If you want to quickly build high-converting landing pages without coding, there‘s a good chance you‘ve heard of Leadpages and Instapage.
While both make it easy to design aesthetic landing pages, choosing between them can be tricky.
In this in-depth Leadpages vs Instapage comparison, I‘ll dig into the key differences to help you decide which is better for your needs.
Here‘s what I‘ll cover:
- Features overview
- Templates
- Page editor
- Widgets
- Responsive design tools
- Lead magnet delivery
- Publishing options
- Split testing
- Analytics
- Unique features
- Pricing
I‘ll declare a winner for each category so you can see where each tool excels.
Let‘s start with a high-level look at Leadpages vs Instapage.
Quick Feature Comparison
Before digging into individual features, here‘s a broad look at what each landing page builder offers:
Leadpages Core Features
- Drag and drop editor – Build pages visually without coding
- 130+ free templates – Modern designs for common landing page types
- Tight 3rd party integrations – Connect Leadpages to your favorite marketing apps
- Hosted landing pages – Leadpages hosts your pages for you
- Built-in split testing – Easily A/B test landing page designs
- Detailed analytics – Conversion data to optimize your funnel
- Publishing options – Embed landing pages on your site via HTML or WordPress plugin
- Website builder – Create complete marketing sites with the same editor
- Leadboxes – Popups and two-step opt-ins to boost conversions
- Other bonuses – Special features like Leadlinks and Leaddigits
Instapage Core Features
- Intuitive drag & drop editor – No coding required
- 200+ free templates – Tons of professionally designed templates
- Robust integrations – Connect your favorite marketing apps
- Hosted landing pages – Hassle-free hosting
- Easy split testing – Test variations to raise conversions
- Conversion analytics – Essential metrics to improve performance
- Publishing options – Embed or integrate landing pages onto your website
- Collaboration features – Real-time team collaboration tools
- Advanced options – Additional functionality via Instablocks, dynamic text replacement, etc.
Now let‘s compare both tools across some key categories.
Templates: Instapage Offers More
Let‘s start with templates – one of the first things you‘ll interact with when creating a landing page.
Both tools provide professionally designed templates to speed up landing page creation. But Instapage gives you more template options.
Leadpages Template Selection
Leadpages currently provides 130+ free templates for use with its drag and drop builder.
You can filter templates by:
- Landing page type – opt-in page, checkout page, etc.
- Industry – templates for specific niches
- Highest converting – templates with proven high conversion rates
The templates are modern and aesthetically pleasing. Much better than what I could design myself!
Leadpages also provides legacy templates for its older editor, but I won‘t focus on those given the newer drag & drop editor is superior.
Instapage Template Selection
Instapage offers 200+ free templates spanning wireframe layouts to fully polished designs.
You can filter by:
- Landing page type
The designs are beautiful and on par with Leadpages‘ quality.
But with 200+ free options, Instapage simply provides more templates to choose from.
There‘s no marketplace for premium templates either like Leadpages offers.
Winner: Instapage
Page Editor: Comes Down To Preference
Both tools use an intuitive drag & drop editor to build landing pages visually. But the overall approach differs:
- Leadpages uses a grid-based editor
- Instapage uses a free-form, gridless editor
The choice comes down to your personal preference between structure and flexibility.
Leadpages Editor
The Leadpages editor provides rows and columns to compartmentalize your content.
It‘s similar to building with WordPress page builders like Elementor.
You can easily resize columns with drag and drop:
This grid system streamlines putting together basic page layouts rapidly.
But some may feel limited by the structure compared to a grid-free builder.
Instapage Editor
Rather than a grid, Instapage lets you freely drag page elements anywhere:
It gives you full control over your layout while proactively suggesting alignment guidance.
The flexibility is fantastic and makes unique page layouts easy.
But those wanting more structure may prefer Leadpages‘ grid compartments.
Winner: Tie
I don‘t give either a clear advantage since it depends whether you prefer flexibility or structure.
