GoHighLevel vs HighLevel: What’s the Difference?

If you’ve been researching HighLevel, you may have come across several different names and wondered whether they are different pieces of software.

HighLevel. GoHighLevel. GHL. LeadConnector. And then potentially another completely different brand name from the company providing your account.

It can get confusing very quickly.

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The simple answer is that HighLevel and GoHighLevel are the same software platform. GHL is simply a commonly used abbreviation.

LeadConnector is also part of the HighLevel ecosystem and is a name you may encounter when using things such as the mobile app or connecting HighLevel to other software.

And there’s another layer. HighLevel can be white labelled by agencies, meaning you could be using HighLevel without seeing the HighLevel name at all.

Let’s clear up exactly what all these names mean.

Is GoHighLevel the Same as HighLevel?

Yes. GoHighLevel and HighLevel are the same platform.

You’ll still hear people refer to the software as GoHighLevel, particularly because the company’s main website has historically used the GoHighLevel domain.

You’ll also regularly see people abbreviate GoHighLevel to GHL.

However, the product itself is generally branded simply as HighLevel.

So if you see:

HighLevel
GoHighLevel
GHL

they are all referring to the same underlying CRM and marketing automation platform.

There isn’t a GoHighLevel version and a separate HighLevel version.

Why Is It Called Both HighLevel and GoHighLevel?

A lot of the confusion comes from the history of the brand.

The software became widely known as GoHighLevel, and that name became established among agencies, consultants and users.

Over time, the company increasingly adopted HighLevel as the product and company name.

However, GoHighLevel remains widely used online, including within website addresses, documentation, conversations and Google searches.

As a result, both names have stuck.

If somebody tells you they use GoHighLevel and somebody else tells you they use HighLevel, they are talking about the same core software.

What Is LeadConnector?

This is where things can become even more confusing.

LeadConnector is a generic or grey-label name used within the HighLevel ecosystem.

You can therefore be a HighLevel user and suddenly encounter the name LeadConnector without necessarily knowing what it has to do with your CRM.

Two places where this commonly causes confusion are the mobile app and Zapier integrations.

Why Does My HighLevel Mobile App Say LeadConnector?

HighLevel allows agencies to provide the platform under their own branding.

However, not every agency necessarily has its own individually branded mobile application.

As a result, some users may be asked to download the LeadConnector mobile app.

This can understandably be confusing.

You’ve signed up for HighLevel, or perhaps a completely differently branded version of HighLevel, and then you’re being told to install an app called LeadConnector.

You haven’t necessarily downloaded the wrong software.

LeadConnector is part of the HighLevel ecosystem and can provide mobile access to your HighLevel account.

Depending on how your HighLevel provider has configured its service, you may therefore encounter either a branded mobile app or LeadConnector.

Why Does HighLevel Sometimes Appear as LeadConnector in Zapier?

Zapier is another place where the LeadConnector name can appear.

For example, you might want to connect your HighLevel account to another application using Zapier.

You search for HighLevel and encounter LeadConnector.

Again, it can look as though you’ve found a completely different CRM.

In this context, LeadConnector is being used as part of the connection into the HighLevel platform.

So if you’re following instructions for connecting HighLevel with another piece of software and they tell you to select LeadConnector, don’t immediately assume you’re in the wrong place.

It may simply be the name being used for the HighLevel connection.

Why Can HighLevel Have a Completely Different Name?

This brings us to another important feature of HighLevel.

HighLevel can be white labelled.

This means an agency can provide the HighLevel platform to its customers using its own brand, domain and customer experience.

The customer might therefore never buy something called “HighLevel” directly.

This means two businesses can appear to be using completely different CRM systems when, behind the scenes, both are actually powered by HighLevel.

HighLevel, LeadConnector and White-Label HighLevel Explained

Name	What is it?
HighLevel	The main name of the CRM and marketing automation platform
GoHighLevel	An alternative and historically widely used name for HighLevel
GHL	A common abbreviation for GoHighLevel/HighLevel
LeadConnector	Generic or grey-label branding you may encounter within the HighLevel ecosystem
White-label agency brand	An agency’s own branded version of the HighLevel platform

Underneath all of these different names, HighLevel is the core technology.

Is a White-Label Version of HighLevel Different?

The underlying software can be essentially the same, but the service surrounding it can be very different.

That’s an important distinction.

An agency can determine how it packages HighLevel, what it charges, what functionality it makes available and, importantly, what help it provides.

For example, there is a big difference between being given access to a HighLevel account and being helped to work out how HighLevel should actually be implemented within your business.

That’s the approach I take with MarketerM8.

