ConvertKit vs Keap (formerly Infusionsoft): Which Marketing Automation Tool is Best?

At first glance, ConvertKit and Keap (Infusionsoft) look like very different applications. One is an email marketing automation tool, while the other is a do-it-all app with everything from a CRM system to sales automation, marketing automation and e-commerce.

Dig beneath the surface and these two applications have a huge shared feature: they’re both hugely powerful tools for marketers that want to automate their email marketing process, from creating opt-in forms to sending out drip email sequences to new leads and subscribers.

If you’d like to learn more about each application before you sign up for either, keep reading as we dig into each tool’s unique features and advantages for email marketers interested in getting started with marketing automation.

Features

ConvertKit and Keap (Infusionsoft) are two very different applications that share one common feature: marketing automation.

While ConvertKit is a small application that’s 100% focused on email marketing, Infusionsoft is a suite of marketing and sales applications (including a CRM tool, sales automation tool and credit card processing platform) that does just about everything a marketer needs.

To achieve a fair comparison between the apps, we’re going to focus primarily on the marketing automation features that ConvertKit and Keap (Infusionsoft) offer.

Opt-in forms and landing pages

Both ConvertKit and Keap (Infusionsoft) include opt-in form builders. ConvertKit’s form builder is easy to use, even for people with no HTML or CSS experience. Creating an opt-in form is as simple as selecting your fields and choosing the right color for your text, form and confirmation button.

Forms are available in three styles — inline, modal and slide in. Since ConvertKit is built mainly for bloggers and content marketers, the standard forms are designed to fit seamlessly into blog posts and articles.

Advanced users can add custom CSS to their form for minor tweaks and edits, or create a fully customized HTML form using ConvertKit’s form embed code. It’s even possible to choose who can see your form by hiding it from return visitors who’ve already opted in.

As well as the three form styles, ConvertKit includes four landing page templates. Most of the included templates are clean, simple opt-in landing pages that are easy to customize for any product or offer category.

You can also customize the success text that shows after a user completes your form and joins your mailing list.

By default, ConvertKit landing pages are hosted on ConvertKit’s server and domain. You can use the ConvertKit WordPress plugin to host your landing page on your own website.

On the whole, ConvertKit’s form and landing page builder is designed for ease of use instead of customizability. It’s easy to create clean, effective landing pages, but your customization options are limited by the fact that there are only three landing page templates available.

Keap (Infusionsoft) also includes a landing page and opt-in form builder. Creating new opt-in forms is a simple process that requires no HTML or CSS skills. Keap’s (Infusionsoft’s) landing page builder includes more options than ConvertKit and might feel more intimidating for first time users.

It’s also a more powerful builder. From the builder interface, you can drag and drop text boxes onto the page, add new form fields and customize the page’s layout and style. It’s easy to add images, embed YouTube videos and place social media buttons onto your landing page.

If you plan to use the landing page as part of an existing campaign, you can even auto-populate certain form fields using the contact’s information.

Like with ConvertKit, you can choose to host your Infusionsoft landing page using Infusionsoft’s server and domain, or put it on your own website.

Email marketing automation and broadcasts

ConvertKit and Keap (Infusionsoft) both make it easy to create personalized email sequences that sell your product or service for you.

ConvertKit manages automated email through email courses. Courses are email autoresponder sequences made up of several emails. Using ConvertKit’s interface, you can schedule emails to deliver at an approximate time and a certain date after a user first subscribed to your email list.

Adding content to email courses is simple, as is reordering the emails within a course. You can even schedule emails to only deliver on weekdays and select a certain time of day to achieve a higher open and response rate. It’s also possible to send email broadcasts to all lists at once.

Keap (Infusionsoft) handles email marketing automation through its Campaign Builder. Creating a new campaign is as simple as dragging and dropping new events onto the canvas, then scheduling them to occur as part of an email sequence.

Like ConvertKit, Keap (Infusionsoft) lets you choose when to send out emails, trigger emails and calls based on how contacts respond to your campaign, and even modify your campaign on the fly for the highest possible response rate. You can also send out mass email broadcasts to all of your subscribers.  

Both applications give you a huge amount of power to customize your emails with Merge Fields, such as a subscriber’s first name. Emails from both applications are optimized for desktop and mobile, with a responsive design that looks clean and simple at any screen resolution.

Other features

Since Keap (Infusionsoft) is an email marketing automation app and CRM in one, it has a few unique features that aren’t available in ConvertKit.

One is CRM integration. Using Infusionsoft’s CRM tool, you can see all of your communication with a customer in one place, from email autoresponders to broadcasts and automated email notifications.

Another is the numerous integrations available for Infusionsoft. The Keap (Infusionsoft) Marketplace features over 140 free and paid integrations for Infusionsoft, ranging from SMS short codes to WooCommerce, Memberium and Xero Connect integrations.

Pros & Cons of ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a great marketing automation tool, but it’s not without its weaknesses. If you’re a blogger or content marketer, you’ll love its user friendly design and opt-in forms that naturally integrate into WordPress. However, some users may feel a bit held back by its limitations.

Pros:

• When it comes to simplicity, ConvertKit is arguably the best application in its category. Its user interface is clean and easy to work out, right from your first time using it. It’s easy to create new email courses, send out autoresponders and design custom opt-in forms and landing pages.
  
