LeadPages vs Instapage 2023: AI-Driven Landing Page Builders

Despite using an all-in-one marketing automation tools, marketers often complain about landing pages and the conversion. Hence marketers prefer to opt for a landing page tool that will give them better functionality, support, and focused community.

For a marketer like me with the least programming and design knowledge, I would definitely need a dedicated landing page tool to create a highly customized and convertible landing page.

Hence, in my quest to get the best out of my landing pages, I tried two of the most common landing page tools- Instapage and LeadPages; so this blog post compares all pro and cons of LeadPages vs Instapage.

The main difference between LeadPages and Instagpage is that Instapage is more easy to use and has more styling options for a beginner when compared to Leadpages. But if you want to get things done quickly, you should prefer Leadpages

Landing Page Building: The Rule Book

Off late, landing pages are mostly being used for online ad campaigns. The landing page captures user information like name, email, phone number and so on.

Many landing pages have forms embedded on the page (also known as click through pages) while many have a call to action button placed which redirects the users to the form.

Recently, I published an article on landing page building tools: 2 Best LeadPages Alternatives You Should Use Now.

In my previous article, as I had mentioned: A landing page is usually used for collecting information. Some common places landing pages used are:

• To request a demo
• For some special promotion
• To offer a reminder
• To conduct the survey
• To sign up for a “coming soon” product; and so on.

You can retarget your visitors using a landing page with Facebook ads. Facebook gives this amazing option of providing visitors with coupon code or offers when they arrive via the landing page being used in the campaign. Similarly, landing pages can be used on twitter too to get more inbound traffic.

To create a landing page, there are some rules that must be followed. The sole target of a landing page is not just to create it but to optimise it so that maximum conversion can happen. To optimise your landing page, you must follow these rules:

1. A catchy headline that will resonate with your targeted audience.
2. A call-to-action button strategically placed for the audience to click.
3. Lucid and attractive design so that journey of your visitor from your landing page to performing the designated action is smooth.

Now that we have established that optimizing a landing page is mandatory and the sole aim of creating one, I will start with the main area of this post: LeadPages vs Instapage.

LeadPages

Leadpages is one of the easiest and most popular landing page builder available for marketers. It is known for providing unlimited page creation at inexpensive pricing.

The landing page templates repository offered by LeadPages is filled with a variety of options that caters to most of the business types and their varying needs.

This landing page builder offers drag and drop editor, offers plenty of integrations and the best one it is mobile friendly. You can also create pop-ups with Leadpages that will appear depending on the specific action the user takes such as clicking a particular CTA button or leaving a page or during checkout.

Another thing about Leadpages is that it can be used by beginners as well as trained professionals.

Pros of Leadpages:

• Easy to use landing page builder even for beginners
• Affordable
• Good repository of widgets
• Integrations with CRM, email marketing services and more
• Offers a leadlinks , leaddigits, leadboxes features
• Alert bars to create notification types CTA on pages

Cons of leadpages:

• The customization option on landing pages is a bit limited
• If you want advanced features like a/b testing you might need to burn a hole in the pocket

Who should use Leadpages?

LeadPages works well for entrepreneurs, startups or businesses who have just ventured into sales and email marketing.

Update: Leadpages, no-code website & landing page builder provider has announced that it will relocate its headquarters to a new state-of-the-art facility in Minneapolis.

Instapages

Instapage is an all in one landing page builder that offers a lot more features apart from just building landing pages. It offers a/b testing, lead capture forms, built-in analytics, heatmaps and fully customizable templates.

Instapages has a good repository of 200+ templates that are crisp and high quality. You can customize your templates and arrange the elements as you wish with its super friendly drag and drop editor.

With Instapages you can easily view your conversion rates or see which landing page is performing better through its analytics dashboard. The heatmaps is another great advantage where you can track how a visitor interacts with your web pages.

If you want more advanced reporting or personalization than the built-in templates, then Instapage’s Custom package may be plan for you. This comes with ad-to-person 1:1 Personalization, Real-Time Visual Collaboration, Audits, and AMP pages.

