Best SamCart alternatives in 2026

SamCart is a good checkout. That's worth saying first, because a list like this one can make it easy to forget. The pages load fast, the checkout supports wallets and buy now, pay later, and a course app comes on every plan. People leave for more specific reasons, and the pricing page spells most of them out.

Core is $79 a month for one team seat. Pro is $199 a month, and it's where SamCart puts one-click upsells and order bumps (sold together as one line item), A/B testing, Subscription Saver, the Affiliate Center, the API and third-party payment processors. So a seller who wants a bump and an upsell pays $120 a month more for them. Yearly billing takes 25% off both plans, but the gap stays.

The other reasons are narrower. Some sellers run paid traffic and need to test the pages before the checkout, which SamCart's tests don't reach. Some have outgrown one processor and want orders spread across several merchant accounts. Some just don't want another monthly bill and would rather pay once.

I spent nine years as CTO of a direct-response company, where I built our custom checkout with multi-MID routing. Every quarter I watched revenue leak between tools. That's the lens for this list, and it's a bias you should know about, because I also build one of the tools on it. The list is for people who sell their own products and care what happens at and after the checkout. If you only need a buy button on a blog, a simpler tool near the bottom will do.

SamCart alternatives at a glance

Entry prices are monthly on monthly billing unless the row says otherwise, from each vendor's pricing page on 29 September 2026. SamCart is included as the baseline.

How we picked

We didn't score these tools out of ten, and we didn't run test stores through them. A score hides the one detail that decides it for you. Instead we compared what each vendor publishes about the things a SamCart buyer is paying for, on its own pricing page, feature pages and help center, on 29 September 2026:

• Checkout depth. Order bumps on the checkout, one-click upsells and downsells after it, and whether the upsell charges the saved card or asks for it again.
• Subscriptions. Recurring billing, trials and payment plans, and what happens when a renewal fails (dunning).
• What the entry plan leaves out. The feature you need, on the plan you'd buy.
• Fees. Monthly price, platform fees per sale, and which payment processors you can use.
• Testing. Whether you can split test the checkout, the upsell and the pages before them.
• Moving in. What SamCart lets you export, and what the new tool can take.

Where a vendor doesn't say something on those pages, we write "not stated" rather than guess that it's missing. Prices change often, so check the vendor's page before you buy. If something here is out of date, email [email protected] and we'll fix it.

Bumps, upsells and downsells: what "checkout depth" means

Every tool on this list says it has upsells. They don't all mean the same thing, and the difference is where the money is.

• Order bump. A checkbox on the checkout that adds a small product to the same order. Cheap to add and usually the easiest win.
• One-click upsell. An offer on its own page after the payment goes through. The buyer clicks yes and the card they just used is charged again, with no second form. If the tool asks for the card again, it's an upsell page, but it isn't one-click, and take rates drop.
• Downsell. A cheaper offer shown to buyers who said no to the upsell.
• Where it works. Whether the one-click charge works depends on the processor, because the platform has to reuse the saved payment method. Ask which processors support it before you move.

Say your front end sells at $37 and one buyer in four takes a $27 upsell. That's $6.75 more per buyer, an 18% lift in average order value, from one page. On paid traffic that's often the difference between a campaign that breaks even and one you can scale. It's why I'd read a tool's upsell docs before its homepage. Our Academy shows the setup in ElasticFunnels step by step: add an order bump and add a one-click upsell and downsell.

The nine SamCart alternatives, one by one

A disclosure first: we make ElasticFunnels, and we list it first because it's our site. We've tried to be as fair to the others as we'd want them to be to us.

1. ElasticFunnels: best for paid traffic and DR vendors

ElasticFunnels is a funnel platform built for people who buy traffic: presell and VSL (video sales letter) pages, the checkout, the upsell flow, subscriptions, a CRM and a call center in one account. Where SamCart starts from the checkout, ElasticFunnels starts from the ad click and follows the buyer through to the last rebill. I built it for the way we used to sell, so read this entry knowing that.

Best for: vendors and media buyers on paid traffic, especially if you run several merchant accounts or rebill products.

