Systeme Alternative: Why You Should Be Using Zenler

David Author

Aug 15, 2024 |

So today we look at Systeme and see how it stacks up against the best Systeme alternative: Zenler.

Today, we will compare online course platforms by looking at Systeme and how Zenler stacks up as the best alternative. Having done extensive tests on both platforms, I will provide my views on them.

I Know What You Are Thinking!

As one of the educators at Zenler, you might wonder how this can be fair. I assure you, these are my truthful comments about Systeme and my personal viewpoint as a course creator with over two and a half decades of experience with teaching and online course platforms, having evaluated all the top platforms.

I have done a deep dive into what Systeme has to offer, coming at it from a creator's point of view. At first glance, you might think, "WOW, Systeme has a lot of features," and it does. But are they intuitive? Are they complete? You’ll need to decide at the end of the day.

Systeme’s main title indicates, "Stop using a different tool for every part of your online business." But does it really replace them all, or is it just marketing hype? How does it stack up against Zenler as an all-in-one platform?

All of the information supplied here is from my own personal experience of the platform it is based on using the Software and from initial impressions and the inner workings of the dashboard of both platforms.

Your choice should be informed and of your own consent, as both platforms offer a FREE version you have nothing to lose, give them a whirl.

Compare Online Course Platforms: Why Are We Reviewing Systeme?

We have seen a lot of hype around Systeme and even heard from some of our more experienced platform users that it has great features that Zenler should have. So, we began a mission to really get under the hood of this platform and find out why we received some emails, "two actually", but we take it very seriously.

Check Out The Video and See The Two in Action!

This post is over 4000 words, and trust me I could write another 3000 easily, but I want you guys to see for yourself with a video to back up all the statements of this post and to be totally transparent on all covered points.

Let Us Compare Online Course Platforms and Look at a Major Factor and, in My Opinion, the Biggest Flaw with Systeme

If you're reading this, the chances are you're not a tech platform reviewer with a ton of experience using other online course platforms. Even if you are, you're probably used to getting started fairly quickly, perhaps without following any help tutorials?

Well, with Systeme, you’re in for a bit of a shock—and not in a good way!

1: Systeme - Building Your Website via a Blog!

This is baffling. Under Blogs—yes, that's right, not under Website or Pages, but UNDER BLOGS—you can begin to build out your website! It is not the most intuitive.

2: Systeme's Page Builder

In any good online course platform, you want an interface that is responsive and quick. Nowadays, page builders make this possible. They should be responsive, quick, and intuitive, as well as offer advanced features if you need them.

Systeme has a drag-and-drop functionality similar to Zenler, but it is very buggy and difficult to use. Selecting elements feels complicated, with many hidden tabs making it more of a guessing game than a straightforward process.

3: Systeme - Feature Rich

There are a lot of features inside the platform and some very nice touches in certain areas, but the disjointed feel and the sheer number of checkboxes and constant jumping around is staggering. It is definitely not suitable for a new course creator.

To sum up Systeme, every area requires navigating to a different section. For instance, you use a blog for the website, but for the blog and its categories, you need to create the product, set the price, and create the sales page in a funnel. Confused yet?

Yes, well, that was my first impression as well. After two days, I figured it all out, but while I would normally say that makes sense, I’m still baffled. I’ve concluded that they likely used existing features to add these extras, which might explain why they release new features so quickly.

4: Is Systeme a True Course Platform and All-in-One Solution?

Short answer: Systeme is a glorified funnel system and, in my opinion, is not a true all-in-one platform. With so many overlapping and separate areas, it is hard to implement and feels disjointed. It seems like it has been thrown together.

Compare Online Course Platforms: How Does Zenler Stack Up Against This

Now, I will compare the two platforms so you can understand the differences and form your own opinion. You can try both for free to see for yourself. Start with Systeme, then try Zenler, and you’ll be able to see the distinctions more clearly.

