ClickBank Profit Club Reviews: Is It Really Free? (Hidden Costs Exposed)

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“Join the club for free.” “No credit card required.” “Takes less than 60 seconds.”

Those lines on the ClickBank Profit Club page are accurate. You really can join without paying. But anyone who has been around online marketing for long knows that “free to join” and “free to run” are two very different things.

This report follows the money. It looks at what’s genuinely free, what costs extra, what’s optional, and what doesn’t show up on any price tag at all. That way you can see the real cost of the ClickBank Profit Club before you commit your time or your card.

Sign Up Free and See Exactly What You Get

Quick Answer: What You’ll Actually Pay

To join: $0. The free membership is real, with no card at signup.
To run the email side: whatever your AWeber plan costs. AWeber is required and is a separate company with its own pricing.
To upgrade (optional): about $495 one-time, or $195 a month for three months ($585 total).
For traffic: anywhere from $0 to whatever you choose to spend, depending on your methods.
In time: setup, learning, and steady promotion over several months.

So the ClickBank Profit Club is free to join, but not free to operate. The most predictable extra cost is the email platform. The largest optional cost is the upgrade.

What the Free Membership Gives You

According to the official join page, members receive:

A ClickBank marketing funnel that’s built, branded, and hosted for you.
Lead capture that sends opt-ins to your own email list.
Access to commission opportunities across upgrades, upsells, and other products in the membership.
Live coaching, unlimited support, and a team of experts.

The program was created by John Thornhill, a UK marketer who says he has been online since 2004, describes himself as a 9x ClickBank Platinum Vendor, and reports helping over 3,000 people start online businesses.

For a no-cost entry point, that’s a substantial package on paper. The natural question is how a program can afford to give it away.

How the Business Model Pays for the Free Tier

The free tier isn’t charity. It’s the entry point to a funnel, and understanding that funnel explains every cost in this report.

Free members receive emails promoting paid upgrades and other in-club offers.
Some free members upgrade, which earns revenue for the vendor and commissions for whoever referred them.
Those paying members then promote the club to new free members, and the cycle repeats.

None of this is hidden or unusual. It’s how most freemium memberships work. But it means you’re joining a system designed to present you with paid offers, and you’ll be promoting that same system to others. Knowing this from the start keeps “free” in its proper context.

Cost #1: The Email Marketing Account

This is the cost that catches people off guard most often.

Third-party coverage confirms that members need both a ClickBank account and an AWeber account. ClickBank is free to open. AWeber is an email marketing service with its own plans and pricing, which change over time and aren’t set by the club.

Why it matters:

It’s recurring, not a one-time fee.
It’s mandatory for the email side of the funnel, and one review notes you can’t swap in another email provider.
It grows with you, since email services typically charge more as your list gets bigger.

Before joining, check AWeber’s current plans yourself. Confirm which plan works with the club’s funnel, and think of it as your real monthly running cost.

Cost #2: The Membership Upgrade

The upgrade is optional but heavily promoted.

One-time payment: about $495.
Three-month plan: $195 × 3, which comes to $585. Third-party coverage says the official page frames the one-time option as saving $90.
Reported future price: some reviews say VIP access will rise to around $995–$997 after a public launch.

You’ll find a range of prices quoted online, including $497 and $591, in reviews that contradict themselves. The only number that counts is the one on the checkout page when you buy.

Bundle Deals

No verified bundle deals or stacked discount packages appear on the public join page. The only pricing choice that’s been confirmed is one-time versus payment plan. Be cautious of any “bundle” deal advertised elsewhere that you can’t confirm at checkout.

View the One-Time and Payment-Plan Pricing

Cost #3: Higher Tiers and In-Club Offers

Third-party coverage describes three membership levels: Team, Partner, and VIP. One detailed review reports that commission rates go up with each level, and that VIP alone includes about 12 months of done-for-you member recruitment, handed out in rotation.