Standout features

• Order bumps on the checkout, then one-click upsells and downsells after it. The one-click charge reuses the saved card on Stripe, NMI and PayPal.
• Split tests under one URL on any page, including the checkout and the upsell pages, and A/B tests of the order bump itself. The ad keeps pointing at the same address, so the test doesn't reset its learning.
• Subscriptions with intro-to-full price steps, prepaid discounts, dunning emails for failed renewals and retention offers when a buyer tries to cancel.
• MID routing for NMI. Orders are split by weight across your MIDs, filtered by card brand, product and amount, with daily and monthly caps, and the load balancing report shows sales, revenue and refunds per MID.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay on NMI and Stripe.
• A built-in call center with a recovery queue for abandoned checkouts and failed payments, and phone orders on the customer record.
• Server-side conversions sent back to Meta, Google Ads and TikTok, with each order tied to its ad, campaign and page variant.
• An AI page builder that builds any page you describe, and an AI cloner that turns a page URL into an editable page.

Pricing: Starter $97, Growth $197 and Scale $497 a month. Every feature is on every plan; the plans differ by visits, brands, domains, team seats and automation runs. There's a 0.5% fee on orders taken through an ElasticFunnels-run gateway, and none on orders from external carts. 14-day free trial, no free plan. Full details on the pricing page.

• Pros: bumps, upsells, downsells and tests on every plan; tests reach every page, not just the checkout; routing across NMI merchant accounts; the call center and CRM work on the same customer record.
• Cons: no free plan, and more to set up than a hosted cart. Email campaigns run through an integration such as Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp. One-click upsells work on Stripe, NMI and PayPal, not on every processor we connect. There's no SamCart importer.

Consider it if: you buy traffic, the upsell flow carries your margin, and a declined card or a reset ad costs you real money. Side by side: SamCart vs ElasticFunnels.

2. ThriveCart: best if you'd rather pay once

ThriveCart is the closest like-for-like swap: another checkout-first cart for creators, with courses and communities through ThriveCart Academy. Its biggest difference is the price model. Alongside monthly and yearly plans it still sells a lifetime licence.

Best for: creators and course sellers who want SamCart-style checkouts without a growing monthly bill.

Standout features

• One-click upsells and downsells, and A/B split testing, on the Standard plan.
• One order bump on Standard, several on Pro+.
• Subscriptions, split pay, buy now pay later and pay-what-you-like pricing on Standard; subscription dunning and the affiliate program on Pro+.
• "0% fees on sales" from ThriveCart itself, with processor fees passed through.

Pricing: Standard is $444 a year or $495 once for a lifetime licence (ThriveCart checkout pages, September 2026). Pro+ costs more; the price we were shown was in euros, so check it in your currency. 30-day free trial on both plans.

• Pros: upsells and testing without a Pro upgrade; the lifetime option; the longest trial on this list.
• Cons: only one bump and no dunning on Standard; tests cover its hosted checkouts, not the pages before them. Routing orders across several merchant accounts isn't stated.

Consider it if: you like SamCart's model and mostly object to the price. More detail: SamCart vs ThriveCart.

3. PayKickstart: best for subscriptions and affiliates

PayKickstart is a billing and checkout platform for digital and SaaS products. It puts every feature on every plan and prices by the revenue you process, which makes it the most direct answer to SamCart's Pro gate.

Best for: subscription and SaaS sellers, and vendors who recruit affiliates.

Standout features

• One-click upsells, order bumps and cart recovery on every plan.
• Subscriptions, free and paid trials, payment plans, proration and usage-based billing, with dunning and a customer billing portal.
• An affiliate center with first- and second-tier commissions, instant or delayed payouts and a marketplace.
• Import of existing subscriptions from your payment gateway.

Pricing: $79 a month up to $3,000 in monthly revenue, with a 5.27% fee on revenue above that, or a launch plan at 6% of revenue with no subscription. 20% off yearly. Two-week free trial.

• Pros: no feature tiers; strong subscription tools; the affiliate program is built in.
• Cons: the revenue-based price climbs as you grow, so run the numbers at twice your current volume. A/B testing isn't on the pricing page; it appears on their public roadmap. It's a checkout and billing layer, so the pages before it live elsewhere.

