In the ClickFunnels vs Systeme.io choice, Systeme.io costs less at every list size, from free up to $970 a year, so it suits a solo seller watching costs. ClickFunnels starts at $970 a year, the price of Systeme.io’s top plan, and suits a seller who wants its deeper page editor and group onboarding calls.
On yearly billing, $970 buys ClickFunnels Launch (10,000 contacts, 50,000 emails a month, 3 courses, no automations or affiliate tool) or Systeme.io Unlimited (no limit on contacts, emails or courses). Both take 0% of each sale. CartMango, the checkout I run (free right now, from $10 a year once paid plans start in November, 0% per sale), covers only the checkout and sales page.
The written comparisons on Google’s first page disagree on the prices. 3 of those 7 pages quote plans or prices that no longer exist.
One of them is Systeme.io’s own comparison post. It still lists Startup at $27 a month and ClickFunnels’ old Standard and Platinum plans. Startup costs $17 today, and ClickFunnels now sells Launch, Scale, Optimize and Dominate.
So I priced all 8 current plans on yearly billing and checked what each one caps. Below: the cost at 2,000 to 100,000 contacts, the cap you hit first, and a pick for 5 situations.
Key Takeaways
- Same price, very different plans. $970 a year buys ClickFunnels Launch, capped at 10,000 contacts and 3 courses, or Systeme.io Unlimited, with no cap on either.
- Systeme.io’s free plan has a sales ceiling. It holds 2,000 contacts and stops taking payments at $10,000 in lifetime sales.
- ClickFunnels Launch caps sending and automations. 50,000 emails a month is about 5 sends to a 10,000-contact list, and automations need Scale.
- Affiliates are priced far apart. Every Systeme.io plan includes an affiliate program. ClickFunnels’ Affiliate Center starts at $2,970 a year.
- CartMango, which I run, covers only the selling part. Sales page, checkout and order bumps, free right now, from $10 a year once paid plans start in November.
ClickFunnels vs Systeme.io prices, on yearly billing
On yearly billing, $970 buys either ClickFunnels Launch or Systeme.io Unlimited, and only Unlimited has no cap on contacts, emails or courses.
| Plan | Price a year | Contacts | Emails a month | Courses | Affiliate tool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systeme.io Free | $0 | 2,000 | Unlimited | 1 | Included |
| Systeme.io Unlimited | $970 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Included |
| ClickFunnels Launch | $970 | 10,000 | 50,000 | 3 | From Optimize |
| CartMango Platinum | $30, free now | Your email tool | Your email tool | Not yet | 250 affiliates |
I run CartMango: checkout and sales pages, no email, and no course hosting yet.
Before paying for either, check what could stall your first sales. The Online Selling Mistakes Challenge covers the 5 selling mistakes solo creators make most, and how to fix them, in 5 free emails.
Systeme.io sells 2 more plans, read off its pricing page. Startup costs $170 a year for 5,000 contacts and 5 courses. Webinar costs $470 a year for 10,000 contacts, 20 courses and evergreen webinars, and the paid plans run $17, $47 and $97 on monthly billing.
ClickFunnels charges $97, $197 or $297 month to month on its pricing page. Scale costs $1,970 a year for 75,000 contacts and 6 courses, and the top plan, Dominate, is sold yearly only at $5,997.
The $27 figure has spread beyond Systeme.io’s blog. Google’s AI Overview for this search prints it as the Startup price, lists a ClickFunnels “Standard plan” and puts higher tiers at “from $297 to $2,497/mo”. ClickFunnels has no Standard plan or $2,497 tier now, though $97 still matches Launch’s monthly price.
Google’s AI Overview for this search. Read the Starting Paid Price and Affiliate Management rows: Systeme.io’s $27 is out of date, and the ClickFunnels plan names are retired.
The same table says ClickFunnels email “Requires higher-tier plans or add-ons”. Today ClickFunnels ticks email marketing on all 4 plans, with 50,000 sends a month on Launch. What it still holds back on Launch is Automations, which start on Scale.
If you have $0 to spend on software
Systeme.io’s free plan is the right start for a seller with no product sold yet and no software budget. It costs $0 and asks for no card. You get 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course with up to 500 students and unlimited email sends, plus 1 each of automation rules, order bumps, one-click upsells, coupon codes, A/B tests and tags. That is enough to sell 1 product to a first list and see whether anyone buys.