Rather than simply giving businesses another piece of software and leaving them to work everything out themselves, I take a Done With You approach to HighLevel.

That can include helping with the initial setup, sales pipelines, workflows, calendars, email and SMS, WhatsApp, websites and funnels, AI tools and integrations with other systems.

The underlying technology is HighLevel. The difference is how you get access to it and the help you receive implementing it.

What Can HighLevel Actually Do?

Whichever name you’ve encountered, the underlying HighLevel platform combines a large number of sales and marketing tools.

CRM and contact management
Sales pipelines and Opportunities
Email marketing
SMS and WhatsApp communication
Calendars and appointment booking
Forms, surveys and quizzes
Websites and sales funnels
Workflow automation
Reputation and review management
Social media management
Courses and communities
Payments and ecommerce
Events and ticketing
AI-powered tools
Phone and Voice AI

This is one of the reasons I originally became interested in HighLevel. Rather than a small business paying for numerous separate pieces of software and then trying to connect everything together, much of it can be brought into one system.

Should I Buy HighLevel Directly or Through an Agency?

This depends on how you want to use it.

If you’re comfortable setting everything up yourself, learning the system and deciding how all the different parts should work together, you can sign up directly with HighLevel and start a free trial here.

This is the DIY route. You set up your own HighLevel account, learn the platform and configure everything yourself.

However, HighLevel is a very large platform.

Having access to dozens of different tools doesn’t automatically tell you which ones your business needs, how they should be configured or how they should fit into your existing sales and marketing processes.

That’s where working with an experienced HighLevel agency or consultant can make sense.

My approach with MarketerM8 is to help businesses implement HighLevel with them, rather than simply doing everything behind the scenes or leaving them to figure it out themselves.

The objective is that somebody within the business understands the system and can continue using and developing it.

So there are essentially two routes:

Do It Yourself: Set up HighLevel directly and start your free trial.

Done With You: Work with MarketerM8 and get help deciding how HighLevel should be configured and implemented within your business.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is GoHighLevel the same as HighLevel?

Yes. GoHighLevel and HighLevel refer to the same CRM and marketing automation platform. HighLevel is the name now commonly used for the product, while GoHighLevel remains widely used online.

What does GHL stand for?

GHL is a commonly used abbreviation for GoHighLevel. When someone talks about GHL, HighLevel or GoHighLevel, they’re generally referring to the same platform.

Is LeadConnector the same as HighLevel?

LeadConnector is part of the HighLevel ecosystem and is used as generic or grey-label branding in certain situations. You may encounter it when using the mobile app or connecting HighLevel to other applications.

Why does my HighLevel app say LeadConnector?

Depending on how your HighLevel account is provided, you may use the LeadConnector mobile app rather than an individually branded agency app. It provides mobile access to the underlying HighLevel system.

Why does Zapier show LeadConnector instead of HighLevel?

LeadConnector may be used for HighLevel connections within third-party services such as Zapier. If integration instructions tell you to select LeadConnector when connecting HighLevel, this does not necessarily mean you’re connecting to a different CRM.

What is a white-label HighLevel agency?

HighLevel allows agencies to provide the platform using their own branding. The underlying technology is HighLevel, but the agency can provide its own brand, pricing, onboarding, support and services.

Is MarketerM8 HighLevel?

MarketerM8 is my own white-label HighLevel service. It uses HighLevel as the underlying CRM and marketing automation technology, combined with my own onboarding, training, support and Done With You implementation.

Can I use HighLevel without going through an agency?

Yes. You can sign up directly with HighLevel and start a free trial, then configure the system yourself.

Alternatively, you can work with a HighLevel agency or consultant if you want assistance implementing it for your business.

Is HighLevel only for marketing agencies?

No. Although HighLevel originally became particularly popular with marketing agencies, the platform can be used directly by many different types of small and medium-sized businesses.

The Simple Answer

If you’ve arrived here because you’re confused by all the different names, remember this:

HighLevel = GoHighLevel = GHL.

LeadConnector is a generic name you may also encounter within the HighLevel ecosystem.

And if you’re using HighLevel through a white-label agency, the agency may give the platform another brand name altogether.

So you could potentially be using the same underlying HighLevel technology as another business while seeing completely different names on the screen.

The important question isn’t really what it’s called.

It’s whether the system has been set up properly to help you manage your leads, follow up with prospects, automate repetitive work and ultimately generate more business.

If you’d rather set everything up yourself, you can start your HighLevel free trial here.

If you want help working out how HighLevel could fit into your business, I’m happy to have a chat and show you what’s possible.

