Have you been desperately looking for a ClickFunnels free alternative?
In this article, I’m going to show you exactly how you can get the same stuff ClickFunnels offers at a way lower price point.
I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say:
Paying a whopping sum of money to keep your ClickFunnels account up and running could be kind of expensive.
Or isn’t it?
Especially when you hardly put all of those inbuilt functionalities into use or maybe you only need a sales funnel builder to host a few pages.
The bad part?
As a small business owner or someone starting out, it could be a pain in the butt paying a monthly fee of $97 or $297 to run your business.
Well, it turns out that to get a platform like ClickFunnels may not be as easy as you’d have thought. Even while there are tons of alternatives out there for you to choose from.
Most of them still require you to commit to a monthly subscription fee, and they are not anywhere near being FREE.
That’s why I will be introducing you to this ClickFunnels alternative which won’t break the bank or deny you of the same feature ClickFunnels offers.
Just read on…
Part #1: What Is Good About ClickFunnels?
I’m a firm believer and advocate of systems. A set of tools and platforms that interconnect together to run my whole business on automation, even while not present for days/weeks.
That’s one of the powers of ClickFunnels.
I’m not going to deny the fact that some part of my business runs on ClickFunnels.
In fact, I attribute 50% of the successes I’ve had online to the resources and tools within the ClickFunnels ecosystem.
Russell Brunson’s ClickFunnels is a great software and the kinds of stuff he puts out there are life-changing.
I don’t want to go over all the features, training, tools and resources in this post.
But my point here is that – using a platform like ClickFunnels gives you the ability to have all the marketing tools you need to run your business online under one platform.
And build out your business with ease, faster. I wonder who isn’t a friend of ease and fast build?
Kinda cool is you ask me.
What then becomes the fate of those that can’t afford it?
Hang on my friend…
Part #2: The Good Part About Free ClickFunnels Alternative?
Even though I so much recommend ClickFunnels or any of the books (Expert secrets, Dotcom Secrets, Network Marketing Secrets) and resources Russell provides, I try not to stay one-sided or static in my business when it comes to tools.
The industry is ever-changing and dynamic, you know.
But I have to tell you that It’s not that easy to find a software that does the exact stuff ClickFunnels helps you to accomplish. For free?
In fact, almost impossible.
Unless you want a cheaper or better alternative, I will talk about a few later down this post.
Being a blogger (at heart) and an affiliate marketer (by night), I spend most of my time exploring and testing new tools.
To see which to recommend to my readers that would help them get more results in life and businesses.
That being said, I know there are folks out there who can’t afford ClickFunnels monthly pricing option.
So, settling for a reasonable alternative is something most people are having a problem with. Thoughts like:
- Can I get something that has downsells and upsells?
- I need a tool that acts like Actionetics (inbuilt autoresponder)
- What about and affiliate system, membership site, and shopping cart?
Are the major concerns that arise when they need to make a move to adjust to the financial changes. Worry not!
I got good news for you…
You can have all that connected together even while not paying for ClickFunnels monthly plan.
But there is even a piece of bad news that accompanies it…
It is not free and not built into a single platform.
The fact is, it saves you thousands of dollars on a yearly basis and will run your online business successfully.
Before we dive into the main things you need to set up this ClickFunnels alternative, I want to bring it your notice that with this platform:
- You get more control than on ClickFunnels
- Might require a bit of coding skill
- More SEO friendly than ClickFunnels
- Takes a lot of time to set up (you spend more time)
- A lot of connections are involved
Part #3: What You Need To Set-up ClickFunnels Alternative
Now let’s go over the tools you are going need to set up a complete sales funnel without ClickFunnels.
The best part is you may already have some if not all of these.
Tool #1: Content Management System – WordPress
This is the Content Management platform where you build your funnel website on. WordPress is our chosen CMS.
It’s the world’s most popular way to build a website and powers not less than 34% of all the websites on the internet.
You can make WordPress bunch of things you like to do. Simply because it’s an open-source platform. You have more freedom while on WordPress than ClickFunnels.
Tool #2: Website hosting for your sales funnel
This is one of the most required of all the components you need for building your sales funnels on WordPress.
Every website needs a web hosting service to run, definitely.
Bluehost is a great option to consider as your hosting solution. You get a free domain and a quick one-click WordPress install without hassle.
So, for this article, we are going to use Bluehost. If you already have a domain connected and hosted to WordPress – then you’re good in this part.
Tool #3: WordPress theme – Astra or any
If you run a WordPress site, then you may already have a WordPress theme. If this is a new setup, I recommend you use Astra theme because it is the fastest lightweight theme for building a sales funnel.
And also, free to use.
It also easily integrates with other tools you’ll be needing to build your funnel.
Tool #4: Page builder – Elementor
This is a visual drag and drop and editor WordPress page builder in the form of a plugin that gives you the ability to edit whatever you want.
This acts as the drag and drop editor within ClickFunnels.
There are other alternatives like the Divi Builder and Thrive Architect (you can use any), but Elementor is the best (has a free version) and currently have over more than 3 million active installs.
Tool #5: WordPress funnel builder (with checkout, upsells and downsells pages)
This is where all the awesome stuff happens. The tool we shall use for this is called CartFlows – it helps you to create your:
- Actual funnels with templates
- A checkout pages
- Order bumps
- Upsells/downsells
CartFlows is a cool plugin that kind of makes it super easy to build your sales funnel on WordPress.