Pros of Instapages:

• Fully customizable templates
• Lots of reporting data that can help you with optimisation
• Build, test and optimize landing page with AI
• Integrations with a number of email marketing tools.
• Easy WordPress integration
• You can add images, videos, buttons to your landing pages
• Intuitive page builder
• Plenty of options to sell items through landing pages

Cons of Instapages:

• The business plan is restrictive with only 30,000 unique visitors
• The pricing is high that is not affordable for small business owners
• The total landing page templates available is less compared to other similar software

Who should use Instapages?

Instapages is a good option if you are looking for a powerful landing page builder with advanced features of personalization, analytics and team collaboration.

The features that Instapages offer is something that small marketers will not need. It is best suited for large agencies and high investing digital marketers.

LeadPages and Instapage: An overview

Before I start with the comparison, it is important to mention that choice of tools varies from user to user. It might so happen that my choice may conflict with that of another marketer. Usually, a tool is reviewed and compared on the basis of few particular criteria: user interface, feature list, price and on-boarding journey.

LeadPages and Instapage, both are very similar in terms of feature list. They both have features like:

1. A/b testing
2. Analytics and reporting
3. Automated emails
4. Campaign management
5. Content personalisation
6. Custom HTM and CSS
7. Design templates
8. Drag and Drop editor
9. Lead capture tools
10. Social sharing widgets
11. WYSIWYG builder

Both these tools have very minute differences. For a simple landing page that can be handled with someone with least HTML and CSS knowledge, LeadPages is befitting. If you want a landing page with customized fonts, background, shapes and other page elements, Instapage editor is perfect.

On comparing the two tools, I realized that it not hugely about how different they are in terms of features. It is more about how each tool works under each feature category.

Both the tools have WordPress plugin to publish your landing page for your website running on WordPress. The templates are mobile responsive and they both integrate with many platforms.

LeadPages vs Instapage

For a beginner to roll out a landing page in few minutes, LeadPages will be easy just like Instapage. However, Instapage has more customising options.

The best part is, customisation does not stop at changing a theme colour or text in Instapage. You can actually build a landing page from scratch with its powerful editor.

To be honest, this editor is equally easy for a beginner as well as an experienced designer.

Without much ado, I will start with the in-depth comparison of the two landing page building tools.

Landing Page Builder

LeadPages allow you to build a simple landing page in a few minutes. The host of templates is designed to serve specific purposes like subscription to an email list, signing up for a webinar and so on.

It also has a number of categories/industries to choose from:

The drag and drop editor that allows you to add page elements like

• Copy
• Autoplay video
• Headlines
• Countdown timers to create a sense of urgency for better conversions
• Exit pop-up to get visitors to sign up when they are about to leave.

The landing page builder of LeadPages is simple but it has certain restrictions in terms of design and customisation.

Instapage has all these features mentioned above. Along with that, you can

• Add custom HTML and CSS
• Add JavaScript
• 100+ page templates to choose from
• Third party landing page templates from ThemeForest
• Build landing page from scratch
• Customise fonts (5,000+ premium Google and Typekit webfonts)

Page elements are listed in top toolbar in Instapage. Unlike LeadPages, you can add modal pop-up boxes. A modal popup box is displayed on the top of the current page.

Parallax Scrolling Feature: Instapage offers this advanced design technique that helps you create a 2-Dimensional illusion.

Images can be edited. You can also get hold of stock photos with a one time payment. Instapage integrates with Bigstock to give you royalty-free 31 million photos, videos and vectors to add to your landing page.

The best feature to me is the Page Version History.

A/B Split Testing

LeadPages provides a quick A/B test launch. You can create variations and test which one works for you. From the LeadPages UI, you will get an overview of the conversions and other metrics indicating which one is performing better.

It is the same with Instapage. Here you not just get an overview. Rather, Instapage automatically divides your traffic between the two campaigns and highlight metrics like conversion rate, unique visitors, total conversions and points of improvement for each version.

Hence, my vote is to Instapage. It is obviously much more helpful to know how much traffic each version has generated and converted, than to get an overview. I think it helps in quantifying my efforts a lot more.

Instapage is much more detailed. Also the integration with Google Analytics makes it much more easy to install using JavaScript code manager.

