The Worlds 4 Best Landing Page Software Options (2018 Guide)

I’m going to do a deep dive into four of the best landing page software options.

You can use these for ads, email marking, pop ups or really anywhere you are trying to convert users. By the end of this post, you are going to have a great understanding of the best landing page software for your business.

Creating them, however, hasn’t always been an easy task.

So today, I’m breaking down the four most popular landing page software out there: the good, the bad, and everything in between.

Landing Page Software Must-Have Features

Before I dive into the individual reviews, let’s get one thing straight.

To be considered a great software, each must offer the following features:

• Clean user interface
• Drag and drop editor (no coding required)
• Integrations with major email and marketing tools like Marketo, MailChimp, etc.
• Offer detailed landing page analytics
• Create mobile-responsive pages
• Publish pages quickly

Luckily, the following all have those covered, so we can focus on the fun stuff.

Let’s dig in.

Instapage Review (Landing Page Software)

First up: Instapage.

Like the others in this review, Instapage helps you build powerful landing pages proven to convert. You can build any kind of page you’d like, though Instapage really shines when it comes to:

• Squeeze pages
• Webinar pages
• Thank you pages

Landing Page Software Best Features:

1. Templates and template editor

Instapage offers an impressive 195 (and counting) templates, with an option to upload an existing landing page from another service to the Instapage platform.

If you choose to use their templates, you can filter the many options down to specific types: Lead generation, lead gen (two-step), click-through, webinar pages, mobile app, and thank you page.

Once you’ve chosen, the Instapage template editor is one of the best around. With it, you can adjust the fonts, colors, and designs to match your existing website or marketing materials.

Beyond that, its Pixel Perfect drag and drop editor allows you to place elements on the page. Most software uses widgets, which you can move to pre-assigned boxes throughout the page.

But with Instapage, you can move them anywhere on the page and even layer them on top of each other. While you do this, Instapage will display guidelines to help you line everything up properly.

2. Heatmaps

Here’s another cool one: Instapage’s analytics come with heat maps.

These allow you to gain some insight into how visitors behave on your landing page by tracking mouse clicks, movement, how far your visitors scroll, and where on the page they spend the most time.

Note: Heatmaps are only available for the Optimer plan and up.

3. Collaborative workspace

Instapage also offers an easy way to collaborate with different members of your team. This allows anyone to review, edit, and comment on pages and campaigns before publishing.

4. Intuitive interface and ease of use

Instapage’s interface is widely regarded as the easiest to use.  

Everything – including the editor, widgets, and functionality – are easy to use and create, making the entire process quick and painless, and ideal for beginners new to the landing page space.

5. Built-in analytics tools

This is by far one of the best features when it comes to Instapage. Rather than simply track your analytics as your campaign goes live, you can set up conversion goals right in the Editor.

Once there, in the right-hand dropdown menu, you’ll find sections called Conversion Goals and Analytics.

In the Conversion Goals section, you can set specific goals to track in your analytics.

In the Analytics section, you can add Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Tag manager, etc.

Third-Party Integrations:

Instapage integrates with most of the major email providers, including:

• MailChimp
• ActiveCampaign
• AWeber
• Campaign Monitor
• Constant Contact
• E-goi
• GetResponse
• GoToWebinar
• Update: Hubspot
• Mad Mimi
• Zoho
• Autopilot (Pro+)
• Infusionsoft (Pro+)
• Salesforce (Pro+)
• Zapier (Pro+)
• WebHooks (Premium)

Possible Drawbacks

1. It’s only for landing pages

This one isn’t necessarily a con. In fact, if you’re looking just for landing pages, it’s a mark in Instapage’s favor.

That said, it lacks some of the features of the other software on the list, like leadboxes, etc.

2. Price

While it’s Core plan isn’t exactly exorbitant, it isn’t exactly cheap either.

Compared to the other software offering similar features, it’s pricier than some on the list, and doesn’t come with the ability to produce pop-ups.

Pricing:

• 14-day free trial
• Pay monthly:
  • Core: $79/month
  • Optimizer: $129/month
  • Team and Agency: $229/month
  • Enterprise: Customized
• Pay annually:
  • Core: $69/month
  • Optimizer: $9/month
  • Team and Agency: $179/month
  • Enterprise: Customized

Bottom Line:

Instapage is excellent if you plan to produce landing pages and landing pages only.

