As of late, I’ve been using Flodesk for a lot of my clients, and with me also using ConvertKit for my own email list, this works as the perfect opportunity to review both.
So, in today’s review, I’ll be taking a deep dive into both of these email-sending software, analyzing each feature of both, and letting you know which one is best for you.
So, without further ado, let’s get
Convertkit
Out of Flodesk and Convertkit – Convertkit is your best option.
Has everything you need and more, all for a reasonable price.
Flodesk
If you’re not convinced and are someone who just wants a simple and to the point email marketing software, then click the button below…
MailerLite
Don’t like the sound of either of these? Then look no further than MailerLite.
Click the button below to check out my in depth review.
Table of Contents
Convertkit Vs Flodesk Pricing
Flodesk:
This is possibly the one thing most people are interested in, so we’ll start with this.
Like most email software, Flodesk has a tiered pricing structure. Here’s what it looks like if you’re to be on the monthly plan:
As you can see below, this is what the pricing structure looks like for Flodesk if you were to be paid monthly:
- Email plan: $39 per month
- Checkout Plan: $39 per month
- Everything Plan: $64 per month.
But if you want to pay annually, it works out slightly cheaper, as you can see in the image below.
Something that’s a bit different with Flodesk is that the pricing each month is no more or less depending on your email subscribers.
For example, if you have little to no subscribers, there are a lot of email software out there that’ll give you a free plan (Like Convertkit).
So, if you’re someone who has few subscribers, this could be a drawback as you’ll be paying the same rate as everyone else.
Is there a free plan?
There is a 30-day free trial, however, there is no free plan you can use.
At the end of the 30-day trial, you have the option to sign up for the annual or monthly plan.
The free trial also gives you access to all features that you’d use on the paid plan.
Want to take advantage of Flodesk? Click here to get started.
Convertkit Pricing
In my opinion, the pricing structure ConvertKit has in place is far better than Flodesk.
Here’s why –
Convertkit’s pricing works on a sliding scale which means that the fewer subscribers you have, the less you pay.
Unlike Flodesk, Convertkit offers you a free plan, so you pay nothing as long as you have less than 300 subscribers.
And once you do have more than 300 subscribers, you’ll be bumped up to the first paid plan which is $15.
Less than half of what you’d be paying with Flodesk.
Here’s what the payment structure looks like below:
- Free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers (But with limited features)
- Creator Plan starting at $15/month for 300 subscribers.
- And then the creator pro starts at $29/month for 300 subscribers.
And the prices you see above are for paying monthly.
If you’d opt to pay annually, it’d be slightly cheaper, as you can see from the image below:
But as the number of subscribers you have increases, so will the amount you pay.
There are different thresholds for each bracket of subscribers.
And if you want to find out how much you’d be paying for your specific amount of subscribers, you can check that out by clicking here.
So when it comes to pricing – I would say Convertkit is far better in terms of cost and value for money.
Want to take advantage of Convertkit?
Flodesk Overview
Flodesk has picked up in popularity over the years and it’s no surprise…
With it being a cutting-edge email marketing platform designed to streamline your communication efforts, it allows users to create stunning and engaging email campaigns effortlessly.
Not only that but it also allows you to elevate your marketing game by crafting visually captivating newsletters, promotions, and announcements that captivate your audience.
You have access to everything from its intuitive drag-and-drop editor to its vast library of customizable templates, Flodesk offers a seamless experience for both beginners and seasoned marketers.
And if you want to personalize your emails, automate workflows, and track performance metrics, all in one convenient platform, then this is something Flodesk can do for you.
Whether you’re a small business owner, influencer, or blogger, Flodesk enables you to deliver impactful messages that resonate with subscribers.
Main Features
Flodesk has all the basic features you need to get kickstarted on your email marketing journey.
These are all the most notable features that I’ve found to be pretty effective and useful:
- Unlimited subscribers all for the same price (No sliding scale pricing like most other ESPs)
- Tons of forms you can use for different landing pages.
- At the time of writing this, they have a checkout builder in beta that helps you sell more of your own products.
- Intuitive analytics data shows you everything you need to know when it comes to your email subscriber.
- And Flodesk also integrates with things like Shopify and Zapier.
One thing about Flodesk as well is that it’s a very design-heavy email software (Something which I’m not really a fan of) but if this is something you want, then Flodesk might be a good option.
As you can see from the image above, some of the email templates they provide are almost entirely composed of images.
Perfect for something like eCommerce, but not so perfect if you’re simply wanting to send something like plain text emails.
But, if this is something you do want, then don’t worry because they do also offer this as well.
Email automation:
Flodesk’s email automation (They’re called ‘Workflows’ in Flodesk) are pretty simple to use like most email software.
If it’s something that you’ve never done before, it may take 10-20 minutes plus a couple of Youtube videos to figure it out, but after that, you should be good to go.
Not only that but Flodesk also provides a number of different templates for your ‘Workflows’ if this is something you struggle with.