Consider it if: recurring revenue and affiliates are the business, and you already have your pages.

4. ClickFunnels: best for funnels with email and courses

ClickFunnels is the all-in-one funnel builder: pages, funnels, email, courses, a community and a store under one login. Next to SamCart it gives you more around the checkout and a little less depth in it.

Best for: a business built around one offer that wants funnels and email marketing in the same tool.

Standout features

• Order bumps and one-click upsell and downsell (OTO, one-time offer) pages in the funnel.
• Payments AI, its own gateway, plus Stripe, PayPal and NMI, with rules that split transactions between connected gateways.
• Email marketing, courses and A/B testing built in.

Pricing: the entry plan is $81 a month billed yearly (more month to month), then $164 and $248 a month billed yearly, and Dominate at $5,997 a year. The entry plan allows 2 team members, 10,000 contacts and 3 courses. There's a two-week free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. ClickFunnels says it charges no fees beyond the processor's rates.

• Pros: email and funnels in one place; several gateways, including NMI.
• Cons: the Affiliate Center is on the Optimize and Dominate plans only; plans are capped by contacts, team members and courses.

Consider it if: your list does the selling and you want one login for pages and email. More: ClickFunnels vs SamCart.

5. Systeme.io: best free SamCart alternative

Systeme.io is the low-cost all-in-one: funnels, email, courses, a blog and an affiliate program. It's the only tool here with a free plan that includes a bump and a one-click upsell.

Best for: a first product on a small budget.

Standout features

• Order bumps and one-click upsells on every plan, capped at 1, 10 and 100, and unlimited on the top plan.
• A/B tests on every plan, capped the same way.
• Unlimited email sends, courses and an affiliate program, with no transaction fees on Stripe or PayPal.

Pricing: free for up to 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels and 1 course, with no card and no expiry. Paid plans start at $17 a month, then $47, and a top plan removes the limits.

• Pros: the cheapest way to get bumps, upsells and email together; no fees on sales.
• Cons: the caps bite as you add products; failed-payment recovery isn't stated on the pricing page.

Consider it if: you're launching and every dollar counts. More: Systeme.io vs ElasticFunnels.

6. Kajabi: best for courses and communities

Kajabi is course-first: courses and communities, with offers, checkouts and a website around them. It doesn't take a revenue share, but it is the most expensive entry plan here.

Best for: creators whose course or community is the business.

Standout features

• Order bumps on the checkout, and upsells and downsells after it that use the payment method from the original offer (Kajabi Payments, Stripe or PayPal).
• An affiliate program on every plan.
• A/B tests for landing pages.

Pricing: Basic $179, Growth $249 and Pro $499 a month, or $143, $199 and $399 billed yearly. Plans cap products (5, 50, unlimited) and contacts (2,500, 25,000, 100,000). Kajabi Payments costs 2.9% + 30c on Basic, and third-party processors carry an extra Kajabi fee on the lower plans. There's a free trial.

• Pros: the strongest course and community product here; no revenue share.
• Cons: product and contact caps; A/B tests are for landing pages, and checkout tests aren't stated.

Consider it if: you teach, and the checkout is a means to an end. More: Kajabi vs ElasticFunnels.

7. Podia: best for solo course creators

Podia is a simpler, cheaper course and digital download platform with email, a community and a website builder.

Best for: one person selling courses and downloads to their own audience.

Standout features

• Upsells and an affiliate program from the second plan.
• Memberships and coupons on every plan.
• Email built in, up to 100, 500 or 1,000 subscribers by plan.

Pricing: $42, $84 and $150 a month billed yearly. The entry plan adds a 5% transaction fee; the other two have none. Two-week free trial, no card needed.

• Pros: simple to run; no platform fee from the second plan.
• Cons: no upsells on the entry plan; order bumps and A/B tests aren't stated.

Consider it if: you want courses and email in one light tool, and upsells are a nice extra.

8. Payhip: best for digital downloads on a budget

Payhip is a simple store for digital downloads, courses, coaching, memberships and physical products. It doesn't gate features by plan. You pick between a monthly fee and a cut of each sale.

