Thrive Architect vs. LeadPages
Trying to decide between Thrive Architect and LeadPages?
Read this first.
Note: This page was formerly titled "Thrive Landing Pages vs. LeadPages," but Thrive Landing Pages is now a part of Thrive Architect
Key Differences: Thrive Architect vs. LeadPages
Thrive Architect and LeadPages are two fundamentally different products. Yes, they do many of the same things, but at their core, they are different.
The biggest difference between the two solutions comes down to this:
LeadPages is a hosted solution. Thrive Architect is a WordPress plugin.
What does this mean?
You can use LeadPages without having to build a website. On the other hand, Thrive Architect will only work if you have a self-hosted website running WordPress (WordPress is the web's most widely used CMS).
You can't use Thrive Architect if you don't have a website or if your website doesn't use WordPress. If that's the case, then LeadPages is probably a better solution for you.
So, why does it make sense to compare Leadpages to Thrive Architect?
If you have a self-hosted site running WordPress, you can use Thrive Architect AND LeadPages. This makes things more interesting if you're trying to decide between the two. Obviously, as the creators of Thrive Architect, we are biased, but we've done our best to keep this comparison as objective as possible.
The goal of this page is to help you make an informed decision on the two products and answer the question we so often hear: "What's the difference between the two?"
This is how this comparison page is organized:
First, we'll quickly compare Thrive Architect to the "Standard" level of LeadPages. To be honest, it's not a very helpful comparison.
Second, we'll compare Thrive Suite to the "Pro" level of LeadPages. Their price points are closer and the features they offer are more comparable. It's a much more helpful comparison
Thrive Architect vs. LeadPages (Standard Level)
Pricing
Thrive Suite - Quarterly
Thrive Suite - Yearly
Thrive Architect
$99/qtly
$299/yr
$97/yr
Standard
$300/year
- Unlimited Landing Pages/Unlimited Domains
- All Page Templates & Leadboxes
- Embed on Any Site
- Advanced HTML Export
Feature Comparison
Feature | Thrive Architect | LeadPages Standard |
|---|---|---|
Template Library | 
|
|
Responsive |
|
|
Affiliate Program |
| 
|
Welcome Gate (or Equivalent) |
|
|
Exit Intent Pop-ups |
|
|
Marketing Tool Integrations |
|
|
LeadBox (or Equivalent) |
|
|
SEO Optimized |
|
|
Customer Support |
|
|
30 Day Money Back Guarantee |
|
|
A/B Testing & Built in Analytics |
Can buy as an add-on (Thrive Optimize) |
|
Own Your Pages |
|
|
Build From Scratch Drag & Drop |
|
|
No Monthly Fees |
|
|
Facebook Integration |
|
|
No Website Required |
|
|
Sort Landing Pages by Conversion Rate |
|
|
LeadLinks (or Equivalent) |
|
|
LeadDigits (or Equivalent) |
|
|
Conclusion
The MAJOR differences between the two products are price and core functionality (i.e. WordPress plugin vs. hosted solution).
As I said in the beginning, this comparison is really only helpful if you own a website running WordPress (if you don't, you can't use any Thrive product). If this is the case, then when you examine the above comparison table there are only small feature differences, but a huge price differences between the two products.
These two products are entry level products for each of the companies and if you're interested in them, you're probably more on the beginner side of building an online business. As a beginner, a larger decision factor is price, especially if the products are similar feature-wise. For a budget concsious buyer, Thrive Architect is clearly a better choice.
If you're further along in building your online business, you'll want a more robust product, capable of more than just landing pages. You'll find the next section more helpful in this regard.
Thrive Suite vs. LeadPages (Pro Level)
Thrive Suite and LeadPages Pro is a much more interesting and helpful comparison if you're looking to grow your online business long term. They are products focused on generating more leads for your online business in more aspects than just landing pages, they both require ongoing payments, and have more features to compare.