Widget Selection: Leadpages Offers More
Next let‘s compare the widgets available for building pages. Widgets include things like text, images, buttons, etc.
Leadpages provides more widget variety for less common page elements.
Leadpages Widgets
You get 18 widgets to work with using Leadpages. Some unique options include:
- Countdown timer
- Survey form
- Social share buttons
- Checkout form – sell products/services directly via Stripe
Having more widgets available in the builder toolbox is always nice for handling edge cases.
Instapage Widgets
Instapage currently provides 11 total widgets such as text, images, buttons, etc.
The social sharing and countdown timer only come bundled as one widget. And there‘s no checkout functionality.
You can accomplish similar goals by getting creative or using custom code. But Leadpages makes it easier out of the box.
Winner: Leadpages
Responsive Design: Instapage Is More Flexible
Now let‘s talk responsive design – crucial for the mobile experience.
Both tools make landing pages 100% responsive across devices automatically.
But Instapage also lets you customize the mobile layout further.
Leadpages Responsive Design Approach
All Leadpages landing pages are mobile-friendly.
You can preview the mobile experience easily:
Unfortunately you can‘t make granular edits specifically for mobile devices. It works well without any customization in most cases.
Instapage Responsive Design Approach
Same goes for Instapage – every landing page adapts across mobile and desktop seamlessly.
But you also get extra control with Instapage:
Group elements – Ensure sections stay together in mobile views
Make mobile-specific edits – Fine tune just the mobile experience
Selectively hide elements – Declutter and simplify the mobile layout
This added flexibility helps optimize mobile even further.
Winner: Instapage
Lead Magnet Delivery: Both Handle This Well
Next let‘s talk about delivering lead magnets – bonus content offered in exchange for an email address.
Lead magnets help skyrocket conversion rates when combined with solid landing pages.
But you need a way to:
- Build opt-in forms
- Host the lead magnet file
- Deliver it automatically upon opt-in
Both Leadpages and Instapage provide functionality to make this possible.
How Leadpages Handles Lead Magnet Delivery
With the Leadpages form widget, you can select a lead magnet file to deliver automatically when a visitor submits their email.
You can upload and manage lead magnet files directly within your Leadpages account.
Delivery happens seamlessly after opt-in without any extra work.
How Instapage Handles Lead Magnet Delivery
Similarly, Instapage lets you deliver a lead magnet upon form submission.
When editing a form, you can configure it to send a file hosted either on Instapage‘s server or your own domain.
Just upload the file and matching form settings.
As you can see, both tools make delivering lead magnets equally simple. Nothing too different here.
Winner: Tie
Publishing Landing Pages: Both Provide Flexible Setup
Naturally, you‘ll want to get your completed landing pages live after designing them.
Let‘s explore the publishing and integration options offered by each tool.
Both make it easy to publish to subdomains or embed onto WordPress sites. But Leadpages has a simpler method for non-WordPress websites.
Leadpages Publishing Options
You have a few options for getting Leadpages live on your own domain:
Hosted subdomain – Instantly publish to a Leadpages subdomain
WordPress plugin – Effortlessly embed Leadpages pages on your WordPress site
Embed code – Add a snippet anywhere to embed Leadpages pages
The embed code method is super simple. Just paste the snippet wherever you want the landing page to display.
Changes sync automatically to your site too. Very little hassle compared to traditional web design!
Instapage Publishing Options
Similarly, Instapage lets you:
- Publish to a subdomain
- Use WordPress plugin to embed
- Publish to Facebook
However, getting Instapage pages live elsewhere requires mucking around with your DNS settings instead of a simple code snippet.
Much more inconvenient compared to Leadpages unless you‘re tech savvy.
Winner: Leadpages
For non-WordPress sites, Leadpages embed code makes publishing landing pages nearly effortless.
Split Testing: Both Platforms Excel Here
Split testing different versions of your landing pages is crucial for optimization.