1: Zenler - Building Your Website the Right Way

Breathe in the fresh air as you enter Zenler. Simply go to your pages and build your website, free from jumping around. You handle everything in one place: add as many pages as you like and link to them seamlessly with the dynamic header and footer blocks.

2: Zenler and Its Page Builder

Zenler’s page builder has the same feel as Systeme, except it is cleaner and easier to use. Blocks, rows, and elements are color-coded and not cluttered. While some of our users have mentioned that our page builder can be buggy, in comparison to Systeme, it’s a dream.

And what's more, Zenler is soon releasing a brand-new page builder, built from the ground up, that will literally blow the competition away.

3: Zenler - Feature Rich

Zenler offers a massive array of features that you can add to lessons and pages. You can view our entire arsenal of features by visiting our comparison page, as there are many that we do not cover in this article. - > View the Comparison Chart

4: Is Zenler a True Course Platform and All-in-One Solution?

It is a true one-stop shop, built from the ground up around marketing, to market, sell your online course or membership, or run live events seamlessly with no external subscriptions.

Maybe we should use the line "Stop using a different tool for every part of your online business."

A Balanced Blog Post

I want to make it clear that Systeme does have some very nice features built into it, and some might sway you away from other platforms. However, it is important to have a balanced view of both, and the discussion on usability is a major concern that needed to be addressed first!

It is important that you do not waste your time learning a platform only to find it's not suited to your needs.

Adversely, Zenler also has features that Systeme does not, so now we can transition into the comparison stage and explore why you should consider Zenler as an alternative to Systeme.

So, Why Is Systeme Getting New Users

Again, we need to look under the hood. Surprisingly, we found that Systeme offers a 60% commission for affiliate sign-ups compared to Zenler’s 40%. Additionally, their pricing is cheaper across all plans except the Unlimited plan. This is a big “wow” moment and also explains why people are creating videos to promote this relatively new platform!

From my own personal point of view, I think this is a bubble-bursting technique to fill the system up before the inevitable price hikes and the possible discontinuation of the free plan. The affiliates will have done all the work, and the 60% commission they receive will eventually be insignificant.

Zenler has grandfathered its users at the current price, meaning that as we increase our costs, their rates will not change. We believe in supporting our customers and growing with them.

Systeme Main Features

Key Highlighted Features of Systeme from their website, but are they true?

• Sales Funnels
  Create funnels easily based on proven templates
• Email Marketing
  Send unlimited emails and create email campaigns
• Website Builder
  Easily set up your website in under 10 minutes
• Affiliate Program Management
  Create an affiliate program, automate affiliate pay-outs
• Online Courses
  Build your online course, manage your students
• Business Automation
  Save time and energy by automating your business
• Blogging
  Create high-converting content and get more traffic
• Evergreen Webinars
  Run evergreen webinars to grow your audience and make sales
• Sell Products
  Become a drop-shipper or sell your own products
• No Transaction Fees
  Accept payments using Stripe or PayPal at no extra cost
• Online Support
  Feel at ease knowing there's a real person helping you out

These are the key features Systeme promotes. Now, we will do the comparison to Zenler based on these points, and then I will discuss additional points that are not covered for both platforms, of which there are many!

Zenler as an Alternative to Systeme: A Side-by-Side Analysis

Sales Funnels

Systeme - Funnels are the core of a marketing business, and it is true that Systeme has a great funnel builder with many templates and automation—if you manage to understand how to set them up!

Zenler - It has all the funnel options you could ever wish for but offers limited templates. The most special thing about Zenler is its simplistic approach—everything is in the same area, unlike Systeme, where it is spread across multiple different areas.

Email Marketing

Systeme - Email marketing is an important part of business, and Systeme offers unlimited emails. However, there is a catch that many may not notice. Consider the contact tiers from left to right:
Free, Startup, Webinar, and Unlimited. This means that with the Free plan, you can only send emails to 2,000 contacts at a time. To send to an unlimited number of people, you will need to upgrade to the Unlimited plan.

