Flodesk vs Convertkit – Which Email Platform is Better for Solopreneurs?

Reading Time: 10 minutes

Flodesk vs Convertkit are two powerful email marketing software tools but they have many core differences.

This Flodesk vs Converkit guide aims to compare the two email marketing platforms to help lifestyle bloggers and solopreneurs like you decide which platform is a better choice for your business.

Flodesk is a relatively new platform that focuses more on brand aesthetics while retaining functionality. Convertkit is a far matured platform with more advanced features and integrations but focuses more on plain-text emails instead of brand aesthetics.

Flodesk vs Convertkit: TL;DR

Flodesk Pros

• Beautiful & intuitive templates.
• Drag-and-drop email builder (no coding skills required).
• Very easy setup.
• Trigger-based email workflow automation.
• Clean email and subscriber statistics.
• Responsive design for emails and landing pages.
• Excellent customer support.

Convertkit Pros

• Powerful visual automation builder.
• Offers a landing page builder.
• Allows creating dynamic emails using merge tags.
• Tag-based subscriber system.
• Allows creating different types of forms.
• Offers paid newsletters to open a new revenue stream.
• Great customer support through multiple channels.

Flodesk vs Convertkit: Detailed Comparison

Flodesk vs Convertkit comparison breakdown by features:

• Dashboard
• Email Builder
• Forms & Landing Pages
• Visual Automations and Workflows
• A/B Testing
• Monetization Options
• Custom Code Support
• Integrations
• Reporting & Analytics
• Customer Support
• Pricing Plans

Convertkit vs Flodesk: Dashboard

Flodesk:

Flodesk’s general interface focuses on the design and offers a minimal layout with intuitive navigation, making this email marketing platform suitable for both noobs and experts.

The learning curve is minimal and hence, a small business owner with no dedicated marketing assistance can get started quickly using the platform’s mostly drag-and-drop interface.

Convertkit:

Convertkit also follows a clean design language that reflects in its well-organized interface and intuitive navigation.

Every tool an online business will need for its email marketing efforts is within reach inside the dashboard.

However, because of advanced features, there is a comparatively steeper learning curve, but there are ample support videos and articles to help you get started.

Winner: It is a tie because both Flodesk and Convertkit have elegant dashboard interfaces.

Convertkit vs Flodesk: Email Builder

Flodesk:

Flodesk is renowned for its email builder. This email marketing platform will allow you to create branded emails that appear to be professionally designed. In fact, email designs are second to none.

Don’t worry if you are not a designer. They have many pre-designed templates that you can modify using the drag-and-drop builder while maintaining your brand aesthetics.

Convertkit:

Convertkit also has an intuitive email builder. However, it is not focused on aesthetics. This email marketing service focuses on the substance with few styling options.

If you know CSS, you can style your emails to make them aesthetically pleasing, but unfortunately, not everyone knows to code.

Thus, if maintaining brand aesthetics is important for your business, Convertkit will not be a good choice.

Winner: Flodesk because it can create stunning emails that maintain brand aesthetics.

Flodesk vs Convertkit: Forms & Landing Pages

Flodesk:

With Flodesk, you can create forms with ease and embed them on your website. Flodesk forms are pretty and they come with many pre-built styles that you can use to maintain your brand’s design language.

Flodesk will also allow you to create landing pages using various templates. They, too, are beautiful with various styling options.

Unfortunately, Flodesk will not allow you to use a custom domain with your landing pages.

Convertkit:

Convertkit also allows the creation of forms but styling options are limited. CSS knowledge can help you customize them, but that’s not an option for everyone.

You can quickly add Facebook Pixel during form setup tracking form conversions and traffic. You can do this with Flodesk, too, but you will need to install Facebook Pixel manually or use Zapier.

Also, Convertkit has more landing page templates compared to Flodesk and comes with advanced options and integrations. This email service provider will even allow you to set up a custom domain to display your landing page.

Winner: Convertkit because they have more advanced landing page features and allow custom domains.

Flodesk vs Convertkit: Visual Automation & Workflows

Flodesk:

The Flodesk email marketing platform can create automated sequences that can trigger certain actions based on events. For instance, if a person is using a specific form to subscribe, it can trigger a specified set of emails shot to that person at predefined intervals.