This is where the less obvious costs come in:

The OTOs are the product. Upgrades and upsells inside the club function as one-time offers, and they’re also what your funnel earns commissions on.
Higher tiers tend to look necessary. If commission rates rise with each tier, the free and lower levels can feel like they’re leaving money on the table, which nudges people to upgrade.
The details aren’t public. The specific commission percentages weren’t shown on the public join page, so confirm them inside before deciding a higher tier is worth it.

Check What Each Paid Level Adds

Cost #4: Traffic

A funnel only earns money when people visit it. On the free tier, getting those visitors is entirely up to you.

Your options range from zero-cost to expensive:

Free but time-consuming: social posts, video content, blogging, community engagement.
Paid and faster: ads on social or search platforms, which can burn through money quickly if you’re new to them.
Partly done for you (VIP): rotation-based member recruitment. Even favorable third-party reviews say it isn’t guaranteed to deliver a set number of members or sales.

Many beginners underestimate this cost. The membership can be free, but traffic usually costs either time or money.

Cost #5: Your Time

Time doesn’t appear on any checkout page, but it’s real:

Setting up ClickBank and AWeber and connecting them to the funnel.
Attending coaching calls and working through training.
Creating content or managing ads every week.
Waiting for a list to grow before commissions become meaningful.

The official page’s own disclaimer says results depend on experience, work ethic, skills, and effort. That’s an honest acknowledgment that time is part of the price.

Cost #6: Your Contact Details

There’s one more non-cash cost that deserves a mention. The join page discloses that if a member referred you, your name and email are shared with that member so they can send you follow-up and marketing emails.

This is clearly stated, and it’s part of how the list-building model works. Still, it’s worth knowing that joining for free means joining at least one marketing list. It also means the people you refer will join yours.

What’s Genuinely Free, No Strings Attached

To be fair, plenty here really doesn’t cost money:

Creating your membership.
Opening a ClickBank account.
A hosted, branded funnel, so there’s no hosting or page builder to buy.
Pre-written email sequences.
Access to coaching and support, as described on the official page.

For a beginner who would otherwise pay separately for hosting, a page builder, and email copywriting, that’s a meaningful saving.

Bonuses: Promised vs Confirmed

The public join page doesn’t list a fixed bonus package. Some affiliate reviews mention bonuses that “vary by promotion,” but none were independently confirmed.

If a bonus affects your decision:

Ask exactly what it is and how it’s delivered.
Get it in writing.
Check that it arrives within your refund window.

The Refund Safety Net and Its Limits

The paid upgrade reportedly carries a 14-day money-back guarantee, processed through ClickBank. That’s a genuine protection, with some limits:

It covers the upgrade only. Your AWeber fees are a separate contract with a separate company.
It doesn’t cover traffic spending. Money spent on ads isn’t refundable through the club.
It’s short. Two weeks is limited time to evaluate a $495 purchase.

Features You’re Paying For

When you do upgrade, the reported benefits include:

Higher commission rates on in-club offers, rising by tier.
Access to the fuller training archive at higher levels.
Rotation-based member recruitment at VIP, for about 12 months.
Continued access to the funnel, emails, coaching, and support.

The main question is whether those benefits will earn back about $495 plus ongoing email costs for you. That depends on traffic and consistency, not on the features themselves.

Are the Earnings Claims Part of the Price?

The official page displays a live gross-sales figure, testimonial screenshots, and claims of 19,000+ members and $23M+ in student earnings. These are vendor-published and not independently audited.

They aren’t a cost in themselves, but they can lead people to spend more than they should by implying typical results that the page’s own disclaimer says aren’t guaranteed. Read the testimonials as examples of what’s possible, not as a forecast of your return.

Complaints Tied to Cost

Most concerns about the program are really about cost:

“I thought it was free.” The AWeber requirement surprises some people.
“The free tier felt limited.” Reported lower commission rates can make upgrading feel almost necessary.
“I spent more on ads than I earned.” Paid traffic without experience can quickly cost more than it returns.
“The prices didn’t match.” Recycled reviews quote figures that differ from the checkout page.

Legitimacy Verdict on the “Free” Claim

The “free” claim is honest in a narrow sense: the membership costs nothing to join. The marketing does lean hard on “free” while leaving the email platform cost and the upgrade path for later. That’s common in this market, and the program isn’t hiding anything you can’t find with careful reading. But “free” here means “no entry fee,” not “no costs.”

