HighLevel vs the rest › HighLevel vs Flodesk

Flodesk pricing vs GoHighLevel, in plain words

HighLevel vs Flodesk: what you really pay each month

Quick answer: Under about 5,000 subscribers Flodesk is cheaper on the sticker: $25 to $59 a month on Lite or Pro, $54 to $107 on Everything. But Flodesk retired its flat unlimited price in December 2025 and auto-upgrades you as your list grows (Pro is $79 at 10,000 and $169 at 25,000; Everything $137 and $257), and it has no CRM, texting, booking, funnels or courses. HighLevel stays $97 at any list size.

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HighLevel gives 30 days through my link, no card hold.

Every number below is from the vendor's own pricing page and help centre, read 20 Sep 2026. HighLevel is the one I use and teach, and I'm an affiliate, so I show you the numbers instead of asking you to trust me.

1

The hidden fees: HighLevel vs Flodesk

Nine ways the number on the price tag turns into a different number on your card. Most of these are published, just not on the big price tag. Every cell is from the vendor's own pages, read 20 Sep 2026.

The feeHighLevelFlodesk
Cap on contactsNone. Unlimited on every plan.Every price is per subscriber tier. Cross a tier = auto-upgrade. Can bill you after you cancel.
Fee per user seatNone. Unlimited users.1 / 2 / 3 seats. No way to add more.
Cut of your sales0% on top of Stripe.0%. Stripe 3% + 30¢ on Express accounts.
Email charges$0.675 per 1,000 sent. 10,000 emails = $6.75. No monthly cap; brand-new accounts ramp up over their first weeks.Unlimited on paid plans.
Texting (SMS)Built in. About $0.012 per text, number $1.15/mo, pay as you go.No SMS product at all.
AI chargesSeparate on every plan: pay per use, or $50/mo AI Employee Growth, $97/mo Unlimited. Never included in the $97.Flodesk Studio design AI, free while in beta. No AI that talks to customers.
Onboarding or setup feeNone.None.
Commitments and cancellation termsMonth to month. Cancel any time. Numbers and texts used during the trial are billed at usage rates.Flat "unlimited" price retired Dec 2025. Auto-upgrade can charge you after cancelling an annual plan.
Price rises this yearSame $97 / $297 / $497.Unlimited plan gone for new customers.
2

Feature by feature

30 things a business actually needs to run, and whether HighLevel and Flodesk have it built in. "Add-on" means you pay extra. "Limited" means it's there but capped or tier-gated.

You needHighLevelFlodesk
CRM with sales pipelines✓✕
Websites and funnels✓limited
link page, sales page
Courses and memberships✓✕
Community✓
groups, channels, gamification
✕
Documents and contracts with e-signature✓✕
Invoicing and estimates✓✕
Subscriptions and payment plans✓✓
Forms and surveys with conditional logic✓limited
simple forms
Chat widget on your website✓✕
WhatsAppadd-on
$10/mo + Meta fees
✕
Missed-call text-back and call tracking✓✕
Affiliate program manager✓✕
Blog✓✕
Mobile app for you to manage leads✓?
not on vendor page
Webinars, built in✓✕
Course quizzes and certificates✓✕
Google review requests✓✕
Email marketing✓
metered
✓
Texting from the app✓✕
Phone numbers and calling✓✕
Booking calendars✓✕
Reviews and reputation✓✕
Social media planner✓✕
AI that talks to customers (chat, voice)add-on
pay per use or $50/mo, every plan
✕
design AI only
Multi-step automation✓✓
Pro and up
Separate accounts for clients✓
3 on $97, unlimited on $297
✕
Your brand on the software (white label)limited
$297 plan and up
✕
Sell the software to clients (SaaS)limited
$497 plan
✕
Unlimited contacts✓✕
Unlimited users✓✕
Free trial30 days14 days
Built in, no add-on26 of 303

Counted: a ✓ with no "limited" or "add-on" tag, trial row excluded. Each column is that tool's entry plan shown in the close-up cards below, except Kartra, where I use the $119 Starter because the $59 plan is not a real starting point. A grey ? means I couldn't find it on the vendor's own pages, so I didn't count it either way. Read 20 Sep 2026 from each vendor's pricing page and help centre; links in the footer.

3

HighLevel and Flodesk, close up

Plans, the fees behind them, what's missing, who it's honestly good for, and what people said about it in the last 30 days.

HighLevel gohighlevel.com

$97 /mo, then $297, $497
Plans
  • $97 Starter: everything, unlimited contacts and users, 3 accounts
  • $297 Unlimited: unlimited client accounts, white label, rebill usage at cost
  • $497 Agency Pro: sell it under your brand with your own markup
What's on top
  • Email $0.675 per 1,000 sent
  • Texts about $0.012 each, phone number $1.15/mo, calls about 1.7¢/min
  • AI: pay per use, or $50/mo AI Employee Growth, $97/mo Unlimited. Always separate
  • Optional add-ons: WhatsApp $10/mo, premium workflow actions 1¢ each, dedicated IP $59/mo, HIPAA $297/mo, white-label mobile app $497/mo
What's missing
  • On the $97 plan: WhatsApp and AI are pay-as-you-go, white label and SaaS mode need $297 and $497. Design templates are plainer than Kajabi or Flodesk.
Honest fit: anyone whose business needs more than one of: leads, booking, texting, courses, reviews. Agencies, always.
"Priced four all-in-one platforms with usage fees included... GHL meters phone numbers, SMS, calls and email on top of the plan."Reddit r/CRM, Sep 2026. True, and the full decoder of those charges is at gohighlevelpricing.automatedmarketer.net.

