This article will compare the two popular software platforms, SamCart Vs Kajabi, and help you decide which one to choose.
But those who know the two platforms will assume how we are comparing them with each other, as SamCart is a shopping cart solution and Kajabi is an all-in-one online course creation platform. How do they compare with each other?
To answer that, SamCart initially started as a cart solution but did not restrict itself to doing just that. In June 2021, SamCart included course creation functionalities into its umbrella offerings, which is why I am writing this article.
So without further delay, let us start with our article, SamCart Vs Kajabi.
SamCart Vs Kajabi
What is SamCart?
SamCart was started when its founders, Brian and Scott Moran, tried looking for a platform that could let them sell products online easily. They found platforms with many difficulties and complexities. So they quit looking and built a platform suitable for their needs.
In 2014, they launched SamCart to help other creators looking for a platform that would help them sell products online seamlessly.
Over the years, SamCart has helped creators sell 9.7 million products, generating over 2.8 billion dollars in profits.
What is Kajabi?
Kajabi, on the other hand, is an all-in-one course creation platform. In 2010, Kajabi was launched by Kenny Rueter and Travis Rosser.
In 2009, Kenny built a sprinkler toy for his son, and he started getting questions and suggestions about how he built the toy from his neighbors. This gave him an idea, and he met with his friend Travis, and they decided to sell toys online.
When they found a daunting production, warehousing, and logistics process, they dropped the idea and thought they should instead share their knowledge by teaching people online.
When they did not find the correct platform to teach online, they decided to build one. And this is how Kajabi was born in 2010.
Since its launch, Kajabi has helped create over 300,000 online products and generated over 5 billion USD in profits for its creators.
Features: SamCart Vs Kajabi
I have tried both platforms and have had a good experience. I used SamCart to sell my products and Kajabi for my PMP exam courses.
The two platforms are not identical. SamCart is a dedicated cart solution that recently added the course builder to its offering, and Kajabi is a dedicated course builder. Let’s evaluate the two platforms based on what they offer their customers regarding course building.
SamCart
Course Creation
Despite SamCart being new to course creation, it did a better-than-expected job with online course management.
You get a template library where you can find ready-made course templates. SamCart has a bunch of modern, sleek, and beautifully styled templates. All you need to do is tweak it and customize the templates with your content. SamCart has a drag-and-drop builder for editing the template. No technical skills are required here.
All the templates are responsive, so you don’t have to worry if your courses fit on small screens.
On SamCart, you can sell not only courses and digital products but also physical products, which is unlike Kajabi.
Payment Gateways
On the checkout pages of your courses, you can let your learners pay you via several modes. You can have your students pay you through credit cards or Paypal. You can also accept payment via new payment modes like UPI or digital wallets such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Microsoft Pay.
Optimized Carts
This is SamCart’s flagship product, a cart solution. Even on their course creation platform, you will get all the benefits of their eCommerce solution to maximize your profits as much as possible.
SamCart lets you add multiple add-ons, upsells, and different payment methods. It can also help you lead your abandoned cart to an order page.
Another feature that I love in SamCart is its “Pay What You Want” feature. You let your visitors/customers decide how much they want to pay you for your product or service. This is a great way to increase the number of paying customers and help you build a paying audience base.
Subscription Saver
This is worthy of including in this feature list. Subscription savers help you save on subscription sales. What is it exactly? When a paid subscriber’s card or payment mode gets blocked, expires, or shows some issues, SamCart immediately informs the subscriber and asks them to change their payment method so the subscription does not stop at any point in time.
Course Cross-Sells
Enabling this feature lets you advertise your courses to your existing subscribers who have subscribed in their dashboard, increasing their chances of seeing and subscribing to your courses. SamCart knows how to make more sales.
Integrations
SamCart lets you integrate with several third-party applications to have the best of all the tools you love together. Some tools you can integrate with SamCart are HubSpot, WordPress, Mailchimp, and even Kajabi. The list is long. You can also integrate SamCart with Zapier and open the doors to 1000+ applications to connect.
One Tip: Let your developer do this job for you. Don’t DIY (do it yourself) if you don’t know how to do it.
Kajabi
Website
Unlike SamCart, on Kajabi, you can create a website where you can add site pages, upload your content and courses, and give your courses a dedicated website where your learners can come and learn from you.
And when I say you can create a website on Kajabi, don’t think you will need to invest hours writing codes to develop pages.
You don’t have to do any of that. It requires you to pick a pre-designed template from the stunning template library, edit it with the drag-and-drop website builder, add the required widgets, and upload your content, and your course site is ready to serve.
Course Type
Not only can you create full-fledged long-video duration courses on Kajabi, but you can also create mini-courses, build coaching sessions, and create trending podcasts. They have a dedicated tool for creating podcasts for your audio listeners. This is not available in SamCart.
