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Clientflow vs Ortto
Two Australian Marketing Automation Platforms - One Missing a CRM
Ortto (formerly Autopilot) is an Australian company and one of the better-regarded marketing automation and customer data platforms in the mid-market. Its visual journey builder, behavioural segmentation, and analytics capabilities are genuinely strong. If your business already has a CRM you’re happy with - Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive - and needs a powerful automation layer on top, Ortto is worth considering.
The challenge for services businesses evaluating both platforms is understanding what Ortto doesn’t include.
Ortto does not have a built-in CRM. It integrates with your existing CRM rather than replacing it. It does not include appointment scheduling, invoicing, e-signatures, funnel building, reputation management, call tracking, social media scheduling, online courses, Voice AI, or Conversation AI for multi-channel enquiry handling. These are separate tools your business needs to provide separately.
Clientflow includes all of the above on one platform for $345/month inc GST - with a built-in CRM at the core of everything.
This page compares both platforms honestly across features, pricing, and practical fit for an Australian services business.
A Note on Ortto’s Australian Roots
Ortto was founded in Australia as Autopilot and rebranded to Ortto in 2022. Clientflow is also Australian-owned and operated. Both companies were built with Australian businesses in mind, which is a genuine shared credential worth acknowledging upfront.
The comparison that follows is about capability and fit for the specific needs of established services businesses - not geography.
The Fundamental Difference
Ortto is a marketing automation and customer data platform (CDP). Its core function is connecting to your existing customer data sources, unifying that data into contact profiles, and then automating personalised multi-channel journeys - email, SMS, in-app messages, push notifications. It does this well. Ortto’s visual journey builder and behavioural segmentation are genuine strengths. But Ortto explicitly positions itself as a layer on top of your existing tech stack, not a replacement for it. It integrates with your CRM; it doesn’t provide one.
Clientflow is an all-in-one platform where CRM, marketing automation, email, SMS, landing pages, funnels, booking, invoicing, reputation management, call tracking, AI tools, and more are built together. There is no external CRM to connect. There are no separate tools to maintain. Every function shares the same database, the same pipeline, and the same dashboard.
The Most Important Thing to Know About Ortto
Ortto does not include a CRM.
This is Ortto’s own position, not a criticism. The company has stated that “all-in-one software suites are a thing of the past” and that specialist tools - like Ortto for marketing automation - are preferable to bundled solutions. There is merit to that argument in some contexts.
For an Australian services business that needs CRM and marketing automation to work seamlessly together - where a lead captured in a funnel appears in the pipeline, a pipeline stage change triggers an automation, a booking updates the contact record, and an invoice goes out when a deal closes - a separate CRM and a separate marketing automation platform create friction that all-in-one doesn’t.
The services businesses Clientflow is built for don’t want to manage a CRM integration. They want their lead capture, pipeline tracking, automation, booking, invoicing, and review management to share the same data from the same place without any syncing required.
If you already have a CRM you can’t or won’t move away from, Ortto is a capable automation layer. If you’re looking for one platform to manage the full client journey, Ortto requires you to build that from multiple tools - and at Ortto’s price point, that stack becomes expensive quickly.
Pricing Comparison
Ortto Pricing
Ortto’s pricing is contact-based with three tiers:
Starter: US$199/month (month-to-month available). Includes up to 5,000 contacts. Email, SMS, visual journey builder, basic segmentation, 24/6 support.
Professional: US$509/month (annual commitment required). Includes up to 10,000 contacts. Adds branded sender ID for SMS, mobile push, dynamic content, landing pages, and advanced analytics.
Enterprise: Custom pricing (annual commitment required). Dedicated success manager, email deliverability consultant, SLA, custom user roles.
Pricing scales with contacts: moving to 25,000 contacts on the Professional plan increases the cost significantly. Annual commitments on Professional and Enterprise cannot be downgraded within the contract term.
For a services business with 5,000 contacts:
Ortto Starter: US$199/month (~AUD$289/month inc GST)
For a business with 10,000 contacts needing full automation:
Ortto Professional: US$509/month (~AUD$739/month inc GST, annual billing)
What’s not included at any Ortto tier:
CRM with built-in pipeline management (requires Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, or similar - each an additional subscription). Appointment scheduling (requires Calendly or similar - ~AUD$45/month). Sales funnel builder (requires ClickFunnels or similar - ~AUD$165/month). Invoicing and e-signatures (requires PandaDoc or similar - ~AUD$65/month). Reputation management (requires Cloutly or similar - ~AUD$76/month). Call tracking (requires Aircall or similar - ~AUD$330/month). Social media scheduling (requires Buffer or similar - ~AUD$82/month). Online courses and video hosting (requires Kajabi or similar - ~AUD$149/month). Voice AI for phone call handling (not available). AI chatbot for website lead capture (not natively included in Ortto).