Systeme.io’s help article on how its plans are moderated adds a ceiling that its pricing page does not show: free accounts have “a lifetime sales revenue limit of $10,000 USD”. A warning banner shows at $8,000, and at $10,000 your payment pages stop taking new sales until you move to a paid plan.
Our Systeme.io review found that none of the 3 written reviews ranking for that search mentioned it.
ClickFunnels has no free plan, only a free trial. After it, Launch costs $97 a month or $970 a year, which is real money to spend before your first sale.
When I started out I had no money for courses, so I learned from free Google articles and YouTube videos. A free plan is the software version of that. It has limits, and it costs nothing while you find out whether the offer sells.
If your list will pass 10,000 contacts
Systeme.io wins on price for a list heading past 10,000. Its Unlimited plan has no contact cap at $970 a year. ClickFunnels moves you from Launch to Scale, at $1,970 a year, once you pass 10,000, so at 25,000 contacts the gap is $1,000 a year.
The cheapest plan that fits each list size, billed yearly, by contacts alone.
Systeme.io is cheaper at every list size in this table. The gap is narrowest at 10,000 contacts ($500 a year) and widest at 100,000 ($2,000 a year).
| Contacts | Systeme.io plan | Systeme.io a year | ClickFunnels plan | ClickFunnels a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,000 | Free | $0 | Launch | $970 |
| 5,000 | Startup | $170 | Launch | $970 |
| 10,000 | Webinar | $470 | Launch | $970 |
| 25,000 | Unlimited | $970 | Scale | $1,970 |
| 100,000 | Unlimited | $970 | Optimize | $2,970 |
ClickFunnels Launch also caps sending at 50,000 emails a month, about 5 sends to a full 10,000-contact list.
A weekly newsletter to that list uses 40,000 to 50,000 of it, which leaves little room for a launch. Systeme.io lists unlimited sends on every plan, free included.
Our ClickFunnels alternatives guide found Systeme.io’s page editor simpler than ClickFunnels’, its analytics thinner and its native integrations fewer. Its help pages also say an imported list can pause your sending while Systeme.io checks where the contacts came from, and going over a lower plan’s limits can get your account “automatically upgraded or restricted”.
If affiliates will sell for you
Systeme.io is the cheaper of these 2 for running an affiliate program. Its pricing page ticks “Run your own affiliate program” on all 4 plans, Free included.
ClickFunnels keeps its Affiliate Center off Launch and Scale. It starts on Optimize, at $297 a month or $2,970 a year. The Affiliate Management row of Google’s AI Overview, and older page-1 comparisons, tie affiliates to a ClickFunnels “Platinum” plan, a name ClickFunnels no longer uses, but the gate on the cheaper plans is still there.
CartMango, my checkout, has an affiliate system too, on its $30-a-year Platinum plan, with up to 250 affiliates. CartMango tracks affiliates on the checkout side only, so it suits a seller whose email and course already live elsewhere.
On Systeme.io’s free plan, the same $10,000 lifetime sales ceiling applies, and an affiliate program that works can reach it.
If you want onboarding calls and a deeper editor
ClickFunnels Launch fits a seller who will pay more for hand-holding and a fuller page editor. Every ClickFunnels plan includes group onboarding calls and unlimited funnels (tagged “Limited Time” on the pricing page), and Launch includes AI tools with 1 million words.
Our ClickFunnels alternatives guide found ClickFunnels ahead of every alternative it compared on its training and the depth of its page editor. Launch costs $970 a year, or $97 month to month. Its pricing FAQ says ClickFunnels takes no cut of your sales: “You’ll keep every penny you make.”
Launch leaves out Automations, which start on Scale at $1,970 a year, and allows 2 team members, 3 courses and 5 custom domains.
Our ClickFunnels review covers the exit. Pausing costs $17 a month and takes your funnels offline, and cancelling deletes your content. At 10,000 contacts, Launch costs $500 a year more than Systeme.io Webinar, and Webinar includes 100 automation rules while Launch has none.
