FloDesk vs ConvertKit – Which Email Marketing Software is best for Bloggers? (2023)

FloDesk & ConvertKit are two of the many email marketing software that is available for use by business owners.  But which of the two is best for bloggers and offers the most features that bloggers need and use?

I researched and wrote this article because after using ConvertKit email marketing software for many years, I became aware of FloDesk, and wanted to see if it would be a better option for me to switch to.

I hope that this article will be helpful to you if you are considering signing up for an email service provider, switching email service providers, or considering ConvertKit vs. FloDesk yourself.

This is my honest opinion of both platforms, from a bloggers standpoint and the needs that bloggers have.

I have been with ConvertKit for many many years, I have used most of its features, and I have gone through many different pricing plans with them as my needs changed and my business grew.

But a lot of the bloggers that I really admire use FloDesk.  I love the look of their emails and opt in forms They are just so much more stylish that the ones I can produce in ConvertKit.

So I signed up for a FloDesk free trial and tried them out, in comparison with my existing subscription to ConvertKit.

So here is my view on the differences between ConvertKit and FloDesk, and my recommendation for which one I prefer, and the one you might too as a blogger and small business owner.

Starting out, this is a short summary of both platforms:

FloDesk has been around for less time than ConvertKit.  It has really intuitive and easy to navigate features. It also has more stylish and design pleasing features.  Emails from FloDesk can look more stylish, pretty and professional.

ConverKit has been around quite a while, and was originally created by bloggers for bloggers.  It has so many features – practically every feature you could ever need and use.  However the emails and opt in forms are quite plain looking, and lack the style and design that you might prefer.

So read on below for all the features that are commonly used in an email marketing service by bloggers, and how ConvertKit and FloDesk compare on each one.

This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link in this post and make a purchase via that link I may receive a small commission, at absolutely no additional cost to you.

Opt in Forms and Landing Page Design

Both ConvertKit and FloDesk make creating opt in forms and landing pages easy – with pre-made templates that you can edit to your own branding and design needs.

The opt in forms in ConvertKit are fairly basic.  Here is an example of some of the opt-in forms that they offer:

In comparison here are a couple of forms offered by FloDesk:

Now you can make the ConvertKit forms a bit ‘punchier’ by using HTML and CSS code. But it requires you knowing code and taking the time to add it to the form itself.

Who Wins Here? I think FloDesk is a clear winner with their more stylish and modern designs. They just look more professional and put together than the basic ConvertKit forms. However, ConvertKit has recently started expanding its opt in templates, and the design is getting better and better.

Ease of Adding Forms and Landing Pages to your Posts and Website

This is quite an important one.  ConvertKit is far easier than FloDesk to add forms to your blog posts and pages.

In ConvertKit you can choose many different options of placing the form where you need it. See below for the different options in ConvertKit:

With FloDesk you have to do a little more work.  You have to paste some header code into your site, and then paste code where you want the form to appear (on the page or post).

At first this seemed a little daunting, and I had to watch a couple of YouTube videos to figure out how to add header code.  But once I got the concept and added the header code it was really easy to do.

Once you have placed the header code it is set going forward, and you just have to add individual code to each post or page, just like you do with ConvertKit.

I don’t think this is enough of a deal breaker between ConvertKit and FloDesk, but it can certainly seem a little daunting to a new user of FloDesk.

Who wins here? I have to say ConvertKit, because you won’t need to add any kind of header code to your site, and you have several options for putting the opt in form on your posts and pages.

Click here to try FloDesk and get 50% off the cost of your first year!

Automations and Workflows

Both ConvertKit and FloDesk allow you to create automated sequences.  These are sequences that use a certain event to trigger further actions.

For instance, if you have a certain opt in, once a person signs up for that opt-in you can put them into a sequence that sends them more emails on the same topic etc.

A visual template for an automated sequence is so helpful when setting these sequences up, especially if you have many steps involved in the workflow.

Both ConvertKit and FloDesk have these visual templates to help you get everything set up.

The visual template in ConvertKit has more advanced features.  They have more events, triggers and actions to use in your entire sequence.

FloDesk doesn’t have as many actions, events and triggers, but their templates are far more intuitive. This for me is an important feature because I find setting up sequences and automations complicated sometimes.

Who wins here? ConvertKit has the edge on this with more actions, events and triggers than FloDesk. But you may find it easier and faster to set up automations and workflows in FloDesk.

Creating & Editing Emails

ConvertKit offers an easy to use email builder and editor.  But it is not very visual and stylish. It is simple and plain and will require work on your part if you know HTML and CSS to make your emails more visually appealing.

FloDesk’s email builder is intuitive, easy to navigate and the emails look really professionally designed.

Many experts believe that it is better to send emails with less images – and that text heavy emails are more likely to be delivered and engaged with. 

Others believe that images really make an email look different and more appealing, and are therefore more likely to be opened and engaged with.

Whatever the true answer is here – how you want your emails to look is a big part of your brand and your subscriber engagement. 

