Flodesk vs. ConvertKit: Which Is Right for You?

Published by Sydney Triggs on November 15, 2021

Flodesk and ConvertKit are two of the most popular email marketing platforms out there right now. Both designed with entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized businesses in mind, they’re frequently compared and stacked up against each other.

Nevertheless, all email marketing services are slightly different. The best choice for your business largely depends on your overall brand, specific needs, objectives, and general skill level.

In order to help you determine just that, we’ve written this comprehensive article breaking down everything you need to know about these two email marketing platforms. Keep reading to discover which one of them is the best choice for your business.

Facing Off: Flodesk vs. ConvertKit

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Just a heads up, this article is long-form and includes all the nitty gritty details about Flodesk vs. ConvertKit, including their specific features, pricing plans, advantages, disadvantages, and user testimonials.

TLDR? We’re included this section just for those of you who want to keep things short and sweet. Scroll down if you want Flodesk and ConvertKit broken down for you in a nutshell.

Flodesk in a Nutshell

Flodesk is a relatively new addition to the email marketing software world, having been founded in 2019. Nevertheless, they have already secured their position as one of the top platforms out there, especially if you’re an entrepreneur or small to medium-sized business that values stunning design, powerful, easy-to-use features, and overall efficacy.

Flodesk is a great email marketing platform for you if:

• You’re a small-to-medium-sized business of any kind. Flodesk is used and loved by creatives, start-ups and entrepreneurs alike.
• You don’t want to worry about spending a fortune on your email marketing platform as your future needs increase and subscriber list grows.
• You’re a lover of great design and want to send out beautiful, memorable, and professional emails that will make an immediate impact.

ConvertKit in a Nutshell

ConvertKit has been around since 2013. Initially designed to help online creators connect with their audience, build a following, and ultimately make a living, their email platform has progressed leaps and bounds since then. It’s now a popular email marketing platform that’s well-known for its online creator-focused features.

ConvertKit is a great email marketing solution for you if:

• You identify as an online creator, which includes — but isn’t limited to — musicians, podcasters, bloggers, authors, and coaches.
• You’re looking for a platform that can fulfill your email marketing needs and more. For instance, you also want eCommerce functionalities to sell your creative materials like eBooks and photographic prints.
• You have a small list of subscribers and want to take advantage of ConvertKit’s free plan or have a larger budget to spend on your email marketing solution.

Flodesk

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Flodesk is a relatively new email marketing service that’s already made a huge impact in the industry. Founded in 2019 by Martha Bitar and Rebecca Shostak, it’s currently one of the fastest-growing email marketing platforms out there.

Flodesk came to life in order to fill a gap in the industry: An affordable, intuitive ESP that prioritizes design and ease of use. Perfect for entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized businesses.

Keep reading for a breakdown of their features and the reasons why Flodesk could be the ideal email provider for you.

Features

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Flodesk’s features are what make it one of the best email marketing services for creatives, entrepreneurs, and small-to-medium-sized businesses in general.

They’re also continually releasing new features and improving their platform. Keep reading to discover what they’re currently bringing to the table.

Dashboard

Flodesk’s dashboard and general interface prioritize design just as much as their emails do. It’s very on-brand, and in a good way. The layout is clear, minimal, intuitive, and just works.

When you log into your Flodesk account for the first time, there shouldn’t be too much of a learning curve because it’s designed to be beginner-friendly. The interface is mostly drag-and-drop, so it’s simple to make your ideas a reality.

Email Builder

Flodesk’s email builder is what they’re widely renowned for, and for a good reason.

First of all, their templates are gorgeous. Flodesk emails are professionally designed, modern, and would be sure to stand out in anyone’s inbox. Put simply, you won’t find emails that look like Flodesk’s anywhere else. Of course, you can use their many pre-designed templates as they are, or customize them to your liking.

Their email builder itself is popular because it’s so beginner-friendly. You don’t need a lot of time or previous experience to put together beautiful, professional emails.

Their drag-and-drop interface makes adding and removing different elements seamless, along with editing links, customizing brand colors, adding media, and more.

