ClickFunnels Review: What's All The Hype About?
ClickFunnels 2.0 is a full rebuild of the classic platform — it adds native email marketing, a website/blog builder, and eCommerce on top of the funnel core. Classic is sunset. Pricing changed significantly; verify current tiers on their site. Best fit: info-product sellers and coaching operators who want everything in one place.
Every Wednesday. 28,400+ operators. Zero fluff.
✓ Check your inbox — click the confirmation link to complete sign-up.
✓ You're subscribed!
✓ You're already on the list.
Table of contents
Open Table of contents
What Are Sales Funnels?
A sales funnel is one of the core digital marketing concepts that can transform a business fast. It’s a series of steps your prospects take from first contact to purchase.
Someone sees your ad on Facebook, clicks it, lands on a page, fills out their info, and buys your product. That’s a funnel.
It works like a physical funnel: you pour a large audience in and filter down to the people who actually buy.
Stages of a Sales Funnel
There are four stages:
-
Awareness — prospects enter through ads, newsletters, email, lead magnets, quizzes. The entry hook has to match their problem. Without awareness of your business, nothing else matters.
-
Interest — once they’re in, you keep them engaged. Be relatable, tell your story, stay consistent. This is where people decide whether they trust you enough to go further.
-
Decision — this is the hardest stage to engineer. Good storytelling, social proof (reviews, testimonials, case studies), and clear framing of the offer push people toward commitment. Retargeting helps recover the fence-sitters.
-
Action — the final step: purchase (or whatever conversion event you’re driving). Conversion quality here is a direct reflection of how well you executed the first three stages.
Getting this right requires tracking, iteration, and the right tooling. That’s where funnel software comes in.
Sales Funnel vs. Website
The core difference: a website gives general information. A sales funnel acts like a trained salesperson — it identifies the visitor’s intent, guides them through a specific path, and minimizes distractions at every step.
Running ads directly to a general website and hoping for conversions is like proposing to someone you just met. A better approach: meet them, build trust, move toward commitment. A funnel stages that process.
Background of ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels launched in 2014 and within a few years became one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the marketing space. Russell Brunson is the founder — also the author of DotCom Secrets and Expert Secrets, both worth reading if you’re building anything around digital products or courses.
The original idea was internal: Brunson’s team needed a faster way to spin up different funnels for different campaigns. They built it, realized others would want it, and shipped it as a product.
ClickFunnels Classic vs. ClickFunnels 2.0
This is the most important thing to get right in 2026: ClickFunnels Classic is sunset. If you read any review that still references the $97/$297 Classic plans, the Etison Suite, or Actionetics/Backpack — that content is stale.
ClickFunnels 2.0 is a complete rebuild on a new infrastructure. The two versions are separate accounts, separate codebases. Here’s what changed:
| Feature | Classic | 2.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Funnel builder | Yes | Yes (faster, redesigned) |
| Website / blog builder | No | Yes |
| Native email marketing | Via Actionetics (limited) | ClickFunnels Mail (built-in) |
| eCommerce tools | Basic | Native, improved |
| Course / membership hosting | Basic | Native |
| Visual automation builder | No | Yes |
| Active development | No — sunset | Yes |
Classic users were migrated or encouraged to move over. If you’re evaluating ClickFunnels today, you’re evaluating 2.0.
How Does ClickFunnels 2.0 Work?
The funnel flow is the same as it always was — what changed is how much more lives inside the platform:
- Run an ad — drive traffic to a ClickFunnels landing page. Say you’re selling a consulting program or an online course.
- Landing page — visitors land on a focused page (no nav, no distractions). They opt in with their email for a lead magnet, free training, or to book a call.
- First offer page — after opt-in, they hit a front-end offer. Low price, clear value, easy yes.
- Upsell — if they buy, they’re offered the main product or an upgrade. The page pre-fills payment info so it’s a one-click add.
- Downsell — if they pass on the upsell, a cheaper version is offered.
- Thank-you / confirmation page — closes the sequence, sets expectations, can drive to social or community.
The 2.0 platform also lets you build a full website and blog alongside your funnels — so your SEO content and your conversion pages live under one roof, which was a legitimate gap in Classic.
Real-World Sales Funnel Examples
A few companies that do funnels well — these patterns still hold:
- Groupon — large, clear CTAs; non-intrusive pop-ups; balance between urgency and not being annoying.
- Netflix — minimal friction, three steps, the “cancel anytime” framing does heavy lifting on objection handling.
- Mixergy — straight to the point, video + CTA above the fold, lead with value before the pitch.
- Harvest — simple design, social proof front and center; testimonials do the selling.
None of these necessarily use ClickFunnels (large companies usually build custom), but the principles — reduce friction, lead with value, use social proof — are exactly what ClickFunnels is designed to implement quickly.
ClickFunnels 2.0 Features
Core capabilities on the current platform:
- Funnel builder (drag-and-drop, redesigned for 2.0)
- Website and blog builder with global themes
- Native email marketing and automation (ClickFunnels Mail)
- Visual workflow / automation builder
- eCommerce (products, order forms, upsells/downsells)
- Course and membership site hosting
- CRM and contact management
- A/B testing
- Analytics and conversion tracking
- SEO tools for blog/website content
- Team workspaces (multiple brands/projects per account)
This is a more complete all-in-one than Classic ever was. The tradeoff: it’s a bigger platform to learn, and some integrations that Classic users relied on work differently.
ClickFunnels 2.0 Pricing
Do not rely on this for current figures — verify at clickfunnels.com/pricing.