Email Marketing
Kajabi offers email marketing, while SamCart does not. Kajabi not only helps you create courses and a dedicated website for the courses, but it also helps you market them. It comes with email templates that you can edit with the Kajabi visual editor.
You can store your contacts, create pipelines, broadcast campaign emails, and even set automation to run the process hands-free.
Payment methods
Kajabi gives you a decent checkout page to add upsells and add-ons. It connects with popular payment gateways like Paypal and Stripe. SamCart has done a better job here, adding digital wallets and giving more options to your students.
Native Payment Processor
SamCart provides a native payment processor, “SamPay,” which does not require any third-party integration to collect payment.
Kajabi does not provide such a feature.
Integration
Like SamCart, Kajabi lets you connect with other applications such as ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, Calendly, Google Analytics, and Zapier.
Winner
I will let you decide here.
Plans and Pricing: SamCart Vs Kajabi
Pricing is a factor that can change your mind. The goal is to subscribe to a plan that gives more for less and lists all the functionalities and capabilities you need in the software. Let’s know what plans are available in SamCart and Kajabi.
SamCart
As shown in the above screenshot, SamCart has three pricing plans: Launch, Grow, and Scale, for monthly pricing of 59, 119, and 299 USD, respectively.
And if you decide to pay for the plan for 12 months at once, you will pay less as the per-month prices are reduced in the annual subscription to 39, 79, and 199 USD per month.
Irrespective of which plan you choose, you get the following core features in all the plans:
- Unlimited courses
- Unlimited memberships
- Unlimited video uploads
- Students’ assessment quizzes
- No transaction fees
- Done-for-you template library
- Drag and drop page builder
- Unlimited products and pages
Apart from these features, which you get in all three SamCart plans, there are other offers for which you can choose a plan.
You will get standard email support in the Launch plan, 1-day email support in the Grow plan, and priority email support in the Scale plan.
Speaking of support, if you are a Scale Plan annual subscribed customer, you will be assigned a dedicated SamCart expert to help you with every step. But in the Grow plan, you will get a 1:1 launch support call with an expert; in the Launch plan, you will get virtual onboarding webinars.
You can visit the pricing page of SamCart to see a preview of what you are getting with each plan.
Kajabi
Kajabi has three plans: Basic, Growth, and Pro. Kajabi has priced its three monthly plans at 149, 199, and 399 USD. For an annual subscription, you get the prices reduced by 20%, making the monthly prices 119, 159, and 319 USD per month in the three plans.
In all three plans, there are no transaction fees. And you get to send unlimited marketing emails and create unlimited landing pages. These are the only common features you get in all the plans.
These are some differences in features that you should know:
Winner
Now, seeing the prices of both SamCart and Kajabi, you can tell that SamCart is the cheaper option here. But should that be the only reason you should go with SamCart? I don’t think so. Kajabi is bringing in more features to justify the higher prices, such as marketing tools, a website builder, and a podcast builder.
But if you have to call a winner based on lesser pricing plans, then SamCart is it.
Support: SamCart Vs Kajabi
Support for the software is equally important as the functions and features of the software. You should not underestimate this evaluation when considering all the other factors, like its tools, features, and pricing.
It can make a lot of difference when you use the software firsthand. Now let’s know what you get in terms of support.
SamCart
You can write to the [email protected] email address to seek help from their customer support team. They reply to emails within 24 hours of receiving them. Please note their availability timing, which is 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET on weekdays.
Can’t wait for 24 hours to get help? They assumed that’s why they also have live chat support, where you can connect to their support executives within seconds. The timing of the support hours is the same as the email support Monday – Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. CT.
You get free access to blogs, guides, and tutorials for self-help.
Kajabi
Kajabi has done a good job of providing what its customers may need.
For self-support, they have offered many resources to help you through their blogs, community, webinars, over 350 training videos, and a Kajabi university that takes you off on all your queries and how-to questions.
For customer support, they provide live chat support. You can ping them, and they will help you with your doubts. But note that the availability of the support team will vary depending on which plan you are on.
You can find more information about the timing of the support team based on your plan on this page.
Winner
SamCart and Kajabi are providing their customers the support they need to get them moving, so I can’t take sides on which one is better in this evaluation. Both are winners in this aspect.
Similarities between SamCart and Kajabi
- Both SamCart and Kajabi let you create courses and coaching.
- Both have easy-to-use interfaces.
- Both let you integrate with other third-party tools.
- Both give you pre-designed templates.
Difference between SamCart and Kajabi
- SamCart gives you A/B testing, but Kajabi does not.
- You can sell physical products on SamCart, but on Kajabi, you can only sell digital products.