Mobile version

LeadPages provides templates that are responsive on mobile devices. You will not miss out on traffic hence.
Instapage offers AMP+Thor render engine that promises a speed boost which is a feature that Leadpages doesn’t offer.

AI Features

AI Content Features of Instapage:

1. AI Content Generation: Instapage AI Content Generator automates the creation of headlines, paragraphs, and calls-to-action (CTAs) for landing pages. This feature helps users overcome writer’s block and leverage the power of AI to generate compelling copy.
2. Quick Content Variations: With the AI-powered content generator, Instapage enables users to generate multiple variations of content quickly. This facilitates A/B testing and allows users to experiment with different messaging for diverse audiences and ad groups.
3. Smart Content Recommendations: Instapage AI technology provides recommendations for headlines, buttons, and other elements of landing pages. By analyzing data and user behavior, the AI suggests optimized content options, enabling users to launch pages faster and achieve better results without extensive rewrites.
4. Personalized Page Variations: Instapage AI-prompted page variations enable smart personalization based on audience and use case. The AI analyzes user data to create custom content variations that cater to specific target audiences. This feature helps users deliver personalized experiences that enhance conversion rates.
5. Seamless Integration: Instapage integrates AI content creation directly into its builder interface, ensuring a seamless workflow for users. This means users can access and utilize AI-generated content without interruptions or the need to switch between different tools or platforms.

AI Content Features of Leadpages:

1. Copy Generation: Leadpages utilizes AI to generate persuasive and engaging copy with just a single click. This feature allows users to quickly create compelling content for their marketing pages, saving time and effort in the writing process.
2. Headline Generation and Inspiration: With the power of AI, Leadpages helps users overcome writer’s block by generating a wide range of headline options. Additionally, AI-generated suggestions inspire users with new angles and phrasings that they may not have considered, making their content more creative and impactful.
3. Simplified Copywriting Process: AI Engine streamlines the copywriting process, making it easier to build websites and landing pages. By leveraging AI, users can simplify complex tasks such as structuring content, organizing information, and ensuring consistency across their marketing assets. Additionally, incorporating copywriting software can further enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the AI Engine, providing even more advanced tools for creating compelling and persuasive copy.
4. Split Test Variations and Optimization: Leadpages AI Engine enables users to optimize their pages by generating new versions of headlines in seconds. By conducting A/B tests on these headline variations, users can identify the most effective one that resonates with their audience, leading to improved conversions and increased lead generation.
5. Time Savings for Business Growth: Leadpages AI Engine allows users to focus more on developing new products and services that add value to their audience. By handling the content creation process, AI Engine saves users time, enabling them to concentrate on growing their business and pursuing their passions.

Integrations

Recently, LeadPages acquired Drip, an email marketing automation tool. You can read about Drip here: Best Mailchimp Alternative Tool: Drip.

LeadPages integrates with

• Aweber
• Mailchimp
• Infusionsoft
• 1ShoppingCart
• ConstantContact
• Hubspot; and many more.

Instapage integrates with

• Mailchimp
• Aweber
• GetResponse
• InfusionSoft
• ActiveCampaign
• KISSmetrics
• WordPress; and many more.

While Instapage offers more customizing options like page layout, fonts, and styling, I feel LeadPages take a lot less loading time. Instapage is a little heavier that can impact your performance at times when you are working with many design elements at a time.

The Deciding Factor: Pricing

Pricing is something that plays like the last deciding factor, atleast it does for me. So, let us look at the pricing details of both the tools:

LeadPages provide two plans, both on monthly and annual basis.

You can check the features available for each plan here.

Instapage offers two plans. The paid plans start from $199/month when paid annually, and the other is the enterprise plan the pricing of which can be customized.

Business plan: $199/month when paid annually.
Enterprise plan: Customized as per your needs.

All of the Instapage’s plans have the following features:

Drop in pixel tracking, CRM integrations, and Mobile Responsive landing pages. You will also get SEO friendly features, Marketing Automation Integration, Email Integrations. All landing pages are WordPress compatible.

To know the feature lists available under each plan, visit the pricing page.

Who wins?