As of my last check in early 2026, ClickFunnels 2.0 uses a tiered plan structure with monthly and annual billing options. Annual billing reduces the effective monthly cost. Plans differ on number of workspaces, team members, contacts, and email volume. There is a 14-day free trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The old Classic pricing ($97 Startup, $297 Full Suite, $997 Funnel Hacks bundles) is no longer relevant. Plan names and price points changed with 2.0, and they have continued to adjust. Get current numbers directly from the source.
Who Is ClickFunnels 2.0 Actually For?
It earns its keep for:
- Info product creators and course sellers — the course hosting, email automation, and funnel flow are all designed for this model. It’s where ClickFunnels has the most proven track record.
- Coaching and consulting operators — booking-flow funnels, webinar registration, follow-up sequences.
- Lean teams who want one platform — if you’re currently running WordPress + ActiveCampaign + Teachable + a separate funnel builder, consolidating to CF 2.0 is worth a hard look.
It’s harder to justify for:
- Pure eCommerce with large catalogs — Shopify still wins here on depth, ecosystem, and payment infrastructure.
- Content-first businesses — if SEO/blog is your primary channel and funnels are secondary, WordPress + a dedicated email tool is a more flexible stack.
- Teams that need deep CRM — CF’s CRM is functional but not HubSpot or Salesforce depth.
Is ClickFunnels Worth It in 2026?
The core value proposition still holds: it compresses the time between “I want to sell something” and “I have a working sales flow.” For operators who sell digital products, courses, or services and want a coherent funnel-to-email-to-checkout pipeline without stitching together five tools, 2.0 is a serious option.
The platform has matured. The all-in-one positioning is more credible now that email, website builder, and automation live natively inside 2.0. The Classic-era baggage — clunky Actionetics, limited pages on the base plan, the aggressive affiliate culture — is less prominent.
Whether the monthly cost pencils out depends entirely on your revenue per funnel and how much time you’re currently losing to tool sprawl. Run the math on your actual numbers.
My take: worth trialing if you’re in the info-product or coaching space and don’t already have a funnel stack you’re happy with. Don’t buy in based on affiliate hype — buy in (or don’t) based on what the tool actually does for your conversion metrics.
If you found this useful, these might also help:
- Should you outsource your tasks for $5? A Fiverr Review
- Audible Review: How I read 30-40 books per year.
- Amazon SEO Guide
ClickFunnels 2026 FAQ
Is ClickFunnels Classic still available?
No. ClickFunnels Classic has been sunset — it is no longer actively developed and new accounts are on ClickFunnels 2.0. If you have an existing Classic account, you were migrated or offered a migration path to 2.0. Classic and 2.0 are separate products on separate infrastructure.
What’s the actual difference between ClickFunnels 2.0 and the original?
2.0 is a complete rebuild, not an update. Key additions: native email marketing (no more relying on Actionetics or third-party ESPs for basic automation), a full website and blog builder, improved eCommerce, visual automation workflows, and multi-workspace support for teams managing more than one brand. The funnel builder itself is also faster and redesigned.
How does ClickFunnels compare to alternatives like GoHighLevel or Kajabi in 2026?
GoHighLevel is built around agency use — white-labeling, client management, and a broader CRM. If you’re an agency running funnels for clients, GHL is worth comparing seriously. Kajabi is focused on the creator/course market and has strong community features. ClickFunnels 2.0 sits between them — stronger on funnel mechanics than Kajabi, more creator-friendly than GHL. The right choice depends on whether funnels or community/CRM are your center of gravity.
Is ClickFunnels still worth it if I’m early stage / pre-revenue?
If you’re pre-revenue, the monthly subscription is a real cost, and you won’t be able to evaluate whether it’s working. A leaner starting point: a simple landing page (Carrd, Webflow) + free email tier (ConvertKit, Beehiiv) until you have a product and an audience. Graduate to ClickFunnels when the funnel mechanics — upsells, order bumps, automation sequences — are the bottleneck, not your offer or your traffic.
Related reading:
- How to Sell Online: The Psychology of Persuasion
- Brand Equity: Why Customers Pay More for the Same Thing
- Canva Review: Design Without a Designer
The shorter version
If you’re reading this because the workflow it describes is eating your week, that’s the kind of loop I build AI agents for. Two build slots open at a time.
Updated for May 2026
SEO in 2026 is unrecognizable from the 2020-era playbook. Three shifts that matter for anything written before mid-2024:
- AI Overviews are the new SERP zero position. Google’s AI Overviews default to roughly 60% of US informational queries, eating most “what is” / “how to” CTR. Optimizing for citation inside the AI Overview is now as important as ranking #1.
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the working term for cross-engine optimization — getting cited inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini answers. ~12% of high-intent commercial queries in late 2025 sample studies showed a direct-citation flow from these engines (vs. zero pre-2023).
- E-E-A-T (now E^3-A-T, Experience + Expertise + Establishment + Authoritativeness + Trustworthiness) continues to be the framing Google uses internally — “Establishment” was the 2024 addition emphasizing brand-level signals.
Tool landscape (May 2026): Ahrefs and Semrush both shipped Generative Engine tracking. Surfer SEO + the Topical Authority crowd added GEO scoring. Screaming Frog still the standard crawler. AlsoAsked, Keyword Insights, and Frase shifted heavily into AI-Overview snippet engineering.
If this post predates May 2024, treat its core advice as the Google-search baseline and layer the GEO playbook on top.
Every Wednesday. 28,400+ operators. Zero fluff.
✓ Check your inbox — click the confirmation link to complete sign-up.
✓ You're subscribed!
✓ You're already on the list.
Get the AI playbook in your inbox
Every Wednesday. 28,400+ operators. Zero fluff.
Check your inbox.
We sent you a confirmation email — click the link inside to complete your subscription. Check spam if you don't see it within a minute.
You're subscribed.
Welcome — the next edition lands in your inbox soon.
You're already on the list — look for it every Wednesday.