If you’re a consultant, chances are you’ve probably heard of PayFunnels. That’s probably because the guy behind consulting.com, Sam Ovens, plugs the product in his flagship course. That’s great for Sam, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best tool for accepting online payments from your consulting (or coaching) clients.
There are many tools out there with more functionality and flexibility. We’ve reviewed five of the alternatives below:
MoonClerk
MoonClerk was probably one of the first tools to be built on top of Stripe with the intention of making integrating Stripe into your website easier. It was built back when Stripe was primarily a developer tool and integrating it was pretty difficult if you were a non-developer.
These days, Stripe has a lot of functionality built right out of the box, but MoonClerk, along with the other four tools we’re reviewing here, still make it a lot easier to integrate Stripe to collect payments from clients.
The problem is, MoonClerk still seems stuck back in those days when it got started. The interface is pretty outdated (think early 2000s web design) and while the team has made updates over the years – such as adding a Mailchimp integration and support for digital product downloads – the overlook look and feel of the product hasn’t kept up with current times.
Cons: The interface is a little outdated looking, and the features may be too simple for some. – Capterra Reviewer
It’s also a very US-centric product, with support for transactions in US Dollars only. And it’s only available in English, so clearly supporting users outside the US is not a priority for their team. If you’re in Europe or Australia even, you’re out of luck.
Having said that, because the product is so mature, it has a lot of functionality. There’s support for both one-time and recurring payments, coupons and trials, a customer portal, and the ability to collect both credit card and bank payments (US only).
Of course, those privileges come with a cost (more on that below…).
Top 3 Pros
- One-time and recurring payments
- Customer portal
- Credit card and bank payments
Top 3 Cons
- Steep transaction fees
- Outdated look and feel
- US-only
What does it cost?
MoonClerk is pricey! The basic $15 per month package gets you all the functionality, but as soon as you process more than $2000 in payments, the cost rises significantly, going up to $500 per month. Wow!
Personally, I don’t like tools that penalize you for growing your business and MoonClerk certainly falls into the category. If you’re looking for a more cost-effective solution, look elsewhere.
ChargeKeep
ChargeKeep, our own tool, is probably the closest you’ll get to have the same functionality as PayFunnels (and lots of extras…) at the same or lower cost. We don’t believe in charging you for growing your business so we have no volume or transaction fees and our Basic plan starts at just $15 per month.
I have used PayFunnels, but I love how simple and clean ChargeKeeep is, with the styling ability with CSS. Everything out there is so big and feature-packed when I think there are a lot of people who want that simple recurring model with a way to update cards. – MARSHALL MARKETING
Inside, you’ll find ChargeKeep super easy to use. In 5 min flat, you can create a payment form, style it to match your brand, and embed it in your website (or send a link to your consulting client). It’s honestly the simplest way to integrate Stripe into your business.
And once you start receiving payments, you can manage your clients inside ChargeKeep or send them to a customer portal where they can update their credit card or plan. And if a payment fails, ChargeKeep has built-in subscription saver (dunning) functionality that works around the clock to prevent and manage failed payments.
Want to skip ahead and give ChargeKeep a try?
Our Basic plan is just $15/month, with no transaction fees.
Top 3 Pros
- Great interface and simple to use and set up
- No extra fees aside from the monthly subscription
- All PayFunnels features and extra ones
Top 3 Cons
- No Mailchimp integration
- No hosting of digital products
- No bank payments
What does it cost?
ChargeKeep is a monthly subscription and starts at $15/month. The Plus package, which includes a customer portal, dunning, and the ability to add multiple Stripe accounts, is $29/month, the same cost as PayFunnels (but you have these extras, which PayFunnels does not have).
SamCart
SamCart focuses on marketers (and by default consultants). It was built by marketers for marketers. You’ve probably seen their advertising all over Facebook.
Pay Flynn of smartpassiveincome.com-fame is also a paid advisor for SamCart so you’ll see SamCart’s name pop up quite a bit just due to his endorsement.
It’s a good, well-rounded product with a lot of features. Aside from the basics, you might need to collect one-time and recurring payments – such as coupons or trials – it also provides additional features such as affiliate management, cart abandonment, and lots of integrations. Now, most of these “plus” features are not available on the basic $49/month plan, but they’re there. You’ll just have to pay more for them.
