ClickFunnels vs GoHighLevel: Which should you choose in 2026?

[.blog-callout]

✨ TL;DR:

• ClickFunnels is a dedicated funnel builder best for solo entrepreneurs, coaches, and course creators who want a fast way to sell online. It's easy to get started with, but limited, and most businesses end up needing additional tools alongside it.
• GoHighLevel is an all-in-one platform built for agencies and service businesses managing multiple clients. It combines CRM, multi-channel automation, scheduling, marketing, and white-label capabilities in one place, replacing several tools at once. However, it has a steep learning curve and takes time to set up.
• Softr is the strongest choice if you need custom business software built around your own data. It lets you build client portals, CRMs, internal tools, and dashboards without code. And unlike ClickFunnels and GoHighLevel, there’s a free plan you can start with.

[.blog-callout]

ClickFunnels and GoHighLevel are often pitched as alternatives for each other, and it's easy to see why. Both are built to help businesses capture leads, nurture prospects, and close sales online.

But despite their feature overlap, they solve different problems for different teams. ClickFunnels is designed for building high-converting funnels quickly. GoHighLevel is built as a more complete system, with CRM, automation, and client management features built in. 

So which one should you choose? We tested both, and in this guide, we break down the key differences, features, pros and cons, and whether Softr might be a better fit for your business.

ClickFunnels vs GoHighLevel at a glance

What is ClickFunnels?

If you've ever looked for a tool to build sales funnels, ClickFunnels is one of the most popular options out there. It was launched in 2014 by Russell Brunson and Todd Dickerson to give entrepreneurs everything they need to launch and scale their businesses online without needing multiple tools, developers, or technical experience.

Instead of building a traditional website, ClickFunnels focuses on conversion-driven funnels—structured flows of pages designed to guide visitors toward a specific action like signing up or making a purchase. 

The platform supports the full customer journey. It attracts leads through landing pages, lead magnets, surveys, opt-in forms, and blogs. It converts them through order forms, checkout flows, and e-commerce stores. It increases order value with one-click upsells, one-time offers, and order bumps. It manages relationships with a built-in CRM, pipelines, appointments, and two-way messaging. And it retains customers through courses, membership areas, community groups, and email sequences. The idea is that you shouldn't need to leave the platform at any stage.

Getting started is also straightforward. The drag-and-drop editor and pre-designed templates mean most users can launch their first funnel quickly, and extensive tutorials, community forums, and beginner resources are there if you need them.

ClickFunnels key features

• Drag-and-drop funnel editor: Build funnels without writing a line of code. The builder is easy to use, and there’s a library of templates to get started with. 
• Membership sites: Create membership sites and sell online courses with drip content scheduling, progress tracking, member management, and a dedicated customer center where members access everything in one place.
• Integrated CRM: Manage customer relationships directly within ClickFunnels. Track leads, schedule meetings, and respond to messages from all platforms. 
• E-commerce and payments: Sell physical or digital products, handle subscriptions, and manage orders directly through ClickFunnels. It also integrates with payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal, allowing for smooth transaction processing.
• Analytics and reporting: Track page views, conversions, revenue, and funnel performance in one dashboard so you have the data to make informed decisions and sell more.
• A/B testing: Test different versions of pages, offers, and messaging to see what works best and improve conversion rates over time.

ClickFunnels cons

• No free plan: ClickFunnels has no free tier, and its pricing is relatively high compared to other funnel builders. This makes it expensive for solopreneurs and small businesses.  
• Limited CRM capabilities: Works for basic lead tracking, but not ideal for managing complex pipelines or client relationships.
• Learning curve for workflows: While the page builder is simple, funnel logic and automation can take time to understand. 

ClickFunnels pricing

No free plan is available. There are four tiered paid plans, and they all come with a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee after the trial ends.

• Launch ($97/month or $81/month, billed annually): Unlimited funnels, 1 workspace, 2 team members, 10,000 contacts, 50,000 emails per month, 3 courses, 5 custom domains, standard support.
• Scale ($197/month or $164/month, billed annually): Unlimited funnels, 5 workspaces, 5 team members, 75,000 contacts, 300,000 emails per month, 6 courses, unlimited custom domains, priority and live chat support, full API access.
• Optimize ($297/month or $248/month, billed annually): Unlimited funnels, 10 workspaces, 10 team members, 150,000 contacts, 750,000 emails per month, 10 courses.
• Dominate ($5,997/year): Unlimited funnels, 20 workspaces, 20 team members, 400,000 contacts, 1.2 million emails per month, 20 courses, VIP support, ​​3H private onboarding.

What is GoHighLevel?

GoHighLevel (or HighLevel) is an all-in-one sales and marketing platform for agencies, consultants, and service-based businesses. It’s designed to help you capture leads, manage pipelines, automate follow-ups, and handle marketing from a single tool instead of using separate tools for funnels, email marketing, ecommerce, ads management, CRM, scheduling, and reporting. This saves businesses thousands of dollars per month in software costs and also tool fatigue from working with too many tools.

It has invested heavily in AI in recent years, adding features like an AI Employee, which includes six AI tools working together in one platform to save time, capture leads, and grow revenue.

