I originally started building sales funnels with the Clickfunnels funnel builder but I’ve recently switched to Builderall.
Why?
Well, there’s a few reasons….
1. Clickfunnels Is Now Too Expensive For What It Offers
I only ever had the Basic Clickfunnels account which is $97 per month.
For that you get a page builder, a funnel builder and membership site builder.
Builderall, in comparison, currently costs $69.90 per month. That’s actually a 30% discount on their regular price.
Their Lifetime 30% discount offer is ending on January 31st but even at the regular $99.90 per month price, it’s far better value than Clickfunnels…
…because, in addition to a page builder, a funnel builder and a membership site builder, you also get an autoresponder and 40+ other marketing tools.
Here’s a collection of 200+ things you can do with Builderall.
2. You’re Limited In What You Can Do With Clickfunnels
See that image above?
The only thing you get with the Clickfunnels Basic Plan is what’s on that “Funnel Builder & Page Editor” banner.
The other 4 services – Actionetics, Pypeline, Backpack and Wasabi and the ability to create an unlimited number of pages and funnels are only available in the Platinum Plan which is $297 per month.
One of the real problems I keep having with my Basic Clickfunnels Plan is that I keep hitting the limits on my account.
This Plan allows you to create, at most, 20 funnels or 100 pages.
That might sound like a lot, but when you’re building or importing funnels to have a look at them, it’s very easy to hit those limits,
Most Fridays, Clickfunnels run their Funnel Fridays events where they demonstrate building a complete funnel in real time in 30 minutes in some chosen niche.
Attendees can then download 7 pre-built funnels to play around with.
Here’s a few previous Funnel Friday events:
- Affiliate Funnel Secrets – Discover How To Use This Simple 1-Page Affiliate Funnel To Quickly Grow Your Online Business In As Little As 24 Hours…AND Promote Without Having To Create Your Own Products Or Services!
- Evergreen Auto Webinar Secrets – How To Easily Automate Your Entire Webinar Sales Machine Without The Anxiety and Pressure To Go LIVE All The Time!…Using This Simple Evergreen Auto-Webinar Funnel
- Survey Funnel Secrets – Capture Way More Leads By Laser-Targeting Your Sales Message With This Fun And Engaging Survey Funnel (Without Wasting Time And Money Trying To Guess What your Audience Wants)!
If you import all those funnels, within 3 weeks you’ve used up your 20 funnel allocation!
Each funnel also needs Privacy Policy, Terms of Service and Disclaimer pages to meet legal requirements, so those also quickly eat into your page count.
Builderall, on the other hand, don’t impose any such restrictions.
You can build as many funnels, pages, chatbots, websites, membership sites, etc as you want and you never have to pay anything extra.
You get access to all the tools you need, 40+ in fact, that rival and in some cases better what a Platinum Clickfunnels Plan offers.
At a fraction of the price.
In short, Builderall provides so much more value for the money you spend (or are willing to spend).
3. Clickfunnels’ Clunky Page Builder
An example of how a page is constructed in Clickfunnels
When Clickfunnels was founded in 2014, it was the first Software as a Service (SaaS) funnel builder online.
Being the only such tool made it pretty indispensable for the average person building funnels.
It uses a block-based system for creating pages, not unlike the Gutenberg editor in WordPress.
Each page is made of rows and columns into which you place your page elements like headlines, video, images, text and your lead capture form.
As a result, there’s no way to fine tune where particular elements are placed on a page.
I’ve found it incredibly frustrating trying to create pages with elements exactly where I want them and I’ve ended up with pages I wasn’t 100% happy with.
Builderall uses a drag ‘n’ drop approach to building pages.
With it, you can place page elements down to the pixel.
Less frustration and time lost building pages this way than Clickfunnels’ way.
4. Clickfunnels Doesn’t Include An Autoresponder
In 2021, that’s a pretty big omission.
If you want an autoresponder and access to their Etison suite of tools, you have to subscribe to their Platinum Plan which is a whopping $297 per month and I couldn’t ever justify that kind of expense.
So, instead, I have to pay for a separate autoresponder service (Aweber in my case).
Like most autoresponder services, the more email subscribers you have, the higher your monthly fees.
So this is an extra expense on top of Clickfunnels that I have to pay each month.
Realistically, I’m paying $126 per month to be able to use Clickfunnels and do email marketing.
