Linktree solves a specific, real problem: your Instagram bio has one link and you have five places you want to send people. It became ubiquitous because it solves that problem quickly and for free. For coaches, the issue isn't that it doesn't work — it's what it actually does when it works.
Linktree sends visitors away from you. Someone clicks your bio link, lands on a list of five destinations, and leaves for whichever one looks relevant. There's no context about who you are, no ability to book directly, no way to understand your practice from the page they arrived on. It's a traffic roundabout. Visitors click in and immediately disperse to Calendly, Teachable, Gumroad — each a different platform, each requiring a new account, each another step between interest and action.
What coaches actually need isn't a better link list. It's a page that does something.
What coaches need from their link-in-bio
The purpose of the link in a coach's Instagram bio isn't traffic — it's conversion. Someone who clicks that link has already seen your content, decided they're interested, and taken an action. That's a highly qualified visitor. The question is whether the page they land on earns that interest or wastes it.
A page that does the job needs to:
- Explain who you are and what you offer — immediately, without scrolling
- Let visitors book a session or buy a package without leaving the page
- Show your courses and digital products in the same place as your sessions
- Build enough trust that a cold visitor becomes warm before they've spoken to you
- Collect payment at the point of booking — not send visitors to a Stripe link
None of this is possible with a link list. Here are five alternatives that get closer to actually doing the job.
Beacons — better than Linktree, still creator-focused
Beacons is the most feature-rich link-in-bio tool available. Beyond a link list, it lets you sell digital products directly from the page, collect emails, display social media feeds, take bookings (via a basic calendar integration), and accept tips or one-time payments. At $0–$25/month, it's accessible.
Where it falls short for coaches: it's still fundamentally a bio link page, not a practice management platform. The booking features are basic — no cancellation policy, no session packages, no credit system, no client history. The design aesthetic skews toward creators and influencers rather than professional practitioners. You can sell things from it, but you can't really run a practice from it.
Best for: Coaches in the early stages who want more than Linktree but aren't yet ready for a full platform. A reasonable step up that can be outgrown.
Stan.store — creator monetisation, not practice management
Stan.store combines a link-in-bio page with creator monetisation tools: digital products, courses, basic booking, and a simple storefront. It's fast to set up and affordable ($29–$99/month). For content creators selling to a social media audience, it's a genuine improvement over Linktree.
For coaches running a private practice, the gaps are the same as any creator tool: no cancellation policy enforcement, no session package tracking, no credit system for missed appointments, no proper client history. The product was designed for influencer monetisation — selling to followers — not for managing ongoing client relationships. The platform signals "creator" rather than "practitioner," which matters for the trust and credibility that therapy and coaching clients look for.
Best for: Coaches who are primarily building an audience on social media and want to monetise that audience, with sessions as one of several products rather than the core of the business.
Carrd — a real page, no functionality
Carrd is a simple one-page website builder. At $19/year, it's the cheapest way to have a designed, branded page rather than a link list. You can embed anything — Calendly for booking, Stripe payment links, custom forms — and the pages can look professional with some design effort.
The limitation is structural: Carrd is a display layer, not a business layer. It shows information and embeds other tools. Any actual functionality — booking, payment, course access — still lives on a separate platform. You're building a slightly nicer traffic roundabout, not a practice.
Best for: Coaches who need a simple, branded landing page and are comfortable managing everything else as a separate stack.
Linktree Pro — is the upgrade worth it for coaches?
Linktree Pro ($9/month) adds email collection, direct payment links (Stripe), custom domain support, scheduling via Calendly integration, and basic analytics. It's meaningfully more capable than the free version.
But it's still a link list with extras. The payment links are one-click Stripe redirects — not a checkout with session management, cancellation policy, or package tracking. The Calendly integration sends visitors to Calendly — another platform, another account. For coaches who want their practice to feel like a professional business rather than a set of social media tools, Pro doesn't change the fundamental architecture.
Best for: Coaches who are satisfied with Linktree and want basic email collection and payment links without switching platforms. A reasonable choice if the rest of your stack is already set up and you're not looking to consolidate.
Merkora — a practice page, not a link list
Merkora replaces the link-in-bio concept entirely. Instead of a list of links pointing to five other platforms, you have a single professional page — yourname.merkora.app — where visitors can read your bio and positioning, book a 1:1 session with payment and cancellation policy handled at the time of booking, purchase a session package, enroll in a course, download a digital product, and register for a live group program. Everything happens on the page. Nothing redirects to another platform.
This is the core argument in our post on how to run your coaching business from one link — not a link that points to many places, but a page that is the destination. For coaches who have outgrown Linktree and want to understand what a real practice platform does differently from a scheduling tool, the comparison in our post on coaching software vs Calendly covers the full picture.
Best for: Coaches who want their Instagram bio link to be a real practice — not a roundabout — and who want booking, packages, courses, and client management in one place.
The question to ask before choosing
Before picking a Linktree alternative, it's worth asking: what should actually happen when someone clicks your bio link?
If the answer is "they should understand who I am, be able to book a session, and see what else I offer without leaving" — that's not a link list problem, it's a platform problem. A better Linktree still sends people away. A practice page keeps them.
Coaching software built for private practice gives you a page that functions as your entire business presence — booking, packages, courses, and digital products in one place, under your brand, without the redirects. Merkora was built for exactly this. If you're replacing Linktree and want the new destination to actually do something, it's worth a look.