If you want the extra bells and whistles, you may be better off with a different software.

Unbounce Landing Page Software Review 

As the first to hit the market, Unbounce introduced many to the possibilities of landing page software. Over time, it’s remained one of the best available due to its easy and flexible interface.

Like Instapage, the drag and drop editor allows you to place elements anywhere on the page rather than being confined to specific rows and spaces.

Best Features:

1. Dynamic text replacement

Not surprisingly, Unbounce was the first to roll out dynamic text replacement. This automatically swaps out keywords on the page to match the keywords that a user searched for.

In terms of SEO and PPC, this was a game changer. No longer do separate landing pages need to be created for separate keywords – it’s a one-size-fits-all template now.

Note that competitor Instapage also offers dynamic text replacement.

2. A/B Testing

While all software on this list offer A/B testing, Unbounce offers it at all pricing levels. Even its most basic plan comes with the ability to test different page elements and creatives and view visitor stats in real time.

3. Unbounce convertibles

You know these best as pop-ups.

Unbounce offers targeted pop-up creation, completely controlled by the user. You control who sees the pop-ups and when by customizing triggers and target rules.

So, you can choose to show the pop-up to someone when they arrive to your site, when they’re about to leave, after a short delay, as they scroll, or when they click directly on the form.

Beyond that, you can choose who the pop-ups are shown to by allowing them on only certain URLs at custom frequencies, show or hide them to visitors from specific traffic sources, target by location, or use cookie targeting (based on a user’s browser history).  

4. Customer support

All of the software here offer customer support, but it tends to vary depending on the plan level you choose.

Not so with Unbounce. The software offers phone, chat, and email support at all plan levels.

Third-party Integrations

Unbounce offers a good amount of email, CRM and analytics integrations, including:

• Zapier
• MailChimp
• WordPress
• Hubspot
• Marketo
• Salesforce
• Script Manager

Possible Drawbacks:

1. Fewer template options

While Unbounce does allow access to the Themeforest Marketplace, it’s built-in templates are lacking compared to those of its competitors.

2. Not as many features

Unbounce templates don’t support some of the more impressive features that the other softwares offer, including countdown timers and a checkout option.

Pricing:

• 30-day free trial
• Pay monthly:
  • Essential: $99/month
  • Premium: $199/month
  • Enterprise: $$499+/month
• Pay annually:
  • Essential: $79/month
  • Premium: $159/month
  • Enterprise: $399+/month

Bottom Line:

It’s hard to go wrong with Unbounce. It offers all the flexibility and customization needed to create compelling landing pages and pop-ups, though it is a steeper price point than most similar software.

Leadpages Landing Page Software Review 

Currently, Leadpages is one of the leaders when it comes to landing page software. It offers its users unlimited page creation designed specifically to collect email addresses.

With Leadpages, users get access to 126 and counting professionally designed standard templates plus 136 drag and drop templates as well as LeadBox pop-ups. The templates are available for a myriad of uses, including:

 

• Webinar Pages
• Thank You Pages
• Upsell Pages
• Launch Pages
• 404 Pages
• Checkout Pages
• Podcasts
• Contest Pages
• Facebook landing pages

What really helps separate Leadpages from the pack is that offers unlimited page creation, traffic, and leads, even at the basic plan level.

Best Features:

1. Two landing page editors

Unlike Instapage and Unbounce, LeadPages offers two landing page editors.

One is more basic and designed for those new to landing page creation. This one uses a more basic point and click format to make simple edits to the page.

The other is a drag and drop editor, similar to what the other two offer. This gives you much more freedom to arrange and add more complex elements to the page.

The former is great for those looking to simply load the landing page as quickly as possible, while the latter gives users the option to add more advanced widgets.

2. Checkouts and countdown timer

Speaking of advanced widgets, these are two of my favorite from Leadpages.

It recently announced the arrival of checkouts, which lets visitors make purchases right from a leadpage or leadbox. After, it sends customer data directly to your integrations, adds them to your CRM, triggers an email about their purchase, and adds them to the customer segment of your email list.

