Stan Store vs Systeme.io: Which One Should You Use?

These clips come from a live training I ran for my community. I cut them down to the parts that answer the questions I get asked the most.

The short version

• Stan Store is a link-in-bio store. It's easy to set up and change, you don't need a domain or a business email, and it's fast. It's not a website or a full funnel, and email marketing costs extra.
• Systeme.io is a traditional funnel builder. It's more technical and takes longer to learn, but it has a free plan, it works like a website, and Google can find it.

Setup and ease of use

Stan is about as simple as it gets. You pick a design, add a product, upload a picture or grab one of Stan's, set a price and hit publish. Changing your whole store's look takes one click.

Systeme.io gives you a lot more control, but every change is more steps. Updating one picture on a sales page means going into the page, finding the element and swapping it. And you'll only have the pictures you upload yourself. Plan on breaking something the first few times. That's normal.

Domain and email

To send email marketing from Systeme.io, you need your own domain and a business email address. A Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail address won't cut it with the newer email rules, and sending from one can get your account flagged.

Stan sends email from its own system, so a regular Gmail works fine. The trade-off is your emails look less like they come from your business.

Can people find it on Google?

This is the big one. Systeme.io pages work like a website, so they can show up in Google. A Stan Store doesn't. If somebody searches your name, your store won't come up. They need the direct link.

Email marketing

Stan's email flows are good, but you only get them on the Pro plan. On the cheaper plan you can't send email sequences or broadcasts.

Systeme.io includes email marketing on its free plan, with limits on how many contacts and funnels you can have before you upgrade.

Email your Stan customers for free

Here's the workaround I show people all the time. Even if you're not on Stan Pro, Stan still saves the email of everybody who buys or downloads something from you.

• In Stan, go to Customers, click the three dots and download your customers as a CSV file.
• In Systeme.io, go to Contacts and upload that file.
• Put those contacts into a Systeme.io email campaign and start emailing them.

Using both together

You don't have to pick one. A lot of people sell their products and freebies on Stan, then link out to a Systeme.io funnel for the email side, since Systeme.io's email is free. The two work fine together.

So which one?

If you want something simple and fast and you're fine paying for email, go with Stan. If you want more control, want to be found on Google and don't mind a learning curve, go with Systeme.io.

These days I build most things on Pillar, because it covers both: a link-in-bio store, funnels and email in one place, with Klarna, Afterpay and Affirm at checkout. If you want to try it, my referral link with code MD25 gets you the Entrepreneur plan for $59 a month instead of $119, and I'll set up your Stripe for free.

Want to try the others? Stan Store has a 14-day free trial and Systeme.io has a free plan. Both are my affiliate links.

Stuck in either one? Club Marketech has weekly live calls where we fix this stuff together. See what's in Club Marketech.

Written by Chad Bateman, founder of Marketech Designs.