The ClickBank Profit Club itself is a legitimate program from an established ClickBank vendor, with refunds handled through ClickBank and clear earnings disclaimers.

Who Should Stay Free, Who Might Upgrade, Who Should Skip

Stay on the free tier if you:

Want to learn the system before spending anything beyond your email platform.
Haven’t yet found a reliable source of traffic.
Are testing whether affiliate email marketing suits you.

Consider upgrading if you:

Are already getting visitors through your funnel.
Have confirmed the commission rates and VIP terms inside.
Can afford about $495 without financial strain.

Skip it entirely if you:

Can’t take on a recurring email platform cost.
Need income quickly.
Want to promote products of your own choosing.

Strengths and Weak Spots

Strengths:

There’s a real no-cost entry point.
Hosting, funnel, and email copy are included.
The leads you collect are yours.
Refunds go through a recognized marketplace.
Coaching and support come with membership.

Weak spots:

An email platform cost is required and recurring.
The upgrade is strongly promoted and costs about $495.
Traffic costs are entirely on you outside of VIP.
There are no verified bonuses or bundle deals.
Earnings figures are self-reported by the vendor.

Your Pre-Purchase Cost Checklist

Check AWeber’s current pricing and which plan works with the funnel.
Join free and explore before spending anything more.
Confirm the upgrade price and payment-plan total at checkout.
Ask support for each tier’s commission rates in writing.
Set a monthly traffic budget, even if it’s $0, and stick to it.
Write down your purchase date if you upgrade, so you don’t miss the 14-day window.
Treat online “bundle” or “discount” claims as unconfirmed until you see them at checkout.

Find Out What the Free Tier Includes Today

FAQ: The Money Questions

Is ClickBank Profit Club actually free?
Joining is free with no card required. Running the email side requires an AWeber account, which has its own cost.

What’s the biggest hidden cost?
The recurring AWeber fee. It’s required, it isn’t included in the membership, and it can rise as your list grows.

Is the upgrade required?
No. It’s optional, though commission rates reportedly increase with higher tiers.

How much is the upgrade?
About $495 one-time, or $195 a month for three months, for a total of $585.

Are there ClickBank Profit Club bundle deals?
None were verified on the public join page. The confirmed choice is between one-time and payment-plan pricing.

Does the refund cover my AWeber costs?
No. The reported 14-day guarantee covers the club upgrade only. AWeber is billed separately.

Can I use a different email service to save money?
Third-party coverage says the funnel is built around AWeber, so switching providers doesn’t appear to be supported.

Where should I buy ClickBank Profit Club online?
Through the official page, where checkout runs through ClickBank. Avoid unofficial sellers advertising unconfirmed discounts.

Are there costs for traffic?
Only if you choose paid methods. Free traffic methods cost time instead of money.

Do I pay anything to receive commissions?
ClickBank is free to join as an affiliate. Check ClickBank’s own terms for any payout-related fees.

The Real Price Tag

So, is the ClickBank Profit Club really free? Joining is, and the free tier gives you real value: a hosted funnel, ready-made emails, coaching, and leads that stay on your own list. That’s a generous starting point, and it’s the best way to judge the program without risk.

Running it isn’t free, though. You’ll pay for AWeber every month, you’ll invest time or money in traffic, and you’ll be offered an upgrade of about $495 that’s optional but persuasively presented. The 14-day refund protects the upgrade, but not the other costs. Earnings claims on the page come from the vendor, and online bonuses and bundle deals aren’t confirmed.

Go in knowing those costs, and the free tier becomes what it should be: a low-risk test drive rather than the start of surprise bills.

Money takeaways:

“Free” means no entry fee, not no running costs.
Budget for AWeber before you sign up.
Treat the upgrade as a separate decision, made after you’ve seen the free tier.
Set a fixed traffic budget so ad spending doesn’t get away from you.
Confirm every price at checkout, not in someone else’s review.

Start With the No-Cost Option and Upgrade Only If It Fits