How do HeyLead and LeadSources work?
HeyLead and LeadSources both add a small script to your website that reads where each visitor came from: UTM tags, ad click IDs such as gclid, and the referring website. The main difference is where that information ends up and where you read it.
LeadSources stores the visitor's source details, then fills them into hidden fields that you add to your forms. When someone sends a form, the source travels with the lead into your CRM or form tool. Your reporting happens in that CRM, which suits teams that already run their business from it.
HeyLead 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. You see the source of every lead in the HeyLead dashboard straight away, and you can still push it into your CRM with webhooks, Zapier, a CRM integration or hidden fields.
In short, LeadSources is a CRM-first tool and HeyLead is a dashboard-first tool that can also feed your CRM.
That difference shapes who each tool suits. A business with a sales team, a well-kept CRM and someone who owns reporting will find the LeadSources approach natural, because lead source becomes one more set of fields on every contact. A business owner who wants to open one page and see which ads, posts and searches bring customers will usually get there faster with HeyLead.
How much setup does each tool need?
Setting up LeadSources means installing its script, adding hidden fields to every form you want tracked and mapping those fields in your CRM. On a site with a few stable forms and someone who knows the CRM, that is a reasonable afternoon of work. It takes more care when you have many forms, page builders that make hidden fields awkward, or a team that adds new forms without telling anyone. A form without the hidden fields simply sends leads with no source.
HeyLead's setup is one script tag or the WordPress plugin, and it takes about 5 minutes. HeyLead works on WordPress, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify and custom sites, and it captures forms from tools such as Gravity Forms, Elementor, Contact Form 7, Typeform and Jotform. A new form starts tracking the moment it goes live. A live install checker shows whether the script is running and forms are being seen. The guide to installing the HeyLead tracking script covers each platform.
| Setup step | HeyLead | LeadSources |
|---|---|---|
| Install a script or plugin | Yes, about 5 minutes | Yes |
| Add hidden fields to each form | Optional | Required |
| Map fields in your CRM | Optional | Required for reporting |
| New forms tracked automatically | Yes | After hidden fields are added |
| Check the install is working | Live install checker | Check LeadSources' docs |
If you do want hidden fields with HeyLead, for example to fill a HubSpot property through your form tool, the hidden fields guide explains how. They are an extra, not a requirement.
Where do you see your lead source reports?
With LeadSources, reports live wherever the lead lands. If you use a CRM, you build lead source reports there, using the fields LeadSources filled in. That is a real strength if your sales team already lives in the CRM and you want one place for everything, from first visit to closed deal. Check LeadSources' docs for any reports it shows inside its own app.
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 the revenue numbers come from real outcomes. Each lead has its own page showing every visit before they got in touch, which helps when a lead first found you through Google and came back weeks later from an email.
HeyLead also lets you set custom channel rules, for example to treat a partner's website as its own channel or group several local directories together. The custom channel rules guide shows how. Check LeadSources' docs for any similar options.
This difference matters most for small teams. If nobody has time to build and maintain CRM reports, HeyLead gives you the answer without that work. If someone already owns CRM reporting, LeadSources fits the way they work.
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. AI assistants now send real buyers to business websites, and many tools still file those visits under Direct or Referral, which hides how much they are worth.
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. That order means a ChatGPT visit is not mistaken for ordinary referral traffic. Read more on the AI Lead Tracker page.
Check LeadSources' documentation for how it currently classifies AI referrals, as tracking tools are adding this quickly.
What about phone calls and other channels?
HeyLead tracks website form leads. It does not track phone calls yet (call tracking is on the roadmap), and it does not track live chat conversations. If most of your leads phone you, a call tracking tool will serve you better than either form tracker.
Check LeadSources' docs for its current support for calls and chat. Both tools are built mainly around forms, so a business that gets most leads through forms is the natural fit for either one.
How do they connect to your CRM and other tools?
LeadSources sends lead source data to your CRM through the hidden fields in your forms, so the connection depends on your form tool's own integration with your CRM. That keeps everything inside the systems you already use. One third-party listing says LeadSources has no public API, so check with LeadSources if you plan to build your own connections.
HeyLead sends leads out in several ways:
- CRM hand-off to HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Salesforce and Pipedrive through Zapier or webhooks (native sync coming soon), and Google Sheets directly
- Webhooks for your own systems
- Zapier for thousands of other apps
- Email notifications for each new lead
- Hidden fields, optional, through your form tool
HeyLead also supports team members, custom channel rules and multi-site plans for agencies. See the full list on the HeyLead integrations page.
How does pricing compare?
HeyLead charges a flat monthly price per 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 for agencies start at $199/month and cover 10, 25 or 50 sites with unlimited leads. The 14-day trial costs $2.99, and you can cancel anytime.
LeadSources lists Starter at $48 per month, Growth at $148 and Pro/Agency at $280, with about 20% off when you pay yearly. LeadSources has no free plan, and a trial may be available. If you prefer to pay annually for a discount, LeadSources offers that and HeyLead currently bills monthly. Neither tool has a free plan. See HeyLead pricing for every plan and limit.
Which should you choose?
Choose LeadSources if your CRM is the centre of your reporting, your team is comfortable adding hidden fields to every form, and you want an annual discount. LeadSources keeps everything inside the CRM your sales team already uses, which is a genuine advantage when the CRM is where decisions get made.
Choose HeyLead if you want to see where every lead came from without touching your forms, with a dashboard, a full journey for each lead, AI assistants counted properly and a lower starting price. HeyLead also suits businesses without a CRM at all, because the dashboard and email notifications work on their own.
If you are moving from LeadSources to HeyLead, you can install HeyLead alongside LeadSources without removing anything, because HeyLead does not need your hidden fields. Send a few test leads, check that they arrive in HeyLead with the right channel and campaign, and compare a few weeks of data with your CRM.
When you are happy, you can either remove the old hidden fields or keep them and let HeyLead fill them, so your CRM reports carry on as before. Nothing in your CRM has to change on day one.
You can also compare HeyLead with Attributer, another hidden-field tool.