Total monthly cost for Ortto + CRM + tools to match Clientflow’s functionality:
| Component | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Ortto Professional (10,000 contacts) | ~AUD$591/month |
| CRM (e.g. HubSpot Starter, 5 users) | ~AUD$145/month |
| Funnel builder (ClickFunnels) | ~AUD$165/month |
| Appointment scheduling (Calendly) | ~AUD$45/month |
| Invoicing/e-signatures (PandaDoc) | ~AUD$65/month |
| Reputation management (Cloutly) | ~AUD$76/month |
| Social scheduling (Buffer) | ~AUD$82/month |
| Courses/video hosting (Kajabi) | ~AUD$149/month |
| Total | ~AUD$1,466/month inc GST |
| Annual total | ~AUD$17,592 |
Component
Monthly cost
Clientflow
Everything included: AUD$345/month inc GST
White-glove onboarding with data migration: Included ($0)
Year 1 total: AUD$4,140
Summary
| Ortto (Professional + tools to match) | Clientflow | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | ~AUD$1,466/month | AUD$345/month |
| Annual cost | ~AUD$17,592 | AUD$4,140 |
| Annual saving with Clientflow | ~AUD$13,450 | |
| Built-in CRM | No (requires separate tool) | Yes |
| Funnel builder | Not included | Included |
| Appointment scheduling | Not included | Included |
| Invoicing and e-signatures | Not included | Included |
| Reputation management | Not included | Included |
| Voice AI | Not included | Included |
| Australian support | Yes | Yes |
| White-glove onboarding | Not included | Included |
Ortto (Professional + tools to match)
Clientflow
Feature Comparison
CRM and Pipeline Management
Ortto: No built-in CRM. Ortto integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and other popular CRMs, pulling contact and behavioural data from your existing system to power segmentation and automation. The integration quality is generally solid - Ortto can read contact attributes, trigger journeys based on CRM pipeline stages, and push data back to your CRM. But the CRM itself must be subscribed to, configured, and maintained separately.
Clientflow: Full CRM with unlimited pipelines, unlimited custom fields, opportunity tracking with custom stages, contact and company management, and real-time reporting dashboards. Built into the platform natively - no external tool required.
Bottom line: This is the most fundamental difference between the two platforms. Clientflow includes a full CRM. Ortto does not. If your business needs a new CRM alongside marketing automation, Clientflow provides both. If you have an existing CRM you want to keep, Ortto can integrate with it.
Marketing Automation and Journey Building
Ortto: This is Ortto’s strongest area. The visual journey builder is well-regarded for its ease of use and flexibility. Multi-step journeys with conditional branching, event-based triggers, time delays, and channel switching are intuitive to build. Behavioural segmentation based on website activity, email engagement, purchase history, and custom events is more powerful than what most all-in-one platforms provide. AI-powered send time optimisation and subject line suggestions are available on Professional and above.
Clientflow: Multi-step workflow automation with conditional logic, branching, engagement scoring, and trigger-based actions. Over 125 pre-built workflow automations and 24 workflow templates. Workflow AI Builder for constructing automations with AI assistance.
Bottom line: Ortto’s journey builder and behavioural segmentation are more sophisticated than Clientflow’s, particularly for businesses that need granular event-based segmentation from multiple data sources. For the core automation needs of a services business - lead capture sequences, nurture journeys, pipeline stage triggers, booking follow-up, retention campaigns - Clientflow covers everything required.
Email Marketing
Ortto: Strong email marketing with a visual drag-and-drop builder, personalisation using contact attributes, A/B testing, dynamic content, and detailed deliverability tools. AI-powered subject line suggestions and open rate predictions on Professional and above. Ortto has invested in deliverability infrastructure and inbox placement tools.
Clientflow: Email marketing with automated sequences, templates, campaign tracking, and 2,000 sends per month included in the subscription. Additional sends at $1.60 per 1,000.
