ClickFunnels vs Thrive Themes: Which One Is For You?

clickfunnels vs thrive themes scales on blue back ground with a question mark on a blue background.
• By Chris Manson
• Updated May 7, 2023

Side note: 

It is again possible to purchase the elements of the Thrive suite separately for example Thrive themes, Thrive leads, etc.

However, the individual elements are about $99 each, in My opinion, the only one worth purchasing on its own is Thrive Leads.

And if you already have some sort of page builder and need a great lead page plugin, go for the full suite for $299 a year.

Thrive Price individual elements

ClickFunnels and Thrive Themes are very popular online marketing and e-commerce platforms, but which is best for your business?

In the ever-changing world of internet business, finding the appropriate sales funnel builder could seem very daunting.

In this article-clickfunnels vs thrive themes, we will help you decide according to your marketing needs, price point, functionality, and how they can be used to your advantage.

"Spoiler" We have used extensively both of these excellent funnel builders, but because of our targeted business needs we only use Thrive themes, and later on, you will see why.

In A Nutshell:

cluckfunnels logo

ClickFunnels

  • A complete platform for pre-built sales funnels and e-commerce tools.
  • Specializes in marketing and building complex funnels.
  • Ideal for marketers and businesses with a need for frequent marketing funnel creation.
  • ClickFunnels' hosting reliance can limit portability, making it challenging to transfer completed work to other hosts or sites.
Thrive logo

Thrive Themes

  • Ideal for non-coders, excellent drag-and-drop features.
  • Provides great sales funnels and lead-generation marketing tools.
  • A multitude of wordPress plugins to choose from.
  • Offers extensive customization options for WordPress sites.
  • Can be a bit slow at times, if your computer is slow.
  • Easy to migrate work to other platforms


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Overview:

ClickFunnels and Thrive Themes are great platforms for building and optimizing online sales funnels.

Both platforms offer a range of features that can help businesses increase conversions and sales, but they approach it differently.

While ClickFunnels is a pure sales funnel builder, Thrive Themes is a set of conversion optimization plugins for WordPress.

What is ClickFunnels Used For?

ClickFunnels is a complete sales funnel builder that offers a variety of sales funnel templates, a drag-and-drop editor, and integrations with other tools.

It also includes an auto-responder, affiliate management, and a membership portal.

It is made to build sales funnels and is a better choice for businesses that are more focused on marketing Sales funnels.

ClickFunnels is excellent for companies searching for more advanced marketing options.

Pros:

  • Complete high-converting sales funnel solution: ClickFunnels creates a specialized sales funnel solution that offers a variety of templates and a drag-and-drop editor, making it easy for businesses to build and optimize their funnels. 
  • Easy learning curve: ClickFunnels is relatively easy to set up and use, due to a very intuitive flow, for example, they lay out flow charts prompting you to choose the type of funnel you wish.
  • Easily sell products & services: ClickFunnels makes it easy for businesses to sell their products and services online. The platform's sales funnels are designed to guide potential customers through the buying process, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
  • 6 pre-built sales funnels included: It comes with six pre-built sales funnels, making it easy for businesses to create their own sales funnels.
  • These pre-built funnels can be customized to suit the needs of each business, saving time and effort.
  • Risk-free two-week trial: They offer a 2-week free trial, allowing potential users to try the platform and test its features before committing to a subscription.
  • This will enable businesses to determine if the platform fits their needs and budget before making a financial investment.

clickfunnels-slow support, infographics of a snail slow with unhappy customers

Cons:

  • Slow Support: One of the most significant downsides of Clickfunnels is the speed of their customer support.
  • Many users have reported long wait times for assistance; when help arrives, it can be lackluster and unhelpful.
  • This can be frustrating when trying to troubleshoot an issue or optimize your funnel.
  • Lack of Tracking Across Non-CF Pages: Another downside of Clickfunnels is its limited tracking capabilities.
  • The platform is only able to track the activity on pages that are built within the Clickfunnels platform. If you're directing traffic to pages outside of Clickfunnels, you won't be able to track the visitor's behavior and optimize your funnel accordingly.
  • This can be a significant limitation for businesses that rely heavily on external pages or third-party platforms.
  • User Interface of Clickfunnels: The user interface can be confusing, especially for Newbies.

