Ontraport vs. Keap CRM

I've used Keap since 2008 and Ontraport since 2014. Both are solid. Both have changed a lot. Here is how they stack up, category by category.

Mobile Apps

Both Keap and Ontraport provide their mobile apps free of charge, and both let you run a good chunk of your business from your phone.

I'll call this one close to a tie.

GUI/User Interface

Clicking around either platform feels similar. The Keap Campaign Builder was a big leap for them. If they had not deployed it back around 2012, they'd be a shadow of what they are today.

The drag-and-drop Campaign Builder is easy to use, and it's where you'll spend most of your time as you build out your marketing automation in Keap.

Ontraport, before their 5.0 release in 2017, felt a lot like Infusionsoft's "Legacy" platform before the Campaign Builder was released.

Now they both have an easy-to-use visual builder for your marketing automation, so both get an A+ here.

The Ontraport Campaign Builder

Support

Both offer solid support. Over the years, Ontraport has been known for longer phone hours, including some weekend coverage, while Keap has leaned on chat support, which I use all the time.

Support hours change, so check each company's current hours before you decide.

Compared to the big enterprise platforms that charge extra for support, Keap and Ontraport are rock stars in the area of support.

Having chat support is a dream for me. When I don't have a life-or-death question, I open the chat window, post my question, get the answer when they get to it, and move on.

Social Media Integration

There are two ways to look at social media integration with your sales and marketing automation tool:

1. Social media publishing and monitoring.
2. Advanced "hooks" or tools to grow with social media.

Neither Keap nor Ontraport is a true social media management tool like Hootsuite or HubSpot.

Sure, both will let you share an email to a social profile or embed social share icons on a landing page, but whoop-te-do.

So for social media publishing and monitoring, I give both an N/A.

When it comes to pulling information in from the likes of Facebook, Ontraport led the way with its Facebook integration.

Insofar as native social media features go, I give the nod to Ontraport.

Ontraport vs. Keap Pricing

Both companies change their plans and prices often, so I don't print price tables anymore. They go stale too fast. Check both sites for current plans.

What hasn't changed is how to think about it:

• If you need to send a lot of emails to a lot of contacts, compare the contact and email limits first. That's where the real cost hides.
• If you'll use features like direct mail, SMS, and Facebook custom audiences, count what each platform includes versus what you'd add on.
• If you need a capable CRM right out of the box with a built-in shopping cart, Keap has long been strong there.
• Whatever you pick, budget for setup help. A tool you never set up costs more than a tool you paid for.

Just because a tool offers a free trial or waives a setup fee doesn't mean it's cheaper to own.

How To Decide Ontraport vs. Keap

If you're stuck between the two, that usually means one thing: your requirements list doesn't exist yet.

Write down how a lead finds you, what happens in the first hour, what happens in the first week, how a quote gets chased, and how a past customer gets asked back. Then hold each platform up to that list.

The comparison answers itself.

I've used databases and CRMs since the mid-90s. I've used Salesforce since 2004 and helped Dell deploy it to its North American sales staff in 2007 and 2008. I've used marketing automation software since 2006.

If you still have questions on Ontraport vs Keap, book a time with me.

Why the CRM Didn't Fix It

I've used Salesforce since 2004, Keap since 2008, and HubSpot and Ontraport since 2014. Every tool on this page works. Plenty of owners still give up on it.

The tool was never the problem. A shiny CRM with no written process is just expensive dashboardery. Write down how a stranger becomes a customer first. Then pick the software that fits that process.

Get a process before you get the software →

Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.