While it includes a funnel builder similar to ClickFunnels, GoHighLevel has broader functionalities, which is why it’s especially popular with agencies managing multiple clients. For one, it has a more advanced CRM than ClickFunnels, with pipelines, tasks, notes, and custom fields. It also automates across email, SMS, phone, voicemail, WhatsApp, and social media. And on higher plans, you brand the web app, client portal, and notifications as your own and charge clients for access to it.

GoHighLevel features

• Full CRM and pipeline management: Track leads and deals across customizable sales stages, manage communications, and automate follow-ups and workflows. Unlike ClickFunnels' basic contact management, GoHighLevel's CRM is built for managing multiple clients and complex pipelines at scale. 
• White-label SaaS mode: Agencies can rebrand the entire GoHighLevel platform and sell it to clients as their own software product to generate recurring revenue. 
• Multi-channel marketing automation: Build automated workflows that trigger across email, SMS, phone calls, voicemail drops, WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, Facebook Messenger, and more, from a single workflow builder. You can also personalize communication based on user behavior.
• Funnel and website builder: A drag-and-drop builder and templates for creating landing pages, full websites, and sales funnels without coding.
• Courses, memberships, and communities: Create and sell online courses, gate content behind membership access, and build paid or free communities with live streaming, affiliate programs, and automated access management.
• AI tools: AI chatbot that is trained on your business and responds to conversations and books appointments automatically. There’s also AI employee that offers six tools: Voice AI, Conversation AI, Reviews AI, Funnels AI, Content AI, and Workflow AI to automate time-consuming tasks across your business. 

GoHighLevel cons

• Steep learning curve: The wide range of features can make onboarding for staff and clients slower and more difficult compared to simpler tools like ClickFunnels.
• Not ideal for solo entrepreneurs or simple use cases: GoHighLevel is built for agencies managing multiple clients. If you're an individual entrepreneur selling one product or course, a simpler tool might serve you better.
• Interface can feel complex or cluttered: Many users complain that the interface is overwhelming and confusing, and setup can take time to get used to.

GoHighLevel pricing 

GoHighLevel offers two plans and 14-days free trial:

• Starter ($97/month or $970/year): For freelancers and solo marketers. Includes all core features plus 3 sub-accounts, unlimited contacts, unlimited users, and 24/7 support.
• Unlimited ($297/month or $2970/year): For growing agencies. Includes unlimited sub-accounts, user/agent reporting, rebill phone & email without markup, and basic API access.
• SaaS Pro ($497/month, or $4970/year: For agencies that want to sell software. Includes SaaS Mode, automated sub-account creation, rebill phone & email without markup, and advanced API access.

ClickFunnels vs GoHighLevel: pricing

ClickFunnels and GoHighLevel both start at $97 per month, but they don't offer the same value at each tier. Here's how they compare.

Key differences

• Free plans: Neither platform has one. ClickFunnels comes with a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. GoHighLevel offers a standard 14-day trial across all plans.
• Entry-level plans: Both start at $97 per month, but what you get differs. ClickFunnels' Launch plan has unlimited funnels, but caps you at 1 sub-account, 10,000 contacts, and 2 team members. GoHighLevel's Starter plan includes 3 sub-accounts, unlimited contacts, and unlimited users, which is more generous than ClickFunnels.
• Scaling costs: ClickFunnels charges more as your contacts, workspaces, and team grow, meaning the platform gets more expensive the more successful your business becomes. GoHighLevel includes unlimited contacts and users on every plan, and its costs scale with usage, not headcount or database size.
• Pricing transparency: ClickFunnels pricing is straightforward—you pay the plan price, and that's broadly it. GoHighLevel bills usage-based costs for SMS, calls, emails, and AI credits separately on top of the base subscription, making the real monthly cost harder to predict upfront.

The verdict: GoHighLevel offers more value at the entry level—unlimited contacts, unlimited users, and a full suite of tools for $97/month compared to ClickFunnels' more limited Launch plan at the same $97/month. On a straight features-for-price comparison, GoHighLevel wins.

That said, ClickFunnels suits a specific type of user: someone who wants to launch a funnel quickly, doesn't need a full CRM or multi-channel automation, and would rather have a focused tool than an expansive one that takes time to configure. In other words, a solo entrepreneur or creator.

For agencies and businesses managing multiple clients, GoHighLevel is the stronger choice. The unlimited contacts and users mean your platform cost stays flat as you grow, and replaces several tools you'd otherwise pay for separately. And if you want to package and resell your own branded software, GoHighLevel's white-label SaaS Mode is a capability ClickFunnels doesn't offer at any price point.

ClickFunnels vs GoHighLevel: on Reddit

Both platforms have active communities online, and Reddit is one of the more honest places to see what real users actually think.

Many Redditors praise ClickFunnels for being a fast and easy way to build funnels, with a strong community and plenty of resources for beginners.

 But users often look for alternatives when the cost becomes hard to justify, or when they need white-label capabilities that ClickFunnels doesn't offer.

Others move away from ClickFunnels because of the platform's association with spammy courses and aggressive marketing tactics, which has damaged its reputation in some communities.