Flodesk refers to these automated sequences as ‘Workflows.’ With Flodesk email marketing software, you get a visual workflow builder. In simpler words, you can visually map out the whole automated sequence.

You have the option of using one of their many automation templates, or you can build a sequence from scratch depending on your needs. You can set as many conditions as you need, and the whole process is very intuitive.

Convertkit:

You can use Convertkit’s platform to create and send such automated emails. Convertkit refers to these automated sequences as Visual Automation. The platform offers a very intuitive interface to map out the sequences.

You have a choice of using their templates or you can build one from scratch. However, the automation features are more advanced and offer a wider range of events, triggers, and actions that you can use.

Winner: Convertkit because it offers more advanced automation features.

Flodesk vs Convertkit: A/B Testing

Flodesk:

Unlike other popular email marketing platforms, Flodesk does not offer any A/B testing feature to help you tweak and refine your email marketing strategy.

Convertkit:

Convertkit does have an A/B testing feature but that is limited to the subject lines only. Changing a subject line can be helpful, but that’s not enough to understand the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts.

The ability to test everything from email content, colors, fonts, layout, CTA position, etc. goes a long way to devise highly effective email affiliate marketing strategies.

Winner: Convertkit because it allows testing subject lines.

Flodesk vs Convertkit: Monetization Options

Flodesk:

Flodesk allows you to monetize your email list. This email marketing software will allow you to create entire sales funnels.

Flodesk recently launched Flodesk Checkout. This feature will allow you to create sales pages to sell digital products.

Convertkit:

Similar to Flodesk, Convertkit will also allow you to monetize your list by creating sales funnels and selling digital products like online courses directly through the landing page.

You can even monetize your newsletters by charging readers for reading your newsletters.

Winner: Convertkit because it offers additional monetization options.

Flodesk vs Convertkit: Custom Code Support

Flodesk:

Flodesk mentions in its support articles that it does not support custom code simply because such codes can impact the look and feel of the emails, sign up forms, etc. Still, it is possible to add custom codes like a simple countdown timer. However, Flodesk’s emails, sign up forms, landing pages, etc. have stunning designs that you don’t need to alter.

Convertkit:

Convertkit allows both custom HTML and CSS codes. For those who know to code, the feature is quite user-friendly. Custom code support is quite important for those who what to maintain brand aesthetics because the only way to beautify emails is to use custom CSS.

Winner: Convertkit because it has better support for custom codes.

Flodesk vs Convertkit: Integrations

Flodesk:

Flodesk offers only two native integrations which are Shopify and Instagram. Shopify integration allows creators to sell their products and services quickly through Flodesk. Instagram integration will allow you to integrate your Instagram feeds into your emails.

There is no other native integration available. For any other integration such as WordPress, Facebook, Google Sheets, Slack, etc. you will need to use Zapier.

Convertkit:

Converkit offers more than 100 native integrations. Some of Convertkit’s native integrations include Shopify, Clickfunnels, Wix, Gravity Forms, Stripe, Thinkific, etc. If cannot find a native integration, you can always use Zapier to integrate Convertkit with thousands of third-party services and apps.

Winner: Convertkit because it has more native integrations.

Flodesk vs Convertkit: Reporting & Analytics

Flodesk:

Flodesk offers basic analytics where you can get data on email click and open rates, bounces, open by devices, spam, delivery time & corresponding open and click rate, etc.

You can also see insights on individual subscribers like total emails opened by them, lifetime opens & clicks, etc.

You can use the data to alter your email marketing strategy as required. Read my Flodesk review to learn more about the platform’s analytics features.

Convertkit:

Convertkit’s reporting and analytics are far more robust than Flodesk. The platform will show the CTR of individual emails and email sequences.

You can also get data on individual subscribers and also get data on which emails they have opened apart from their lifetime opens & clicks, total emails opened, etc.

Since you can perform A/B testing, Convertkit will also show the open rate for the same email with different subject lines.

Winner: Convertkit because it offers more advanced analytics.

Convertkit vs Flodesk: Customer Support

Flodesk:

Flodesk is known for its great customer support. Though they don’t have chat support available and offer only email support. Though they respond very quickly, there can be instances where they can take days to respond.

They have plenty of helpful tutorials and videos that you can use. They also have a private Facebook group where business owners using Flodesk provide tips and tricks. You can ask for help in that group and receive quick responses.