This is a glimpse of a couple of FloDesk email templates:

In comparison, here are some of ConvertKit email templates:

However, with fair due to ConvertKit, they have just launched new template features, with some much better looking templates called Starting Points – take a look at some of them below:

Who wins here?   FloDesk has a much better email editor, that is easier to use and navigate, and also produces beautiful looking emails.

But ConvertKit is a close second here due to them just releasing their new Starting Point email templates.  

Analytics and Reports

Analytics and reports are important to get all kinds of information about your subscribers.

You will want to know open rates, bounce rates, unsubscribes and click rates for your subscriber list.

Both FloDesk and ConvertKit offer reports on all these things.  FloDesk reports are more visual – showing graphics, whereas ConvertKit just shows the information facts.

Who wins here?   FloDesk is actually the winner here.  Their reports are more visual and easier to follow.

A/B Testing

A/B testing is a split-test whereby you have two choices of headline for your emails.  You can create two entirely different headlines that are then sent to your subscribers.

You can see which headline performs the best, which is a great marketing tool to use, and can be valuable information for writing headlines in future.

Only ConvertKit offers A/B testing. FloDesk does not have this feature at all.

Does this matter? It all depends.  If you really want to improve your marketing skills then A/B testing can be quite valuable.

Who wins here? Obviously the winner has to be ConvertKit as FloDesk does not offer this feature. However, I don’t personally think this feature is a make or break when selecting an email marketing software.

Custom Code

You might need to add custom code to your forms and pages to make certain features stand out, make them more branded and more.

ConvertKit lets you use custom HTML and CSS in emails.  As their email templates are more simple in design, this is something that can definitely let you jazz up the emails you send through ConvertKit more.

FloDesk does not allow custom code. This means that you have to use the forms and pages they provide as is, and you cannot change them in any way (apart from adding your own information).

However, using custom code really only comes into play if you know HTML and CSS, which probably the majority of business owners do not know. It is easy to learn, but you would have to put in that additional time to learn it.

It can take more work to pretty up and change the ConvertKit emails, which can make sending emails a far more drawn out time consuming task.

Who wins here?  I am going to say FloDesk. Because even though ConvertKit does allow code, FloDesk’s forms and emails are already stylish and well designed.  It is nice to have this feature in ConvertKit, but it is time consuming and more work to have to add the code.

Integrations

There are far more integrations available with Convertkit. But then ConvertKit has been around far longer than FloDesk.  As FloDesk grows it will surely add more integrations.

ConvertKit integrations include ways to combine platforms for easier use. For instance I currently use a ConvertKit plugin on my WordPress blog site, which allows me to just click a button at the end of a post to select which opt-in form I want to appear on that post.

But FloDesk does have an integration with Zapier. Zapier is an amazing tool that allows integrations to be set up between platforms that do not normally have integrations.

Who wins this?   ConvertKit is the clear winner here because it does have so many integrations already set up.   But don’t let this be the factor that puts you off FloDesk – as you can use Zapier easily to do these integrations.

Customer Support

Customer support can make or break your experience with a certain company or provider.

ConvertKit has both email support and an in-app chat feature.  FloDesk only has email support.

However, they both have FaceBook groups, and ConvertKit has a Slack channel.

I have experienced ConvertKit customer support and I thought it was good and I was satisfied with the experience that I had with them.

I have not had personal experience using FloDesk’s customer support, as I am new to the platform and haven’t had any issues that I needed help with.

But I do hear from many other bloggers that FloDesk’s customer support is really outstanding.

Who wins here? I really cannot say without having personal experience of FloDesk’s customer support, and only experience with ConvertKit’s. I would encourage you to read reviews for the customer support for both.

Plans and Pricing

FloDesk now offers three different plans.  

For $38 a month or $420 if you pay annually (a savings of about $36 a year)  they offer their Email plan, which should be enough for the majority of bloggers.

The Email Plan lets you send unlimited emails, have unlimited subscribers, forms and landing pages and workflows.

There is also a Checkout Plan for $38 a month or $420 if you pay annually (a savings of about $36 a year) , which is designed more for selling digital products. 

The Checkout Plan gives you unlimited sales pages, unlimited checkout pages, upsells and digital deliveries, and customer segmentation.

The final plan that they offer is the Everything Plan for $64 a month, or $708 if you pay annually (a savings of about $48 a year).  This gives you both the Email and Checkout plans together.  

This article is reviewing the Email plan. The free trial does give you access to the Everything plan, but I had no need to use the Checkout Plan, therefore that part is not reviewed.

ConvertKit offers several different plans.  That does give you a choice in features and pricing, but ConvertKit’s plans and pricing can get quite complicated.

You can basically pay a low monthly fee for ConvertKit as long as you have only a small amount of subscribers (up to 300).

You can have a free plan up to 1,000 subscribers as long as you don’t need features such as deliverability reporting, visual automation builder, automated email sequences, and integrations.

