If you’ve spent any amount of time watching successful digital creators online, you’ve probably started taking mental notes about their tech stacks like Stan Store. Flodesk. Zapier. ManyChat. Canva. Zoom.
Maybe you’ve watched someone have a six-figure launch using that exact combination and thought, “Okay, apparently that’s what I need too.” But before you start opening accounts and adding another $29 here, $40 there and $99 somewhere else to your monthly business expenses, I want you to ask a different question: What JOB is each piece of technology actually doing?
Because someone else’s established tech stack may work beautifully for them without being the tech stack you need to build today. This question actually came up with one of my own clients recently. She already uses GetOiling, but she was asking me about Stan Store because she knows several creators who use it.
My response was basically: You don’t need both.
If what you’re wanting from Stan is a simple place to send people from social media where they can grab your free resources, see your offers, purchase a digital product or book a call, we can already build that experience within the platform you’re paying for.
That conversation is exactly why I wanted to write this article.
AttractWell vs. Stan Store Isn't Really About Which One Is “Better”
These platforms approach an online business differently, and there are legitimate reasons someone might choose either one. What I care about is helping you understand which platform makes sense for the business you’re actually building and whether or not I’m the person who can help you use it.
One important disclaimer: I am not a Stan Store user and I don't build Stan Stores for clients.
The information I'm sharing about Stan is based on its current publicly available plans and documentation. If you decide Stan is exactly what you need, fantastic. I'm simply not the person to help you build it. My hands-on experience and client support are focused on platforms including AttractWell and GetOiling.
With that out of the way, let's look at what these platforms are actually doing.
First, Let's Talk About Two Tools I'm NOT Trying to Replace
Before we start eliminating things from our tech stacks, there are two tools I consider somewhat separate from this conversation: Canva and ManyChat.
Canva is your design software. It's where you can create social media graphics, Reel covers, highlight covers, flyers, presentation slides, webinar decks, workbooks, PDFs, ebooks and digital products. Canva offers both free and paid options, and if you're regularly creating content and resources for your business, I personally think the Pro version can be worth every penny. It has a very specific job.
ManyChat also has a specific job. If you've ever seen someone on Instagram say, “Comment GUIDE and I'll send it to you,” there's likely automation working behind the scenes. If you're using keyword-based calls to action, you don't necessarily want to manually watch your comments, check your DMs and personally send every person the resource they requested.
People shouldn't have to wait until you happen to check Instagram. DM automation lets someone raise their hand and receive what they asked for almost immediately. It saves you time and helps keep interested leads from falling through the cracks.
Stan currently has its own AutoDM feature, so depending on how you're using Instagram automation, a Stan user may not necessarily need ManyChat.
But the larger point is this: I'm not trying to eliminate tools simply for the sake of having fewer subscriptions. I'm trying to eliminate unnecessary overlap. Every piece of your tech stack should have a job.
So What Does Stan Store Actually Do?
Stan has become incredibly popular with creators for a reason. It's simple... Someone discovers you on Instagram, clicks the link in your bio and lands on a clean storefront where they can quickly see what you have available.
Maybe there's a picture of you and a quick explanation of what you do.
- Then they can grab your free resource.
- Purchase your digital product.
- Take your course.
- Join your community.
- Book a call.
- Subscribe to something.
- It's a very clear customer path.
Stan currently offers two primary plans: Creator at $29/month and Creator Pro at $99/month and I think understanding the difference between those two is important before comparing Stan to a larger all-in-one platform.
Stan Creator at $29/Month Is More Capable Than You Might Think
Stan's $29 Creator plan isn't simply a fancy link-in-bio page. It currently includes a mobile and desktop storefront, calendar and booking tools, store and product analytics, an unlimited online course builder, recurring subscriptions, lead magnets and email collection, community features and Stan's AutoDM Instagram automation.
So imagine you're primarily growing through social media and your needs are fairly straightforward. You want someone to:
Find you → click your link → grab a free resource → buy something → book a call or access what they purchased.
Stan Creator could be a very attractive option.
- You don't necessarily need a traditional five-page website.
- Maybe you don't care about blogging.
- Maybe you don't need a more extensive CRM.
- You simply need a storefront that makes it easy for someone coming from Instagram to take the next step.
For $29/month, that's compelling. The goal of comparing technology shouldn't be to make every other option sound terrible so that our preferred platform wins. The goal is to understand what you're actually buying.
So Why Would Someone Upgrade to Stan Creator Pro?
This is where the conversation changes. Stan Creator Pro is currently $99/month, and the upgrade isn't simply about getting a bigger or prettier storefront. You're adding more of the marketing and sales infrastructure behind it. Creator Pro adds features including email broadcasts, automated email flows, unlimited email contacts, funnels, order bumps, payment plans, discount codes, limited-quantity offers, affiliate tools and more advanced tracking.
Maybe Creator was enough when you simply needed somewhere to sell.
But now your audience is growing.
- You want someone who downloads your free resource to automatically receive a nurture sequence.
