The SamCart alternative for paid ads
SamCart is a checkout-first platform for selling digital products, with courses and AI page tools. ElasticFunnels wraps the checkout in the whole paid-traffic funnel: presell and VSL pages tested under one URL, routing across your MIDs, and the sale posted back to the ad. Here is how they compare, sourced from SamCart's public pages.
Comparing more options? See other SamCart alternatives, ranked.
| At a glance | SamCart | ElasticFunnels |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $79 a month (Core) | $97 a month (Starter) |
| Free trial | 7 days | 14 days. |
| Bumps, upsells, A/B tests | Pro plan and up. | Every plan. |
| Merchant accounts | Payment Routing assigns products to processors on Pro. Automatic retry on another MID not publicly stated. | Weighted across your NMI MIDs, filtered by card brand, product and amount, with daily/monthly caps. |
| Verdict | Pick SamCart for a polished checkout with courses included. | Pick ElasticFunnels to test and scale the whole funnel on paid ads. |
The whole funnel around the checkout
SamCart tests the checkout. ElasticFunnels tests every page before and after it.
SamCart's split tests rotate checkout page variants, each one "essentially creating a new product with its own settings". They are a Pro feature, and the help article says it applies to the legacy content builder. Payment Routing assigns products to processors, with upsells and bumps on the primary product's processor.
ElasticFunnels tests the presell, the VSL, the checkout and the upsells under one URL, and picks the winner on sales. Orders spread by weight across your NMI MIDs.
Every order is tied to its ad and page variant and posted back server-side to Meta, Google Ads and TikTok. See checkout and MID routing.
SamCart vs ElasticFunnels side by side
Where SamCart does not publicly state a capability, we say so.
| SamCart | ElasticFunnels | |
|---|---|---|
| A/B split tests | Pro. Checkout variants rotate on the same URL, each one a new product. Upsell funnels can be tested, single upsells cannot. | YesVariants rotate server-side under one URL, so Meta, Google and TikTok keep their learning. Winners are picked on sales. |
| Routing by UTM, country or device | Not publicly stated | YesRoute visitors by UTM, country, device, affiliate or any query parameter, on the same URL. |
| Page builder | Yes. Sales pages, microsites, link-in-bios and opt-ins, built with Pages AI. | YesPages, funnels, quizzes and popups, with reusable components and pages as code. |
| AI page builder | Yes. "Describe the page you want and get a full landing or sales page built". | YesBuilds any page you describe, from VSLs and advertorials to quizzes and checkouts. Or paste a URL and the AI clones it into an editable page. |
| Order bumps | Pro. Single-checkbox bumps, and global bumps across the catalog. | YesOrder bumps on the checkout, then one-click upsells and downsells after it. |
| One-click upsells and downsells | Pro. Multi-step upsell and downsell funnels on the same payment method. | YesOne-click upsells and downsells charge the saved card, with no second form. |
| Subscriptions and dunning | Yes. Subscription Saver retries failed cards, on Pro. | YesSubscriptions and rebills live on the same customer record as the first order. |
| Payment processors | SamPay, Stripe and PayPal. Braintree, Authorize.net and Easy Pay Direct on Pro. | YesStripe, NMI, PayPal, Klarna and Authorize.net, plus Shop Pay. Connect as many merchant accounts as you run. |
| Routing across merchant accounts | Partial. Payment Routing assigns products to processors and can rotate merchant accounts. Automatic retry on a decline not publicly stated. | YesWeighted across your NMI MIDs, filtered by card brand, product and amount, with daily/monthly caps. The load balancing report breaks out sales, revenue and refunds per MID. |
| CRM | Partial. Customer records with order history, tags and notes. | YesCustom entities, fields, pipelines and stages, not just a contact list. |
| Email marketing | Cart abandonment and transactional emails. Campaigns through integrations. | PartialOrder emails are built in. Campaigns run through Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp and the other email integrations. |
| Affiliate program | Yes, on Pro. Multi-tier on Enterprise. | YesRun your own affiliate program, and take BuyGoods, ClickBank and Digistore24 orders by postback. |
| Call center | Partial. Add To Order charges the card on file. New phone orders not publicly stated. | YesAgent queue, screen pop, dispositions, do-not-call list and agent commissions, with phone orders on the customer record. On every plan. |
| Server-side conversions | Partial. Meta Conversions API. Google and TikTok server-side not publicly stated. | YesThe sale posts back server-side to Meta, Google Ads, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit and more. |
| Sale-level attribution | Partial. UTM tracking and a referral report. | YesEvery order is tied to its ad, UTM and page variant. Build dashboards from 80+ card types. |
| API and developer access | Yes, on Pro. API and webhooks. | YesREST API, the ef CLI, server-side scripts on any page and an MCP server for AI agents. |
| AI coding agents and CLI | Not publicly stated. The API covers orders, customers and subscriptions, not pages. | YesClaude Code or Codex can build pages, launch split tests and read the results through the ef CLI. ef mcp connects Claude Desktop. |
| Courses and members area | Yes, on every plan. | YesCourse and membership areas, on every plan. |
How we source this. Every SamCart cell is taken from their own public site or documentation, last checked on 25 September 2026 at samcart.com and help.samcart.com. Where they do not publicly state a capability we say so, rather than claiming they lack it. If anything here is out of date, email [email protected] and we will correct it. SamCart is a trademark of SamCart Inc. ElasticFunnels is not affiliated with it.