It also comes with a free version that can get you started. But the Pro version allows you to add order bumps to checkout, upsells and down-sell offers.
Tool #6: E-commerce functionality – WooCommerce
WooCommerce provides the basic payment processing functionality that powers CartFlows.
It will give you a safer and reliable way to process payments. This is perfect for selling physical products and it comes with so many integrations.
Like:
- Payment gateways
- Shipping tools
- Learning management systems
- Membership tools and more
The good part is that WooCommerce is also free.
Tool #7: Email automation platform – GetResponse
This is optional though.
You can use any email platform of your choice, but I purposely choose GetResponse due to its automation capability and pricing.
Tool #8: Affiliate management platform – AffiliateWP
This is also optional unless you want to create an affiliate program for your products and services.
While there is more a dozen of affiliate management software out there you can use, I choose to use AffiliateWP in this post because it’s one reasonably priced option and also a WordPress plugin for online business owners.
I just want to keep all the tools in here within WordPress.
Now those are tools you need to create a sales funnel in WordPress. Or you can call it a free ClickFunnels alternative.
Part #4: How Much Do You Save?
If we are to look at all the cost of these funnel building tools for WordPress, we shall be talking about $400 – $900 for an entire year for the setup.
Way cheaper than ClickFunnels if you ask me.
Let us do a little mathematics now. For ClickFunnels startup plan: $97 * 12 = $1164/year
To get access to Actionetics, Backpack and more: $297 * 12 = $3564/year
How much do the tools cost?
WordPress is free to use and you pay for domain and hosting (if you do not have a WordPress site yet)
Bluehost hosting + domain = $60/yearly
For theme, Astra is free.
Elementor page builder is free and Pro version costs = $49/yearly
CartFlows costs = $25/mo
WooCommerce is free, the subscription plan (optional) starts from = $17/mo
Email automation service (optional) starts from = $15/mo
Affiliate software (optional) costs = $99/year
At a rough estimate, when you decide to pay for all of these tools, you’ll be spending about $900 per year. Which is quite cheaper than ClickFunnels annual plans and monthly subscriptions.
Part #5: What Is Bad About ClickFunnels Alternative Free Option?
Like I said at the beginning of this post, it may take you a bit of a workaround to set up a complete sales funnel on WordPress.
Especially if it’s your first time working on WordPress.
Apart from the fact, you’ll spend time so much time keeping up with the different subscription payments and adding your credit card credentials into so many platforms…
…there are things I also want you to stay awake to.
Bad #1: Speed of implementation
Anything you can do in ClickFunnels can also be done on WordPress, but it’s faster to accomplish on ClickFunnels with less technical knowledge.
It takes like a few hours to build out your sale funnels on ClickFunnels then on WordPress it can take you days to get everything working properly.
And if you’re looking to test sales copy, new products, offers or bundles, I don’t think a free sales funnel can carry out those.
Bad #2: Learning curve
See, WordPress is more flexible than ClickFunnels, no doubt. But the ability to change things on the fly and do all this stuff with very little tech know-how takes energy.
For someone who has never built a sales funnel, it will be difficult trying to launch a business on WordPress without technicalities.
This is where ClickFunnels comes as a pain killer for a complete newbie. Faster builds and a better experience.
Bad #3: You’re not alone
As I pointed above, when new on WordPress, you’ll have to find a way to figure out how to build funnels on your own either from YouTube or via any source.
It may take weeks and months to put it all together.
Starting on WordPress could be like a boring and lonely journey
It is not like that with ClickFunnels.
ClickFunnels has an onboarding series that makes it easy for all. It’s more like an accompanied journey.
The community, training, travels, events, challenges, awards and all the inspiration makes it looks like a party that never ends.
You are not alone in the race.
Part #6: Are There Other Sales Funnel Alternatives Better Than ClickFunnels?
I can’t emphasize more on the importance of having most of your business tools housed under a platform and already interconnected with each other.
Maybe you need an all-in-one option, but not ClickFunnels.
This part is for you…
Having compared ClickFunnels with most of its closest competitors on this site. I’d have to say that ClickFunnels beats most of them hands down when it comes to inbuilt functionalities.
BUT THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS.
For example:
When it comes to hosting and building landing pages, options like Unbounce and Instapage are superior to ClickFunnels. Not debatable!
When it comes to memberships, ClickFunnels membership can handle all the basic stuff you desire. Unless you are after a more sophisticated alternative…
…then take a look at a platform like Teachable.
For managing affiliates, there are lots of platforms to consider for this.
As you can see from our options, most of the available competitors can’t really house all the features you find inside of ClickFunnels.
The only direct ClickFunnels competitor is Kartra.
Kartra does a lot compared to ClickFunnels and covers everything ClickFunnels has to offer. Here is a thoroughly detailed comparison of Kartra vs ClickFunnels.
Only read it if you’re NOT after free funnel builder, but rather, the best alternative to ClickFunnels.
Good luck!
Final Words
I don’t think I have much to say at this point. You just have to make your decision.
ClickFunnels is popular for so many reasons, and it’s definitely not the only way to market your products and services with funnels.
That’s one of the reasons I had to come up with this post.
And on the other hand – remember that building a business takes time, effort and money. I understand that settling for free tools and resources saves you money.
Especially as a newbie.
But you’d always want to balance the cost of money and time in your business by spending more on efficiency and productivity.
Have you started building your funnels on WordPress yet? or you prefer testing out another alternative?
Let me know in the comment.