- You want to send regular marketing emails.
- You want funnels.
- You want an order bump at checkout.
- You want payment plans.
- You want more advanced tracking.
That's when Stan starts moving you toward Creator Pro at $99/month. And $99 is where I think this comparison gets much more interesting. Because AttractWell Basic is also currently $99/month.
What Does $99/Month Look Like With AttractWell?
AttractWell approaches the problem differently. AttractWell Basic currently includes capacity for up to 1,000 contacts, email marketing, texting, five websites with up to 250 web pages, up to 100 automations, 10 booking links, five call packages, e-commerce, three member-area vaults and classes, up to 200 hosted videos, Zoom for up to 10 attendees, Custom GPTs, blogging, events, CRM functionality and additional business-management tools.
That's why I don't really think of AttractWell as simply a Stan Store alternative.
I think of it as a broader business infrastructure platform that can ALSO be configured to create the simple storefront experience people like about Stan and that's an important distinction.
You Don't Have to Build a Giant Website With AttractWell
This is where I think some entrepreneurs get hung up. They hear “website platform” and immediately picture having to build a Home page, About page, Services page, Contact page, Blog and 37 other pages before they're allowed to start selling something. Nope.
If your audience is primarily coming from Instagram and what you want right now is the Stan-style experience, start there. We can create ONE strategically designed Start Here / link-in-bio page. Put your photo and a short introduction at the top.
Then give people clear options:
- Grab My Free Resource
- Shop My Digital Products
- Work With Me
- Book a Call
- Read My Latest Content
- Use My Favorite Resources + Codes
That's your front end. Behind that one simple page, AttractWell can handle your contacts, email marketing, automations, payments, booking, digital-product delivery and other pieces of the customer experience.
Someone discovers you on Instagram.
- They click your Start Here page.
- They grab your free resource.
- Now they're a contact.
- They enter an email sequence.
- They continue hearing from you.
- Eventually, they discover your paid offer.
- They purchase.
- They receive access to what they bought.
The front end can be incredibly simple while the infrastructure behind it is doing much more.
Then, if six months from now you decide you DO want a full website, you can build outward.
- Add your Home page.
- Add your About page.
- Start blogging.
- Create additional sales pages.
- Build another funnel.
- Expand your member area.
You don't necessarily have to move everything somewhere else and rebuild your tech stack.
What If You Have GetOiling instead of AttractWell?
This is where my recent client conversation comes in. If you're a Young Living customer and already have a GetOiling account, my opinion is that you do not NEED StanStore. Since GetOiling and AttractWell are sister platforms, the concepts I'm talking about here also apply to what we can build within GetOiling, depending on your plan.
If what attracted you to Stan was the idea of having one clean link in your Instagram bio where someone can find your freebies, offers, booking links and resources, we can create that.
I already created a template I can share that mimics the flow of their storefront. Plus, GetOiling and Attractwell both offer e-commerce store fronts on their basic and higher plans where you can feature your offers whether they are free or paid and simplifies the checkout process.
- If you want to sell digital products, we can look at whether your GetOiling plan supports it.
- If you need email marketing and automation, let's look at what your existing plan gives you.
- If you need a private area for a course or program, let's see whether you already have it.
Don't add another platform because you saw someone else's storefront and assumed you needed the software they used to create the experience. Show me the experience you want. Then let's figure out whether your existing technology can already build it.
So Why Do Successful Creators Still Use Stan + Flodesk + Zapier?
This is a question I had myself. If Stan Creator Pro now includes unlimited email contacts, broadcasts and automated email flows, why would someone also pay for something like Flodesk? And why would they need Zapier connecting everything?
There isn't one universal answer, but one very reasonable explanation is that their tech stack evolved over time.
Maybe they started using Flodesk years ago… I actually heard a Creator share this about her recent 6-figure launch. They already have thousands of contacts, segments, email templates, launch sequences and automated workflows living there.
Then Stan came along and solved another problem. So they added Stan. Now information needs to move between those platforms, so they add something like Zapier to connect them. And it works.
They may also simply prefer their existing email platform and have no desire to rebuild something that's functioning perfectly well. Could they potentially consolidate now? Maybe. But migrating thousands of contacts and rebuilding years of workflows simply to eliminate a subscription might create more work than it saves.
A tech stack that evolved over five years is very different from a tech stack you're choosing from scratch today. That's an important distinction.
Don't Copy Someone Else's Six-Figure Tech Stack
This may be the biggest takeaway from this entire article. You watch someone have a six-figure launch.
- They're using Stan.
- They're using Flodesk.
- They're using Zapier.
- They're using ManyChat.
- They're using Canva.
And it's really easy to think: “THAT'S the winning formula.”
But those platforms didn't create the six-figure launch.
- The offer mattered.
- The audience mattered.
- The messaging mattered.
- The content mattered.
- The launch strategy mattered.
- The traffic mattered.
- The conversion mattered.
- The follow-up mattered.