Pricing
Yearly License
Use on 5 websites you own.
$299/year
- Access to all our plugins: Thrive Architect, Thrive Leads, Thrive Quiz Builder, Thrive Apprentice, Thrive Comments, Thrive Ovation, Thrive Optimize & Thrive Ultimatum, Thrive Theme Builder and the companion theme Shapeshift
- Every future plugin, theme, update and feature.
- Unlimited access to support team
Pro
Everything In the Standard Level, plus:
$576/year
- A/B Testing & LeadDigits
- Access to Affiliate Program & Partner Discounts
- Upload Custom Landing Page Templates
- Priority Email Support & Live Chat
Feature Comparison
Feature | Thrive Suite | LeadPages Pro |
|---|---|---|
Template Library |
|
|
Responsive |
|
|
Affiliate Program |
|
|
Welcome Gate (or Equivalent) |
|
|
Exit Intent Pop-ups |
|
|
Marketing Tool Integrations |
|
|
LeadBox (or Equivalent) |
|
|
SEO Optimized |
|
|
Customer Support |
|
|
30 Day Money Back Guarantee |
|
|
LeadLinks (or Equivalent) |
|
|
Build From Scratch Drag & Drop |
|
|
Own Your Pages |
|
|
SmartLinks (or Equivalent) |
|
|
TypeFocus (or Equivalent) |
|
|
Search Engine Optimized Blog Creation |
|
|
Content Marketing Reporting Tools |
|
|
Opt-In Form Targeting & Segmentation |
|
|
Fully Integrated Websites (w/ navigation) |
|
|
Evergreen & Uncheatable Countdown Timers |
|
|
Automatic Headline Optimization |
|
|
Testimonial Organization & Management |
|
|
Landing Page A/B Testing |
|
|
Facebook Integration |
|
|
No Website Required |
|
|
Sort Landing Pages by Conversion Rate |
|
|
LeadDigits (or Equivalent) |
|
|
Flexibility
Flexibility when it comes to customization is where Thrive Suite excels.
On one hand you have the done-for-you factor. There are beautiful, pre-designed pages and opt-in forms ready for traffic with just a few changes to the text and maybe replacing a product image.
In the page editor, you can change everything about every template and you can add any of the 37 elements (text, buttons, boxes, testimonials etc.) anywhere on any page.
This can't be emphasized enough: when you’re looking at a landing page or opt-in form in Thrive, there is not a single element you can’t change, move, remove or edit very efficiently.
It's an amazing combination of speed of implementation and complete flexibility.
However, Thrive Suite are WordPress plugins. Meaning you can only use it on a self-hosted site running WordPress. So it's not very flexible on where you can use it.
When it comes to page customization, LeadPages has two types of templates: Standard and Drag-and-drop.
The standard templates don't allow for much customization and are built to publish quickly. You can load up a template and edit some elements, but for all intents and purposes the standard templates are pretty "fixed."
The drag-and-drop templates allow for much more customization than the standard templates. With the drag-and-drop templates you have access to 17 elements you can add to your page.
However, LeadPages is a hosted solution, so it has more flexibility on where you can use it compared to Thrive Architect. You can publish your pages on the LeadPages server, your own server (WordPress or others) or even Facebook.
Ease Of Use
On the surface, all visual editors seem pretty much the same, but this is where the smallest details in usability become important. Building complex pages and websites involves hundreds of user actions. If an editor is a few seconds slower or slightly abstract on any step, minutes easily turn to frustrated hours.
There is a bit of a learning curve to get used to Thrive Architect (especially if you're new to WordPress).
For example, learning the difference between a content container and a page section and when to use them takes a bit of practice.
However, once you get the hang of the drag-and-drop editor, it's not only extremely simple and fast to use, but very powerful, allowing for designer level customization.
Thrive also has a huge knowledge base of training content and whenever there are new features, you can expect blog posts and videos to explain not just what the features are, but also how to best use them.