What Is Thrive Themes For?

Thrive-themes-sales-funnel

Thrive Themes(now called ThriveSuite) is a collection of conversion-focused WordPress themes and plugins. It optimizes conversions and provides tools like A/B testing, lead generation, and landing pages.

It's an excellent choice for businesses that want to improve their website's conversion rate and overall user experience. 

Pros:

  • Complete website, marketing, and blog solution: Thrive Themes is more than just a conversion optimization tool. It's a whole website, marketing, and blog solution.
  • The platform offers a variety of tools that can help businesses improve their website's design, lead generation, and content marketing efforts.
  • Massive + growing template selection: Thrive Themes offers a wide range of templates that can be used to create professional-looking websites and landing pages.
  • The template selection is constantly evolving, providing businesses with even more options.
  • Best overall WordPress suite of tools: Thrive Themes is a collection of conversion-focused WordPress themes and plugins. It provides all the necessary tools for building and optimizing a website.
  • It's an excellent option for businesses looking for comprehensive tools to improve their website's performance.
  • Thrive Quizzes, Thrive Leads, Thrive Architect: Thrive Themes offers a variety of tools, such as Thrive Quizzes, Thrive Leads, and Thrive, Architect, that can help businesses increase their website's conversion rate and improve overall user experience.

Cons:

Wordpress-get demo

  • WordPress: can sometimes be intimidating for newbies, although it is a powerful content management system, beginners may find it difficult to grasp at first. Since Thrive Themes is a collection of plugins that runs on WordPress, the learning curve can sometimes be steep as well.
  • However, Thrive Themes offers a wide range of tutorials and resources to help users learn how to use the platform effectively.
  • WordPress user interfaces can be confusing: The user interface of WordPress and Thrive Themes can be confusing for some users, especially those unfamiliar with website building and web development.
  • Some users may need help navigating the different settings and options available and may require time to get accustomed to the platform.
  • Only works with WordPress sites and blogs: Thrive Themes is a WordPress plugin, therefore it is only compatible with WordPress sites and blogs.
  • If you're using a different content management system, you won't be able to use Thrive Themes to optimize your website.

Pricing Comparison:

When picking between the two platforms, keeping costs in mind is essential. The price difference between Thrive Themes and ClickFunnels makes sense, given that the former is a WordPress-only plugin and the latter is a standalone sales funnel builder.

ClickFunnel Pricing

Click Funnel offers three pricing plans:

Basic Plan

This plan comprises features that will take your sales to the next level. With this plan ($147/month), you can:

  • Build one website
  • Create up to 20 funnels
  • Manage the website with one admin user
  • Use your custom domain
  • Create and offer up to 3 courses with a capacity of 1,000 students
  • Store up to 10,000 contacts
  • Use unlimited workflows, pages, and products
  • Create unlimited email sequences
  • Track your progress with basic analytics

Pro Plan

The Pro plan of ClickFunnels, which costs $197 per month, has many more features than the basic plan. It allows you to:

  • Build one website
  • Create up to 100 funnels
  • Manage the website with five admin users
  • Use up to three custom domains
  • Create and offer up to 15 courses with a capacity of 10,000 students
  • Store up to 25,000 contacts
  • Use unlimited workflows, pages, and products
  • Create unlimited email sequences
  • Track your progress with basic analytics
  • Create and manage an affiliate program
  • Access to API
  • Share your funnels with other ClickFunnels users
  • Customize your theme with Liquid Theme Editor
  • Use CF1 Maintenance Mode Plan for website maintenance and updates.
Clickfunnels-funnel hacker

Funnel Hacker

The $208/month Funnel Hacker plan of ClickFunnels has more advanced features than the Basic and Pro plans. It allows you to:

  • Build up to three websites
  • Create an unlimited number of funnels
  • Manage the website with 15 admin users
  • Use up to nine custom domains
  • Create and offer up to 100-200 courses with a capacity of 20,000 students
  • Store up to 100,000-200,000 contacts
  • Use unlimited workflows, pages, and products
  • Create unlimited email sequences
  • Track your progress with advanced analytics
  • Create and manage an affiliate program
  • Access to API
  • Share your funnels with other ClickFunnels users
  • Customize your theme with Liquid Theme Editor
  • Use CF1 Maintenance Mode Plan for website maintenance and updates.