- And yes, the TECH that helped execute all of it.
But someone with a brand-new offer and a smaller audience doesn't necessarily need to recreate the infrastructure of someone moving 10,000+ leads through a launch. Their tech stack may be completely appropriate for the business they've built. That doesn't automatically make it appropriate for yours. Don't confuse someone else's established tech stack with the tech stack you need to start today.
What Happens If Your Audience Suddenly Explodes?
This was one of my biggest questions when I started comparing AttractWell Basic with Stan Creator Pro. Stan Creator Pro currently offers unlimited email contacts. AttractWell Basic publicly lists capacity for up to 1,000 contacts.
So what happens if you're happily using AttractWell Basic and one of your Reels takes off?
Maybe you're building a waitlist for a digital product or upcoming workshop and suddenly hundreds—or thousands—of new people start opting in. Do you really need to upgrade your entire AttractWell plan just because your contact database grew, even if you don't need all of the additional features of the larger plan?
I asked AttractWell directly. Their support team confirmed to me that they can make accommodations to extend a customer's contact database beyond the normal plan limit without requiring that person to completely upgrade their plan solely because their contact list suddenly grew. There may be an additional cost associated with that accommodation, so I would recommend contacting AttractWell support directly for current pricing and options based on your situation.
It's good to know that a viral waitlist doesn't automatically mean you have to move your entire business onto a larger AttractWell plan just to hold the contacts. And frankly, if your biggest tech problem suddenly becomes, “My Reel went viral and thousands of people want what I'm creating,” congratulations. That's a pretty great problem to have.
So Which One Would I Choose?
Here's where I'm probably going to disappoint anyone looking for me to declare one obvious winner… although I am pretty biased to the AttractWell and GetOiling platforms. It’s the ONLY platform I choose to use when working with my clients.
But, it depends on what you're building… and your budget.
If I were a creator primarily growing through Instagram and wanted the simplest possible place for people to grab freebies, purchase digital products, take a course, join a community or book a call—and I didn't care about having a traditional website or broader CRM—I would consider Stan Creator for $29/month. That's a lot of functionality for the price. However, if you are an oily entrepreneur and happen to be a Brand Partner with Young Living, they have a comparable plan that may be a better option for you.
If I wanted those same selling capabilities PLUS more advanced email marketing, funnels, order bumps, payment plans and deeper conversion tools, I'd start evaluating Stan Creator Pro at $99/month. But once I'm spending $99/month, I personally want to ask a bigger question:
What else am I paying for?
- Do I also have a website platform?
- An email platform?
- Booking software?
- A CRM?
- A course platform?
- Zoom?
- Video hosting?
- A separate client portal?
- Additional automation tools?
If the answer starts becoming “yes” over and over again, AttractWell becomes much more interesting to me. The platform is so robust and will continue to support your business as you scale and grow over time.
Start With the Path. Then Choose the Tech.
Start with the foundation of your business.
- What are you selling?
- How are people discovering you?
- Where do you want them to go?
- What information do you need to collect?
- How will you communicate with them afterward?
- How will they pay you?
- How will they receive what they purchased?
- Do they need to book time with you?
- Do you need a full website?
- Do you want a blog?
- Do you need a CRM? → this answer is always YES!
Map the path first. Then choose the tech.
If Canva has the job of creating your content and digital products, keep Canva.
If ManyChat has the job of managing your Instagram DM strategy, keep ManyChat.
If Stan Creator gives you everything you need for $29, fantastic.
If you've already spent years building a sophisticated email ecosystem somewhere else, ripping it apart simply to say you have fewer subscriptions may make absolutely no sense.
And if AttractWell or GetOiling can consolidate several subscriptions and create the customer journey you need inside one platform, that's absolutely worth considering too. The goal is to simplify your tech stack and stop paying for tools that don't have a clear job—or multiple tools that are unnecessarily doing the same job.
Because your tech stack should support your business.
It shouldn't become another overwhelming part of your business you have to manage.
Want Another Set of Eyes on Your Tech Stack?
If reading this has you opening tabs and wondering, “Okay...what am I actually paying for, what do I need, and what could I simplify?”—this is exactly the kind of thing I love digging into. Sometimes you don't need another platform.
You simply need another set of eyes on the ones you already have.
If you're not sure whether your website and current tech are actually creating a clear path for your audience, start with my free Website + Tech Audit.
If you want more personalized feedback, you can also choose my Personalized Website Audit, where I'll take a deeper look at your current website, customer path and opportunities to simplify or improve what you've already built… grab the FREE audit and receive a discount code to save 50% on this service.
And if you already know you want help strategizing or building inside AttractWell or GetOiling, you can book a call with me and we can talk through what you're trying to create.
AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER:
I’m a proud affiliate for some of these tools and products that are suggested on this page and throughout my site. Meaning if you click on a product and make a purchase, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. My recommendations are based on knowledge and experience and I recommend them because they are genuinely useful and helpful, not because of the small commission that I may receive.
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