Bottom line: Ortto’s email feature set is more mature - particularly AI-powered deliverability tools and dynamic content personalisation. For services businesses sending targeted campaigns to lists of a few thousand contacts, Clientflow covers the requirement. For businesses sending high volumes with sophisticated personalisation at scale, Ortto has the edge.
SMS Marketing
Ortto: SMS is included in the Starter plan, with branded sender ID unlocked on Professional. SMS credits are purchased separately from the base subscription. Ortto previously allowed direct Twilio integration for SMS but moved to proprietary SMS packages - some long-term users raised this as a cost increase. Two-way SMS conversation handling is more limited than Clientflow’s native capability.
Clientflow: Native 2-way SMS included. Send and receive texts, trigger automated workflows from incoming replies, manage SMS conversations in the unified inbox, and run complete SMS-based nurture sequences. Users pay Twilio directly for carrier costs.
Bottom line: Both platforms include SMS. Clientflow’s native 2-way SMS with full workflow integration is more complete. Ortto’s SMS is strong for outbound marketing sequences but is less developed for two-way conversational SMS.
Landing Pages and Sales Funnels
Ortto: Landing pages were added to the Professional plan more recently and are still developing. Basic landing page creation is available. Multi-step sales funnels (quiz funnels, webinar registration funnels, booking funnels with conditional paths) are not a native Ortto capability and require a separate tool.
Clientflow: Unlimited landing pages and sales funnels included. Drag-and-drop builder with over 1,000 templates. Quiz funnels, webinar funnels, lead magnet funnels, and booking funnels all built within the platform. Website builder and hosting also included.
Bottom line: Clientflow includes full funnel building and website hosting. Ortto’s landing page capability is limited and multi-step funnels require a separate tool.
Customer Data Platform (CDP)
Ortto: This is an area where Ortto has a genuine technical advantage. Ortto functions as a mini-CDP, pulling data from CRM systems, e-commerce platforms, product analytics tools, and other sources into unified customer profiles. Behavioural event tracking across your website and product, combined with data from integrated tools, creates a richer customer profile than most all-in-one platforms can build from their own data alone. For businesses with data spread across multiple systems (e.g. a SaaS product, a CRM, an e-commerce store, and an email list), Ortto’s CDP capability is valuable.
Clientflow: Unified customer records built from activity within the platform - forms, emails, SMS, bookings, invoices, pipeline stages, and website visits. Strong for services businesses where all meaningful interactions happen within the Clientflow ecosystem.
Bottom line: Ortto’s CDP capabilities are more advanced for businesses with complex, multi-source data environments. For services businesses where the customer relationship lives primarily within one platform, Clientflow’s native unified record is sufficient.
Analytics and Reporting
Ortto: Strong analytics with customisable dashboards, journey performance reporting, funnel drop-off analysis, cohort reporting, and revenue attribution. Ortto’s reporting is often cited as one of its strengths and goes deeper than standard email marketing analytics. Some users note that advanced reporting has a learning curve.
Clientflow: Reporting dashboards with pipeline metrics, conversion tracking at each stage, lead attribution, and real-time performance data.
Bottom line: Ortto’s analytics are more sophisticated - particularly funnel analysis and multi-touch attribution. For services businesses that want to see where every deal sits in the pipeline and what their conversion rates look like at each stage, Clientflow’s pipeline reporting covers the requirement. For businesses that need deep behavioural analytics and multi-source attribution, Ortto is stronger.
Appointment Scheduling
Ortto: Not included. Requires a separate booking tool such as Calendly or Acuity Scheduling.
Clientflow: Full appointment scheduling with automated confirmation, reminders, no-show follow-up and rebooking sequences, and rooms and equipment scheduling. Booking integrates directly with pipeline stages and workflow automations.
Bottom line: Clientflow includes appointment scheduling natively. Ortto requires a separate tool.
Invoicing and E-Signatures
Ortto: Not included. Requires separate tools for quoting, invoicing, and document signing.
Clientflow: Quotes, invoicing, and e-signatures included in the base subscription.
Bottom line: Clientflow includes the full quote-to-invoice-to-payment cycle. Ortto requires separate tools.
Reputation and Review Management
Ortto: Not included. Automated review requests and review management require a separate tool.
Clientflow: Automated Google review requests, review response automation, and automatic posting of five-star reviews to social media. Included.
Bottom line: Clientflow includes reputation management. Ortto does not.