Zenler - Providing Unlimited emails can impact deliverability across platform, at Zenler we offer a generous amount of emails but Maintaining deliverabity.
Our Free Plan allows for 1,000 emails per month, our Pro Plan includes 100,000 emails per month, and our Premium Plan offers 500,000 emails per month.

With any system, you need to consider the small details to make the right decision!

Website Builder

Systeme - No, it's not a website builder, just a page builder. Systeme uses the Blog feature to create a website.

Zenler - Zenler has self-contained pages, so you can view your website and pages separately from other areas of the site. This approach ensures clarity and ease of administration.

Affiliate Program Management

Systeme - The affiliate program is quite similar to Zenler's, except you have just one link and can set only a percentage. It also has a second-tier referral, which is pretty cool. If you set up a Wise account, you can also automatically pay affiliates once they hit a threshold you decide.

Zenler - You can set up the affiliate link as an amount or as a percentage. You can also configure it on a per-product basis. However, there is no second tier or automatic pay-out.

Online Courses

Systeme - Setting up a full course requires first creating the course, which is fairly easy. You can add pages to each lesson and organize them into modules. However, to charge for the course, you need to go to Funnels and set up a sales page, thank you page, and order page for processing payments. Then, you add the course access from there, meaning you have to jump around Systeme again.

Furthermore, with the Free Plan, you only get 1 course, which makes the Free plan quite limited. The Startup plan includes 5 courses, the Webinar plan allows you to add 20 courses, and only the Unlimited plan offers unlimited courses.

Zenler - All plans, including the Free plan, allow unlimited courses. Everything for courses is contained in the same area, including Pages, Curriculum, Drip, and Automations, making it very easy to work with.

As a platform, Zenler is undoubtedly the most intuitive of them all because each section contains everything in one place. I don't know how they could make it any simpler!

Business Automation

Systeme - Systeme's Automations and Workflows definitely surpass Zenler's, but not by much. There are more options for sure, giving Systeme an edge in this area.
However, it's not all smooth sailing, as these automations are very difficult to manage, and like all things in Systeme, they take some getting used to.

Zenler - Zenler has automation built into every area, but unlike Systeme, they are contained within each section, making it much easier to manage. When you have a complex site, it can often be hard to keep track of what's going on, but with Zenler and its automation, it's a breeze. It has many options and is still being developed further.

Blogging

Systeme - The Blog, also known as the Site Builder and Blog Post Builder, is pretty good. There is a wide selection of templates you can configure, and you can set up categories as well. I think this is better than the first iteration of the Zenler Blog.

Zenler - The Blog feature is Zenler's first iteration (with more changes and amendments to come). It was developed to address our community's demand for a blog. It's solid, and you can create blogs very easily while dynamically changing the templates to suit your needs. The key here is that, like all things Zenler, it is easy to use. Categories and filtering can be easily set up.

Evergreen Webinars

Systeme - With the Free Plan, you don't have this option. However, paid plans offer it, but you will need your own Zoom subscription.

Zenler - The Free Plan does not offer this option, but paid plans include it. Everything is built into Zenler, so there's no need for an extra Zoom subscription.

Sell Products

Systeme - You can sell physical products, but the process is crude. It does not calculate shipping costs like a conventional shop and is not fully featured. WordPress and the WooCommerce plugin offer better solutions. I feel Systeme is trying to attract as many users as possible by including features that are not fully integrated properly.

Zenler - You can sell digital products but not physical products. Zenler is an all-in-one online marketing and course delivery platform. It is not a conventional shop; it's designed for running courses, selling digital products, memberships, and conducting live paid coaching or consultation events.

No Transaction Fees

Systeme - Systeme has a 0% transaction fee across all plans, including the Free Plan. However, you can only create one course with the Free Plan, whereas Zenler offers unlimited courses on all plans including the Free Plan.