These include:
- Welcome sequence
- Nurture Sequence
- Lead Magnet delivery
- And sales sequence.
All the basic ones you need to get started.
The only negative is that they’re lacking some more advanced automation like ‘if a recipient clicks on this link, send them X, Y and Z email’ for example.
Email Campaigns:
This is possibly one of the best features of Flodesk that I’ve found…
And it’s how easy and simple it is to send emails with Flodesk.
With some other email software, it can be a nightmare to do something as simple as sending out a broadcast email.
Well, this is certainly not the case with Flodesk.
As you can see from the Screenshot below, there are 4 stages of sending a broadcast email –
Choose Template> Design Email > Choose Audience > And then send.
But what’s even better about Flodesk is how easy it is to send to specific subscribers…
I’ve had experiences with some other email software that makes this process much harder than it needs to be.
But when you have access to something like this, you can make the experience for your subscribers a lot more personal which will no doubt allow you to improve your relationship with them as well as generate as much profit as possible.
Ease of use
As previously stated, the ease of use when it comes to Flodesk is pretty good. Especially if you’re someone with not too much email marketing experience.
The reason I say this is because there aren’t many bells and whistles with this software –
It has everything you need and no more.
So, if this is you –
- Want’s access to the basics of email marketing to improve the profits in your business and communication with your customers and clients.
- Don’t want to be doing anything too complicated.
- And want something that’s easy to use and get to grips with quickly.
Then Flodesk is a perfect solution.
Integrations
From the looks of it, Flodesks integrations are pretty poor. Some of the direct integrations it offers are with Shopify and Zapier.
But if you want to integrate it with anything else, by the looks of it you have to do it via Zapier.
Reporting and analytics
Although Flodesk’s email analytics and reporting are unique, it’s still pretty good.
Here’s what I mean –
Fldoessk reporting shows you a whole host of different metrics that are useful to use and make all of your marketing campaigns a lot more effective.
Take a look –
One part of the analytics shows you which days are the best days to send out your emails…
Another section shows you who your top-performing subscribers are –
And another section shows your subscriber growth…
And that’s just some of the metrics they show you.
So for this section, Flodesk has smashed it out of the park when it comes to showing you your email analytics.
Customer Support
This is one of the major drawbacks when it comes to Flodesk, and that’s its customer support.
Most email software like Convertkit or Activecampaign has live chats that’ll help you directly with your problem (Something which Convertkit has).
But unfortunately, Flodesk, they do not have this.
Instead, they have a ticketing system which I find to be incredibly annoying as the chances are it’ll be a day or days between getting your questions answered…
And if you have something you want to urgently fix, it probably isn’t going to be fixed immediately.
However, they do have a Facebook group called ‘Flodesk Insiders’. I’ve just joined this group and will report back to this blog post and update you on how effective and active it is.
Convertkit Overview
I’ve been a customer of Convertkit for some time now.
And I truly believe it’s the better option when compared to Flodesk for a number of reasons that I’m about to get into.
However, there are still some flaws which I’m going to address in this post as well.
But if you want to do some more digging into Convertkit, then I’d recommend checking out my in-depth review that you can access by clicking here.
Convertkit Main features
Convertkit is undoubtedly one of the best email software to come through in the last couple of years.
With Nathan Barry being the owner, they’ve blown a lot of their competitors out of the water, and for good reason.
And with each passing month, Converkit’s team seems to be adding brand new features that are putting their head and shoulders above anyone else.
Here are a few of their main features:
- Broadcast emails that come with tons of different templates that you can use.
- Email automation that is known as ‘sequences’.
- Automation rules that help you deliver a more personalized experience to your subscribers.
- A variety of different landing pages and forms that you can use
- And some of the new features that Convertkit has added like the Creator Profile and creator network.
Honestly, I would say that Convertkit is becoming one of the best email software out there for people like bloggers, Youtubers, creators, and anyone who has an audience online.
And now, I’m going to take a deep dive into some of the different features that Convertkit has and I’ll be explaining how good they are, or if they’re not!
Email Automation
This is something that I like about Convertkit, and how easy it is to use and set up their email automation.
When setting them up, you go to ‘Visual Automations’ and you can clearly see how your email sequence is set up.
This is what it looks like:
As you can see, you can put into the sequence when certain emails are triggered, the amount of time you want to be separated between each email sent out.
Easy and effective. Everything you want.
Email Campaigns
One of my pet peeves with some email software is when they make the one thing they’ve been designed to do – difficult.
And that’s sending out emails.
But thankfully, this is something Convertkit does not do.
They make the process of sending out emails a simple and painless process.
The interface for creating the emails is possibly one of the best I’ve used to date.
Here’s what it looks like –
The user interface is designed much like Google Docs, which helps when you want your emails to look a specific way.
And another useful feature is that they allow you to use templates for your emails which means that you can create your emails to look a specific way once and use that same template over and over again.
Although it is close when it comes to email campaigns, I would say Convertkit is a fraction better than Flodesk.