Builderall includes its own autoresponder and there are no limitations on the number of subscribers you can have, or on the number of email lists you can create.
There’s also no escalating fee the more subscribers you add.
All in, I pay $69.90 per month for everything in Builderall – all the tools and unlimited use of all the tools, including their autoresponder.
That’s close to half the price of using Clickfunnels with a 3rd-party autoresponder, where the price of my autoresponder would increase the more subscribers I add.
Seemed like a no-brainer to me, so I jumped on the Lifetime 30% discount offer.
5. Builderall’s Affiliate Program Is Better
As an affiliate marketer I’ve always got an eye out for good affiliate programs – preferably ones that pay a recurring commission.
I am a Clickfunnels affiliate, and I signed up when then were still running a 2-Tier affiliate program.
Their affiliate program changed in mid 2019 after too many affiliates were promoting Clickfunnels as a business opportunity rather than a software service.
They did away with the 2-Tier affiliate program and this is what it currently offers:
While affiliates who signed up before mid 2019 still earn 40% commissions on all sales, new affiliates earn 30% commissions until they bring in 40 active subscribers, when they get bumped to 40% commissions.
Builderall offer a 100% commission on your direct referral’s (Tier 1) first payment and then 30% recurring commissions on that referral thereafter.
But Builderall also run a 2-Tier affiliate program which pays 30% commission on Tier 2 sales.
If you recruit an affiliate who’s good at recruiting people themselves, you’ll be earning 30% of every recurring monthly payment their referrals pay.
Here’s Builderall’s commission breakdown:
I’ve written a lot more about the Builderall affiliate program here, so check that post out.
There’s info on how to sign up as an affiliate in that post as well.
Making The Switch
So now I’m in the process of moving many of my funnels over to Builderall.
Moving membership sites is a bit more tricky as there’s a lot of pages involved and some training videos are locked to only playing on sites built on Clickfunnels.
So, for the moment, I’m still keeping my Clickfunnels subscription.
But what I can do is import a shared funnel (like those Funnel Friday funnels), examine them and then re-create them in Builderall.
Builderall has moved with the times and houses tools that are built to work with modern methods.
Clickfunnels hasn’t moved with the times.
While the funnel/page builder has been improved over the years, it’s locked into that clunky, old block-based building system.
I can’t see that changing any time soon as changing would probably require them to build a whole new page building engine and launching a Clickfunnels 2.0.
Funnily enough, that’s exactly what Builderall did in 2020 and they released their all-new Builderall 4.0 back in October with improved tools, redesigned tools and completely new tools added into the mix.
So, for all those reasons, that’s why I’ve been making the switch, and it’s taken a bit of time.
Ultimately, in a couple of months, I hope to be able to completely drop my Clickfunnels subscription though I will remain an affiliate.
So there you have it!
If you’ve switched from one funnel builder to another, let me know why you changed your mind in the comments below…
All the best,
Gary Nugent
Check out my Instagram posts and reels here:
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Hi Gary
This is an eye opener for me because I thought Clickfunnels was the Rolls Royce of funnels! I must admit I’ve always thought the cost was outrageous so never investigated it. (I just use an elementor page builder to create my own funnel when I need it along with Aweber for the email capture which is probably not ideal.)
It sounds like Clickfunnels has some serious competition in the shape of Builderall, both for the product (who wouldn’t want not to have to pay for a separate autoresponder?) and for affiliates.
I will watch with interest at how they perform going forward.
Best,
Jean
Hi Jean,
I also started out building single optin/squeeze pages and hooking them up to Aweber. Then I moved to using dedicated WordPress plugins for building funnels.
I subscribed to Clickfunnels to get access to some shared funnels and membership sites that I could promote or offer as bonuses. The problem with that is that videos on these pages are often locked to only playing on a domain that’s linked to a Clickfunnels account.
The Vimeo video platform has a feature where you can specify what domains videos will play on exclusively. It’s a feature I really like and why I have my own paid Vimeo account.
You can even block people from finding and playing your video on Vimeo directly. YouTube doesn’t have this feature. The best it can do is “unlisted” videos which you can still share if you have the video URL.
But most of the videos on the pages in the shared funnels I use are hosted on Vimeo and are set up to play for people with Clickfunnels accounts but won’t play if you try to use those videos on pages created with a different funnel builder.