Call Tracking
Ortto: Not included. Call tracking requires a separate tool.
Clientflow: VOIP integration with call tracking, recording, and an IVR phone system included.
Bottom line: Clientflow includes call tracking and IVR. Ortto does not.
Social Media Scheduling
Ortto: Not included natively. Social media scheduling requires a separate tool such as Buffer or Hootsuite.
Clientflow: Social media scheduling and tracking included in the base subscription.
Bottom line: Clientflow includes social scheduling. Ortto requires a separate subscription.
AI Capabilities
Ortto: AI-powered features include subject line suggestions, send time optimisation, open rate predictions, AI-powered audience filtering assistance, and lead scoring. Available on Professional and above. These features are focused primarily on optimising email and journey performance.
Clientflow: The underlying GoHighLevel platform includes a comprehensive AI suite: Conversation AI for automated engagement across SMS, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and live chat. Voice AI for answering inbound calls, qualifying leads, and booking appointments automatically. Content AI for generating copy, emails, and social posts. Funnel and Website AI for building pages from prompts. Workflow AI Builder for constructing automations with AI assistance. Ask AI for answering questions about your data and account. Reviews AI for automated review responses. Agent Studio for building advanced multi-step AI automations connecting to external tools and data sources.
Bottom line: Ortto’s AI focuses on email performance optimisation - subject line suggestions, send time optimisation, open rate predictions. Clientflow’s AI is broader and more client-facing - particularly Voice AI for phone call handling and Conversation AI across multiple channels, capabilities Ortto does not offer. Both platforms are investing in AI, but in different directions.
Onboarding and Support
Ortto: 24/6 live chat and email support on Starter and Professional. Dedicated success manager on Enterprise. Ortto’s support team has a generally positive reputation in user reviews - fast response times and knowledgeable staff. No white-glove onboarding or data migration included.
Clientflow: White-glove onboarding included at no extra cost. A dedicated onboarding specialist handles full data migration, system configuration, and 5 hours of one-on-one training. Ongoing support from the same Australian-based team that built your setup.
Bottom line: Both platforms have well-regarded support. Ortto’s support is responsive and knowledge able. Clientflow’s advantage is in onboarding - migration is included, setup is done for you, and the same team that sets you up continues to support you.
Where Ortto Wins
Journey builder and behavioural segmentation. Ortto’s visual journey builder is one of the most intuitive and capable in the market for the mid-market. Event-based behavioural segmentation using data from multiple integrated sources is more sophisticated than what Clientflow provides. For businesses running complex, data-driven lifecycle marketing with many customer segments and journey paths, Ortto’s automation depth is a genuine advantage.
CDP capabilities for multi-source data. Ortto functions as a mini-CDP, unifying data from CRM systems, e-commerce platforms, product analytics tools, and other sources. For businesses with customer data spread across multiple external systems, this creates a unified view that all-in-one platforms built around a single data source can’t replicate.
Analytics and reporting depth. Ortto’s analytics go beyond email open rates and campaign clicks. Funnel drop-off analysis, cohort reporting, revenue attribution, and customisable dashboards provide the kind of marketing intelligence that data-driven teams find valuable. The reporting feels more like a product analytics tool than standard email marketing metrics.
AI-powered email optimisation. Subject line suggestions, send time optimisation, and open rate predictions are available on Professional plans. For businesses sending high volumes of email where marginal improvements in open and click rates translate to significant revenue impact, these tools provide measurable value.
Established platform with a strong track record. Ortto has been operating since 2015 (as Autopilot) and has over 10,000 customers. Its journey builder has been refined over a decade of iteration. The platform is stable and well-documented.
Where Clientflow Wins
Built-in CRM. Clientflow includes a full CRM natively. Ortto requires you to maintain a separate CRM subscription alongside it. For services businesses that need CRM and marketing automation to work from the same data without integration management, this is a decisive difference.
Total cost of ownership. Ortto Professional at US$509/month plus the tools needed for CRM, funnels, booking, invoicing, reputation management, call tracking, and social scheduling comes to approximately AUD$1,466/month. Clientflow delivers the same capability for AUD$345/month flat. That is a saving of over AUD$13,000 per year.
Operational functions included. Appointment scheduling, invoicing, e-signatures, reputation management, call tracking, social scheduling, and online courses - none of these are available in Ortto. They’re all included in Clientflow.
