a lead's entire history. Email, SMS, calls, form fills, funnel visits. All in one thread. The automation is more powerful. The white-label capability turned my service business into a SaaS revenue stream. And Snapshots save me 10+ hours per client setup.

And when I hit roadblocks during the learning phase? The 24/7 Zoom support was a lifesaver. I could jump on a call at 11pm and have someone walk me through a workflow build in real-time. That kind of support makes the complexity manageable.

My template business wouldn't exist without GoHighLevel. The ability to clone entire systems and deploy them in minutes is what makes selling templates profitable.

If you're running a real business with clients, leads, and follow-up systems, GoHighLevel will pay for itself in the first month.

The Bottom Line: Which Platform Wins?

Here's the truth: neither platform is objectively "better."

They're built for different businesses at different stages.

ClickFunnels is the right choice if you value simplicity over power. It's polished, intuitive, and gets you live fast. If you're a solopreneur selling a course or a digital product and you don't need CRM complexity, ClickFunnels is the faster path to revenue.

GoHighLevel is the right choice if you value power over simplicity. It's complex, feature-rich, and built for scale. If you're managing clients, tracking deals, or orchestrating multi-channel marketing campaigns, GoHighLevel replaces an entire tech stack and saves you thousands per month.

My recommendation for most people reading this? GoHighLevel.

Here's why: if you're researching this comparison, you're probably past the beginner stage. You're not just trying to throw up a landing page. You're building a real business. You need automation. You need CRM. You need to manage leads across multiple channels.

And if that's where you are, GoHighLevel will do more for less money than ClickFunnels plus the five other tools you'll need to stack on top of it.

Yes, the learning curve is steeper. But the payoff is worth it.

If you want to give GoHighLevel a try, we've partnered with them to offer an exclusive 30-day extended trial (instead of the standard 14 days), plus access to a free live onboarding bootcamp and bonus templates valued at $497. Grab your extended trial here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I migrate from ClickFunnels to GoHighLevel?

Yes. And it's easier than you think.

The process involves exporting your contacts from ClickFunnels (CSV file), importing them into GoHighLevel, and rebuilding your funnels. GoHighLevel doesn't have a one-click import tool, so you'll need to recreate your pages manually or use Snapshots if someone has already built a similar funnel.

Most agencies can migrate a client in 2-4 hours. If you're doing it yourself for the first time, budget a weekend.

The good news? Once you're in GoHighLevel, you won't need to migrate again. Everything lives in one platform.

Does GoHighLevel really replace 10+ tools?

In most cases, yes. Here's what it replaces:

• ClickFunnels (funnels and landing pages)

• ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp (email marketing)

• Twilio (SMS and calls)

• Calendly (appointment booking)

• Pipedrive or HubSpot (CRM and pipeline management)

• Zapier (automation workflows)

• Later or Buffer (social media scheduling)

• Kajabi or Teachable (course hosting)

• Reputation management tools (review aggregation)

• Call tracking software

The only thing you might still need is a dedicated ESP like Mailgun if you're sending high-volume emails and need better deliverability.

But yeah. For most agencies and service businesses, GoHighLevel consolidates your entire stack.

Is the HighLevel affiliate program worth it?

Absolutely. Especially compared to selling templates as one-time payments.

GoHighLevel pays 40% recurring commissions for life. If someone signs up through your link and stays on the $297/month plan, you earn $118.80 per month. Forever.

Compare that to selling a funnel template for $97 one time. With affiliates, you get paid every month as long as they stay subscribed.

If you refer 10 clients, that's $1,188/month in passive income. And it stacks.

The catch? You need to actually help people succeed with the platform. If they cancel after one month because they couldn't figure it out, you don't get paid long-term. So focus on providing value, onboarding support, and templates that make GoHighLevel easier to use.

Which has better funnel templates?

ClickFunnels has more polished templates. They're professionally designed, conversion-tested, and ready to launch.

GoHighLevel has more templates overall, but they're more functional than beautiful. They get the job done, but you'll likely want to customize them.

The real advantage in GoHighLevel is Snapshots. You're not just cloning a funnel. You're cloning the entire marketing system. Funnels, workflows, pipelines, email sequences, SMS automations. Everything.

So while ClickFunnels templates look better, GoHighLevel templates do more.

Can beginners use GoHighLevel?

Yes. But expect a learning curve.

If you've never built a funnel before and you just need a simple landing page, ClickFunnels will get you there faster.

But if you're willing to invest a week watching tutorials and playing around in the platform, GoHighLevel is absolutely beginner-friendly. The 24/7 live support helps a lot. You can jump on a Zoom call and have someone walk you through setup in real time.

Most beginners who struggle with GoHighLevel are trying to use every feature at once. Start simple. Build one funnel. Set up one email sequence. Add SMS later. You don't need to master the entire platform on day one.

That's it. Hope this breakdown helped you make the right call for your business. If you have more questions, feel free to reach out. Happy funnel building.