Keap Reviews in 2024: Features, Benefits and Drawbacks, and Alternatives

Keap is a CRM software tailored for small businesses, and it integrates customer management, marketing automation, and sales tools in one platform. 

Its main features include customer/lead management, email marketing, customizable sales pipelines, quotes and invoices creation, payment processing, and e-commerce functionalities. It is also compatible with a wide range of third-party apps and services, thanks to Zapier.

It is a versatile tool for small businesses as it can automate repetitive tasks, enhance customer interactions, and facilitate lead management.

But what are Keap’s strengths? And what are its weaknesses? Is it expensive? Does it scale well? Is this platform the best choice for you in 2024?

We answer these questions and much more in our in-depth Keap review!

---

---

Keap: All-in-One Platform for Sales, Marketing, and E-Commerce

Keap’s pitch is that it can be a single tool that automates common business processes like sales, customer management, marketing, and lead generation.

By offering such a varied range of features, Keap casts a wide net as an automation platform for small businesses. The list of tasks it can help with is pretty huge — take a look below.

Feature	Description
Contact management	Organize and manage customer information in one place.
Segmentation	Group contacts based on behavior and preferences for targeted marketing.
Email marketing	Send personalized emails and automate email campaigns.
SMS marketing	Send text messages for marketing purposes.
Landing pages	Create custom landing pages to capture leads.
Lead capture and management	Automatically collect and nurture leads through the sales funnel.
Quotes and invoicing	Generate and send professional quotes and invoices.
Payment processing	Accept and process payments securely.
Sales pipelines	Track the progress of deals with customizable sales pipelines.
E-commerce	Set up an online storefront with shopping carts and product pages.
Order management	Handle orders, inventory, and shipping for e-commerce.
Appointment scheduling	Customers can easily book services and receive follow-ups.
Analytics	Gain insights into business performance with detailed reports.
Business line	A work phone number for calls and texts.
Mobile app	Access and manage your business on the go.
Third-party integrations	Extend functionality with various app and service integrations.

On paper, it looks like Keap is the perfect platform for businesses of all types. But what’s the ground reality? Does Keap deliver on quality as well as quantity? We look to online reviews to discover the full picture.

---

Are Customers Satisfied with Keap?

Reading reviews for any product/service is standard before you spend your hard-earned money. In this guide, we took care of that for you — we summarized first-hand experiences from Keap users. 

To keep things neutral, we are going to offer an equal number of positive and negative reviews.

Keap: Positive Reviews

This customer is mainly happy about how the CRM functionality of Keap has helped their business. They also write that they find the lead scoring feature useful plus they’re pleased with their customer support experience, too.

Here, we see yet another fan of Keap’s CRM feature. The customer care team gets praised for being user-friendly. We also noted a trend of customers mentioning that they’re happy with Keap’s automation capabilities.

This customer hails praise on Keap for the learning resources that have taught them how to use the platform effectively. Yet again, we see positive feedback for the customer care team, which helped this user out with some implementation issues. The customer does mention difficulty during migration to Keap.

Here, we see a review from a customer who uses Keap for appointment scheduling and its CRM features. They mention trouble with accessing data efficiently, but overall, they’re happy with the way Keap helps them run their business.

Keap: Negative Reviews

Time to share some negative reviews! We avoided reviews with one-off situations and picked ones that mentioned common pain points.

Difficulties with Keap have angered this customer to the point that they left a negative review. The customer claims that there are lots of bugs and glitches, and there are issues with the app and SMS functionalities, too.

This feedback from a customer states that the deliverability rates from Keap were not up to the mark for them. They also felt like there were features they did not really need — this may indicate that they felt they were paying too much.

It appears this customer was not able to migrate over from their existing CRM to Keap correctly (we saw a couple of comments from other users mention this) and this has caused them a lot of trouble. The client isn’t too pleased about the money they’re paying for Keap, especially since they get limited seats.

