What Is ClickFunnels? A Plain-English Explanation (2026)

ClickFunnels is online software for building and hosting sales funnels: short sequences of web pages that guide a visitor toward one action, such as joining an email list, registering for a webinar or buying a product. Around the funnel builder, it bundles checkout and payments, email marketing, automation, courses, a CRM, a website and blog, and an online store. It was launched in 2014 by Russell Brunson and Todd Dickerson, and plans start at $97 a month after a free trial.

This page explains what ClickFunnels is and how it works, what it is used for, what each part does, what it costs, and how the current version differs from the original. For a full verdict, see our ClickFunnels review.

ClickFunnels in One Minute

What Does ClickFunnels Actually Do?

A normal website is built for browsing: menus, many pages, many links. ClickFunnels is built for one decision at a time. Its help center describes a funnel as "a series of steps designed to guide visitors toward a specific outcome", and contrasts it with websites, which it says can "confuse visitors and lead to decision fatigue."

In practice, ClickFunnels does four jobs that would otherwise need several tools:

1. Builds the pages. Opt-in pages, sales pages, webinar pages, order forms, upsell pages and thank-you pages, from templates, from scratch or with Build with AI.
2. Takes the money. A checkout with products, subscriptions, order bumps and one-click upsells, connected to a payment processor.
3. Follows up. Email broadcasts and automated workflows that react to what each contact does.
4. Delivers the product. Courses, membership areas, communities and digital downloads, with access granted after purchase.

If you are new to the idea of a funnel, our guide to what a sales funnel is explains the concept without any software.

How ClickFunnels Works

Teams, Workspaces and Apps

When you sign up, ClickFunnels creates a team, which its help center calls "the main ClickFunnels account". Inside the team you create workspaces, described as "like a sub-account" where funnels, contacts and automations live. Agencies and people with several brands use one workspace per business; the number of workspaces depends on the plan.

Each workspace is extended with apps, added from the sidebar with + Add Apps. If you want to sell a course, for example, you add the Course app and Payments AI for checkout.

Funnels and Steps

A funnel is made of steps, and each step is a page with one job. A simple sales funnel in ClickFunnels looks like this:

Products are attached to the checkout step, workflows are attached to steps, and every opt-in or purchase lands in the same contact record. That connection is what makes ClickFunnels different from a page builder plus a separate cart plus a separate email tool.

What a ClickFunnels Funnel Looks Like

Visitors see ordinary web pages, usually without a navigation menu, on your own domain or on the default myclickfunnels.com subdomain each workspace gets. Most funnels are two to five steps. The visitor only ever sees one page and one button at a time.

What Is ClickFunnels Used For?

ClickFunnels is used most heavily by people selling information products, courses, coaching and digital offers, which is the market Russell Brunson's books and events are aimed at. Local and service businesses use it too; our guides to ClickFunnels for coaches and ClickFunnels for service businesses cover those cases.

What's Included in ClickFunnels

These are the main parts of the current platform, as described in the ClickFunnels help center.

ClickFunnels also offers an MCP server that, according to its help center, connects "an AI assistant like Claude or ChatGPT" to your workspaces so you can manage funnels, contacts and products by conversation.

Is ClickFunnels a CRM?

Partly. ClickFunnels stores every contact with their opt-ins, purchases and tags, and it has pipelines, which its help center describes as "a visual tool that helps you track and manage opportunities from start to finish." MessageHub is described as "a ClickFunnels CRM solution for managing customer interactions across various platforms."

That is enough for most creators and small businesses that sell online. Teams that need deep sales forecasting, territories or heavy calling and texting usually pair ClickFunnels with a dedicated CRM or look at an all-in-one such as GoHighLevel. Our ClickFunnels vs GoHighLevel comparison covers that choice.

ClickFunnels vs the Original ClickFunnels

If you search for ClickFunnels, you will find two products with the same name. That causes much of the confusion around what ClickFunnels is.

ClickFunnels 2.0 launched in 2022 and is now simply called ClickFunnels. Data in Classic is kept separately from the current platform, so older tutorials, prices and feature names (such as Actionetics, Backpack or Follow-Up Funnels) often no longer apply. Our ClickFunnels Classic vs 2.0 guide covers the differences in detail.

Who Created ClickFunnels?

ClickFunnels was created by Russell Brunson, an internet marketer and author, and his business partner Todd Dickerson. Brunson's own website says the two "launched their sales funnel software in October 2014". Brunson's books, DotCom Secrets, Expert Secrets and Traffic Secrets, explain the funnel strategies the software was built around; see our ClickFunnels trilogy overview.

That background explains ClickFunnels' style. It is not just software: it comes with a strong teaching culture, challenges, events and a community of "funnel hackers" who study and adapt each other's funnels.

How Much Does ClickFunnels Cost?

Prices from the ClickFunnels help center, checked in November 2026. There is no free plan. The help center describes a 14-day free trial followed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, and says ClickFunnels does not take a percentage of your sales; payment processor fees still apply. Our ClickFunnels pricing guide explains what each plan adds.

Who Should Use ClickFunnels?

A good fit:

• Course creators, coaches and consultants who sell with webinars, challenges or application funnels.
• Info-product and digital-product sellers who want order bumps and one-click upsells.
• People who want pages, checkout, email and delivery in one account instead of connecting several tools.
• Marketers who learn best from templates, training and a large community.

A weaker fit:

• Anyone with a budget near zero; Systeme.io has a free plan, covered in our ClickFunnels vs Systeme.io comparison.
• Stores with large catalogues that need deep ecommerce features.
• Agencies that need white-label client accounts; GoHighLevel is built around that model.
• Businesses that only need a simple website or a single landing page.

For other options, see our ClickFunnels alternatives.

Common Misconceptions About ClickFunnels

• "It's only for internet marketers." The best-known users sell courses and coaching, but the same funnels work for services, ecommerce and local businesses.
• "You need a website first." ClickFunnels hosts your pages and gives each workspace a default subdomain. A custom domain is recommended for live funnels.
• "It guarantees sales." It is a tool. The offer, the copy and the traffic decide the results.
• "ClickFunnels takes a cut of every sale." Its help center says it does not take a percentage of your sales.
• "Old reviews still apply." Many articles describe ClickFunnels Classic and its older prices.

Our Verdict

ClickFunnels is an all-in-one funnel platform: it builds the pages, takes the payment, sends the follow-up and delivers the product, all from one account. The current version is far broader than the original funnel builder, with email, a CRM, courses, a community, a store and a website included.

It suits people who sell offers online and want a proven funnel structure more than a general website. If you want to try it, the free trial is enough to build and test a first funnel; our ClickFunnels for dummies guide shows the setup step by step.

Frequently Asked Questions