ThriveCart alternatives in 2026: seven options, compared honestly

ThriveCart is a strong, mature checkout. People start looking elsewhere for two reasons. It now sells monthly plans, at $47 a month or $37 a month billed yearly, so it's a running cost like everything else. And it has years of features layered into it, which is a lot to learn when all you want is to sell one offer well.

Here are seven alternatives, what they cost, and who each one genuinely suits. Where another tool beats Swipefast, we say so.

The alternatives at a glance

Prices are from each company's own pricing page, checked on September 30, 2026 (ThriveCart and SamCart on September 14). Where a tool uses your own Stripe or PayPal account, their card processing fee applies on top. Check the pricing page before you pay.

1. Swipefast

Swipefast is the focused option: a clean checkout that looks like your brand, with order bumps, one-click upsells, subscriptions, payment plans, coupons and affiliate tracking included on the one plan. Buyers pay into your own Stripe or PayPal account, and Swipefast takes 0% of your sales.

• Choose it if: you already have a website, email tool or course platform and just want the buying step to be simpler and faster to set up. Checkouts can run on your own domain, and you can set one up by asking Claude.
• Skip it if: you want course hosting, a community or email marketing built in. Swipefast connects to Kit, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, beehiiv and Zapier instead of replacing them. It's also the newest tool here.

2. SamCart

SamCart pairs checkout with course hosting. Its Core plan starts at $79 a month. Order bumps, one-click upsells, affiliate tools, A/B tests and the API are on the Pro plan, at $199 a month.

• Choose it if: you want checkout and courses in one account, and the Pro tools are worth $199 a month to you.
• Skip it if: you only need a checkout with a bump and an upsell. Paying for the Pro tier to get them is a big step up.

3. Kajabi

Kajabi is an all-in-one platform: website, courses, community, email and funnels, with checkout built in. Basic is $179 a month, or $143 a month billed yearly. Growth is $249 a month ($199 yearly) and Pro is $499 a month ($399 yearly). Kajabi says it takes no revenue share.

• Choose it if: you want one platform to run the whole business and you'll use most of it.
• Skip it if: you already like your website, email tool and course platform. You'd be paying for a lot you already have.

4. Podia

Podia also bundles courses, downloads, coaching, community, a website and email. Mover is $42 a month billed yearly, with 5% transaction fees. Shaker, at $84 a month billed yearly, drops the fees and adds affiliate marketing and upsells.

• Choose it if: you want an all-in-one at a lower price than Kajabi.
• Skip it if: you want the checkout to be the centre of your funnel, with more control over the buying step itself.

5. Payhip

Payhip gives every plan the same features and changes only the fee. Free charges 5% per sale, Plus is $29 a month with 2%, and Pro is $99 a month with no fee.

• Choose it if: you're starting out, selling digital products, and would rather pay per sale than per month.
• Skip it if: your sales are growing. On the free plan, a 5% fee overtakes a $49 monthly plan at about $1,000 a month.

6. Lemon Squeezy

Lemon Squeezy is a merchant of record. It sells to your buyers on your behalf and handles sales tax and VAT worldwide, for 5% + 50¢ per sale with no monthly charge.

• Choose it if: you sell to many countries and want tax handled for you, not by you.
• Skip it if: most of your sales are large. A percentage fee grows with every price increase. Swipefast can also run checkouts through your Lemon Squeezy account, with bumps and upsells on top.

7. Gumroad

Gumroad charges 10% + 50¢ on direct sales and 30% on sales that come through its Discover marketplace, with no monthly charge. Since January 2025 it acts as merchant of record and handles sales tax.

• Choose it if: you want to test an idea today with almost no setup.
• Skip it if: you're past the testing stage. 10% of every sale is a lot to give up once people are buying.

When to stay on ThriveCart

• You already own an older ThriveCart licence. Moving to any monthly plan adds a cost you don't have today.
• You use its wider toolkit every week: its affiliate centre, split payments, tax tools and integrations.
• Your checkouts work and your team knows them. A switch should remove real friction, not just feel fresh.

Switching without losing sales

Rebuild your best-selling checkout first, test it with a real purchase, then move the links from your busiest page. Keep the old checkout running until the last buyer in a payment plan or subscription has moved over. Our migration checklist walks through every step.