SamCart vs ClickFunnels: Which is better in 2026? (full comparison)

Statistics from 2025 data show a staggering average cart abandonment rate of 70.19%.

If you're trying to sell digital products, choosing the right platform can make a significant difference to how much of that revenue you actually keep.

In this SamCart vs ClickFunnels comparison, we’re looking at two popular tools designed to tackle these pain points: helping you recover lost sales, boost revenue, and create a seamless purchasing experience.

These two platforms have quite different focus points, so let's examine what they do, how they compare, and who they serve best.

What are SamCart and ClickFunnels?

What is SamCart?

SamCart, launched in 2014, is a platform designed to help businesses create high-converting checkout pages. Its core strength lies in optimizing the checkout experience, but SamCart is more than just a cart tool — it offers a course app for selling online courses, and (as of 2026) an AI-powered page builder that generates checkout, opt-in, and sales pages from a prompt.

SamCart's main strength is its ability to maximize revenue at the point of purchase, making it a popular choice for those focused on optimizing their checkout experience.

Key features of SamCart:

• High-converting checkout pages: Professionally designed, customizable templates optimized to convert.
• One-click upsells and order bumps: Tools to increase average order value (AOV) with minimal effort.
• Abandoned cart recovery: Email and SMS tools help to recover lost sales.
• A/B testing: Test different versions of checkout pages to determine the most effective design.
• Subscription management: Built-in tools for managing recurring payments such as subscriptions and memberships.
• Single-plan pricing: One plan at $79/month (or $59/month billed annually) with every feature included. SamCart consolidated its old Launch, Grow, and Scale tiers in 2025, so you no longer need to upgrade to unlock A/B testing, cart recovery, or the affiliate center.

What is ClickFunnels?

ClickFunnels is an all-in-one sales funnel builder that practically coined the term sales funnel. It enables users to create complete marketing funnels from start to finish, rather than focusing solely on the point of sale.

Launched in 2014 by Russell Brunson, it’s a favorite among marketers, product developers, and businesses seeking a full-spectrum solution to build, automate, and optimize their sales processes, from initial lead generation right through to nurturing long-term customer relationships.

With ClickFunnels 2.0, the platform has evolved beyond funnel building into a more complete business system, including CRM funnels, a visual automation builder, a blog builder, eCommerce capabilities, customer management, and (as of 2026) PDF certificates for course completion.

Key features of ClickFunnels:

• Advanced funnel-building tools: Enables users to create complex funnels with upsells, downsells, and tripwires.
• Built-in email marketing & automation: Automate campaigns with visual workflows, behavioral triggers, and customer segmentation.
• Drag-and-drop editor: Customize each part of your sales funnel without coding knowledge.
• Membership sites & customer center: Create and manage memberships, courses, and customer accounts in one place.
• Affiliate management: Built-in affiliate center for managing and scaling referral programs.
• A/B testing: Test funnels and pages to optimize performance. Available on all current plans.
• eCommerce stores & courses: Create full storefronts with product management, customer accounts, and recurring revenue tracking.

Key differences between SamCart and ClickFunnels

While there is undoubtedly some crossover in the features of these platforms, they do have quite distinct focuses and strengths, notably the range of focus of each platform

Below is a ClickFunnels diagram showing how their product supports the entire sales journey, demonstrating the difference in focus.

SamCart's focus would be on the 'Sell' and 'Upsell' portions of this journey.

Being clear on whether you need a broad-spectrum platform like ClickFunnels is key to choosing a solution that meets your needs.

However, this is where many businesses go wrong.

A platform that tries to do everything often introduces unnecessary complexity, cost, and a steeper learning curve. This can be overkill, especially if you only need to optimize a specific part of the journey.

More focused software is often the better bet if it fully solves your problem, but that comes with its own trade-offs too (as we’ll see).

The range of focus of each platform

Below is a ClickFunnels diagram showing how their product supports the entire sales journey, demonstrating the difference in focus.

SamCart's focus would be on the 'Sell' and 'Upsell' portions of this journey.

Being clear on whether you need a broad-spectrum platform like ClickFunnels is key to choosing a solution that meets your needs.

A vital thing to consider is that a platform that attempts to do many things is unlikely to excel at all of them.

More focused software is likely a better bet if you need support for a specific area rather than the whole process.