We see another case of a failed migration from an existing CRM to Keap, which has aggravated this customer. Problems with customer tagging seem to be a theme with Keap as it came up in a few reviews. 

Keap: Tallying the Good and the Bad

We read through multiple reviews on different review sites to get a fair assessment of what customers thought of Keap, and here’s what we’ve deduced.

Keap: This is Great	Keap: This sucks
Customer care	Billing issues and hidden fees
Lead capturing works well	Migration issues when switching
Learning resources and videos	There are quite a few bugs
Multiple functionalities on one platform	The learning curve is daunting

So that’s what the customers had to say — read on to hear our take on what the reviews indicate about Keap.

---

Keap: Worth Signing Up? 

While browsing through reviews, we definitely noticed some patterns — so, let’s discuss them here.

Keap appears to be a good choice for people looking to build a sales pipeline and also want a CRM to manage new customers. Keap also does a good job with its e-commerce functions as well as appointment booking. It even has an AI content generator to help users create different types of emails.

On the negative side of things, there were way too many reviews about the billing problems at Keap. Customers left reviews expressing frustration about unnecessary charges and Keap’s cancellation policy. Another theme was reports of trouble when switching to Keap. Missing contacts/customer data can cause serious problems for a business; this is something that needs urgent attention from Keap.

Such issues can be a dealbreaker for customers looking to sign up on a new automation platform.  

---

Keap: The Benefits

Keap could work well for users who are starting out and need a CRM that also helps with sales and marketing automation. 

Streamline Processes 

Keap is good for growing small businesses that are looking for efficient ways to manage contacts and processes. If you’re struggling with scattered leads, repetitive tasks, or a lack of automation, Keap can streamline your operations.

Their all-in-one approach is perfect for businesses that want a central hub for sales, marketing, and customer relationship management.

Sales Pipeline

Keap is good at lead capturing and lead management — it helps users manage their sales pipeline by tracking leads through various stages of the sales process. It provides tools for lead scoring, opportunity management, and forecasting, enabling businesses to prioritize their efforts and close deals faster.

Customer Service

Customer support isn’t a factor until you need it. Keap’s customer care team has a rock-solid reputation and this can be a huge draw for customers who have had bad experiences with other platforms. 

E-Commerce Functionality

Keap integrates e-commerce tools with its CRM; this means you can manage customer interactions, sales pipeline, and your online store within a single platform. You also get easy-to-use checkout forms you can customize with one-click upsells and discount codes, but these are only on the top paid plans.

Keap allows payment processing, too; by integrating with popular payment processors like Stripe and PayPal, customers can pay securely without leaving your web page, creating a smooth buying experience.

---

Keap: The Drawbacks

While examining Keap’s reviews, one of the more concerning issues we noted was the number of complaints about hidden charges and billing issues. Such problems can quickly cause the reputation of a brand to tumble and negate all the good stuff. 

User Interface

While Keap has made improvements to its user interface over the years, some users may still find it less intuitive or outdated compared to other modern CRM platforms. This could impact user adoption and efficiency.

Deliverability 

A few users reported issues with email deliverability when using Keap’s email marketing features. While this can vary depending on factors such as email content and sender reputation, it’s something to consider for businesses heavily reliant on email marketing campaigns.

Keap’s reporting capabilities leave a lot to be desired, too.

Unexpected Charges

This is another factor that could drive away interested customers. Hidden charges, being unable to cancel, being locked to plans, and expensive add-on packages — all of these are significant headaches for customers.

Some reviews mentioned that they would find their cards charged even after cancellation.

Migration and Setup Problems 

Keap can be complex to set up and configure, especially for users who are new to CRM and marketing automation software. It may require a learning curve to fully understand its features and capabilities. 

Keap has not done much to make the process of onboarding smooth for new signups — they do offer coaches to guide you through the process, but there are significant charges to do so.

---

Keap Review: What’s the Verdict?

Keap is a good option for businesses that want a robust CRM, need a lead management solution, and wish to automate email and SMS marketing. 