Best for: selling downloads without a monthly commitment.

Standout features

• Upsells after checkout and cross-sells with a discount.
• Coupons, referrals and an affiliate program.
• EU VAT and tax handling built in.

Pricing: free with a 5% fee per sale, Plus at $29 a month with 2%, or Pro at $99 a month with no fee. PayPal and Stripe fees apply on top.

• Pros: every feature on the free plan; clear pricing.
• Cons: order bumps, A/B tests and dunning aren't stated; whether upsells charge the saved card isn't stated either.

Consider it if: you sell a few digital products and want to start today.

9. Gumroad: best for testing an idea with no monthly fee

Gumroad is the lowest-commitment way to sell a digital product: no monthly fee, and since January 2025 it acts as merchant of record, collecting and remitting sales tax for you.

Best for: a first product, or an idea you want to test before you pay for anything.

Standout features

• Upsells and cross-sells in the checkout, shown after the buyer presses Pay.
• Memberships and subscriptions.
• Your own affiliates, plus Gumroad's marketplace affiliates.

Pricing: no monthly fee; 10% + 50c per direct sale, and 30% on sales that come through its Discover marketplace.

• Pros: nothing to pay until you sell; tax handled for you.
• Cons: the most expensive option once you have volume. At $5,000 a month in direct sales, the 10% alone is $500.

Consider it if: you're not sure yet that the product will sell.

Feature comparison: the checkout tools

The rows SamCart buyers ask about, with the plan each one needs. "Not stated" means the vendor doesn't say on the pages we checked, not that the feature is missing.

When I compare carts, the column I read first is the one-click upsell, and the second thing I check is which processors it works on. A bump is nice. An upsell that asks for the card again is a leak you pay for on every order.

How to switch from SamCart

Moving a cart is less work than it looks, apart from one piece: the subscriptions. Here's what SamCart's own help center says you can take with you.

The order I'd do it in:

1. Export everything first. Orders, customers and subscriptions, each as a CSV. Download each file as soon as the email arrives.
2. Write down the offer logic. For every product, note the price, the bump, the upsell and downsell, the delivery (course, file, email) and the thank-you page. This list is what you rebuild from.
3. Rebuild products and pages. Import the product list, then clone or rebuild the sales and checkout pages.
4. Rebuild the checkout flow. Add the bump, then the upsell and downsell pages, and connect your processor. Check that the one-click charge works on that processor.
5. Test with real money. Buy your own product with the bump and the upsell, then refund it. Check the receipt, the course access and the file delivery.
6. Move traffic gradually. Point one ad or one email at the new checkout first and compare it on sales, then update the rest of your links and your domain.
7. Decide on subscriptions last. New subscribers go to the new checkout. Existing ones can keep billing on SamCart while you work out with SamCart and your processor whether their saved cards can move.

Keep SamCart running until the last renewal you care about has billed and your refund window has closed. Paying for one more month of the old tool is cheaper than losing a rebill you forgot about.

Which SamCart alternative is best?

It depends on where your sales come from and what you sell.

• You run paid traffic and your margin is in the upsells: ElasticFunnels. Bumps, upsells and tests on every plan, split tests under one URL and routing across NMI merchant accounts.
• You like SamCart and just want to stop paying monthly: ThriveCart.
• You sell subscriptions or software and recruit affiliates: PayKickstart.
• You want funnels and email marketing in one login: ClickFunnels.
• You're launching on a tight budget: Systeme.io.
• You sell courses or run a community: Kajabi, or Podia if you work alone and want it cheaper.
• You sell a few downloads and want no commitment: Payhip or Gumroad.

If you've narrowed it to two, these side-by-side pages go deeper: SamCart vs ThriveCart, ClickFunnels vs SamCart, Leadpages vs SamCart and ThriveCart vs ElasticFunnels. For the wider market, see our guide to the best sales funnel software.

A cart looks like a commodity until the day it costs you money. That might be an upsell that asks for the card again, a renewal that fails with nobody chasing it, or a checkout test you can't run on the plan you're on. Pick the tool whose weak spot you can live with, prove it with one real product and one small traffic source, and only then move the rest.