SamCart pricing vs ElasticFunnels pricing
SamCart keeps bumps, upsells and tests for Pro. ElasticFunnels puts them on every plan and prices by traffic.
SamCart
Metered on plan features and team seats
- Core$79 a month, 1 team seat
- Pro$199 a month, 10 team seats
- EnterpriseCustom
- Annual billing$710 and $1,790 a year
- SamPay rate2.9% + 30c, no added platform fee
- Free trial7 days
ElasticFunnels
Metered on page views
- Starter$97 a month, 50,000 page views, 3 brands
- Growth$197 a month, 250,000 page views, 10 brands
- Scale$497 a month, 500,000 page views, unlimited brands
- EnterpriseCustom
- Checkout fee0.5% on EF-run gateways only
- Free trial14 days
The checkout tools are the upgrade. On SamCart, order bumps, upsells, split tests, dunning and the API start on Pro. On ElasticFunnels they are on every plan; the price climbs with page views and brands, plus 0.5% on orders through an EF-run gateway. See every plan on the pricing page.
Where SamCart wins
SamCart is strong where a creator sells digital products from a single checkout.
Wallets and buy now, pay later
Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, Klarna, Afterpay and Affirm at checkout.
A built-in AI suite
AI tools for pages, sales copy, documents and marketing assets.
Courses and done-for-you migration
A members area on every plan, and a team that migrates your products, pages, subscriptions and customers.
Which one is for you
Two different jobs. Take the tool built for yours.
Pick SamCart if
You sell digital products from one checkout, you want courses and AI page tools in the same account, and you do not need to test the pages before the checkout.
Pick ElasticFunnels if
You run paid traffic into presells and VSLs. Test every page under one URL, route orders across your MIDs, run a call center on the customer record and see which ad made each sale. Start with the 14-day free trial.
How to switch from SamCart
Most teams move one product first.
Clone the pages you sell with.
Paste each SamCart page URL into the AI builder and get an editable ElasticFunnels page back.
Rebuild products, bumps and upsells.
Connect Stripe, NMI, PayPal, Klarna and Authorize.net and add the products. MID routing rules run on NMI.
Split test the new funnel.
Point one ad at it, compare on sales, and move subscriptions when you are ready.
Bring the checkout you run on SamCart.
Book a demo and bring the funnel you run on SamCart today, with the ads behind it. We will walk through how the same funnel runs on ElasticFunnels: split tests under one URL, routing across your MIDs, and the sale posted back to the ad.
SamCart alternative FAQ
Is ElasticFunnels a SamCart alternative?
Yes. Both take orders with bumps, upsells and subscriptions. ElasticFunnels adds the pages before the checkout, split tests under one URL on every page, routing across merchant accounts and server-side conversions.
How much does SamCart cost?
SamCart Core is $79 a month and Pro is $199 a month, with Enterprise on request. Order bumps, upsells, split tests and dunning are on Pro. ElasticFunnels starts at $97 a month.
Can SamCart split test on the same URL?
SamCart rotates checkout page variants on the same URL, on Pro, and each variant is a separate product. ElasticFunnels tests any page, not only the checkout, under one URL.
Does SamCart route payments across merchant accounts?
SamCart Payment Routing assigns products to processors and can rotate merchant accounts. Retrying a declined charge on another account is not publicly stated. ElasticFunnels routes orders by weight across your NMI MIDs.
How do I move from SamCart?
Clone your pages with the AI builder, rebuild products, bumps and upsells on the new checkout, then split test the new funnel against the old one before moving subscriptions.
Other comparisons
Every comparison is sourced from the vendor's own pages and dated.
Comparing more options? Every tool on the list, and who each one suits.
ThriveCart alternative
A one-time-fee cart, against the funnel, the MIDs and the attribution around it.
ClickFunnels alternative
The page builder with courses and email, against the funnel built for paid traffic.
Kajabi alternative
Course hosting and community, against funnels that sell the course on paid ads.
Checkout Champ alternative
A DR cart and CRM, against a funnel builder with the same MID routing.
ClickFunnels vs SamCartA funnel builder and a checkout, head to head.
All comparisons
Every ElasticFunnels comparison, sourced, dated and corrected when a vendor ships something new.