OptimizePress

What it is

OptimizePress is a set of WordPress plugins for building landing pages, sales pages, funnels, checkouts, memberships and online courses on a site you own. It is for the person who already runs WordPress, or is willing to, and wants funnel-building tools without a monthly software-as-a-service bill. The company says it "provides everything you need to grow a 6, 7 or 8 figure business" and describes its position as "the power of a SaaS - without the pricetag." The core of the suite is a visual page builder called OptimizeBuilder, which the homepage calls "the heart of our plugins suite."

What you build and how

You install the plugins into WordPress, and the company says the builder "works with any WordPress theme": "Just install our plugin and start building pages in seconds." The setup steps on its landing page section are to install the OptimizePress Dashboard plugin, which gives access to the plugins included with the Suite plan, then install OptimizeBuilder, choose a page template and add content in what the company calls a super-fast visual page builder. You drag and drop content onto the page. The homepage mentions pre-built sections and templates for people who "aren't a designer," and says you can click to edit and publish, with landing pages live "in minutes."

Templates are a headline feature, and the pages give several numbers. The homepage says "400+ beautiful templates." On the pricing page, the plan comparison table lists 200 templates on Launch, 400 on Scale and 600+ on the agency plan, while the Launch plan card itself lists 600+. The landing page section lists page types for lead magnets, webinars, free guides, challenges and more. Templates are mobile responsive, and you can add your logo, change colors and add custom code to match a brand. The company also says it offers "customizable optin forms and signup forms" built for list building, and "GDPR ready forms" with built-in features for EU compliance.

Speed is the main technical claim, and it is the reason this product sits among the WordPress builders. The company says it "developed a unique framework within WordPress that is capable of blistering page load speeds," with every template built for page-load speed and tested before release. The homepage adds that most pages "will score 90+ in PageSpeed testing" with no additional plugins.

For funnels and selling, the company says the builder connects to its checkouts, funnels and memberships platforms, so a page, a checkout and a members area are built in the same drag-and-drop interface. The pricing page says the Checkouts plugin lets you accept Stripe and PayPal payments on your own website, and that the Funnels plugin builds funnels with upsells and downsells. Online courses are covered too: the pages say you can create a course inside OptimizeMentor, which organizes training content, and that you can "Build as many courses as you want on your own website, so you maintain full control." Since the courses live on your own WordPress site, the student experience is your site, under your domain and your theme.

For tracking, the homepage says "Track, monitor & improve with funnel stats & split testing." The company describes conversion dashboards and funnel stats screens that show conversion rates and visitor numbers, so you can make changes and compare. Split testing is the company's name for A/B testing. A plugin called ConversionDash gives an overview of your top converting pages, and another, Flow, is described as a way to automate WordPress processes without third-party tools. ThemeBuilder lets you design the blog and site theme in the same drag-and-drop editor, and the pricing page says the plugins come with OptimizeUniversity training and access to OptimizeCommunity.

For email, an integrations page lists AWeber, Campaign Monitor, Campaign Refinery, Klick Tipp, SendFox, BirdSend, MailPoet, Sendy, SendReach, Keap and FluentCRM. The company calls MailPoet a WordPress-based email marketing solution and says FluentCRM runs as a WordPress plugin. It also flags that SendReach's platform "appears to currently be offline," and says it will update that entry when it learns more. Keap is described as the former Infusionsoft, with tagging and email sequences that OptimizePress forms can trigger.

Plans, allowances and support

The pricing page shows 3 yearly plans, each charged once a year and renewed at the same yearly price, excluding tax. Launch is $129 a year (the page says "Normally $199, Save $70") for 1 site, described as a way to "Build landing pages, collect leads and build an online presence." It includes the drag-and-drop builder and unlimited landing pages, sales pages and website pages. Scale is $199 a year ("Normally $299, Save $100"), marked "Most Popular," for 5 sites. It adds all the plugins (Builder, Funnels, Checkouts, Urgency, Mentor and Flow), ThemeBuilder with 3 premium theme designs, unlimited funnels, and membership sites and courses. The third plan, for agencies, is $249 a year ("Normally $399, Save $150") for 25 sites, aimed at people building funnels and pages for clients: it allows use on client websites, subject to agency terms, and adds pro themes and premium template collections.

The comparison table sets the other allowances. Every plan includes 50 integrations with email and CRM services. Launch has 50 Pro page builder elements and 50 pre-made conversion blocks, while Scale and the agency plan each have 60 elements and 100 blocks. Personal template storage, for saving your own designs across your sites, is 10 on Launch, 25 on Scale and 50 on the agency plan, and personal funnel storage is 10 on Scale and 25 on the agency plan. Support is by email, 24/5.

The pricing page also carries trust claims: a "Rated 4.8 based on 1,124+ reviews" line, a "Best Customer Support Winner" badge, a 30-day money-back guarantee that the page says comes with "No questions asked.", payment by major credit cards or PayPal, and 256-bit SSL on the payment form. Its testimonials include Rolf F., a full stack online marketing manager, who says OptimizePress 3.0 "remains the ideal tool for me" for combining WordPress, site creation and funnel construction. These are company-selected quotes. Because the software runs on your own WordPress host, hosting and backups depend on that host.

Who it suits and who it does not

OptimizePress suits a course creator, consultant or small business that wants a funnel, a checkout and a course on one WordPress site and prefers an annual license to a monthly subscription. It also suits someone who cares about page speed and keeps an existing theme, and an agency that builds for clients, since the agency plan covers 25 sites with client use allowed. The 30-day money-back guarantee makes a trial purchase less risky.

It suits teams without WordPress experience less well. You need a host, you maintain updates, and there is no hosted editor to log into. The plans are yearly licenses, and client work needs the $249 agency plan. It is a WordPress-only product, so it does not fit anyone on another CMS or anyone who wants a hosted tool with nothing to maintain.