Automations

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With Flodesk, it’s easy to build powerful marketing automations with just a few clicks. In fact, their automations feature is designed to help users connect with their subscribers, nurture relationships, and even make sales at any time of day.

Flodesk’s visual, intuitive interface also adds a seamless element into the whole process, whether you’re developing a new automation or monitoring well-established email sequences.

In order to get started building an automated sequence, all you have to do is drag-and-drop emails into your workflow. Easy.

Sign-Up Forms

Flodesk’s sign-up form feature is one of their strong suits. They enable their users to create stunning, high-converting, fully responsive forms in no time.

Here’s what you need to know about Flodesk’s sign-up forms. They:

• Are beautiful and attention-grabbing
• Offer 3 different template styles: Pop-up, inline, and full page
• Created with ready-to-use templates or by building your own design
• Can include custom form fields, which can then be integrated into emails to allow for maximum personalization.
• Can ask subscribers for custom preferences

Landing Pages

Similar to sign-up forms, landing pages are an essential tool for businesses and entrepreneurs to build their audience, get the word out about their newest projects and ventures, and even deliver products and services.

Like the rest of their platform, Flodesk’s landing page builder is done with style. They have a library filled with templates that are designed to convert. As always, they can be used as-is or customized to your specific needs with minimal effort.

Flodesk’s landing pages also connect seamlessly with their email marketing platform. It’s easy to segment your audience based on where people joined your list from, ensuring that their content is always personalized and that they receive what they signed up for.

Integrations

In terms of eCommerce, Flodesk has direct integration with Shopify. Many creatives find this to be very handy when they’re looking to sell their products or services.

Other Flodesk integrations like Facebook, Instagram, Typeform, WordPress, Google Sheets, and Slack have to be connected by using Zapier.

Pricing Plan

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Pricing wise, Flodesk tries to make things easy for its users. Rather than having to sift through fine print outlining different plans and the features they come along with, Flodesk offers a more straightforward approach. They offer one flat-rate plan that gives users access to all their features, forever.

Flodesk’s one and only plan costs $38 USD per month, which is a very accessible price and highly cost-effective for all the value that comes along with it. Not only does it allow you to use their entire range of features, but you can also count on unlimited subscribers and email sends. That means that no matter how much your business grows, you’ll always be paying the same monthly fee.

While Flodesk doesn’t have a free version, they’ve got a 30-day free trial that enables you to try out their email marketing platform before making your decision.

If you’re already familiar with Flodesk and know you love it, you can also choose to pay $418 USD for a year upfront and save yourself the cost of one month.

Best for

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All in all, Flodesk isn’t perfect for everyone… but it’s suitable for most. The platform was made for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, and that much is clear. Ultimately, Flodesk prioritizes next-level design, is a breeze for anyone to navigate, saves its users time and money, has excellent features that stack up to other leading ESPs, and is consistently growing and getting better as time goes on.

Basically, if you’re a creative, entrepreneur or small business owner, value excellent design, and want to pay a reasonable, reliable price for your email marketing service, Flodesk could be a great option for you.

Let’s take a deeper look at their main advantages:

• A 30-day free trial
• A cost-effective flat-rate plan
• Beginner-friendly
• Easy to create and send out beautiful emails
• Removes the need for third-party design tools like Canva due to their built-in, professionally designed graphics and visuals.
• A wide selection of customizable email templates that are modern
• Comprehensive, easy-to-understand reports and analytics
• Easy to migrate from other ESPs like ConvertKit or Mailchimp

“For my needs as a small business owner, Flodesk is better than Convertkit.”
– Trina on the OhSheCreates blog

“The best part about switching to Flodesk is we have seen our click-through rate (CTR) and sales triple! That means our emails are getting opened more frequently, people are finding the content helpful, and are getting connected to our products and services. This is a huge success from a business standpoint and is the main reason we highly recommend switching to Flodesk.”

– Elise on the Mark Brand Boutique blog

Drawbacks

Flodesk is pretty good but it has some notable drawbacks. Hopefully these shortcomings will be resolved as the software develops.

• No free version
• No mobile app
• They don’t have many built-in integrations. Most have to be connected by using Zapier. For instance, they have a direct integration with Shopify, but not with other eCommerce platforms.
• Some advanced features are yet to come.

