Setup guide
Running client work from one HighLevel login
This walkthrough is based on HighLevel's public tutorials. Most people start with a page builder, an email tool, a CRM, a calendar, and a texting app that don't share the same contact. HighLevel puts that in one login.
1. Why the split is expensive
A form in one app does not update the pipeline in another, so someone on the team (often you) copies first names into a spreadsheet and hopes the follow-up happened. Subscriptions for that mix commonly sit between $500 and $1,500 a month. Ad spend also creeps up because you can't see where a lead went quiet.
The order that shows up in the tutorials is: get everything into one login, then automate from form to payment, then put a bot on the questions you already answer the same way every time. Doing the automations first just speeds up a mess.
2. What it can replace, and the published prices
For a lot of service businesses the same login can cover:
- Landing pages and funnels (instead of ClickFunnels or a patched-together site)
- Email (instead of Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign)
- A contact list and a simple pipeline (instead of HubSpot or a spreadsheet)
- Scheduling (instead of Calendly)
- Follow-up (instead of Zapier holding five apps together)
- Courses and a community on a higher plan
Starter is $97 a month: core tools, unlimited contacts, up to three extra accounts. Unlimited is $297: no account cap, your brand on the login, and you can pass email/text cost to clients. SaaS Pro is $497: you resell the platform and keep a margin on usage. Those are HighLevel's published prices as of August 2026. The trial checkout shows the live number.
3. Setup order so you don't stall
Start in Agency View. Do the texting paperwork first. In the US that's A2P 10DLC; without it, texts often never leave. In the UK you submit their bundle before you buy a number. Connect Stripe. Upload a logo if you want your brand on the login. Add people at the agency level, then give them access to specific accounts.
Import contacts with a CSV. Map first name, last name, email, phone, and tags. Extra fields are under Settings if you need something like roof type or case status. The inbox can pull SMS, WhatsApp, email, Facebook, and Instagram into one thread.
The calendar is attached to the contact. Round-robin is there if you have a team. You can require a Stripe deposit on a slot if no-shows are a problem. Opportunities is a board with stages such as New Lead, Contacted, Qualified, Proposal Sent, Closed. Turn on “Allow Multiple Opportunities” or a past client cannot enter the same pipeline twice.
Contracts and invoices sit under Payments. Funnels are for one straight action. Websites are for browsing. A store can go up in about twenty minutes. It does not calculate shipping, so if you sell physical goods you need a plan for that before the first order.
Workflows are “when this happens, do that.” You can describe a follow-up in ordinary language and let the builder draft it. A simple one: form submitted, send email, wait 24 hours, if they opened it send a text, if not wait two days and try a new subject line. Don't blast thousands of messages from a brand-new account. That is a good way to end up in spam.
4. What a day looks like once it's set up
Overnight the chatbot answered a pricing question and booked two calls. Three new forms are in New Lead, tagged, with the first email already sitting there. You talk to the people who are actually ready. A contract comes back signed. You move the card. The copy-paste ran without you; the judgment work did not. That is an illustration of the product, not a forecast for your business.
5. What usually stalls a trial
Skipping the texting registration means you build automations that never send. Turning on every feature on day one is how people get lost and go back to the old stack. Automating an offer that does not convert on a live call just scales a bad offer. The missing shipping math in the store shows up after someone has paid. Handle those, then add more.
6. The 14 days
Build a two-step page, connect a follow-up, hook up the calendar, and run the chatbot in test mode. If you sell locally, you can run a couple of prospect audits and send the PDF. Cancel before billing starts if none of that is easier than what you have now. HighLevel handles support either way.
14-day trial. Cancel anytime. HighLevel runs billing and support.