Let‘s see how Leadpages vs Instapage compare when it comes to built-in A/B testing.
Both make it easy to create variations and analyze performance across multiple factors. No major advantage either way.
Leadpages Split Testing Capabilities
With Leadpages, you can launch new A/B tests directly from your account dashboard.
Split testing works with any published landing page.
To set up a test, you:
- Choose original landing page
- Create a variation
- Allocate traffic distribution
- Launch test
Super simple. No coding or technical know-how required!
Instapage Split Testing Approach
Similarly, it‘s easy to run A/B tests with Instapage.
The only difference is you start tests from within the page editor instead of your main dashboard.
Aside from that slightly odd interface choice, the actual functionality mirrors Leadpages.
Winner: Tie
They both excel at simplified split testing without any clear winner.
Analytics: Instapage Offers More Data
Understanding landing page analytics is crucial for optimization.
Both Leadpages and Instapage provide core conversion metrics. But Instapage goes more in-depth across some paid plans.
Leadpages Analytics & Reports
Inside your Leadpages dashboard, you can view:
- Page views
- Leads generated
- Conversion rate
For landign pages with Leadpages checkout forms, you also see revenue data.
No advanced analytics, but you can integrate third-party analytics tools for more data.
Instapage Analytics & Reports
Similarly, Instapage supplies conversion-centric analytics:
- Page visits
- Leads
- Submission rates
Plus some bonus metrics like:
- Visitor source channels
- Visit durations
Instapage also provides advanced features like heatmaps only available on premium plans:
Heatmaps visualize where visitors click to determine distraction points. Fantastic for further optimization.
The more detailed analytics give Instapage an advantage.
Winner: Instapage
Unique Features
Beyond core functionality, both tools offer special features. Let‘s highlight some unique capabilities only available with one platform or the other:
Exclusive Leadpages Features
- Leadboxes – Popups and two-step opt-ins
- Facebook ad creation – Design FB ads matching your landing pages
- Leadlinks – Instant opt-ins via shared links
- Leaddigits – Text message opt-ins from mobile visitors
- Alert bars – Custom notification alerts
- Website builder – Build complete marketing sites
Exclusive Instapage Features
- Collaboration – Real-time team collaboration tools
- Revision history – Review changes made over time
- Text replacement – Dynamically personalize text
- Instablocks – Save and reuse page sections to accelerate creation
These unique features might tilt the scales in favor of one tool or another depending on your needs.
Pricing – Leadpages Is Much Cheaper
Lastly, let‘s talk money. Leadpages offers far better deals across the board.
Leadpages pricing:
- Standard plan – $25/month
- Pro plan – $48/month
- Advanced plan – $199/month
Instapage pricing:
- Core plan – $149/month
- Optimizer plan – $199/month
- Enterprise plan – $499+/month
For the same capabilities, Instapage costs almost 6x more than comparable Leadpages plans.
The free trial length also differs significantly:
- Leadpages has a 14-day free trial
- Instapage provides a 7-day trial
If budget is a concern at all, Leadpages is the clear winner thanks to more affordable pricing.
Winner: Leadpages
Leadpages vs Instapage – Which Should You Choose?
So there you have it – a comprehensive feature-by-feature comparison of Leadpages vs Instapage!
Let‘s summarize the key differences:
- Instapage provides more templates and granular mobile customization
- Leadpages offers more widgets/forms plus exclusive bonus features
- Instapage has better analytics while Leadpages is significantly cheaper
With that overview, which one is better for your business?
Choose Leadpages If…
- Building marketing sites (not just landing pages)
- Prioritizing affordability
- Want built-in popup or text opt-in functionality
- Prefer structure of grid-based editing
Choose Instapage If…
- Need a ton of template options
- Want maximum mobile customization
- Will utilize heatmaps and other premium analytics
- Like the flexibility and speed of gridless editing
Both provide free trials to test drive (no credit card required).
Get started now to find the best landing page builder for your goals!