It’s just content creators protecting their content. Nothing wrong with that.
But the upshot is that if I want to keep using those funnels, then I have to keep my Clickfunnels subscription going.
I chalk it up as a necessary business expense and Clickfunnels brings in more income than it costs me each month.
So no complaints there! 🙂
But, in terms of building new funnels, I’ll be using Builderall from here on out.
I do think, especially where Clickfunnels is concerned, that before anyone opens an account there, they should be very familiar with how funnels are constructed and built as I talk about in this post. And your approach of using something like Elementor (even the free version) is a good way to start.
It’s not the type of tool you want to leave unused while you’re paying the fees for it.
Whoever is reading this – if you’re set on going with Clickfunnels, I’d recommend taking the One Funnel Away Challenge. It’s only $100 and gives you a great grounding in what sales funnels are all about and how they’re used, and you get to build a complete funnel using a Clickfunnels Trial account. You can then decide if it’s the right platform for you or not.
Sounds like a no brainer man. 30% savings. No auto responder unless you upgrade to over $200 for an autoresponder, plus you get a better affiliate program. Saving money, making more money and a better options. Thanks for this review man. Cheers
Well, both the Clickfunnels affiliate program and the Builderall affiliate program are free to join, Robb, and I’d advise affiliates to sign up for both.
The whole marketing side of Clickfunnels is much more developed and effective than Builderall’s. You have Russell Brunson – the face of Clickfunnels – as a prominent marketer pushing Clickfunnels in a variety of ways, from his books, Funnel Fridays, his marketing podcast, webinars and through events like Funnel Hacking Live and the 2 Comma Club.
Builderall has none of that and seems to rely almost entirely on their affiliates “spreading the word”.
There isn’t a “face” for Builderall, like Russell is for Clickfunnels.
Consequently, businesses, rather than solo marketers, are more likely to sign up to Clickfunnels.
It definitely has its place and, to my mind, that’s for businesses rather than individuals.
$297 per month is a small expense for a large business but it’s a big expense for a small business.
Builderall is a better alternative for the solopreneur, affiliate marketer, work-from-home person.
As is GrooveFunnels which, in the long term, is the most cost-effective of the alternative funnel builders.
It’s also the newest builder and so is more buggy, as all new software is.
If you can live with that (but it is pretty solid now after a year of testing out in the wild), then it’s a great choice.
The takeaway is that now, finally, there are real alternatives to Clickfunnels that offer comparable, and even better packages than Clickfunnels. 🙂
I too stopped using ClickFunnels as it was too expensive ( $160 mth) due to my dollar conversion rate I now use Groove Funnels which does the same if not more and it cost me nothing, I also had a look at Builderall as well. Look around ,there are a lot of alternatives that do the same as CF for most times a 1/3 of the price. If Russell doesnt have a serious look at his program it wont exist in a couple of years.
GroovePages, as it was originally called, came on the scene while I was building a number of funnels with Clickfunnels. I had the chance to get Lifetime access to GroovePages and all the additional associated tools for a one-time $497 at the time, but after a lot of ruminating on the topic, I decided I didn’t want to spend more money on another, untested funnel builder.
GroovePages became GrooveFunnels late last year (2020) and more of the promised associated tools were available but the Lifetime access price had risen to $1,397.
I know it’s eventually going to be a subscription-based service at roughly the same price point as Clickfunnels. But everyone who signs up before that will only pay once for access.
I presume you have a free GrooveFunnels account from what you say, Gary. I do too but I’ve never used mine.
Ultimately, I’ve gone with Builderall. It was the best fit for me but everyone will have different needs and one of the other funnel builder services might suit them better.
Yes, Russell does need to take a long hard look at what Clickfunnels offers, especially the Basic account.
One way to instantly offer a lot more value there would be to lift the restrictions on the account. Being able to build as many pages and funnels as you want would greatly increase the usefulness of the Basic account.
From a marketing perspective, those Basic accounts are probably seen as “teaser” accounts and are simply a stepping stone to getting subscribers to upgrade to the full, unlimited Platinum Plans.
But, again, in comparison to what Builderall and GrooveFunnels currently offer, the Clickfunnels Platinum plan is way overpriced. Three times overpriced as you point out.
I don’t know how Clickfunnels can address that. If they lower the price, won’t all the existing subscribers feel aggrieved, especially if they’re locked in to the fee they signed up with?