Book a discovery call

About the Author

Julian Mills

HighLevel Consultant & Marketing Automation Strategist

Julian Mills helps business owners automate lead generation, sales follow-up, customer communication and business processes using HighLevel and MarketerM8. Since 2009 he has helped businesses implement CRM, marketing automation and AI-powered systems that save time, improve customer experience and generate more sales.

About Julian
Book a Discovery Call
Join a Free HighLevel Workshop
Learn About HighLevel with MarketerM8

I would advise you to talk to Julian. You will surely not regret it. .

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Workflows are where HighLevel really starts to earn its keep. Instead of relying on somebody remembering to send an email, follow up a lead, move an opportunity, notify a colleague or perform another repetitive task, HighLevel can potentially do it automatically. At its simplest, a HighLevel workflow follows a very straightforward principle: Something happens → HighLevel automatically does something else. For example: Website enquiry received → Send acknowledgement → Create opportunity → Notify salesperson → Start follow-up Once you understand that basic principle, you can start building increasingly sophisticated automations around the way your business actually works. But there’s an important warning. Automating a bad process doesn’t make it a good process. It simply makes the bad process happen automatically. That’s why our free HighLevel Automation & Workflows training workshop isn’t simply about learning which buttons to click. We’ll look at how HighLevel workflows work, but we’ll also look at what you should automate, why you should automate it and when you shouldn’t automate it at all. The workshop is part of MarketerM8’s rolling programme of 13 free live HighLevel training workshops. Want to Automate More With HighLevel? Join our free live HighLevel Automation & Workflows workshop and learn how triggers, actions, conditions and automation can turn repetitive processes into workflows. Register for the next Free HighLevel Automation & Workflows Training Workshop What Is a Workflow in GoHighLevel? A HighLevel workflow is a series of automated actions that can take place when something happens. The event that starts the workflow is generally referred to as a trigger. What HighLevel subsequently does is controlled by the actions inside the workflow. 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Depending on the process, that could be something such as: a form being submitted; a contact being created; an appointment being booked; an opportunity changing; a particular customer action occurring; a tag being added; or another event within your HighLevel setup. Choosing the correct trigger matters. If the wrong people enter the workflow, even perfectly configured actions can produce the wrong result. Understanding HighLevel Workflow Actions Once somebody or something enters a workflow, actions determine what HighLevel should do. For example, HighLevel might: send an email; send an SMS; wait for a period of time; create or update an opportunity; assign a user; add or remove a tag; create a task; send an internal notification; update contact information; or move the workflow down a different path. By combining actions, relatively simple automations can become complete customer journeys. 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Sometimes it should happen an hour later. Sometimes tomorrow. Sometimes only after another event occurs. HighLevel workflows allow you to build waiting periods and timing logic into your automation. This becomes particularly important for lead nurture, appointment communication and longer customer journeys. HighLevel Workflows Can Automate Lead Follow-Up This is one of the most obvious uses of HighLevel automation. A prospect submits an enquiry at 8:37pm. Nobody in your office is working. That doesn’t mean the prospect has to hear nothing until tomorrow morning. HighLevel could potentially: Receive enquiry → Send immediate acknowledgement → Create sales opportunity → Notify salesperson → Start appropriate follow-up The automation isn’t necessarily replacing the salesperson. It’s making sure the salesperson has a better chance of having the right conversation at the right time. HighLevel Workflows and Sales Pipelines Workflows become particularly useful when combined with HighLevel Sales Pipelines & Opportunities. For example, a workflow might automatically create an opportunity when a new enquiry arrives. Another event might move the opportunity to Read more…
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How to Build a Spam Honey Trap in HighLevel Using Workflows and AI

