The best checkout software for coaches and course creators in 2026
How to choose checkout software as a coach or course creator in 2026: the options by situation, what each costs, and the features that actually make you more money.
Coaches and course creators get pitched a lot of software. Most comparisons rank tools on feature counts. A better question is which buying moment you're trying to fix, and what you'd have to move to fix it.
The five features that actually make money
- Order bumps: a small extra added with one tick at checkout. A good one usually lifts order value.
- One-click upsells: a second offer after payment, bought without typing the card again.
- Payment plans and subscriptions: so higher-priced coaching and memberships are easier to say yes to.
- Cart recovery: an email to people who started checking out but didn't finish.
- A checkout that looks like you: your colours, your logo, ideally your own domain. Trust matters most at the moment someone pays.
Everything else is useful, but these five decide how much each visitor is worth. Check which plan each one sits on before comparing prices.
Pick by situation
| Your situation | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Most sales start from your social bio | Stan Store | A mobile storefront built for link-in-bio selling |
| You want one platform for site, courses, community and email | Kajabi, Podia | Everything under one login, checkout included |
| You already have a site, email tool and course platform | Swipefast, ThriveCart, SamCart | A dedicated checkout, with bumps and upsells |
| You're starting out and want no monthly bill | Payhip, Gumroad | Pay per sale instead of per month |
| You sell worldwide and want tax handled for you | Lemon Squeezy, Gumroad | They act as merchant of record |
What they cost
| Tool | Starts at | Fee on each sale |
|---|---|---|
| Swipefast | $49/mo or $490/yr | 0% |
| ThriveCart | $47/mo or $37/mo billed yearly | Card processing only |
| SamCart | $79/mo (Pro, with bumps and upsells, $199/mo) | No added fee |
| Stan Store | $29/mo (Creator Pro $99/mo) | 0% |
| Kajabi | $179/mo ($143 billed yearly) | No revenue share |
| Podia | $42/mo billed yearly | 5% on Mover, 0% from $84/mo |
| Payhip | Free | 5% free, 2% at $29/mo, 0% at $99/mo |
| Lemon Squeezy | Free | 5% + 50¢ |
| Gumroad | Free | 10% + 50¢ |
Prices are from each company's own pricing page, checked in September 2026. Card processing from Stripe or PayPal applies on top where a tool uses your own account.
If you already have a website: a focused checkout
Most established coaches already have a site, an email list and a course or community platform. Moving all of it to fix the checkout is a big project for a small gain. A focused checkout sits on top of what you have.
- Swipefast: the simplest to set up, with bumps, upsells, payment plans, subscriptions, coupons and affiliates on one $49 plan and 0% of sales taken. It runs on your own domain and you can build checkouts by asking Claude. It's newer than the others and doesn't host courses.
- ThriveCart: the most established, with a long feature list. More to learn, and now on monthly plans.
- SamCart: checkout plus course hosting, with the conversion tools on its $199 Pro plan.
If you'd rather have everything in one place: an all-in-one
Kajabi and Podia bundle a website, courses, community, email and checkout. One login and one bill is genuinely simpler if you'll use most of it. It's poor value if you'll keep your existing site and email tool anyway.
If you're just starting: pay per sale
Payhip, Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy charge nothing monthly and take a cut of each sale. That's the right trade while sales are small. At about $1,000 a month in sales, a 5% fee costs as much as a $49 plan, so revisit it once you're selling steadily.
Five questions to settle it
- Where do my buyers come from: my bio, my email list, my website, or ads?
- Which of my current tools do I want to keep?
- Which plan includes order bumps and one-click upsells, and what does it cost?
- Will I sell payment plans or subscriptions for coaching?
- At my current sales, which is cheaper: a monthly price or a per-sale fee?
Questions people ask before choosing
What is the best checkout software for coaches?
For coaches with their own website and tools, a focused checkout such as Swipefast, ThriveCart or SamCart. For coaches who want one platform for everything, Kajabi or Podia. For coaches selling mostly from social media, Stan Store.
Do I need a website to sell coaching or courses?
No. Stan Store works from a social bio, and Swipefast can put your own sales page above the checkout on the same link, so the checkout link is all you share.
Which checkout software has no transaction fees?
Swipefast takes 0% of your sales, as do Stan Store, Payhip Pro and Podia's Shaker plan and above. Card processing from Stripe or PayPal still applies.
Can checkout software take payment plans for high-ticket coaching?
Yes. Swipefast, ThriveCart and SamCart all support payment plans and subscriptions, so a $2,000 programme can be paid in instalments.