If there’s a way to drop every subscribers fee while not affecting their accounts, should subscribers ask for refunds for their previous perceived “overpayments”?
Maybe what’ll happen is that the current fees are maintained but some new awesome tool will be added which justifies the fees again.
I don’t see Clickfunnels going the way of the Dodo in a few years. They’ll adapt one way or another.
They’re a marketing machine as much as anything else and will continue to appeal to businesses even if they’re not that appealing to individual marketers.
But at least the Clickfunnels monopoly has now been broken and consumers have a choice in comparable services.
Hi GARY,
Thanks for the detailed information on Builderall and Clickfunnels. Both are great platforms, but builderall is budget-friendly plus it offers value-added services like numerous tools, applications and is ideal for all online businesses.
Whereas Clickfunnels is quite expensive and it does not offer additional services like builderall.
Amazed that builderall offer so many services at such minimal cost it is worth investing in.
You explained all pros and cons of these two platforms extremely well! And provided enough content to choose the right one for all to start their online journey.
Great review!
Cheers!
Hi Samantha, Clickfunnels is a great tool for building sales funnels and membership sites but I do think that it’s way overpriced for what it offers now, even though I maintain my subscription. And the $297/mth plan is very hard to justify, even to businesses that can easily afford it.
The block builder approach used by Clickfunnels to place page elements is clunky by today’s standards and you can’t position page elements exactly where you want. Personally, I find that very frustrating.
No page/funnel builder is perfect and Builderall has its own peccadilloes where its builder is concerned. But being able to place page elements down to the pixel position puts it head and shoulders above Clickfunnels for me now.
There’s a load of tools in Builderall I haven’t even got around to playing around with but one that’s high on my list is the chatbot builder.
What someone wants to achieve with a funnel builder will determine which tool suits their needs best, but one of the deciding factors where having to compromise on what you can work with, is often cost.
Builderall’s Funnel Club plan is $3 more expensive than the basic Clickfunnels plan. Where Clickfunnels gives you free access to the templates on its platform, you have to pay to access them on Builderall. But you still get 40+ additional tools that Clickfunnels doesn’t provide.
One of those is an autoresponder and if you use Clickfunnels, then you have to pay separately for an autoresponder service like Aweber or GetResponse.
Those services also charge you more the more subscribers you have and the more emails you send out. Builderall doesn’t do that.
It’s harder to make a case for someone to switch from Clickfunnels to Builderall if they’re close to their funnel limit on Clickfunnels. Many of the shared funnels you can get will contain videos that will only play on the Clickfunnels platform and so those videos can’t be used in funnels built on other platforms.
This isn’t a limitation imposed by Clickfunnels. Rather, it’s a limitation imposed by the people who create those funnels. They host their videos on Vimeo rather than YouTube as Vimeo allows you to restrict what domains your videos will play on. It’s a way of preventing unscrupulous marketers from stealing and using your videos without your permission.
One of the reasons people share their funnels is to get people to sign up to Clickfunnels as their referrals, so they can earn commissions from them.
It’s a good example of giving something away for free with the goal of earning commissions down the line from people who use your freebie.
I use a few of these shared funnels myself and, as videos in them are hosted on Vimeo, I have no choice but to keep those funnels on Clickfunnels.
It’s just one of the costs of doing business online.
Hi Gary,
Thanks for the detailed information on Builderall and Clickfunnels. Both are great platforms, but Builderall is budget friendly plus it offers value added services like numerous tools, applications and is ideal for all online businesses. Whereas clickfunnels is quite expensive and it does not offer additional services like builderall.
Amazed that builderall offer so many services at such minimal cost it is worth investing in.
You explained all pros and cons of these two platforms extremely well! And provided enough content to choose the right one for all to start their online journey.
Cheers!
Thanks for letting me know you found the post useful, Samantha. I actually dropped my Builderall account and went back to Clickfunnels. Yeah, Clickfunnels has a much smaller suite of tools and is more pricey than Builderall but I just didn’t like the way Builderall’s tools worked. They seemed very counter-intuitive to me and ultimately I found them frustrating to use. But that’s just me.
I know a huge number of people love Builderall. I guess that’s why free trials are really worth taking advantage of. They let you see if you can work with a tool before you have to commit to buying it (or not).
All the best,
Gary