Video Transcript
Kajabi is an all-in-one course platform at $143/month with courses, email, funnels, and community. SamCart is a checkout optimization tool at $59/month with basic course features but no email marketing or community. Short answer: SamCart wins on checkout conversion — upsells, order bumps, and A/B testing are genuinely best-in-class. Kajabi wins on everything else a course business needs. The choice depends on whether your bottleneck is conversion optimization or course delivery.
What Does Each Platform Actually Cost?
| SamCart | Kajabi | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry (annual) | Launch: $59/mo | Basic: $143/mo |
| Mid (annual) | Grow: $119/mo | Growth: $199/mo |
| Top (annual) | Scale: $239/mo | Pro: $399/mo |
| Transaction fees | 0% | 0% Kajabi Pay / 0.5-2% own Stripe |
| Checkout optimization | Best-in-class | Basic |
| Email marketing | Not included | Full, all plans |
| Community | Not included | Built-in |
| Website/blog | Not included | Full website builder |
| A/B testing | Native, across checkout | Not available |
| Free trial | 7 days | 14 days |
See our full Kajabi pricing breakdown for surcharges and feature gating details.
SamCart's real cost with a full stack
SamCart Launch at $59/month looks much cheaper than Kajabi's $143/month. But SamCart doesn't include email marketing, a website, or community. A realistic SamCart course business stack:
- SamCart Launch: $59/month
- Email marketing (ConvertKit/ActiveCampaign): $30-80/month
- Website (WordPress/Squarespace): $10-30/month
- Community (optional, Skool/Circle): $0-99/month
Total: $99-268/month — comparable to Kajabi's $143-199/month range, with the added complexity of managing multiple tools.
Where Does SamCart Win?
Checkout conversion is genuinely unmatched
SamCart's slide checkout, one-click upsells, order bumps, and A/B testing are purpose-built for conversion optimization. If you know your traffic converts and want to squeeze maximum revenue per visitor, SamCart's checkout tools are best-in-class. Kajabi's checkout pages are functional but don't offer split testing or the depth of upsell sequences.
No product or student limits
SamCart doesn't cap courses, products, or students on any plan. Kajabi Basic limits you to 5 products and 2,500 contacts. For creators with diverse product catalogs, SamCart's unlimited model is more flexible.
Lower entry price
$59/month vs $143/month is an $84/month difference — $1,008/year in savings. If you already have email marketing and just need a checkout + basic course delivery tool, SamCart's price advantage is real.
Where Does Kajabi Win?
Everything in one platform
Kajabi includes email marketing, sales funnels, landing pages, community, courses, and analytics in one dashboard. SamCart is a checkout tool — everything else requires separate subscriptions and integrations. If you value simplicity and integration, Kajabi eliminates the tool-juggling that SamCart requires.
Deeper course creation tools
Kajabi's course builder includes quizzes, graded assessments, drip content, video transcription, and cohort scheduling (Growth plan). SamCart's course builder handles video lessons, basic quizzes, worksheets, and drip — functional, but it's clearly a secondary feature. For structured educational programs, Kajabi is more capable.
Built-in community
Kajabi includes community with gamification on all plans. SamCart has no community feature. If member interaction is part of your value proposition, Kajabi handles it natively while SamCart requires an external community tool.
Website and content marketing
Kajabi includes a full website builder with blog, landing pages, and SEO tools. SamCart builds checkout pages only — no blog, no content pages, no SEO. If organic traffic is part of your acquisition strategy, Kajabi gives you the tools. SamCart doesn't.
What About the Subscription Migration Risk?
This is something you won't find on either platform's comparison page, but it matters: if you build recurring subscription revenue on SamCart and later want to migrate, your subscribers' payment agreements may not transfer. Stripe fixed-term subscriptions, PayPal subscriptions, and non-Stripe payment methods stay with SamCart. You'd need to ask subscribers to re-enter payment information, which inevitably causes churn.
Kajabi has a similar dynamic with Kajabi Payments. The broader point: before committing recurring revenue to any platform, understand the exit cost. The deeper your subscription base grows, the harder it becomes to leave.
What About Review Scores?
SamCart scores 3.9/5 on Trustpilot (~335 reviews). Top complaints: billing practices and the "Done For You" upsell program. Kajabi scores 3.5/5 from 2,308+ reviews. Both are in the normal range for SaaS platforms. I'd note that SamCart actively solicits reviews, which can inflate scores. As always, Trustpilot skews toward people with problems — take both numbers in context.
What Do Both Platforms Miss?
Who Should Consider SamCart?
- Conversion-focused sellers. If you drive traffic through ads or affiliates and want to maximize revenue per click, SamCart's checkout tools are the best at this.
- Creators who already have a marketing stack. If you use ConvertKit, have a WordPress blog, and just need checkout + basic courses, SamCart avoids paying for Kajabi tools you don't need.
- Diverse product sellers. Courses, coaching, physical products, downloads — SamCart handles all types without product limits.
Who Should Consider Kajabi?
- Course creators starting from scratch. One platform for everything — no tool integration, no multiple subscriptions, no debugging connections between apps.
- Creators who need email + courses together. Kajabi's email automation, course delivery, and analytics in one dashboard is its core value proposition.
- Non-technical creators. Managing SamCart + ConvertKit + WordPress + a community tool requires comfort with multiple platforms. Kajabi needs one login.
The Teaching-First Alternative
SamCart optimizes how you sell. Kajabi optimizes how you market. If what you actually do is teach, Ruzuku optimizes how your students learn. $99/month. Zero transaction fees. Unlimited everything. Per-lesson discussions. Native Zoom. Student tech support included.
Start free — no credit card required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SamCart cheaper than Kajabi?
SamCart Launch ($59/month annual) is $84/month less than Kajabi Basic. But add email marketing and a website, and the real cost is $99-268/month — comparable to Kajabi's $143-199/month with everything included.
Does SamCart have a course builder?
Yes — video lessons, drip content, basic quizzes, and worksheets. It's functional for simple courses but less capable than Kajabi's builder, which adds cohort scheduling, graded assessments, and community.
Does SamCart have email marketing?
No. You'll need a separate email tool ($30-80/month). Kajabi includes full email marketing with automation on all plans.
Which has better checkout?
SamCart. One-click upsells, order bumps, slide checkout, and native A/B testing are its core strengths. Kajabi's checkout is functional but basic by comparison.
Can I migrate subscriptions from SamCart?
Partially. Stripe fixed-term, PayPal, and non-Stripe subscriptions don't transfer. Moving means asking subscribers to re-enter payment info — expect some churn.