To use them, you simply integrate with payment gateway Stripe.

Pretty cool, right?

LeadPages also offers a handy countdown timer widget, which helps you put the principle of scarcity to work on your landing page visitors and helps entice them to convert.

3. LeadBoxes

We’ve all seen the pop-up boxes on websites, right? The ones that load a few seconds after you land on a page, usually with some sort of offer in exchange for an email address?

In Leadpages lingo, those are called LeadBoxes, and their inclusion is another aspect that separates the software from the rest of the pack.

They’re easy to add using Leadpages, and feature the same drag and drop editor. These can be used on any page you wish – even those not created with Leadpages.

4. LinkDigits

This unique feature allows you to collect emails through SMS messages.

It works like this: Instead of directing someone to your landing page (say, if you meet them in person), you can have them text a keyword to your LeadDigits number. Then, they’ll receive a text in return asking them to sign up for your list.

This is great because it allows people to sign up multiple ways. Internet access isn’t a barrier, and it will likely contribute to your overall list growth rate.

Third-Party Integrations

Email Integrations:

• ActiveCampaign
• AWeber
• Constant Contact
• ConvertKit
• Drip
• Emma
• GetResponse
• Hubspot
• MadMimi
• MailChimp
• Marketo
• SendReach

Possible Drawbacks:

1. A/B testing only available at the Pro level

The ability to A/B test is huge for marketing elements. With it, you can test the effectiveness of various creative elements on your page to determine which is most effective.

But of course, the ability comes at a price. For Leadpages, that means a Pro plan or higher.

2. Less flexible customization options

Though the drag and drop editor does allow you to customize the elements you’d like on the page, Leadpages offers more limited styling options than its counterparts.

Pricing:

• 14-day free trial
• Pay monthly:
  • Standard: $37/month
  • Pro: $79/month
• Pay annually:
  • Standard: $25/month
  • Pro: $48/month
  • Advanced: $199/month
• Pay every 2 years:
  • Standard: $17/month
  • Pro: $42/month
  • Advanced: $159/month

Bottom Line

Leadpages may well provide the best bang for your buck.

It stands ahead of the pack in terms of affordability (including unlimited page creation) and the inclusion of features like leadbox creation and checkout make it a must try.

ClickFunnels Landing Page Software Review 

ClickFunnels take things a step further. Rather than focusing solely on landing pages, it incorporates the entire sales funnel.

As ClickFunnels states, the point where most entrepreneurial dreams die is somewhere the idea and a tech team’s ability to quickly create the infrastructure to sell the idea.

But ClickFunnels is designed to work for the non-programmers and non-techies with the big ideas, allowing them to easily build pages inside a sales funnel that are proven to convert.

Here’s how it works:

1. Pick a design from ClickFunnels template collection
2. Replace the elements on the page with your own branding
3. Drag and drop sales elements onto your page
4. Use advanced tools for more customization
5. Build membership sites, order forms, affiliate centers, and more
6. Publish

Best Features:

1. Funnel Template Blueprints

Creating an effective sales funnel is arguably one of the most important steps in customer acquisition and conversion.

But if you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s all too easy to get it wrong.

With ClickFunnels, you don’t have to take that risk. Instead, you can choose from any of the 22 types of funnels included in their templates.

The sales funnels are separated into three categories:

• Lead capture funnels
• Sales page funnels
• Event funnels
• Bonus: special funnels like squeeze page funnels (collects visitors emails and sends a thank you email in return)

Like the software above, you can also choose your industry, which will further customize the landing page.

Other customization options include moving videos, images, bullet points, buttons, etc.

2. Drag and Drop Editor

ClickFunnels also features a drag and drop editor.

Once you’ve selected your template, you can use ClickFunnels editor to specify the number of rows and columns you’d like on each page and drag each element to your desired location.

Though not quite as comprehensive as some of the other editors, its main benefit is its ease of use. The interface is intuitive and requires little orientation.

Beyond that, ClickFunnels offers a huge selection of widgets to use on the page including:

• SMS Signup
• Surveys
• Pricing Tables
• Progress Bars
• Facebook Comments
• FAQ Blocks
• Countdown Timers
• Custom HTML

3. Share your funnel with others

This is a really cool feature from ClickFunnels.