- SamCart gives you a 7-day trial, whereas Kajabi gives you a 14-day trial on all their plans.
- Kajabi gives you a mobile application, but SamCart does not have a mobile app to manage your courses on the go.
What do I like about SamCart?
- Kick-ass cart solution.
- SamCart’s interface is a cakewalk.
- The core features include some great offers accessible in all the plans.
- SamCart does not charge processing fees.
- It has a 7-day trial.
- Their pay-what-you-want feature is outstanding.
- SamCart offers unlimited courses.
- SamCart software has a 99.9% uptime.
Open Trial Account With SamCart
What do I not like about SamCart?
- Some features, like A/B testing, subscription saver, affiliate center, and cart abandonment, are only available in the Scale (highest) plan.
- SamCart does not have a free plan.
- It lacks marketing features.
What do I like about Kajabi?
- The platform is best for online course creators. If you are a course creator, you can go with Kajabi.
- There is a 0% transaction fee on all three plans.
- Kajabi’s interface is easier than SamCart’s.
- Kajabi’s uptime ranges between 99.68-100%, which is great.
- Kajabi’s marketing capabilities.
- Kajabi has a 14-day trial on all three plans.
- You can create unlimited landing pages and send unlimited marketing emails in all plans.
What do I not like about Kajabi?
- Everything revolves around course sales, making it limited to course creations.
- Kajabi’s pricing plans are a bit on the higher side.
- Even with such high prices, they limit products and funnels’ numbers.
- Kajabi also does not have a free plan.
Alternatives to SamCart and Kajabi?
You won’t be asking too much if you wish to know if there are alternatives to SamCart and Kajabi. Some alternatives to both platforms are listed below:
Systeme.io
Systeme.io is a free alternative to SamCart and Kajabi. It offers almost all the features these two platforms offer and is more affordable than them.
Click here to visit Systeme.io
Kartra
Kartra is a popular all-in-one marketing platform and funnel builder you can consider as an alternative to SamCart. Kartra is more expensive than SamCart, starting at 99 USD monthly, but its features justify the price.
Teachable
Teachable is one of the most popular course creation platforms. It’s easy, powerful, and on budget. You get a free plan on Teachable, and the paid plan starts at 39 USD per month.
LearnWorlds
Another alternative you can use in place of Kajabi is LearnWorlds, another powerful course creation platform that will get you started for as little as 24 USD per month.
Click here to visit LearnWorlds
SamCart Vs Kajabi: FAQs
Q: What is the key difference between SamCart and Kajabi?
SamCart is primarily a shopping cart software focusing on sales and checkout processes. Kajabi, on the other hand, is an all-in-one sales funnel platform for managing online businesses, including selling products, services, courses, and marketing.
Q: Can I use SamCart and Kajabi together?
You can integrate SamCart with Kajabi to streamline your sales and marketing processes. SamCart can handle the checkout process, while Kajabi can handle the course creation and delivery.
Q: Which one is better for selling online courses?
Kajabi is better suited for selling online courses as it provides all the necessary course creation, marketing, and sales features. SamCart, on the other hand, is more focused on the sales and checkout process.
Q: What payment gateway does SamCart support?
SamCart currently supports Stripe and PayPal as payment gateways. SamCart also offers a native payment gateway called “SamPay,” which is based on Stripe.
Q: Can I customize the checkout pages with SamCart and Kajabi?
SamCart and Kajabi provide customization options for checkout pages to match your branding and design.
Q: Do SamCart and Kajabi offer a free trial?
SamCart and Kajabi offer a 14-day free trial for new users to test their features and functionalities.
Q: Which one is more affordable, SamCart or Kajabi?
SamCart is more affordable than Kajabi, as it only focuses on sales and checkout and provides basic to medium course selling and membership site features. Kajabi, being an all-in-one platform, comes with a higher price tag.
Conclusion
Both the software lets you create courses and coaching sessions. But Kajabi lets you create podcasts and a website and also assists you in marketing your courses with the help of its marketing tool, which you do not get on SamCart.
On the other hand, SamCart provides better checkout tools and features like auto-enroll technology, subscription saver, cross-sell, and a better checkout solution with digital UPI payment enablement. All that at a lesser price, making a small dent in your pocket as compared to Kajabi.
But you must decide on a platform that aligns with your needs and choose accordingly. And don’t worry if you can’t choose between these two; there are other options.
Thank you for reading this comparison article between SamCart and Kajabi.
Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase after clicking. Please understand that I recommend these resources because they are useful, not just because of my commissions. Please do not purchase unless you need the materials to achieve your goals. Read the disclaimer.
I am Mohammad Fahad Usmani, B.E. PMP, PMI-RMP. I have been blogging on project management topics since 2011. To date, thousands of professionals have passed the PMP exam using my resources.