And the part that we like the most is that SamCart does not charge any additional per-transaction or volume-based fees. That’s a big plus.
Top 3 Pros
- Affiliate management
- No per-transaction or volume-based transaction fees
- Lots of integrations
Top 3 Cons
- Most features only available on more expensive plans
- No bank payments
- No embeddable checkout
What does it cost?
SamCart is expensive. You’ll pay a lot for all the features of the platform. Their cheapest plan is $49/month and goes up to $199/month if you want all the bells and whistles such an affiliate center, dunning, and a/b testing. There’s even a $399/month package for more enterprise-type users.
It’s safe to say it’s not really a tool for those that are just starting out or have a small, but growing consulting or coaching business. More entry-level and customer-friendly tools like ChargeKeep are probably a better option.
Zoho Subscriptions
Zoho has a few different products that cater to different demographics, but the one most applicable to consultants and coaches is Zoho Subscriptions.
Like SamCart, it’s a full-featured product. It has dunning management, versatile design options, and even Apple and Android apps, which is very unusual for a recurring billing software product.
To access all the features, you will need to pay a bit more, however. And if you can get over the fact that Zoho is not exactly a forward-thinking sort of a company – think PayPal, not Stripe – they may be a good fit for you.
But keep in mind that because Zoho is a product that caters to many types of small businesses, it’s not a product that caters to consultants and coaches specifically. Yeah, you could use it and it would probably work just fine, but it’s not a product that caters to that demographic exclusively. For instance, it’s pretty difficult to send out one-time payment requests using just Zoho Subscriptions. As this reviewer notes:
Cons: The only thing I didn’t like was that I couldn’t do a one-time payment easily. Sometimes we have one time jobs such as web development or consulting, and it makes it kind of hard to use just this one system. We had to also get Zoho Invoice to complement what we were doing. So unless you are doing just recurring subscriptions you’ll need to get an invoicing tool as well. – Capterra Reviewer
Top 3 Pros
- Webhooks and API
- Apple and Android apps
- Good payment form designer
Top 3 Cons
- Usage limits
- Outdated design
- Caters to all small businesses
What does it cost?
Zoho Subscriptions starts at $39/month and goes up to $199/month. The good news is that it doesn’t charge transition fees, so it won’t penalize you for growing your business. Now, they do limit the number of customers you can have on each plan, but the 500-customer limit on the lowest $39/month plan is pretty generous. It does give you a little bit of room to grow.
Don’t need a super complicated tool?
Then you’ll love ChargeKeep. Plans start at $15/month (with no extra fees).
Invoiced
As the name implies, Invoiced is a service that allows you to send out invoices to be billed, one-time or recurring. It’s the one product on this list that’s the most full-featured and caters to both small and large businesses. It has tons of integrations – even some enterprise-level ones like NetSuite and Oracle – and pretty much all the features you might need to bill your clients.
That’s probably its biggest downfall as well – it has so many features that it caters to a very specific demographic… businesses or individuals that are already pretty well-established and looking for a tool that can do a lot of different things for them. As this recent review notes, lots of features is not always a good thing:
Cons: It is difficult to set-up properly. Some of the features are good ideas, but have something that prevent us from taking advantage of them. – Capterra Reviewer
You’ll also pay dearly for that privilege. While there are no extra transaction fees, the per-month fees are pretty steep, even on the entry-level package.
Top 3 Pros
- Enterprise-level features
- Lots of integrations
- API
Top 3 Cons
- High cost
- Has features you’ll probably never use
- Complicated to use
What does it cost?
The Basic plan is $100/month; the next level up – the Advanced plan – is $500/month. And then there’s the enterprise-level package, which you’ll most likely never need. From their recent reviews on Capterra, price appears to be a concern for their own customers as well:
Cons: The only downside to this software is the cost. For a smaller company who has few customers and little business revenue, this is not a very cost-effective software to use. The basic package is $100 a month, which can add up over time. For a more established company, this is a great tool. – Capterra Reviewer
So there you have it. Our review of five possible PayFunnels alternatives. Hope this review was useful for you and best of luck growing your own business using some of these tools!
Now that you’re here…
ChargeKeep is a super simple way to bill your consulting or coaching clients. If you liked this blog post, you’ll probably love ChargeKeep too.