Both LeadPages vs Instapage are touted as best landing page building tools in the market. Starting with a host of templates and easy on-boarding, both these tools are great.

However looking minutely, I will always prefer Instapage over LeadPages. I would like to have more fonts, styling options and also option to create a landing page from scratch. If you are judging in terms of speed and simplicity, I would recommend LeadPages.

But if you are like me who can compromise a little on time for a better visually designed landing page, Instapage takes the cup. Also not to forget the host of integrations that Instapage offers.

Instapage: More Uniqueness

In the previous article on Best Alternatives to LeadPages, I had already mentioned about Instapage Squeeze Page, Splash page and Lead Generation system. What I didn’t mention is how Instapage is best for Facebook advertising. Instapage has a section in its blog dedicated to Facebook advertising.

Despite Facebook lead ads, marketers are using lead forms to capture leads. You can use a Squeeze page to capture leads from Facebook. Instapage notes down some noteworthy case studies in their blog on How to use a Facebook Squeeze Page to Capture Email Addresses. One such case study is that of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.

Instapage landing page is deemed as the best tool for Facebook advertising. However, along with Facebook and Twitter, Instapage landing page builder comes handy with Instagram as well. Instagram generates instant ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ because of the visual contents. A visual content will always appeal more than a plain text. Driving by this concept, Instapage can help you generate 400+ Million users via your landing page. Here is an example of how Fast Food Restaurant A&W redirected its campaign.

You can offer incentives like Everlane did. This gives you an option to tap a particular section of audience who prefer Instagram over Facebook and Twitter.

One of the blog posts that I really liked is where Instapage author Ted Vrountas has explained why a landing page is better than Facebook Lead Ads. He has pointed out 7 reasons that completely make sense:

1. People are more comfortable in filling out a landing form
2. Trust building with users begin through a landing page
3. Quality vs Quantity: Landing page will always beat lead ads over quality
4. A/B testing with leads ads is not possible
5. Creative content is limited in a lead ad
6. Lead ads often fail to collect valuable information
7. “You won’t be able to include these leads in website custom audiences” – A very vital point by the way!

The CSS Editor of Instapage is really cool. Now you can “get maximum flexibility and precision from Instapage”.

The moment you enable the CSS module, the normal editing panel that you see becomes inactive. Rather, it comes with ore-filled standard CSS that you are comfortable in using with. The uniqueness of the editor lies in its ability to isolate CSS styling to ever single page. Adding to his, you can now also add additional properties which were absent previously. To know more about how this new editor functions, you can check the update announcement in their blog: Create Pixel-Perfect Landing Pages with New Instapage CSS Editor.

Along with the CSS editor, there are three more new features that got added very recently:

1. Alignment and distribution
2. Grouping
3. Automatically generate mobile responsive pages

Instapage’s new feature updates involve the render engine and multistep forms.  With the render engine you can create three times faster landing pages.  The multistep forms help to break the forms into several pages to collect your prospect information.

For more information on the updated features, check here.

Update on GDPR and CCPA for European Customers are subscribers for Instapage-

Since the team at Instapge takes privacy quite seriously, now the application has GDPR and CCPA relevant features, privacy and cookie policies along with complete data management in place to help Instagram users to manage their European subscribers/ lead registrations. You can follow this link to find the complete detail.

I would always place Instapage over LeadPages. For me, Instapage is an advanced and better version of LeadPages. Rest, I guess every marketer has their own choices. Let me know which one do you pref

Pagemaker

There is another landing page builder launched recently called Pagemaker. It is a conversion-focused page builder with a robust template repository offering diverse categories to choose from. As per their website, they promise to create landing pages as quickly as 15 minutes.

It also comes with a free plan, and the paid plan starts at $25/mo ( 15 campaigns and 5 custom domains with unlimited traffic and templates).

The next paid plan is priced at $100/mo, providing 75 campaigns and 25 custom domains.

Other features that this tool offers are:

• Real time campaign analytics
• Pixels and tracking
• SEO optimisation
• Automated coupon emails
• Dynamic text replacement

Also if you come across any other points of difference, let me know below in the comments sections.

Questions to ask while comparing LeadPages vs Instapage: