Leadpages vs Unbounce: An Honest Comparison

Both Leadpages and Unbounce are solid landing page builders, but they're designed for different users with different budgets. Let me cut through the marketing speak and tell you which one actually makes sense for your situation.

The quick answer: Leadpages is better for small businesses and beginners who want affordable simplicity. Unbounce is better for marketers who need advanced A/B testing and AI-powered optimization and can justify the higher cost.

Pricing: The Real Numbers

Let's start with what actually matters to most people - the cost.

Leadpages Pricing

Every Leadpages plan includes unlimited traffic and leads. This is huge - you're not going to get hit with surprise overage charges when a campaign takes off. The Standard plan is limited to 5 landing pages and 1 domain, while Pro gives you unlimited pages and up to 3 domains.

Here's the catch: A/B testing isn't available on the Standard plan. You'll need to upgrade to Pro ($74/month annually) for split testing capabilities. Some users have reported unexpected price increases with minimal notice, so keep that in mind.

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Unbounce Pricing

Unbounce is significantly more expensive. Their entry-level Build plan starts where Leadpages' Pro plan tops out. But here's the thing - Unbounce caps your monthly visitors: 20,000 on Build, 30,000 on Experiment, and 50,000 on Optimize.

Go over those limits and Unbounce automatically upgrades you to the next tier. That can lead to surprise bills if you're not watching your traffic closely.

The good news: as of February 2024, all Unbounce plans now include unlimited conversions. Previously, hitting conversion limits would also trigger automatic upgrades.

Feature Comparison: What You Actually Get

Page Builder

Leadpages uses a traditional drag-and-drop editor built on a grid system. It's more beginner-friendly - content snaps into place and looks professional even if you have zero design experience. G2 users rate their WYSIWYG editor at a perfect 10.0. The downside is less flexibility for pixel-perfect customization.

Unbounce offers a grid-free system that lets you place elements wherever you want. More freedom, but steeper learning curve. If you're not a designer, you might struggle to make pages look professional. They also have a "Smart Builder" that uses AI to generate pages from prompts, though reviews are mixed - it often adds time to the process rather than saving it.

Templates

Leadpages wins on quantity with 200+ templates. You can sort them by conversion rate, which is genuinely useful. Unbounce has about 149 templates, categorized by industry and campaign type. Both libraries are mobile-responsive.

Template quality is subjective - check both galleries before committing. What matters is whether their style matches your brand.

A/B Testing

This is where Unbounce pulls ahead - if you're willing to pay for it.

Leadpages Pro includes A/B testing, but it's fairly basic. Good for beginners testing headlines or images.

Unbounce Experiment plan ($96/month annually) offers unlimited A/B testing with unlimited page variants and dynamic text replacement (DTR). DTR automatically swaps landing page text to match what visitors searched for - a powerful feature for PPC campaigns.

The Optimize plan adds Smart Traffic, Unbounce's AI that automatically routes visitors to the highest-converting page variant. They claim it can improve conversion rates by 30% on average. This is Unbounce's killer feature and something Leadpages simply doesn't have.

Popups and Sticky Bars

Both platforms include unlimited popups and sticky bars on all plans. Both support click-based, time-delay, and exit-intent triggers. Unbounce adds scroll-triggered popups and more detailed analytics on popup performance.

Integrations

Leadpages connects with 90+ marketing tools directly, plus 2,000+ through Zapier. They integrate well with email platforms like Mailchimp and ConvertKit, and their email marketing integration scores higher on G2 (8.8 vs 8.0).

Unbounce integrates with major CRMs and email platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, and Mailchimp. Both platforms work with WordPress, and Unbounce supports AMP pages for faster mobile loading.

One caveat for Leadpages: advanced integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Marketo are only available on higher-tier plans.

AI Features

Both platforms have jumped on the AI bandwagon.

Leadpages offers an AI Writing Assistant for headlines and paragraphs, plus an Image Generator. It's more focused - you generate one element at a time.

Unbounce has Smart Copy for generating content across landing pages, ads, and emails. Their Smart Builder can generate entire pages from prompts, though most users find they need heavy editing afterward. Smart Traffic (Optimize plan only) uses AI for automatic conversion optimization.

Who Should Use Leadpages?

Leadpages makes sense if you're:

Leadpages also offers something Unbounce doesn't: a website builder and a feature called Leadmeter that gives real-time feedback on your page's conversion potential. If you don't have CRO experience, these training wheels are valuable.

Plus, Leadpages includes weekly coaching sessions and free onboarding on all plans - useful if you're just getting started with landing pages.

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Who Should Use Unbounce?

Unbounce is the better choice if you're:

Unbounce's value proposition really kicks in with the Experiment and Optimize plans. If you're just using the Build plan ($99/month), you're paying double Leadpages' price without getting the features that justify it (no A/B testing, no Smart Traffic).

What Each Platform Lacks

Leadpages Limitations

Unbounce Limitations

The Bottom Line

If your budget is under $100/month and you need simplicity, go with Leadpages. The Standard plan at $37/month (annual) gives you enough to get started, and unlimited traffic means you won't get punished for success. Upgrade to Pro when you need A/B testing.

If you're spending serious money on ads and need to squeeze every conversion out of your landing pages, Unbounce's Experiment or Optimize plans deliver tools that justify the premium pricing. Smart Traffic alone can be worth the cost if you're running high-volume campaigns.

Don't buy Unbounce's Build plan - at $99/month without A/B testing, you're getting worse value than Leadpages Pro. Either commit to the Experiment plan or save money with Leadpages.

Both platforms offer 14-day free trials. Test them both with your actual use case before committing.

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Looking at other marketing tools? Check out our guides on email marketing software and CRM for small business to build out your complete stack.