On the other hand, GoHighLevel gets consistent praise for consolidating multiple tools into one subscription, often replacing a stack that would otherwise cost significantly more.

Agency owners also love it as it makes it easier and more cost-effective to manage multiple clients from one platform.

But they often criticize how much time it takes to learn how to use the tool due to its many features.

ClickFunnels vs GoHighLevel: a summary

ClickFunnels and GoHighLevel have several similarities: both help build funnels and have some form of CRM and automation. But choosing between them comes down to one question: are you building funnels to sell your own products, or running an agency that needs to manage leads, clients, and campaigns all in one platform?

ClickFunnels is built for selling digital products easily. If you're an entrepreneur, coach, or course creator who wants a focused, conversion-optimised tool that moves visitors from ad click to checkout with minimal friction, ClickFunnels does that better than almost anything else at its price point. The platform is straightforward enough that most users can launch their first funnel without a steep learning curve with its drag-and-drop funnel builder and templates. The trade-off is that ClickFunnels is still largely a funnel tool, and its CRM is basic, so you might need to get additional tools alongside it.

GoHighLevel is built for managing clients. If you run an agency or a service business that manages multiple client accounts, GoHighLevel is the stronger choice. The ability to consolidate CRM, multi-channel automation, scheduling, and course hosting into one platform—and then white-label the whole thing and resell it—is something ClickFunnels doesn't come close to matching. The trade-off is the setup time. GoHighLevel takes real investment to configure properly and get used to, and it's often overwhelming for new users.

If neither tool quite fits, and you need a way to create custom apps for your needs, you should consider Softr. 

Softr — best visual full-stack platform for building custom business apps to replace siloed tools

ClickFunnels and GoHighLevel are purpose-built marketing platforms with fixed structures and fixed workflows. Softr takes a different approach. Instead of giving you a platform with preset features, it lets you build exactly the business apps you need—sales apps, client portals, CRMs, dashboards, and internal tools— with your own data, logic, and branding.

Softr is a visual full-stack no-code platform that combines three things: an AI-powered app builder, a native relational database, and workflow automation. Each is powerful on its own, and all three are built to work together from day one. Rather than paying for different software for each area of your business, Softr keeps your data, apps, and automations together in one secure platform.

Building is fast. Describe what you need in plain language, and the AI CoBuilder generates your app instantly. If you need to refine anything, the drag-and-drop visual builder and Vibe Coding Block give you full control over the details without writing code.

For data, you can use Softr's native relational database to build the data foundation that powers your apps, or connect existing data from tools you already use, Google Sheets, Airtable, HubSpot, and other supported sources, with two-way real-time sync. Either way, all your data stays accessible in one place rather than scattered across tools.

For automation, Softr Workflows handle the manual tasks your team shouldn't have to do by hand. Send automatic emails when a record status changes, trigger task reminders, notify team members when a form is submitted, or push updates to connected tools when conditions are met, all without leaving the platform.

Best for: Businesses of all sizes that need custom software but don't have developer resources to build or maintain it.

Why choose Softr over ClickFunnels and GoHighLevel

• Build any business app without code: Softr's drag-and-drop builder and AI CoBuilder mean you can create working business software(not only sales or marketing apps) and have it running that same day, without writing code.

• Replace multiple tools with one platform: A business running ClickFunnels typically still needs a separate CRM, scheduling tool, client portal, and project management tool alongside it. A GoHighLevel user has more of that covered, but you can still end up paying for additional tools when a specific use case falls outside what the platform supports. Softr replaces that entire category of tools by giving you a flexible data layer and the ability to build any app on top of it.
• Own and control your data: In ClickFunnels and GoHighLevel, your contacts, records, and activity data live inside those platforms. You can export it, but you’re still working within their data structures. Softr gives you a fully relational database you own and structure yourself, with linked records, custom field types, filters, and formulas.

• A generous free plan: Softr's free plan includes unlimited apps, 10 app users, 5,000 database records, 500 workflow actions, unlimited collaborators, a custom domain, and 5 AI credits. You can build and publish a working business app without paying anything, which is not something either ClickFunnels or GoHighLevel offers.

• Scales with your business: As your business grows, Softr grows with it. You're not charged more for building additional apps or inviting more collaborators, only for the users and features you actually need.
• Full design control and custom branding: Softr gives you full control over how your app looks and feels. You can apply your own brand colors, fonts, logos, and layout across every page of your app, so what your clients and team members see looks like software your business built, not a third-party tool you're renting.

ClickFunnels, GoHighLevel, or Softr: Which should you choose?

The right choice depends on what your business actually needs, not just which platform has the longest feature list.

Choose ClickFunnels if your primary goal is building and optimising sales funnels for your own products, courses, or services.

Choose GoHighLevel if you run a digital agency or a service business that manages multiple clients and needs one platform to handle CRM, multi-channel automation, scheduling, and marketing together.

Choose Softr if you want the ability to build and customise any business app around your own data. Softr gives you a full-stack no-code platform where your apps, database, and automations work together from day one, without the fixed structures or escalating costs of the other two.

‍👉 Try Softr for free and start building today.