How do HeyLead and HandL UTM Grabber work?
HeyLead and HandL UTM Grabber both read where each visitor came from: UTM tags, ad click IDs such as gclid, and the referring website. The difference is where they run and where that information ends up.
HandL UTM Grabber is a WordPress plugin. It stores the visitor's UTMs, click IDs and referrer in cookies, then fills them into hidden fields in your WordPress forms. When someone sends a form, the source travels with the submission into your email, form entries or CRM. Everything happens inside your WordPress site.
HeyLead is a hosted service that you add with one script tag or the WordPress plugin. It detects your forms automatically and saves each submission together with its first touch, last touch and every visit in between. HeyLead records channel, source, campaign, medium, term and landing page for both touches, plus device and country, and shows it all in the HeyLead dashboard.
In short, HandL is a WordPress tool that feeds your forms, and HeyLead is a lead tracking service that works on any site and gives you the reports too.
On platforms, HandL UTM Grabber is a WordPress plugin, so it suits sites built on WordPress. If your whole business runs on one WordPress site, that is no limitation at all, and having tracking inside WordPress can feel simpler than adding another service.
HeyLead works on WordPress, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Next.js and custom sites. That matters if you are moving platforms, run a store on Shopify next to a WordPress blog, or are an agency with clients on different builders. HeyLead uses the same tracking and the same dashboard everywhere, and multi-site plans cover 10, 25 or 50 sites. The HeyLead WordPress plugin is one way in, not the only one.
How much setup does each tool need?
Setting up HandL means installing the plugin, then adding hidden fields to each form you want tracked and naming them so the plugin can fill them. WordPress users who know their form builder can do this quickly. It takes more care with many forms, page builders that make hidden fields awkward, or new forms added later without the fields. A form without the hidden fields sends leads with no source.
HeyLead's setup takes about 5 minutes. HeyLead captures forms from Gravity Forms, Elementor, Contact Form 7, Typeform, Jotform and other standard website forms without any hidden fields, so a new form starts tracking the moment it goes live. A live install checker shows whether tracking is working. Our guide on how form capture works explains the details.
| Setup step | HeyLead | HandL UTM Grabber |
|---|---|---|
| Install | Script tag or WP plugin | WordPress plugin |
| Add hidden fields to each form | Optional | Required |
| New forms tracked automatically | Yes | After hidden fields are added |
| Where data is stored | HeyLead's hosted dashboard | Your form entries, email or CRM |
| Customise tracking behaviour | Custom channel rules | Custom parameters, cookies (V3) |
Where do you see your lead source reports?
With HandL UTM Grabber, the source shows up wherever the form submission goes: the form plugin's entries, the notification email or your CRM. To see which channels bring the most leads, you sort or report on those fields yourself. HandL's paid V3 also lists a GCLID reporter and "AI-powered insights"; check HandL's docs for what those reports show.
HeyLead includes a dashboard built for business owners. It shows leads, customers and revenue by channel, campaign and landing page, plus a plain-English summary of what changed. You can mark each lead as New, Qualified, Customer or Lost and add a deal value, so you see which channels bring paying customers and not only form fills. Each lead has its own page showing every visit before they got in touch, which helps when someone first found you through Google and came back weeks later from an email or an AI assistant.
For many WordPress owners, the question is whether they want to build that reporting themselves from form entries or open a dashboard that already has it. Both are valid; the first costs time, the second costs a subscription.
How do they handle leads from ChatGPT and AI assistants?
HeyLead labels visits from AI assistants as an AI Referral channel and names the assistant: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot or Claude. Visits from AI assistants often arrive with no UTM tags, so tools that only read UTMs and click IDs can miss them or file them as Direct or Referral.
HeyLead decides each lead's channel in a fixed order: your custom channel rules first, then AI assistants, then ad click IDs (gclid, gbraid, wbraid, msclkid, ttclid, li_fat_id, twclid), then UTM tags, then the referring site, and finally Direct. Our guide on tracking leads from ChatGPT explains why this matters.
Check HandL's documentation for how it currently treats AI referrals.
What about ad platforms, phone calls and other channels?
HandL UTM Grabber V3 is stronger on ad platform workflows. It lists Facebook Conversions API workflows and both server-side and client-side tracking. HeyLead does not send conversions back to ad platforms, so if feeding leads back to Facebook is important to you, HandL V3 covers something HeyLead does not.
HeyLead tracks website form leads. It does not track phone calls yet (call tracking is on the roadmap) and does not track live chat. Check HandL's docs for any call or chat support. If most of your leads phone you, a call tracking tool is a better fit than either.
How do they connect to your CRM and other tools?
HandL UTM Grabber passes the source to your CRM through the hidden fields in your WordPress forms, so the connection depends on your form plugin's own integrations. That keeps everything inside WordPress and the tools you already use. If your form plugin already sends entries to your CRM, HandL adds the source fields to that flow without another account to manage.
HeyLead sends leads to HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Salesforce, Pipedrive and Google Sheets, and to other systems through webhooks and Zapier. HeyLead also sends email notifications for each new lead, supports team members, and can still fill hidden fields if you want the source written into your CRM through your form tool. When a lead becomes a customer, you can mark it in HeyLead with a deal value, so the dashboard shows revenue by channel even if your CRM is a simple spreadsheet. See the full list on the HeyLead integrations page.
How does pricing compare?
HandL UTM Grabber has a free community version on WordPress.org, which is a real advantage for a WordPress site on a tight budget. One directory lists the paid V3 at about $299 per year; check utmgrabber.com for current pricing.
HeyLead does not have a free plan. Single-site plans are Lite, Starter and Professional at $29, $49, $99 per month, for 1,000, 2,000 or 5,000 leads. Multi-site plans start at $199/month with unlimited leads. The 14-day trial costs $2.99, billing is monthly and you can cancel anytime. See HeyLead pricing for every plan and limit.
HandL's paid V3 adds custom parameters, adjustable cookie duration, server-side and client-side tracking, Facebook Conversions API workflows, a GCLID reporter and "AI-powered insights". For a WordPress site that runs Google and Facebook ads and wants fine control over what gets stored, those extras are worth a look before choosing.
The trade is simple: HandL costs less, and HeyLead includes the hosted dashboard, lead journeys and AI Referral channel you would otherwise build yourself.
Which should you choose?
Choose HandL UTM Grabber if your site runs on WordPress, you want a free option, you are happy to manage hidden fields, or you need Facebook Conversions API workflows. HandL keeps everything inside WordPress, which many site owners prefer.
Choose HeyLead if you work on more than one platform, want forms tracked without hidden fields, or want a dashboard, a journey for every lead and AI assistants counted properly.
If you want to try HeyLead on a site that already uses HandL, install the HeyLead plugin or script next to it. HeyLead does not touch your hidden fields, so HandL keeps filling them as before. Send a few test leads, check they arrive in HeyLead with the right channel and campaign, and compare a few weeks of results before deciding which to keep. You can also compare HeyLead with LeadSources, another lead source tracker.