Zenler - The Free Plan charges a 10% transaction fee. However, the Free Plan includes many features not available in Systeme. All paid plan users receive a 0% transaction fee.

Online Support

Systeme - They say in this statement, "Feel at ease knowing there's a real person helping you out." This is quite misleading. On their help page, the options are email, videos, and support documents. I suppose the "real person" is on the other end of an email message?

Zenler - Live support includes a ticketing system, live office hours streamed to our group weekly, and two live 2-hour sessions you can join with an education member. We also provide 24-hour development help with tech questions via a ticketed system, plus a full suite of training videos and helpful blogs, not to mention thousands of videos on Zenler and marketing.

No one surpasses Zenler's aftercare—it's all real people, Not AI!

The All-Important Price

Price is a big factor, so let's compare like for like:

Zenler Pricing Structure

Zenler makes it really simple with just three plans: the Free Plan, Pro Plan, and Premium Plan.
The Free Plan has a lot of features, but some are missing, such as Blogs and Lives.

The Pro and Premium Plans are identical in terms of features, except the Premium Plan offers more of each!

Zenler prides itself on being an affordable platform that doesn't make you pay more for that extra feature you need. We believe this showcases our value of putting our instructors first!

Pricing

• FREE PLAN - $0 (some features missing but fully functional; 10% per transaction charge)
  
• PRO Plan - $67 per month or $647 per year (all features included)
• PREMIUM Plan - $197 per month or $1,447 per year (all features included)

Note: At this time, if you buy into the platform, the price will never go up. You are grandfathered into this pricing plan for as long as you stay on the platform!

Systeme Pricing Structure

Systeme offers a rolling scale of increasing features as you move towards their top plan, but all plans are very affordable at this time!

Pricing

• FREE PLAN - $0 (with significant feature limitations)
  
• Startup Plan - $27 per month or $228 per year (more features than the Free plan)
• Webinar Plan - $47 per month or $396 per year (more features than the Startup plan)
• Unlimited Plan - $97 per month or $828 per year (all features included)

Note: Unlike Zenler, if the price goes up, you pay more year after year. The Free Plan is really just for testing, as it has such a limited number of features that it becomes almost useless.

Conclusion for Pricing

Systeme is better priced, but if it does not do what you want, it's a moot point. Also, remember with Zenler, you are locked in at this price. It will not go up for you if you join before we hike to full price. I already mentioned paying attention to the small details, and this may not be such a small detail!

Systeme - Full Feature List

Systeme Feature

See the list here

There is no doubt that Systeme looks impressive at first glance, but the real test comes when you start using the system. Zenler also offers an impressive array of features, but its ease of use is a significant advantage for me personally.

Zenler Features Are Too Extensive to List All

See the list here

Now, let’s explore the features that Systeme has which Zenler does not, and vice versa!

Advantages of Both Systeme and Zenler Platforms

Systeme Main Points of note

Here is a list of features Systeme has that are better or that Zenler does not have:

• Zenler does not have double opt-in (however, you can create this using our tutorials).
• Systeme's automations are better and contain full workflows (but Zenler is easy to use and covers most needs)
• You can sell physical products (not possible with Zenler, but with Systeme how is the massive shipping costs taken into account? Well they are not).
• You can send unlimited emails (however, Zenler provides ample emails and also offers your own SMTP integration, meaning you could also send unlimited emails).
• Multiple upsells or bumps (Zenler also provides this but only 1 of each).
• Many more payment gateways (Zenler offers Stripe, PayPal, and RazorPay).
• You can upload audio to pages (in Zenler, you can add audio only to courses, but you can embed outside players anywhere).
• A/B split testing emails (Zenler does not have this feature by default, but it is easy to set up).

Note: It is important to note that Zenler will address all of these points in the near future, except for physical products, as it is not a shop!

It's also worth noting that with the Zenler system, it's so flexible that everything can be achieved!

You can try both Zenler and Systeme for FREE so you will not lose anything!