  
• Since ConvertKit is designed for bloggers, its opt-in forms are designed specifically for WordPress blogs. It’s easy to create a custom opt-in form for each blog post, display a modal opt-in form or add a slide in opt-in form to specific blog posts.
  
  
• Creating and modifying campaigns is easy thanks to ConvertKit’s simple UI, which lets you drag and drop emails into a new order and effortlessly add new emails to a course.
  
  
• Important performance metrics like open rate and click rate are right in front of you from the email course dashboard, making it easy to monitor performance for each message while you develop and optimize your campaign.
  
  
• Simple “if this, then that” style automation rules make it easy to create custom triggers for specific events like link clicks, course subscriptions and product purchases.

Cons:

• ConvertKit is designed specifically for email marketing automation, which means there’s no CRM system, e-commerce tools or affiliate marketing platform. This isn’t necessarily a disadvantage, but users seeking an all-in-one solution will likely prefer Infusionsoft.
  
  
• Landing page and opt-in form styles are limited, with only a few basic styles to choose from. Customization is limited to color and background templates, although it’s possible to add custom HTML and CSS to forms.

Overall Thoughts on ConvertKit

ConvertKit is built from the ground up as an email automation application for bloggers, and it’s by far the best option of its type for this audience. Setting up forms and landing pages is easy, and the entire application works seamlessly with WordPress.

If you’re a blogger or content marketer and you value ease of use over raw power, ConvertKit is the obvious choice.

Pros & Cons of Keap (Infusionsoft)

As an all-in-one marketing platform, Keap (Infusionsoft) offers more features than ConvertKit. However, some marketers may not need all of the options Infusionsoft offers, and many will dislike its long and complicated setup and migration process.

Pros:

• Keap (Infusionsoft) is a hugely powerful suite of tools and applications, with everything from a CRM system to email automation software. If you’re looking for an all-in-one sales and marketing application, it’s undeniably a great choice.
  
  
• Since everything sales and marketing related is handled by Infusionsoft, there’s no need to use multiple applications to handle different aspects of the marketing and customer retention process.
  
  
• Creating landing pages and forms is simple and requires no HTML or CSS skills. Adding new form fields, custom CSS and more is straightforward. Overall, Infusionsoft’s landing page builder offers more options than ConvertKit’s simple form and page builder.
  
  
• Infusionsoft has a huge range of paid and free integrations with tools like WooCommerce and Xero Connect, making it ideal for people who already use these applications.

Cons:

• Of the two applications, Keap (Infusionsoft) is the most expensive. Plans start from $199, which only includes access to the CRM system and marketing automation tools, with Complete service priced from $379 per month.
  
  
• To get started, you’ll need to purchase a mandatory Kickstart training package, which is priced from $699.
  
  
• Infusionsoft is a much more complicated application than ConvertKit, with a long setup and migration process that could frustrate non-technical users.

Overall Thoughts on Keap (Infusionsoft)

Keap (Infusionsoft) is a powerful suite of CRM and automation tools built with established businesses in mind. If you send a large volume of emails and prefer proven technology to user friendliness, it’s one of the most reliable automation and CRM choices available.

All in all, Keap (Infusionsoft) is better suited for established businesses that can tolerate the challenging setup process.

Pricing

If you have a small audience and a modest budget, you’ll love ConvertKit’s flexible pricing. The smallest plan (for a list of up to 1,000 subscribers) only costs $29 per month, making ConvertKit one of the most competitively priced marketing automation applications available.

Pricing increases based on the number of subscribers you have on your list, up to $3,999 every month for lists of up to 900,000 subscribers. All ConvertKit plans include unlimited emails, letting you communicate with your list as often as you need to every month.

As well as unlimited emails, all ConvertKit plans come with unlimited lead capture forms, landing pages, email courses and automation rules.

Infusionsoft is the more expensive of the two products. The most basic package, which includes access to the email marketing automation tools and CRM system, costs $199 per month. Team plans, which allow up to 20,000 contacts and 100,000 emails every month, are $599 per month.

Add-ons for additional email and subscriber volume are available from Infusionsoft, but pricing isn’t publicly available. All Infusionsoft plans come with a one-year contract, which is billed on a monthly basis.

As well as the monthly cost, signing up for Infusionsoft involves buying a mandatory Kickstart training course. The cheapest Kickstart Basic course, which includes one-on-one coaching to plan and launch an Infusionsoft campaign, is priced at $699.

Final Verdict

ConvertKit and Keap (Infusionsoft) are both powerful email marketing tools that can help any blogger or marketer grow their business. Both feature landing page and opt-in form builders, a wide variety of automation rules and excellent email broadcast services.

Despite their similarities, they’re aimed at very different audiences. ConvertKit is designed for bloggers and content marketers, while Infusionsoft is aimed at established businesses with the resources and staff to run large scale email marketing campaigns.

All in all, ConvertKit is the better choice for bloggers, and Kaep (Infusionsoft) is the better choice for mid-sized or large businesses with internal sales teams.

What’s your favorite marketing automation software?

Are you a Keap (Infusionsoft) fan? Do you prefer ConvertKit? Have you got a different automation tool that you think is better than both of the options in our review? Leave a comment and let us know your favorite email marketing automation tools.