If you connect all your communication channels to HighLevel, there is an inevitable consequence. The genuine messages come into HighLevel. But so does the spam. Email, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram messages can all end up in your CRM. And the problem isn’t simply having to look at annoying spam messages. Those incoming messages can create spam contacts in your HighLevel database. That potentially creates two much bigger problems. 1. Spam Contacts Can Fill Up Your CRM Every spam submission that becomes a contact is another record sitting in your CRM. If your CRM provider charges according to the number of contacts you store, allowing thousands of spam contacts to accumulate can potentially push you into higher contact tiers and increase your costs. HighLevel itself is relatively unusual in offering unlimited contacts on its main agency plans, but this is still an important consideration when designing CRM systems generally, particularly if data is being synchronised with other platforms that do charge by contact volume. Even when there isn’t a direct additional contact cost, you probably don’t want thousands of fake Facebook accounts, spammers and bots mixed in with your genuine prospects and customers. 2. Spam Contacts Can Become a Deliverability Problem This is potentially the more serious issue. Imagine a spam email message creates a new contact in your CRM. Six months later, you send a marketing campaign to everyone in your database. You’ve now potentially taken a contact that sent spam to you and turned it into a contact that you are trying to send marketing messages to. That’s not good. The same principle can apply across SMS and WhatsApp. If your CRM repeatedly attempts to push outbound messages to fake, invalid or unwanted contacts, you risk poor delivery signals, bounces, complaints and other negative engagement. Over time, that can contribute to problems with your sender reputation and messaging deliverability. So the objective isn’t simply: “How do we stop our team seeing annoying spam?” It is: “How do we identify spam contacts as they enter HighLevel and prevent them from contaminating our genuine marketing database?” Back in my Infusionsoft days, we used to build automations that we called “Honey Traps”. The idea was simple. Catch contacts that clearly weren’t genuine prospects or customers before they became mixed into the rest of the database. With HighLevel, we can take that old Honey Trap idea considerably further. We can combine simple workflow rules with AI to create a multi-stage Spam Honey Trap. And the clever bit is that we don’t need to pay for AI to analyse every incoming message. We can use simple workflow logic to catch the obvious spam first. Then only messages that get through that first layer need the more sophisticated AI treatment. Use rules for what you already know. Use AI for what you don’t. That’s the basis of the HighLevel Spam Honey Trap we’re going to build. How the Multi-Stage Spam Honey Trap HighLevel Workflow Works At its simplest, the process looks like this: Incoming message ↓ Stage 1: Free If/Else spam checks ↓ Not caught? ↓ Stage 2: AI analyses the message ↓ Stage 3: Legitimate, suspected spam or human review ↓ Stage 4: Learn from what got through The important point is that AI isn’t our first line of defence. There’s little point paying AI to analyse a message if a simple HighLevel workflow condition could have identified it immediately. Stage 1: Catch the Obvious Spam With If/Else Logic We can start our workflow using the Customer Replied trigger. HighLevel allows this trigger to respond to incoming messages and filter them according to things such as the reply channel and phrases contained in the message. That gives us our first Honey Trap. Think about the spam you already receive. You may repeatedly see messages containing phrases such as: “Your Facebook page will be deleted” “Your account has been suspended” “Community standards violation” “Copyright infringement” “Your account will be permanently disabled” Other recurring phrases specific to the spam targeting your business HighLevel’s own spam example demonstrates this approach using words and phrases such as “violation”, “permission” and “suspension”. These are known patterns. We don’t need AI to understand them. We can simply use workflow logic to ask: Does the incoming message contain one of our known spam phrases? YES → Send it down the Spam route. NO → Move to Stage 2. HighLevel’s Customer Replied trigger currently supports Contains Phrase and Exact Match Phrase filters, as well as filtering according to tags, intent and reply channel. That means you could also have slightly different Honey Traps depending on whether the message arrived by email, SMS, WhatsApp or social messaging. Don’t Try to Catch Everything With Keywords This is important. The Stage 1 Honey Trap isn’t supposed to be perfect. If you build hundreds of complicated rules trying to identify every possible piece of spam, you could create something that’s difficult to maintain and potentially catches legitimate messages. A genuine customer could quite reasonably use the word “suspended” or “violation”. So Stage 1 should concentrate on the really obvious patterns. If we’re not confident, let the message continue. That’s what Stage 2 is for. Stage 2: Let AI Look at the Message Now we reach the messages that weren’t obvious enough for our simple rules. This is where AI becomes useful. Rather than looking for individual words, AI can consider the meaning and context of the entire message. We could instruct it along the lines of: “This is an incoming message received by our business. Analyse the message and determine whether it appears to be a genuine customer communication, unsolicited spam, a phishing/scam message, or something you cannot confidently determine.” We can also give the AI examples. Spam: “Your Facebook Business Page has violated our policies and will be permanently deleted. Click here to appeal.” Legitimate: “I tried to log into my account this morning but it says my account has been suspended. Can somebody help?” Both contain language about accounts being suspended. Read more…
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EU AI Act Article 50 Is Now in Force: What HighLevel Businesses Using AI Chatbots and Voice AI Need to Know