The basic ConvertKit plans are:

Free plan up to 1,000 subscribers.  This is perfect for those just starting out building an email list, but has very limited features.

Creator Plan for up to 300 subscribers. This plan is $9 a month and includes additional features such as automated email sequences, and visual automation builders.

Creator Pro Plan for up to 300 subscribers.   This is $25 a month up to 300 subscribers, which gives you all features of ConvertKit.

At first glance this pricing looks amazing – BUT – 300 subscribers is not many subscribers at all for most bloggers, and the free plan caps at 1,000 subscribers (which most bloggers will quickly surpass), and doesn’t give you all the features you will probably want.

If you have more subscribers than the 200 on the Creator and Creator Pro plans, and more than $1,000 on the free plan, your costs are going to go way up.

If you have between 1,000 and 3,000 subscribers for instance, the Creator plan goes up to $41 a month, and the Creator Pro plan goes up to $66 a month.

If you have 5,000 subscribers the Creator plan is $66 a month, and the Creator Pro plan is $93 a month.

As your subscriber rate goes up you will start paying a lot more per month, with prices going up and up.

Who is the Winner? FloDesk is the clear winner here. Because the monthly cost for FloDesk is really reasonable, and this is for unlimited subscribers.  You will pay this monthly fee whether you have 10 subscribers or 10,000 subscribers, and it will never go up (unless they increase their prices of course).

Free Plans

Both ConvertKit and FloDesk offer either free plans or free trials.

The ConvertKit free plan lets you have up to 1,000 subscribers completely for free, but with less available features. You won’t have to pay anything until you reach 1,000 subscribers. ConvertKit does have a free 14 day trial, which requires no credit card. Once the 14 days expire if you want to carry on you can sign up for the free plan, or if you have lots of subscribers choose the applicable paid plan.

FloDesk does not have a free plan, but it does have a 30 day trial plan, which is a good amount of time to check out all its features. Once the 30 days is up you can sign up for one of the 3 plans either monthly or annually.

Who is the Winner? I have to say FloDesk, because the 30 day trial period is very generous in terms of checking out all the features. The ConvertKit 14 day trial plan will go very fast and you may not have enough time to really test it. Even though ConvertKit does have that free plan, it is only for up to 1,000 subscribers and you are going to end up paying a whole lot more.

The Email Service Provider I recommend for Bloggers

Which email service provider that you use, between ConvertKit and FloDesk really does depend on how big of a blogger/company that you are and your own needs.

If you run a huge company with many many subscribers you may want to choose ConvertKit, due to its advanced features that it offers, including all the sequences, tags, automations and more.

If you are more concerned about price, FloDesk is a much more affordable option with no hidden surprise fees if your business get bigger.

If you care about how your emails and opt in forms look and want them to look more stylish and professional then FloDesk wins by a long shot.

I really do think that if you want stylish professional looking opt in forms and emails, easy to read reports, visual automations and a monthly or annual cost that isn’t going to break the bank, then FloDesk is a great choice for bloggers.

Why I switched from ConvertKit to FloDesk

I really didn’t have any issues using ConvertKit. It worked well for me for many years.

But there were some things I just didn’t like about ConvertKit:

• There was too much ‘stuff’. ConvertKit has all the bells and whistles and features that you can possibly wish for in an ESP. But there is almost too much there.  The dashboard and features are so many that you can become easily overwhelmed using it. ConvertKit features are not intuitive and it is quite a learning curve to learn how to use all the features. I wanted a much more intuitive easy to use email service provider. I didn’t want to spend more time trying to figure things out that I wanted to use and do. 
• I really didn’t love the sign-up forms.  They were not great design, they were quite plain and less professional looking. 
• The emails sent from ConvertKit are very plain looking. You would need to do some work with code to really pretty them up and make them more stylish.  I received emails from many bloggers that I follow that were just beautiful and fun to receive. When I looked into what email marketing software that they use it was overwhelmingly FloDesk. I wanted that stylish and professional look to my sign-up forms and emails too.

I ultimately decided to switch from ConvertKit to FloDesk.  My top reasons for this were really the intuitive and easy to navigate features in FloDesk, and also how much more stylish and well designed the forms and emails were in FloDesk.

A huge decision factor was also the price. At just $38 a month FloDesk’s pricing is great for small business owners such as myself, and I never have to worry about getting so many subscribers that I have to pay more.

While it is really nice to know that ConvertKit can do all kinds of things such as more advanced automations and other factors, I really didn’t use them that much anyway.

So if you are considering switching your email marketing software and you don’t have thousands and thousands of subscribers, or a marketing department, then I really think that FloDesk is a great choice.

Prefer to use ConvertKit? Check out my detailed review here
How to Create Pretty Emails for your Subscribers
How to Create one Year of Blog Content in one Month

FloDesk & ConvertKit are 2 of many email service providers available for use by bloggers.  But which one is best for bloggers and offers the most features that bloggers need and use?