Located in the Setting tab, you’ll find your Share Funnel URL.

You can then share the URL with any existing ClickFunnels member – clients, etc. – to show them the success of your sales funnel.

Even better? The URL acts as an affiliate link. If a user who isn’t currently a member sees your funnel and signs up, you’ll receive a commission.

4. Tutorials and onboarding process

ClickFunnels offers plenty of tutorials to get new members acquainted with the service.

Additionally, upon sign up you’ll be introduced to the program through the 7-day program. This is four different games created to familiarize yourself with the different aspects of the service.

Third-Party Integrations

Here’s another cool thing about ClickFunnels: because it supports the entire sales funnel and allows users to make payments and check out on the page, it also integrates with merchant sites.

It currently integrates with the following payment sites:

• Infusionsoft
• WarriroPlus
• BackPackCRM
• ClickBank
• OntraPort
• Stripe

As well as the following email integrations:

• aWeber
• GetResponse
• MailChimp
• GoToWebinar Form
• Office AutoPilot Tagging
• Infusionsoft
• Maropost
• Constant Contact API
• Interspire
• ActiveCampaign
• MadMimi
• HTML Form Integration

Possible Drawbacks:

1. Limits on the number of funnels you can create

While the scope of funnels available is pretty impressive, it comes with a catch.

To access all of them, you have to purchase one of the pricier plans. The base plan limits you to 20 funnels, 100 pages and 20,000 visitors.

2. It’s complicated

To be fair, this one isn’t really ClickFunnels fault.

There’s a lot the software can do, which means it will take some time to get comfortable with all the features.

ClickFunnels does try to ease you in a bit through it’s 7-day program, but be prepared to spend some time getting to know the software and all it can do.

Pricing:

• Free 14-day trial
• Base plan: $97/month
• Etison Suite: $297/month

Bottom Line:

ClickFunnels is great for a brand with the budget for it, and the need for entire sales pages rather than just landing pages.

it’s a bit more advanced than the other software included here, and may best serve those already familiar with landing pages and sales funnels.

Landing Page Software FAQ: 

How Can I Choose The Best Landing Page Software For My Business?

With all the landing page software discussed in this article, I’m sure the choices seem overwhelming.

The best thing you can do to make the right choice for your business is to create a list of what you need from it (features, ease of use, price, etc.), research the products available (the above list is a great start) and then choose the software that checks most or all of your boxes.

Keep in mind, most software offers a free trial period so you can experiment with which one works best for your objectives.

2. Will Using Landing Page Software Improve My Conversion Rate?

Yes and no. Yes, landing page software are tools that can help you create stunning, optimized pages quickly. This certainly lends to improving your conversion rate.

However, you (or your marketing team) is responsible for the content, and its structure, within your landing pages. These are the factors most responsible for increasing conversions.

3. Is There A Limit To The Number Of Pages I Can Create Using Landing Page Software?

The number of pages you can create using landing page software will depend on the platform and/or the plan you choose.

Some software allows for unlimited pages, while others offer a maximum amount based on your chosen subscription plan.

If you’re wondering how many landing pages you should have, you may find this bit of info interesting.

According to WishPond “Studies have shown that business websites with 10-15 landing pages tend to increase conversions by 55% over business websites with less than 10 landing pages. And those with more than 40 landing pages increase conversions by over 500%.”

Wrapping Up ClickFunnels Landing Page Software Review 

The good news is that any of the software above will create stunning, fully-customized landing pages. So rest assured; there simply isn’t a bad decision to be made.

Which one you ultimately choose will come down to three things: scope, pricing, and ultimately, preference.

If you need a software to help you through the entire sales funnel, ClickFunnels is the obvious and best choice.

Beyond that, you should consider your budget and give each a trial run to see which works best for you and your business.  

Selecting Your Landing Page Software

In this post you have four amazing landing page software options. I really like Unbouce and Instapage personally, but ClickFunnels is also a great option! Try them all and select the one you are most comfortable with. If you want to go more the funnel route, ClickFunnels does make a little more sense.