ClickFunnels vs GoHighLevel vs SamCart: which one do you actually need?

People compare these three because each one can take a payment, run an order bump and host a course. That overlap hides how different they are. Pick on the job you need done this month, not on the longest feature list.

At a glance

Prices are from each company's own pricing page, checked on October 12, 2026. Card processing fees from Stripe, PayPal or the tool's own processor apply on top for all three.

GoHighLevel: a CRM that also sells

GoHighLevel, also called HighLevel, is built for agencies that run marketing for clients, and for service businesses that live in their inbox. It puts a CRM, pipelines, texting, calling, email, booking, websites, funnels, payments and courses in one account. Starter is $97 a month for up to 3 businesses (it calls them sub-accounts), with unlimited contacts and users. Unlimited is $297 a month for any number of businesses, and Agency Pro is $497 with a mode for reselling it as your own software.

The price on the page isn't the whole bill. Email, texts, calls and the AI features are charged by usage on top, and add-ons such as the WhatsApp integration are priced per business.

• Choose it if: you sell services and follow up with leads by text and phone, or you run an agency and want one system for every client.
• Skip it if: you sell a course or digital product to buyers who never need a call. You'd be paying for, and learning, a CRM you don't use.

ClickFunnels: the whole funnel in one tool

ClickFunnels builds the pages around a sale: opt-in pages, sales pages, checkout, one-click upsells, email and courses. Launch is $97 a month, or $81 billed yearly, with unlimited funnels and pages, 10,000 contacts, 5 custom domains, 3 courses and 2 team members. Scale is $197 and Optimize $297 a month, mostly for more contacts, domains, courses and seats.

Order bumps and one-click upsells are part of its checkout, and ClickFunnels says it adds no transaction fee of its own.

• Choose it if: you don't have a website or email tool yet and want to build every page of the funnel in one place.
• Skip it if: you already have a site and an email list you like. You'd be rebuilding them to get a better checkout.

SamCart: checkout first

SamCart is the most checkout-focused of the three, with a courses app included. Core is $79 a month. Order bumps, one-click upsells, the affiliate centre and A/B tests are on Pro, at $199 a month, or 25% less billed yearly. Its own processor, SamPay, charges 2.9% + 30¢ per sale, with no extra SamCart fee on top.

• Choose it if: the checkout is what matters most, and you'll use Pro's A/B tests and affiliate centre every month.
• Skip it if: bumps and upsells are all you want from Pro. Paying $199 a month for them is the reason most people look elsewhere.

ClickFunnels vs GoHighLevel

This is the comparison most people search for, and the answer is usually clear once you ask how you talk to customers. If they buy from a page without talking to you, ClickFunnels is the simpler tool for building that page. If you book calls, chase leads by text or look after several businesses, GoHighLevel's CRM is the point and its funnels are a bonus. Both start at $97 a month. GoHighLevel's usage charges are what move the real cost.

SamCart vs ClickFunnels

SamCart is the better checkout; ClickFunnels is the better funnel. If you already send traffic to a sales page you're happy with, SamCart improves the step where people pay. If you also need the opt-in page, the email follow-up and the sales page, ClickFunnels does all of it, and order bumps and upsells come with its checkout, where SamCart keeps them for Pro.

SamCart vs GoHighLevel

These two overlap the least. SamCart is for selling products online; GoHighLevel is for managing leads and clients. A coach who sells a course and books high-ticket calls sometimes uses both: a checkout for the course, and GoHighLevel for the call pipeline.

Where Swipefast fits

Swipefast is the narrowest option here, on purpose: a checkout with order bumps, one-click upsells, payment plans, subscriptions, coupons and affiliate tracking on one $49 plan, or $490 a year, with 0% taken from your sales. It connects to your own Stripe or PayPal and to the email tool you already use, and courses can go in its Hub, with videos played from YouTube, Vimeo or Loom.

It has no CRM, texting or email marketing, and it doesn't build your whole funnel. You can paste your own sales page above the checkout, or have Claude build one. If you need those other parts, one of the three above is the better buy.

Four questions that decide it

• Do you follow up with leads by text or phone? GoHighLevel.
• Do you need to build opt-in pages, sales pages and email in one tool? ClickFunnels.
• Will you use A/B tests and an affiliate centre every month? SamCart Pro.
• Do you already have a site and an email tool, and just need a checkout that sells more per buyer? Swipefast.

Whichever you pick, test it with a real purchase before you send traffic, and count the whole year's cost, not the first month's.