Their standard templates are designed for quick deployment instead of customization, only allowing you to swap out some key elements for your industry before being ready to publish. There is little room for innovation on the standard templates, so editing the overall look of these types of pages can be frustrating. However, once you get the hang of it, it is click what you want to edit and then edit it.
Their drag-and-drop editor is much more useful than their standard template editor, but isn't very intuitive to start--you can drag-and-drop elements on the page, but moving page sections requires drag-and-dropping from the sidebar menu and you need to use their dragable columns to create constrained width layouts. However, once you get past the learning curve, you can get a page to look how you want, but speed isn't the editor's strong suit.
LeadPages has a fairly extensive knowledge base and you can opt-in for some great tutorials and webinars to teach you how to take advantage of the product.
User Support
If you get Thrive Suite, you have unlimited access to their support team for as long as you're an active license holder.
The support team is amazingly fast and extremely knowledgeable. All you have to do is login to the support form and post a ticket and you will usually get a response the same day.
In the rare case they can't solve the issue for you through the ticket, they will login to your site (if you let them) and fix it for you.
When you become a LeadPages member your support level depends on your subscription level. At the basic level you have access to the knowledge base and can submit support tickets in your account dashboard.
At the Pro level you get access to in person support chat available Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm CST (as well as being able to submit support tickets).
At the Enterprise level you can submit support tickets, use the live chat, and you have access to a phone number to give you live phone support. Again, available Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm CST.
Summary
LeadPages Pro
LeadPages is great if you don't have a website or have a non-WordPress website, because it allows you to host your pages on the LeadPage servers. However, this means you don't own the pages, so if you cancel your subscription, all the pages are lost.
It also has some really cool features like:
- LeadDigits - allows you to capture email addresses and phone numbers through SMS text messaging
- Facebook Integration - Publish landing page right inside your Facebook pages
- LeadLinks - allows subscribers to join your list, sublist or subscribe to a webinar with a single click (This is the same as Thrive Leads' Signup Segue Feature)
Leadpages has a decently intuitive page editor. The standard theme editor is click to edit but doesn't allow for complete customization. Their drag-and-drop themes and editor are much better, although not the most efficient to use.
LeadPages Pro is more than double the price of Thrive Suite ($588/year vs. $299/year), so if price is a concern there's a large gap between the two, even though they are capable of doing very similar things.
Thrive Suite
Thrive Suite is an amazing solution to boost the conversions of your website if, and only if, you own a website that's running WordPress.
Thrive Suite gives you access to all of Thrive's current and future plugin line. This includes Thrive Architect page builder, which allows you complete drag-and-drop customization, with zero tech and design skills for any and all landing pages, opt-in forms and blog posts.
When you combine this with the Thrive Leads plugin you get functionality that rivals LeadPages (with a few different features) for a fraction of the cost.
Not only do you get the lead generation power of Thrive Leads, Thrive Architect, Thrive Theme Builder, Thrive Apprentice, Thrive Ultimatum, Thrive Ovation, Thrive Optimize, Thrive Comments, Thrive Quiz Builder, you also get all the tools needed to build a fully integrated website with navigation, complete with a search engine optimized blog.
This includes creation and reporting tools for content marketing so you can fully understand what resonates with your audience and brings in the most leads. As well as options to automatically target opt-in forms and offers to different visitor segments to make sure you're showing the most relevant offer at all times.
You can get Thrive Suite for $299/year (less than the basic level of LeadPages), which is an all-in-one toolbox for your online business. You get access to every product created, all future updates, lifetime support, and you get grandfathered in at the price you sign up, which means when Thrive Suite price inevitably increases, you don't pay anything extra.
Start Converting More Visitors Into Customers With Our All-In-One Business Toolbox
Get instant access to EVERY Thrive plugin now and in the future. Thrive Suite is simply the best way to tranform your WordPress website into a conversion machine!