Voice AI and Conversation AI. Clientflow’s Voice AI answers inbound calls, qualifies leads, and books appointments automatically. Conversation AI handles enquiries across SMS, social media channels, and live chat. These are client-facing AI capabilities that directly affect lead conversion and client service - not available in Ortto.
White-glove onboarding with data migration. Clientflow includes full data migration, system configuration, and 5 hours of one-on-one training at no extra cost. Ortto does not offer data migration or hands-on onboarding as part of any subscription tier.
No contact-based pricing. Clientflow includes unlimited contacts at a flat rate. Ortto’s pricing scales with contacts - growing your database from 5,000 to 25,000 contacts significantly increases your monthly bill.
Funnel building included. Full multi-step sales funnel builder with over 1,000 templates. Ortto’s landing page capability is limited and does not include multi-step funnel building.
Australian-based support from the team that built your setup. Both companies are Australian. Clientflow’s advantage is that the same team that migrates your data and configures your system continues to support you. You never re-explain your business from scratch.
Who Should Choose Ortto?
Ortto is the right choice for businesses - particularly SaaS companies, e-commerce businesses, and organisations with complex, multi-source customer data - that already have a CRM they’re committed to and need a powerful, data-driven marketing automation and journey-building layer on top of it.
If your business generates customer data from multiple sources (product analytics, e-commerce, external CRM, ad platforms) and needs sophisticated behavioural segmentation and journey orchestration across those sources, Ortto’s CDP capabilities and journey builder are well-suited to that requirement.
Ortto is also strong for businesses where email marketing performance is a core KPI and where AI-powered send time optimisation and open rate prediction provide measurable value.
Who Should Choose Clientflow?
Clientflow is the right choice for established Australian services businesses with 3 to 20 team members that need a complete client management and marketing system - including a built-in CRM, marketing automation, SMS, funnels, booking, invoicing, reputation management, and AI tools - on one platform with one subscription, one dashboard, and Australian support from a team that knows their business.
If the prospect of managing a CRM subscription alongside a marketing automation subscription alongside funnel-building, booking, invoicing, and reputation tools is not what you want to spend your time on, and if $345/month for everything is more appealing than $1,466/month for a collection of tools that all need to talk to each other - Clientflow is the better-suited option.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Ortto have a built-in CRM?
No. Ortto is a marketing automation and customer data platform designed to integrate with your existing CRM - Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and others. It does not provide its own CRM. Clientflow includes a full CRM with unlimited pipelines, custom fields, and reporting dashboards as a native component of the platform.
What is Ortto’s background? Is it an Australian company?
Yes. Ortto was founded in Australia as Autopilot in 2015 and rebranded to Ortto in 2022. Clientflow is also Australian-owned and operated. Both platforms have Australian roots. Ortto has since expanded its focus beyond Australia to the global mid-market.
Does Ortto include appointment scheduling?
No. Appointment scheduling is not available in Ortto. You’ll need a separate tool such as Calendly or Acuity Scheduling.
Can I switch from Ortto to Clientflow?
Yes. Clientflow’s onboarding team handles the migration. Contacts, tags, and contact data are migrated. Email sequences and automation workflows are rebuilt within Clientflow. The migration is included at no extra cost as part of white-glove onboarding.
Does Ortto work for services businesses?
Ortto is primarily designed for SaaS, e-commerce, and organisations with event-driven, multi-source customer data environments. It does not include the operational tools services businesses typically need - scheduling, invoicing, reputation management, or call tracking. Services businesses that need these functions alongside marketing automation typically find an all-in-one platform like Clientflow more cost-effective and practical.
Is Clientflow built on the same technology as Ortto?
No. Clientflow is built on GoHighLevel (HighLevel), a separate all-in-one marketing and CRM platform. Ortto is a distinct platform with its own technology stack.
Learn more about Clientflow and GoHighLevel →
Is there a lock-in contract with Clientflow?
No. Month-to-month billing, cancel any time. No minimum commitment required.
Is there an annual commitment with Ortto?
Ortto’s Starter plan is available month-to-month. Professional and Enterprise require annual commitment. Annual commitments cannot be downgraded within the contract term, and cancellation requires 30 days notice.
See the Full CRM Comparison
This page compares Clientflow and Ortto in detail. To see how Clientflow stacks up against HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Keap, Salesforce, and Zoho, see the full comparison table.
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