Flodesk flodesk.com

$25 /mo Lite at 1,000 subs, $72 at 10,000. Everything: $54 to $137
Plans (monthly, 1,000 subscribers)
  • Free: forms and pages, cannot send email
  • $25 Lite: 1 seat, 1 workflow, Flodesk footer stays, max 25,000 subs
  • $28 Pro: 2 seats, unlimited workflows, 1 checkout
  • $54 Everything: 3 seats, unlimited checkouts, subscriptions. Climbs with subscribers: $137 at 10,000, $257 at 25,000, $527 at 50,000
Hidden fees
  • The famous flat "unlimited" price was retired 2 Dec 2025. New customers pay by subscriber tier
  • Cross a tier and you're auto-upgraded: Everything goes $54 to $87 at subscriber 1,001, a 61% jump, then $107 at 2,501
  • On an annual plan, a tier jump during the remaining paid term still bills you after you've cancelled the renewal; Flodesk's own help page tells you to delete your forms to avoid it
  • Seats fixed at 1 / 2 / 3, no way to add a fourth
  • Checkout: Stripe 3% + 30¢ on Express accounts; only in US, CA, UK, AU, NZ and Euro area
What's missing
  • CRM, pipelines, contact records, tasks: none. Only email segments
  • Texting, calling, booking, websites, courses, memberships, communities, reviews, social planner
  • Lead scoring, agency sub-accounts (you can be invited into up to 20 client-paid accounts). Support by email only
Honest fit: a designer, author or creator under 10,000 subscribers who wants the prettiest emails in the business, yes/no workflows and a Stripe checkout. Not much else.
"$25 a month is not what decides this. Whether it's still $25 in 2 years, well, that's what makes it."YouTube, Consumer Research Studios, 4 Sep 2026, a Flodesk-sponsored review
"Considering switching from Flodesk to Substack for my newsletter to save some $$."Threads, @vblacey.books, 2026
4

HighLevel or Flodesk: which one to pick

Not because HighLevel is always the cheapest line. Because of what the price tag can't show.

When Flodesk is honestly the better buy

  • Flodesk, if all you send is a beautiful newsletter to a small list and you never need a CRM, a text or a booking page. $25 a month up to 1,000 subscribers, $52 up to 5,000.
  • Everyone else: the moment you need two of the things HighLevel has that your tool doesn't, HighLevel is usually cheaper than the two subscriptions, and it's already connected.

Can you resell it, or put your own brand on it?

ToolYour brand on the softwareSeparate accounts for clientsResell it and set your own price
HighLevelYes, from $297: white-label desktop app and custom domainYes: 3 on $97, unlimited on $297Yes, on $497: SaaS mode, clients sign up and pay you automatically, you mark up their usage
FlodeskNoNo. Each client buys their own planNo
What I'd do. Start the 30-day trial, load your list, send one campaign and one text. You'll know inside a week whether it does what your current stack does. The subscription for that week is $0; the text and the number are a few cents.
Start the 30-day free trial

HighLevel vs Flodesk: questions people ask

Short answers. Every number is from the vendor's own pricing page, read 20 Sep 2026.

Is HighLevel cheaper than Flodesk?

Under about 5,000 subscribers Flodesk is cheaper on the sticker: $25 to $59 a month on Lite or Pro, $54 to $107 on Everything. But Flodesk retired its flat unlimited price in December 2025 and auto-upgrades you as your list grows (Pro is $79 at 10,000 and $169 at 25,000; Everything $137 and $257), and it has no CRM, texting, booking, funnels or courses. HighLevel stays $97 at any list size.

Which of these tools charge per contact?

Kajabi, Kartra, ClickFunnels, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign and Flodesk all price by contact tier. HubSpot and Flodesk auto-upgrade you the moment you cross a tier; Kartra auto-upgrades and adds a fee; ActiveCampaign stops your campaigns at the cap. HighLevel has unlimited contacts on every plan.

Which of these tools charge per user seat?

All six. Kajabi $5 per extra seat, ActiveCampaign $10 to $40, HubSpot $20 to $75. Kartra, ClickFunnels and Flodesk have hard seat caps with no add-on, so you must jump a whole tier. HighLevel has unlimited users on every plan.

Which tool has built-in texting?

Only HighLevel has texting, phone numbers and calling built in, at about 1.2 cents per text. HubSpot sells it as a $75 a month add-on on Professional and above. ActiveCampaign sells credits from $21 a month. Kajabi, Kartra and ClickFunnels require your own Twilio account. Flodesk has no SMS at all.

Which tool has the longest free trial?

HighLevel and Kajabi both offer 30 days. HighLevel's is 30 days through an affiliate link with no card hold (14 days on the public page); Kajabi places a $149 hold on your card. Kartra, ClickFunnels, ActiveCampaign, Flodesk and HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional offer 14 days, and ActiveCampaign caps its trial at 100 emails. HubSpot also has a permanent free tier with HubSpot branding.