Thrive Themes Pricing

Thrive Themes offers quarterly ($149) and annual ($299 ) plans. Similar features are present in both:

  • All 9 Thrive Themes (Thrive suite) WordPress Plugins:
    • Thrive Architect
    • Thrive Quiz Builder
    • Thrive Leads
    • Thrive Apprentice
    • Thrive Ultimatum
    • Thrive Ovation
    • Thrive Optimize
    • Thrive Comments
    • Thrive Automator
  • Thrive Theme Builder 
  • 24/7 Support
  • Access to Thrive University
  • Install and use on up to 5 websites
  • 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

Cost-wise, it's hard to say which platform is the best because it depends on your company's needs and budget. ClickFunnels provides a range of subscription options that may be tailored to the specific needs of a business.

Thrive Themes also has different pricing plans, but its main focus is boosting sales conversions and building pro websites.

So, it's essential to look at both platforms' features and prices and decide which fits your business type and budget the best.


ClickFunnels vs. Thrive Themes: A Comparison of Features and Tools

Funnel Builder

clickfunnels-account Dashboard

The user experience has the utmost significance. To do this, it is essential to have consistent and appealing pages that take the user from the landing page to the checkout page.

  • Designing all aspects of high converting sales funnels is ClickFunnels'main focus, their product specializes primarily in this endeavor.
  • The focus of Thrive Themes is on WordPress page layouts. You'll need to adjust these settings to create your unique sales funnel. To set up your sales funnel in this manner, you'll need some experience in the field.

Winner: ClickFunnels is the way to go for an efficient sales funnel builder.

Page Builder

clickfunnels vs thrive themes-create-landing-page in just a few clicks

The ability to create a sales funnel is a fundamental feature that must be included in every e-commerce and marketing platform. 

  • Both ClickFunnels and Thrive Themes function with an easy "Drag n Drop page builder and both offer tons of page elements and various customization options eg. timers, pop-ups, exit intent, etc.
  • Both platforms can boast that building pages does not require coding knowledge. On the other hand, Thrive Themes can only be used with WordPress, whereas ClickFunnels does not.

Winner: When comparing the two platforms in terms of page builder features, ClickFunnels may have a slight advantage regarding usability, but the overall quality of both page builders is fairly similar.

clickfunnels-thrive themes, Meet Clickfunnels- sales page.

The most significant difference is that if you are a blogger or looking to have a WordPress business website, then Thrive Themes is the only way to go.

I would never personally build a website on Clickfunnels because :

• Your website is hosted by clickfunnels, should you decide to leave clickfunnels, you also leave your website as well!

• Website design is very limited.

• Clickfunnels is not a wordpress website, therefore you do not have access to the vast choice of plugin's available on WP.

• Pricing is expensive, especially if you don't use or need all the features!

Sales & Marketing Features

clickfunnels vs thrive themes-building , create sales funnels

E-commerce business owners should strive to maximize revenue by improving their marketing and sales efforts.

Similarly, bloggers and content marketers, strive to draw attention to their websites and grow their subscriber lists to sustain that attention over time.

  • The sales and marketing tools offered by ClickFunnels include the ability to upsell, downsell, and generate order bumps and conversion-optimized funnels that can be tailored to almost any marketing objective.
  • The templates provided by Thrive Themes encourage sales and marketing goals. However, they do not offer upselling, down selling, or order bumping functionality.

Winner: In terms of overall sales funnel and marketing effectiveness, ClickFunnels is better.

E-Commerce Features

high converting wordpress site

It is essential that after you have a visitor's attention on your landing page, you convince them to sign up for your mailing list or make a purchase commitment.

  • To construct unique sales funnels, you can design your e-commerce website using ClickFunnels. Additionally, it can interface with several different payment gateways. Additionally, ClickFunnels has the capability for memberships and an affiliate marketing scheme.
  • Thrive Themes is only compatible with websites using the WordPress content management system and does not directly enable interaction with payment methods.

Winner: ClickFunnels is the winner when it comes to e-commerce.