That said, certain issues could be dealbreakers for new customers. 

We compiled the most prominent factors on both sides of the argument, and put together this table:

Keap: Pros	Keap: Cons
Useful for new businesses to automate sales, marketing, and e-commerce.	Lack of transparency in billing is an issue.
Lead capturing and lead scoring work well.	Migrating from a different CRM seems flawed.
Dependable customer support.	Deliverability rates may not be up to the mark.
Integrates with a wide range of third-party apps	It takes time to get familiar with.

From the table above, Keap’s strengths are obvious — it’s a one-stop solution for sales and marketing, the sales pipeline works well, and the customer support team can help you with your technical challenges and obstacles.

But customers who are already on a CRM wouldn’t be too happy to learn that there are data issues after transferring their contacts list. And stories of unexpected charges on monthly bills don’t do much to build customer confidence either. 

---

Keap Pricing Explained

Right off the bat, Keap seems expensive compared to some of its competitors. But they also offer features like sales funnels, lead capture, and e-commerce functions. 

But if a customer already has tools for these features, and only wants to use marketing automation features, is Keap a good choice?

Not really, as there are far better email marketing/CRM/customer funnel options available in the market. 

Plus, Keap charges by the size of your contacts list — this can get super-expensive, fast. Keap does offer a free trial for 2 weeks, but that may not be sufficient for email marketers to get a clear picture of how well it works.

First, let’s examine the different features offered by the paid plans at Keap.

Keap Plan	Cost	Features
Pro	$199 /moor$1,908/year($159 per month)	‣ 1,500 contacts ‣ 2 users ‣ Email marketing ‣ Marketing, sales, workflow automation ‣ Lead capture and automated follow-up ‣ CRM ‣ Sales pipeline ‣ Invoicing and payments ‣ Landing pages ‣ SMS marketing (U.S. only) ‣ Dedicated phone line (U.S. & Canada only) ‣ Appointment scheduling
Max	$299 /moor$2,748/year($229 per month)	‣ All of the above + ‣ 2,500 contacts ‣ 3 users ‣ Advanced lead optimization ‣ Enhanced landing pages and sales tools ‣ E-commerce tools ‣ Advanced reporting
Ultimate	$359 /moor$2,748/year($229 per month)	‣ All of the above + ‣ Premium CRM and sales management ‣ Advanced marketing and sales tools ‣ Custom user access controls ‣ Affiliate management and collaboration

Besides these charges, you also have to pay a one-time fee for their required implementation service. Without it, you may not be able to effectively set up your operations to work smoothly. Note that the SMS plans also cost extra on the Pro plan, at $9 a month for 500 messages.

Additionally, your email deliverability health statistics are only visible if you’re on the top plan.

---

Keap: What Other Options Can You Consider?

HubSpot

Both HubSpot and Keap are known for simple interfaces, but reviewers often find HubSpot to be even simpler to set up and manage. This can be a big plus for non-technical users. HubSpot also offers a wider range of features than Keap, including website-building tools, SEO tools, and social media management.

Another selling point for HubSpot is that it offers a free plan with limited features, while Keap doesn’t. This can be appealing to businesses who want to give it a try first. 

ActiveCampaign

Like Keap, ActiveCampaign is an automation platform that combines email marketing, CRM, and sales automation. Comparatively, Keap’s email marketing capabilities are good, but not quite as advanced.

Keap’s analytics dashboard isn’t as good as what ActiveCampaign offers either.

Campaign Refinery

If you’re looking for a top-tier ESP, then Campaign Refinery is the best option to consider. 

Besides having the best deliverability rates in the industry, Campaign Refinery also integrates easily with thousands of popular marketing tools. Our powerful automation platform offers robust email marketing features, including automation, list segmentation, and email personalization. 

If advanced email marketing and in-depth analytics are your top needs, you’ll be happy with Campaign Refinery’s services. And the best part is that we don’t charge for contacts; only for the emails you send.