If you only need a sales page and a checkout
CartMango suits a seller who already pays for an email tool and hosts any course elsewhere, and only needs to sell. You build the sales page in Mini Pages, CartMango hosts it, and the button goes straight to your checkout. Buyers pay through your own Stripe or PayPal, and CartMango takes 0% of each sale.
CartMango is free right now and costs $10 a year once paid plans start in November. CartMango includes order bumps on that plan, upsells and downsells on the $20 Gold plan, and affiliates on the $30 Platinum plan. CartMango syncs buyers into the email tool you connect. Kit, ActiveCampaign, Beehiiv and BirdSend connect directly, and BirdSend is my other company.
CartMango has no email marketing of its own, and its course hosting and community are not live yet. Course videos would stay on a host like Vimeo or YouTube. If you want 1 bill for pages, email, courses and a community, Systeme.io or ClickFunnels fits that better today.
Which tool fits which seller
On yearly billing, Systeme.io is the pick in 3 of the 5 situations, ClickFunnels in 1 and CartMango in 1.
| Your situation | Pick | Cost a year | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 for software | Systeme.io Free | $0 | Payments stop at $10,000 in lifetime sales |
| List past 10,000 contacts | Systeme.io Unlimited | $970 | Simpler editor, list imports can pause sending |
| Affiliates sell for you | Systeme.io, any plan | $0 to $970 | Free plan still stops selling at $10,000 |
| You want calls and a deeper editor | ClickFunnels Launch | $970 | Automations need Scale at $1,970 |
| Only a sales page and checkout | CartMango | $10 to $30, free right now | No email sending, courses not live yet |
FAQ
How much does Systeme.io cost per month?
Systeme.io has a free plan, then Startup at $17 a month, Webinar at $47 and Unlimited at $97. Paying yearly costs $170, $470 or $970, which Systeme.io sells as 2 months free. Contacts set the plan: 2,000 on Free, 5,000 on Startup, 10,000 on Webinar and no cap on Unlimited, with 0% taken from your sales.
Is Systeme.io any good?
Systeme.io is good value for a solo seller who wants funnels, email, courses and affiliates on 1 bill. Our Systeme.io review found low-star reviews clustering around blocked accounts and held email sending. In a r/systeme_io thread, a course seller wrote: “Three separate students suddenly lost access to courses, all within the same couple of days.”
What’s better than ClickFunnels?
Systeme.io is cheaper than ClickFunnels at every list size, with a simpler editor and fewer integrations. Our ClickFunnels alternatives guide prices the all-in-one options at the same 10,000 contacts. If you sell courses first and funnels second, the ClickFunnels vs Kajabi comparison covers that trade.
Which funnel platform is considered the best?
Between these 2, Systeme.io is the better value for a solo seller, and ClickFunnels is the pick when its editor and onboarding calls matter more than price. GoHighLevel, a third option, charges a plan fee plus metered usage such as email. For a seller running client funnels, the GoHighLevel vs ClickFunnels comparison sets the 2 side by side on 1 billing basis.
Does ClickFunnels have a free plan?
No. ClickFunnels offers a free trial, then Launch at $97 a month or $970 a year. The trial length depends on the signup page, which our ClickFunnels coupon code guide traced. Cancel at least 24 hours before it ends if you decide against it.
Before you pay $970 for a bundle
Whichever way the ClickFunnels vs Systeme.io choice goes, count how much of the bundle you will use. If your email list and course already live in tools you like, the email and course parts of either bundle sit unused.
That leftover job, a sales page and a checkout, is what CartMango does. CartMango includes order bumps on every plan, takes 0% of each sale, and is free right now, from $10 a year once paid plans start in November. CartMango upsells start on the $20 plan.
About the Author
👋 I’m Welly, founder of CartMango (the site you’re on), a checkout platform for digital product sellers. We’ve previously processed $179M+. I also run BirdSend (email marketing tool, 3.1B+ emails sent). On the side I show other non-techie digital sellers how I use AI workflows to automate 50%+ of my operations. Find me on LinkedIn.
Related Reading
- ClickFunnels vs Leadpages: ClickFunnels against a landing page builder, on yearly billing
- ThriveCart vs ClickFunnels: a checkout-first tool against the full funnel suite
- SamCart vs ClickFunnels: what happens to your recurring revenue on each
- Kajabi alternatives: course platforms priced all-in, Systeme.io included