“Flodesk doesn’t integrate with outside tools, but I use Zapier to overcome this issue. Also, I would love to see a broader view of my analytics including how my list grows. I do believe this is something that will be added eventually.”

– Kate Danielle on the Kate Danielle blog

ConvertKit

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ConvertKit is regularly ranked as one of the best email marketing platforms available for online creators, and it was designed with their specific needs in mind.

It was founded in 2013 by Nathan Barry, a blogger, creator, and author who was looking for a better way to engage with his audience and sell his books and online courses. Over the past 8 years, ConvertKit has undergone a number of shifts, redesigns, and developments, turning it into the well-known, and well-loved, email marketing platform that it is today.

In 2021, they remain passionate about helping creators express themselves and share their ideas with the world. Check out the amazing features that have made ConvertKit such a popular platform.

Features

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ConvertKit has a wide range of exciting features that are intuitive, beginner-friendly, and innovative. Keep reading for a more detailed breakdown of the most prominent features that may just make ConvertKit the perfect email platform for you.

Dashboard

First things first, let’s talk about the way that the ConvertKit dashboard looks. They strive to make life easy for creators, and their interface reflects that value. It looks clean and well-organized, and it’s intuitive to navigate.

Although new users may have to click around a little bit to find what they’re looking for at first, the reward is a fantastic dashboard with everything you need for email marketing. ConvertKit also has a number of support articles and videos to help new users get oriented when necessary — these resources are awesome for people starting out with email marketing.

Email Builder

ConvertKit has designed an email builder that’s both potent and easy-to-use — what more could you want? They’re aware that many creators struggle with putting together professional, aesthetically-pleasing emails and waste a lot of time trying to do so. They’ve addressed this issue by creating a platform that’s suitable for users with any experience level.

The best part? ConvertKit is always looking for ways to improve and update their features.

Some of their email builder’s stand-out features include:

• A simple, straightforward editor
• Content elements like lists, headers, buttons, and dividers that are quick and easy to add.
• Coding capabilities with HTML boxes if you so desire
• Clickable CTAs
• A direct integration with Unsplash makes it easy to add free images into your emails
• Stunning email templates that can be customized or used as they are
• The ability to download and save commonly used images like logos and other branding media.
• Responsive on any device

Automations

In order to make it easy for creators to connect with their subscribers and develop meaningful relationships, ConvertKit has intuitive marketing automation features. It’s so simple to set up automations, even for first-time users.

Their visual automation builder allows users to:

• Develop powerful email marketing automations and send out automated emails with ease
• Segment audiences based on customer journeys – Send your subscribers what they want!
• Send targeted content specifically designed for readers
• Customize subscriber paths based on their action
• Understand funnel context and progress at a glance due to their incredible visual layout
• Edit content seamlessly

Sign-Up Forms

ConvertKit allows users to make beautiful, high-converting sign-up forms with ease. This makes it a great platform to build your email list.

ConvertKit’s form builder offers:

• Unlimited forms
• Customizable, eye-catching designs
• Responsive templates
• Lead magnet delivery
• GDPR compliance

ConvertKit’s sign-up forms were also developed with creators in mind. As a result, they have different kinds of forms available based on different creators’ needs. For instance, they’ve got sign-forms for:

• Delivering freebies
• Pop-up forms
• Newsletter opt-in forms
• Blog categories

Landing Pages

In general, landing pages are downright useful. Perhaps you already have a website, but you’re looking for a way to get the word out about your next big project. Maybe you don’t have a website yet and need an effective way to capture leads. Whatever the case, ConvertKit makes it easy for creators to create landing pages in mere moments.

There are several impressive elements about ConvertKit’s landing page creator:

• Fully customizable, responsive templates
• Both zero-coding and custom CSS options
• Over 100 000 free images at your fingertips
• Integrates easily with other tools
• Customizable success messages
• GDPR compliance

ConvertKit also has landing page templates for just about everything. Here are just a few examples:

• Lead magnet delivery
• Teasers and promotions of upcoming projects
• General introduction
• Course sign-up

Integrations

This is where ConvertKit really shines in comparison to Flodesk. They make it easy to connect the tools that you already know and love with their software. Here are just a few of their most popular integrations:

• Squarespace
• Teachable
• Shopify
• Typeform
• Monday.com
• Stripe

If you don’t see your favorite tool on ConvertKit’s list, you can also use Zapier to add hundreds of additional possible integrations.