Time fo writing: 20 August 2026 If you are using an AI chatbot, AI receptionist, Voice AI or an AI agent to communicate with customers, there is an important new rule you need to be aware of. Article 50 of the EU AI Act became applicable on 2 August 2026. And one of the main requirements is actually pretty straightforward: If someone is interacting directly with AI, they should know they are interacting with AI. You can read the actual legislation here: EU AI Act – Article 50 on EUR-Lex The European Commission has also published detailed guidance explaining how Article 50 should work in practice: European Commission – Article 50 Transparency Guidelines So what does this actually mean for a normal business using AI? The days of pretending your AI bot is a human may be over This is probably the biggest practical takeaway. A lot of effort has gone into making AI agents sound as human as possible. That’s understandable. We don’t want customers talking to something that sounds like an old-fashioned automated phone system. But there is a big difference between making an AI sound natural and making someone believe it is a human being. For example, imagine you have an AI chatbot called Sarah. A customer starts a conversation and Sarah says: “Hi, I’m Sarah. How can I help?” The customer could quite reasonably assume Sarah is sitting at a desk somewhere. Instead, something as simple as this makes the position clear: “Hi, I’m Sarah, ABC Ltd’s AI assistant. How can I help?” You haven’t ruined the conversation. You’ve simply told the customer what they are interacting with. This could be particularly important with Voice AI This is where I think businesses need to pay particular attention. AI voices have become incredibly realistic. With platforms such as HighLevel you can now have an AI receptionist answer the phone, qualify enquiries, answer questions, book appointments and even transfer calls. Imagine phoning a heating company and hearing: “Good morning, ABC Heating, Sarah speaking. How can I help?” If Sarah isn’t actually a person, the caller could understandably believe they are speaking to a receptionist. A simple change fixes that: “Good morning, ABC Heating. You’re speaking with our AI receptionist. How can I help?” That’s hardly going to destroy the customer experience. In fact, I think businesses could turn it into a positive. “I’m ABC Heating’s AI receptionist. I’m available 24/7 and can answer questions, book appointments or get one of the team to call you back.” Now AI is part of the benefit rather than something you’re trying to hide. What about website chat? The same principle applies. If someone opens a website chat and an AI immediately starts answering their questions, make it clear that it is an AI assistant. You don’t need a frightening legal disclaimer. Something like: “Hi, I’m our AI assistant. How can I help?” may be all that’s needed to make the nature of the interaction clear. The important thing is that the customer shouldn’t have to spend ten minutes chatting before eventually asking: “Hang on. Are you a bot?” Don’t rely on the customer asking I’ve seen AI prompts which include instructions along the lines of: “If someone asks whether you’re an AI, tell them you are.” That’s sensible. I would definitely have that instruction in the prompt. But Article 50 isn’t really about admitting you’re AI when somebody catches you out. The person should be informed that they are interacting with AI from the start of the AI interaction. So I’d do both. Make the AI status clear at the beginning and make sure your prompt prevents the AI from subsequently pretending to be human. SMS and WhatsApp get more interesting This is an area I think businesses using AI for lead follow-up and database reactivation need to look at. Imagine you send a normal automated SMS: “Hi John, are you still looking for a new boiler?” John replies: “Yes.” An AI agent then takes over the conversation. The important point isn’t necessarily whether AI wrote the original SMS. The question is when John starts interacting directly with AI. At that point I’d want the AI to make its position clear. For example: “Thanks John. I’m ABC Heating’s AI assistant. I can ask you a few questions and arrange for someone from the team to contact you.” That’s transparent without making the conversation clunky. What about HighLevel users? This is one reason Article 50 caught my attention. GoHighLevel has been rapidly expanding its AI capabilities. Businesses can now potentially have AI involved with: Website chat SMS WhatsApp Lead qualification Appointment booking Database reactivation Voice AI AI receptionists Automated follow-up So if you’re using HighLevel AI, I’d spend ten minutes looking at your setup from the customer’s perspective. At what point does AI take over the conversation? Does the customer know? Could they reasonably think they’re talking to one of your employees? And try this one: Ask your AI agent if it is a real person. You might be surprised by the answer. If you’ve previously prompted the AI to stay in character at all costs, this is definitely worth testing. Does this affect UK businesses? Potentially. Don’t simply assume: “We’re not in the EU anymore, so this doesn’t apply to us.” The EU AI Act can have application beyond businesses physically established within the EU. If your AI systems are being used in the EU or interacting with EU customers, you should establish whether the legislation applies to your particular circumstances. This could therefore be relevant to UK businesses selling into Europe and UK agencies building AI systems for European clients. What about AI-written blog posts? This is another area where I think we’re going to see some misleading headlines. Article 50 does not simply mean that every piece of content created with the help of ChatGPT now needs a big: “THIS WAS WRITTEN BY AI” warning at the top. There are separate rules covering AI-generated and manipulated content, including Read more…
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