Zenler Main Points of Note

Here is a list of features that Zenler has which are better or that Systeme does not have:

• Paid Lives: No need for Zoom, built-in and charge for webinars, 1:1 bookings, live classes, and streams without additional subscriptions (no such feature in Systeme).
• Intuitive and simple system with everything contained in one area, including funnels, blogs, courses/memberships, and reports (spread out and hard to find in Systeme).
• More comprehensive pricing plan options (Systeme has some, but not all).
• More media types for courses and multiple membership options to choose from.
• Easier and more stable drag-and-drop editor
• Simpler yet more powerful advanced features
• Assignments, surveys, and quizzes (Systeme includes some, but not all).
• Multiple home pages based on logged-in or logged-out status (no such feature in Systeme).

These are key points of both systems that you may not have known about!

WAIT! What About One of the Most Important Aspects of Any Software? Support, Both Tech and Educational!

I nearly forgot one of the main points of interest: How are you supported?

Systeme Support Channels

Systeme has a Facebook group you can join and an inbuilt community. They also say you can email them 24/7 or check their help videos and support docs. Remember, I mentioned earlier that they say, "Feel at ease knowing there's a real person helping you out." These are their words, not mine. So where is this live support via email?

Zenler Support Channels

I hope you’re ready for this because it will literally knock your socks off! Firstly, everything I mention below is available for free or paid users, and even for people not using the platform. Everything is free. Zenler prides itself on helping anyone become successful, no matter who they are!

We run live support desks streamed live twice a week. These sessions are 2 hours long, and you can join live with one of the education team members!

We run office hours once a week to catch up on what's going on in Zenler, which is streamed to our group.

We have a Facebook group that we believe is the best in the world, where everyone helps and motivates each other. There are lots of educational pop-ups and live Q&A sessions. We run workshops twice a month and host competitions and live events both in the group and on our YouTube channel regularly.

You also have email support, both technical and educational, 24/7, plus a support ticket system.

We have a full set of searchable support docs and an AI bot on the site as well.

On-demand training and resources play a big part in the success of Zenler. We offer extensive training not just on the software but also on marketing and additional tools to support you as an educator.

You can provide feedback or upvote features you want to be introduced into the platform. Zenler is driven by what our users want, within reason, of course. We even give you access to our roadmap and log, which is unheard of in the industry. Why? Because we believe in transparency and honesty at every stage. We realize that your success is our success!

But wait, we’re not finished! We also offer a FREE demo session and a FREE onboarding session when you upgrade.

Even though we are not the biggest platform YET, we have the largest collection of training among them all. It was our goal to address every single pain point you face as a creator, both in and outside of the platform.

Conclusion: Zenler as the Perfect Alternative to Systeme

In conclusion, when you compare online course platforms, it’s clear that if you want a system that is built around what it claims to be—an all-in-one marketing and course/membership delivery system—then Zenler is just that. It does not try to be a multi-shop and course platform; what it does, it does well.

It is quick to learn, with everything self-contained in each area—no confusion, and it is very stable.

It has a wide range of media types for delivering the content you want people to access and avoids additional subscriptions, while still offering powerful integrations built-in.

I hope this blog and video help you make an informed decision. As both platforms have a free version, you have nothing to lose financially. Time-wise, well, that's a different matter.

You can try both Zenler and Systeme for FREE so you will not lose anything!

The Future of Zenler

Zenler is currently working on a new page builder and core foundation using the latest technology to deliver a faster and more feature-rich base. The page builder is being built from the ground up, and as you read this, it is all happening.

Once complete, additional features will be introduced, including more shareable templates and a brand-new enterprise-level community to replace the existing one. By the way, the current community is similar to Systeme’s. There is a lot to look forward to, and be assured that with Zenler, it’s all about you, our users!

Interested in trying Zenler for FREE and receiving a FREE Onboarding Session start here where you can ask questions before signing up!

Welcome to Zenler! Remember, we've "Got You Covered"

Categories: : Platform Comparisons