However, if you are prepared to purchase the excellent ThriveCarts check-out plugin you can have a superior e-commerce checkout cart(That is what I like with thrive themes, you can add plugins as you need them; unlike CF, you could pay a hefty sum for functionalities that may not be required).

Analytics Features

thrivesuite-logo on green background

It is essential to understand which of your marketing strategies are successful and which are not. It is also necessary to maintain a close watch on the actions and interactions of your customers.

The analytics capabilities give you the input you need to make better judgments about marketing and sales.

  • ClickFunnels offers basic analytics that allows businesses to track their sales funnels and see how many visitors are going through each step of the funnel, how many are converting, and which funnels are performing the best. It also offers data on page views and unique visitors.
  • Thrive Themes also offers analytics features that allow businesses to track their website's performance. It includes features such as A/B testing. It also provides more advanced analytics, such as conversion rate optimization and the ability to track specific elements on the page.

Winner: Thrive Themes offers more advanced analytics that can help you track your website's performance and make data-driven decisions, making it a clear winner in this area. 


Customization Features

To succeed in marketing we need to find ways to stand out from competitors and have the right tools so that we can easily customize our content, funnels, or website are crucial to your success.

  • Templates funnels, web pages, HTML components, form input fields, and affiliate dashboards can all be easily modified in ClickFunnels. 
  • You may tailor Thrive Suite to your needs in the same way as ClickFunnels, but Thrive suite is much more flexible and customizable, with its wide range of WordPress plugins.

Winner: Thrive Themes does a great job in this area because it removes the need for coding knowledge to be able to build stunning websites and high-converting sales funnels.

Customer Support

clickfunnels - thrive themes-support
  • ClickFunnels has a live chat 24/7, from Monday to Friday, and email/ticket support as well
  • Support is also available via the official Facebook group. Keep in mind that the answers you get in the Facebook group are not vetted by ClickFunnels staff but rather by other users.
  • How ever their has been reports that the support is slow and not always very helpful. 

Draw: Having used both services we personally found that both provide decent levels of support.

A Few Things That Make Clickfunnels Awesome:

clickfunnels-thrive themes- infographics of awesome people with hands up on blue background.

Clickfunnels is a great software, that breaks away from the traditional approach of creating landing pages and revolutionizes the concept of done-for-you sales funnels.

The interface allows users to easily create complete sales funnels and track the entire lead-to-sale process all in the same interface.

So, if you're looking to boost your online sales, give Clickfunnels a trial.

A Few Things That Make Thrive Themes Awesome

Thrive Themes is a cut above the rest when it comes to WordPress products. It offers a comprehensive solution for building an entire website, complete with marketing funnels and a suite of marketing tools, all within the dashboard of your WordPress installation. 

Thrive stands out for its exceptional top-notch page builder and stunning landing page designs compared to other WordPress themes or plugin software on the market.

Whether you're a blogger, small business owner, or just starting with WordPress.

Thrive Themes is the perfect choice for those seeking high-converting marketing tools at an affordable price.

It's the ultimate value for money, which is why we consider it the best on the market.


Final thoughts:

Final Thoughts-infographics-man thinking in background is blue sky,birds,trees.

The two funnels platforms are excellent, but they each excel in their specialty.

ClickFunnels is a complete platform for pre-built sales funnels and e-commerce tools.

they stand out in marketing and building very complex funnels.

ClickFunnels is better for marketers and businesses that need to regularly build numerous marketing funnels.

However, Thrive Themes is ideal for non-coders who want to customize WordPress sites extensively and need great sales funnels, and lead generation tools.

It has a large library of customizable WordPress themes and is way less expensive than clickfunnels.

Chris's Take:

  1. Go for ClickFunnels if your business needs to focus mainly on sales pages and marketing funnels. 
  2. Go with thrive themes if you are a blogger/small business or a website builder for clients.

I personally use Thrive Suite for the last 18 months now, because my business falls mainly in the second category, and I'm thrilled to bits with it!


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About the author

Chris is an accomplished entrepreneur, With extensive

experience in digital marketing, and business development.
Chris loves to share with his readers his latest hustles, software reviews, or make-money online tips.

 

"Building wealth one click at a time!" 

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