Pricing Plan

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ConvertKit’s pricing system is a little bit complicated, so we’ll break it down for you step-by-step.

First of all, they have a free plan that’s perfect for new users to get started with. You can use this free plan for as long as you’d like, but there’s a catch: you need to have less than 1000 subscribers and be happy with their more basic range of features. Nevertheless, it allows users to send emails, sell digital products and subscriptions, build landing pages and forms, and access email support.

Moving on, CovertKit has two levels of paid plans: Creator and Creator Pro. The Creator Plan starts at $29 USD per month for 1000 subscribers and gives users access to more advanced tools like free migration from other platforms and automation features.

Creator Pro is their most robust plan, priced at $59 USD per month for 1000 subscribers. It offers users ConvertKit’s entire range of features, including advanced reporting, subscriber scoring, and custom Facebook audiences.

There’s an additional element to ConvertKit’s paid plans: All plans go up in price depending on how many subscribers you have. The prices listed above only stay the same if you have less than 1000 subscribers.

For example, if you have 900 subscribers you’ll pay $29 USD per month for a Creator plan. However, if your business grows to 3000 subscribers, the cost of your email marketing plan will go up to $49 USD per month.

Last but not least, if you pay for a year of any plan upfront, you can save on the cost of two months.

Best for

All in all, ConvertKit is one of the top email marketing platforms for online creators. Since it was made by an online creator, it has features that are obviously targeted towards their exact needs. That means that if you’re a blogger, author, coach, podcaster, musician or anything similar, ConvertKit could be a great choice for you.

If you don’t fall neatly into the online creator category, at the very least they’ll have a couple of specific features that you’ll find interesting and may not see elsewhere.

Here are the top advantages to ConvertKit:

• A free version
• A wide variety of ready-to-use, popular integrations like Stripe, Typeform, and Monday.com.
• Robust eCommerce functionalities, designed for online creators. They’re used to sell everything from eBooks to music to presets to online courses.
• A great library of creator resources like blogs, video guides, tutorials, and more.
• Robust reporting and analytics
• Their visual layout makes it easy to build and monitor marketing automations.
• Great templates for everything from emails to landing pages to sign-up forms.

“ConvertKit is a great email service provider for content creators. It offers lots of advanced features that will help build an online business. It’s easy to use and the support is great too.”

– Bryan Collins of Become A Writer Today

“There is no way I could manage communication and conversion with hundreds of thousands of people without ConvertKit.”

– Xayli Barclay, Video Marketing Coach

Drawbacks

Although ConvertKit is a great option for many email marketing efforts, they’ve also got their drawbacks. When weighing Flodesk vs. ConvertKit as your future ESP, it’s important to consider the following:

• ConvertKit is the best fit for online creators specifically, but most will benefit from the awesome features
• It’s difficult to put together visually appealing emails with ConvertKit. They prioritize plain-text messages, and users have reported needed coding experience in order to bring their desired visions to life.
• Their plans can get expensive fast, especially if you have (or plan to have) more than 1000 subscribers.
• Many users report ConvertKit being clunky and difficult to use, especially for beginners.

“In my opinion if they are charging such a premium price it really should be top notch and this really falls short in a lot of ways.”

– Amy F. on Capterra

Is Flodesk or ConvertKit the Email Marketing Service for You?

The time has come to produce a verdict. Both Flodesk and ConvertKit are great email marketing services, and the ideal platform for you may come down to your specific needs.

For small business owners that want to prioritize next-level email design and keep costs down, Flodesk is a fantastic option. It’s much more affordable than ConvertKit and is more user-friendly, too.

On the other hand, if you’re an online creator with ESP experience, who wants an email service provider with robust, built-in eCommerce capabilities and mature features, then ConvertKit may be the best option. It’s much pricier and more difficult to use compared to Flodesk, but offers some more advanced features.