Convertkit:

Convertkit offers in-app chat support along with email support. They too, have a private Facebook group where you can find help and even hire independent experts to set up Convertkit for your online business. Convertkit also has a Slack channel available.

Unfortunately, the responsiveness of Convertkit’s customer support team is not that great. It was once very good, but as the platform grew, support became substandard.

Winner: Flodesk because of its very responsive support staff.

Flodesk vs Convertkit: Pricing Plans

Flodesk:

Flodesk has only one pricing plan. They will charge a flat fee of $38 a month or $418 a year and allow:

• Unlimited subscribers.
• Full access to all email marketing features of the platform.
• No limit on the number of emails you can send.

Unfortunately, they do not have any free plan. However, they do have a free trial that lasts for 30 days and you can test all the features they have to offer.

To get 50% off their monthly fees sign up using the link below;

Convertkit:

Convertkit offers a free plan and two paid plans. However, the free plan is quite limited and doesn’t offer advanced reporting, visual automation, third-party integrations, and many more advanced features. Also, the free plan is limited to a maximum of 1,000 subscribers.

Here is what Convertkit offers:

Free Plan: $0 a month

• Maximum subscribers: 1,000
• Unlimited landing pages, forms, broadcasts
• Sell subscriptions & digital products
• Audience tagging & segmentation
• Community support

Creator Plan: Starts at $15 a month for 300 subscribers

• Maximum subscribers: 400,000 beyond which there is custom pricing
• Unlimited landing pages, forms, broadcasts
• Sell subscriptions & digital products
• Audience tagging & segmentation
• Live chat & email support
• Visual automation builder
• Free migration from other tools
• Third-party integrations
• Automated email sequences

Creator Pro Plan: Starts at $29 a month for 300 subscribers

• Maximum subscribers: 400,000 beyond which there is custom pricing
• Unlimited landing pages, forms, broadcasts
• Sell subscriptions & digital products
• Audience tagging & segmentation
• Live chat & email support
• Visual automation builder
• Free migration from other tools
• Third-party integrations
• Automated email sequences
• Advanced reporting
• Newsletter referral system

Winner: Flodesk because of its cheaper flat fee for life!

Flodesk vs Convertkit: FAQ

What’s the difference between Convertkit and Flodesk?

Both Convertkit and Flodesk are popular email list services. However, while Flodesk focuses on design & aesthetics and offers stunning email templates to create beautiful emails with minimal effort, Convertkit focuses on the content and less on aesthetics.

Convertkit is better suited for large and medium-sized businesses that require advanced automation and reporting. This email marketing platform can connect seamlessly with many third-party apps natively, making data sharing between different platforms very easy.

Flodesk also offers automations, reporting, and integrations, but they are not advanced as Convertkit, making Flodesk a better choice for online business owners with limited scale of operation.

Finally, Convertkit lags in customer service. Flodesk, on the other hand, has stellar customer service.

Does Flodesk have a free version?

No, Flodesk doesn’t have a free version like other email marketing services. However, they do have a 30-day free trial with full access to all the features, including the new features that they add periodically. If they launch new features within your trial period, you can test them.

How much is a Flodesk subscription?

A Flodesk subscription will cost you $39 a month. If you pay yearly, you need to pay $418. That’s free usage for one month. Unlike other platforms, Flodesk will not give you a free plan, but they do have a free trial. If you use my link to sign up you’ll get 50% Off!

How good are the deliverability rates of Flodesk and Convertkit?

Flodesk has a deliverability rate of around 72% and about 14% of the emails land in the spam folder. Convertkit has around 85% delivery rate and about 5% land in the spam folder. Flodesk needs to improve in this segment.

Convertkit vs Flodesk: Summary

Both Flodesk and Convertkit are excellent email marketing platforms with awesome features. However, if you are a lifestyle business owner with a limited budget, Flodesk makes more sense because it allows unlimited subscribers for a fixed monthly cost.

However, Convertkit is a more mature email marketing service that offers a similar set of features as Flodesk, but they are more advanced, making the email service more suitable for medium to large businesses.

However, if you want emails to follow the design language of your own business, Flodesk is a much better choice. With Convertkit, you will need CSS knowledge to force the emails to follow your brand’s design philosophy. You can also try Convertkit’s free plan to find out whether it is suitable for your business or not.