If you're running a solo business or freelance practice and paying for separate email marketing, funnel builder, course platform, and website tools — this post is going to hurt a little.
Because I did the exact same thing for two years. My monthly SaaS bill looked like this:
- ClickFunnels: $97/mo
- ConvertKit: $29/mo
- Teachable: $39/mo
- Linktree Pro: $9/mo
- Calendly: $12/mo
Total: $186/month. For tools that mostly overlap and don't talk to each other without Zapier (another $20/mo).
Then I found Systeme.io and cancelled everything except Calendly.
What Systeme.io Does (Free Plan)
The free plan includes:
- 3 sales funnels (landing page + thank you page + upsell)
- 2,000 email contacts, unlimited sends
- 1 online course with file hosting
- Website builder (blog-capable)
- Affiliate program management
- Automations (email sequences, tagging)
- 1-click upsells
That's $0/month for what I was paying $186/month to do across 5 different tools.
Paid plans start at $27/month and unlock unlimited funnels, contacts, and courses — but most solo operators I know run on the free plan indefinitely.
Try it free (no credit card): https://systeme.io/?sa=sa0270274535a70d31540c545ed5649053cad02531
What It Doesn't Do Well
I want to be honest here because too many comparison posts read like paid ads.
Email deliverability is slightly lower than dedicated platforms like ConvertKit or Mailchimp. If your business depends heavily on email open rates, you might see a 2-5% drop. For most solopreneurs, this is a trade-off worth making.
Course UX is simpler than Teachable or Podia. If you're selling a premium $500+ course with community features, Kajabi is still the gold standard. For a $27-97 course with video + PDF, Systeme.io is fine.
Funnel design flexibility is more limited than ClickFunnels. You get templates that work but aren't as customizable pixel-by-pixel.
If you're just starting out or have under 2,000 contacts, none of these caveats matter. The free plan is genuinely useful.
How I Set It Up in a Weekend
The biggest time sink switching tools is migrating your existing automations. Here's the order that worked:
- Import email list (CSV upload, took 5 minutes)
- Rebuild 1 funnel — I started with my lead magnet funnel (landing page → delivery email → 3-email nurture)
- Set up automations — tags based on downloads, sequences based on tags
- Move the course — upload videos and PDFs, set up payment page
- Point domain — DNS change took 24h to propagate
Total time: about 6 hours spread over a weekend.
The Automation Layer
Systeme.io handles internal automations well, but for anything cross-platform (connecting to your CRM, triggering Slack alerts, syncing with a spreadsheet), you still need something like Zapier, Make.com, or n8n.
I built out 15 workflows that connect Systeme.io to the rest of my stack — things like:
- New Systeme.io contact → add to Google Sheet → send Slack notification
- Course purchase → send personalized onboarding sequence → tag in CRM
- Weekly sales report → pulled automatically from Systeme.io API
If you want those workflows, I packaged them: AutomationForge on Gumroad (€1, includes setup screenshots for Zapier/Make/n8n).
The Math, One More Time
Old stack: $186/month = $2,232/year
Systeme.io free: $0/month = $0/year
Systeme.io paid (if you need it): $27/month = $324/year
I've been on the free plan for 8 months. The $0 is holding.
The only reason to stay on your old stack is if you genuinely need features Systeme.io doesn't have — better deliverability at scale, more customizable courses, advanced A/B testing. For most people reading this, those aren't real constraints yet.
If you're migrating tools and want the automation workflows pre-built, they're at northbeamstudio.gumroad.com. Free starter kit + paid bundles if you need more depth.
Top comments (0)