Ease of use
Convertkit is possibly one of the easiest software to use when it comes to leveraging email marketing in your business.
Even if you have zero experience.
I’d say if you dedicated 45 minutes to clicking about each feature, you’d get to grips with it very quickly and you’d be well on your way to setting up your email marketing for your business.
And if you are to get stuck with anything, the help chat on Convertkit is second to none and will 100% get all your problems fixed.
Integrations
Now this is where Convertkit comes into its own.
Convertkit integrates with a tonne of different software like:
- Gumroad
- Shopify
- Teachable
- WordPress
- Stripe
Just to name a few.
And when you have an email-sending software that integrates with other software that you use, it’s a lifesaver as it makes connecting the two so much easier.
So, Convertkit blows Flodesk out of the water with this one.
Reporting and analystics
Now this is something that I think Convertkit could improve on. When it comes to reporting, it just gives you the standard –
Open rates.
Click-through rates.
Unsubscribers and so on…
Yes, this is everything you need, but if we’re comparing this to Flodesk, they’re far better at reporting when it comes to email analytics.
Things like –
- Performance of each subscriber.
- What are the best days to send emails
And so on. So, this is something that I believe Convertkit could improve on and Flodesk does a far better job on this front.
Customer Support
This has to be one of the stand-out features when it comes to Convertkit, and that’s its customer support.
I’ve had experiences with Convertkits customer support where if I’ve ever had a problem with something, they’ll literally go in themselves and fix the issue for me.
They have a chat system and you ask questions to a bot where they’ll then connect you with a human that can best help you with the problems that you’re experiencing.
And this is something that makes people customers for life.
This is what it looks like –
Because one of the most infuriating things when it comes to using software is when you have a problem you want to get fixed ASAP but takes weeks to get around to.
And this is where Flodesk falls short.
A ticketing system plus a Facebook group for $36/month is not good enough IMO.
But with Convertkit, they do this amazingly and this is one of the many reasons they’re better than Flodesk.
Pros and Cons of Flodesk
Pros and Cons Of Convertkit
Who is Convertkit for?
If you fall into the category of someone who has their own audience and you want to get the most out of email marketing – then Convertkit is the perfect option for you.
So, if you’re someone who is an author, a blogger, someone with an online audience or anything in between.
Convertkit is the perfect option and is quickly becoming one of, if not the most popular email marketing software out there.
And if you want to learn more about it –
Who is Flodesk for?
Flodesk is perfect for you if you’re looking for simple and easy-to-use software that gets the job done.
And not only that but if you’re also someone who favors design over copy as you have a tonne of different options for this with Flodesk.
So if you’re someone like an influencer or a coach then this would be a good option for you.
I would also say, Flodesk is compatible if you own an eCommerce store.
But, when it comes to eCommerce, there are far better alternatives out there like Klavyio.
Which one should you choose?
So here’s the final verdict:
Both Flodesk and Convertkit are excellent email-sending software. But each one is better suited to certain individuals.
So, if you’re someone who wants more in-depth email analytics, is more focused on getting the most out of your email list from a revenue and profit perspective, and wants to do so at a cheaper rate –
Then I’d highly recommend Convertkit.
But if you’re someone who values a more simplistic approach to email marketing and wants a straight-to-the-point flat rate when it comes to pricing, then Flodesk is your best option.
If you’re still on the fence about it though, feel free to check out my full review of Convertkit by clicking here.
Don't like the sound of either of them? Here are some alternatives:
Activecampaign: Possibly one the best email software out there when it comes to automation and tracking. Want to check out my in-depth review? Then click here.
Mailerlite: Excellent email software when it comes to value for money. MailerLite has one of the best free plans out there and has everything you need to get started.
Click here to check out my in-depth review.
Getresponse: Are you an affiliate marketer? Then Getresponse is your best friend. A lot of email softwares have weird rules when it comes to affiliate marketing and are at risk of getting your account banned. But with GetResponse, you don’t have to worry about that.
Aweber: A simple and easy-to-use email software that has everything you need to get the most out of your email marketing efforts.
Click here to get started with Aweber.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, Convertkit does have a free plan.
Nope, Flodesk does not. It does have a 30 day free trial though.
If you have 1,000 subscribers or less, then Convertkit is the cheaper of the two.
But, if you begin to get 5,000+ subscribers, then Flodesk is the cheaper of the two.
Before you go...
If you haven’t already seen it, I recently put together a guide on how I create emails for myself and my clients.
It’s everything I’ve learned over the past couple of years distilled into a simple and easy-to-consume guide.
You can get it by clicking here.
And, if you have any questions that I haven’t mentioned, either send me an email at jamie@Emailmaximalist.com
Or Just send me a DM on Twitter @EmailMaximalist
2 thoughts on “Flodesk Vs Convertkit Review: Read this Before Deciding…”
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!
Hi, I’m Jack. Your blog is a treasure trove of valuable insights, and I’ve made it a point to visit daily. Kudos on creating such an amazing resource!