Feature-by-feature comparison

To help you decide which platform may be a good candidate for your business, let’s detail the key features of SamCart and ClickFunnels. This side-by-side comparison highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each tool, enabling you to make an informed decision.

1. Pricing and value

SamCart

SamCart used to have three plans (Launch, Grow, and Scale) with features gated by tier. In 2025 they consolidated to a single plan at $79/month ($59/month if billed annually), with every feature included — A/B testing, cart abandonment recovery, the affiliate center, one-click upsells, all of it.

The one caveat: dedicated live chat with a human is an add-on at $19/month. Email and chatbot support are included.

ClickFunnels

🏅 Overall winner

SamCart is the better value at the entry point: $79/month for the full feature set is hard to beat. ClickFunnels starts higher at $97/month and the gap widens once you need more workspaces or team seats — Scale ($197) and Optimize ($297) get expensive quickly.

That said, ClickFunnels is doing more for the money. Funnel building, built-in email automation, CRM, blog, and a course platform are all in the box. If you'd otherwise be paying for two or three of those separately, the value math flips. The honest answer: SamCart wins on price; ClickFunnels can win on total cost of ownership, but only if you actually use the broader feature set.

2. Checkout pages

SamCart

One of SamCart’s major pulls is its high-converting checkout page builder. Its templates are professionally designed and optimized for conversions, with features like one-click upsells, downsells, and order bumps designed to increase your average order value (AOV).

The platform also supports A/B testing, allowing you to experiment with different designs and copy to see which performs best.

Best for: Businesses that want to optimize the final stage of the sales process.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels provides checkout pages as part of its broader funnel-building ecosystem. These pages are functional and have improved significantly in ClickFunnels 2.0, with better customization, conditional logic, and a smoother user experience.

However, they are still designed to fit within the larger funnel structure, which means they are less specialized than SamCart’s checkout-first approach.

Best for: Businesses that prioritize funnel flexibility over checkout-specific optimization.

🏅 Overall winner

SamCart is still the stronger platform here, as this is where most of its focus lies. That said, this level of specialization only really pays off if checkout optimization is your primary bottleneck.

3. Abandoned cart recovery

SamCart

SamCart offers advanced tools for recovering abandoned carts, including email and SMS reminders. These features effectively reduce lost sales, especially for businesses suffering high cart abandonment rates.

The platform also provides analytics that track the effectiveness of the recovery tools.

Best for: Businesses looking to recover lost sales and improve conversion rates.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels provides automated cart recovery as part of its built-in email and automation system, allowing you to trigger follow-ups based on user behavior (such as abandoned checkouts or incomplete purchases).

While not as checkout-focused as SamCart, it offers more flexibility within a wider automation strategy.

Best for: Businesses that want cart recovery as part of a broader funnel and automation system.

🏅 Overall winner:

SamCart still wins on focus and execution — its cart recovery is genuinely one of the platform's strengths. And since SamCart moved to single-plan pricing in 2025, cart recovery is included from day one rather than gated to a higher tier.

4. Funnel building features

SamCart

SamCart primarily focuses on checkout optimization but does offer some funnel-building capabilities, such as sales page templates and upsell/downsell sequences. However, it’s not designed for creating complex, multi-step funnels.

Best for: Businesses that want to maximize conversions at the point of sale.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels is the OG funnel building tool. Its drag-and-drop editor enables users to create intricate, multi-step funnels tailored to any business model. From lead-capture pages to webinar funnels, ClickFunnels offers unparalleled flexibility.

Best for: Businesses that need to design and automate complex, multi-step funnels that span the entire sales journey.

🏅 Overall winner

ClickFunnels is the undisputed champion.

5. Affiliate management

SamCart

SamCart includes an affiliate center that lets you set commission rates (flat or percentage), generate referral links, and pay affiliates manually or via PayPal. It's included in the single plan now, so there's no upgrade required to use it. It's lighter than ClickFunnels' Backpack — fewer reporting controls and no built-in two-tier (sub-affiliate) support — but it covers the basics well.

Best for: Businesses that need straightforward affiliate management bundled into their checkout platform.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels comes with Backpack, an affiliate management system included on the current Scale, Optimize, and Dominate plans. It lets you create and manage affiliate programs, set tiered commissions, track performance analytics (clicks, conversions, earnings per click), and automate payouts. Like SamCart, Backpack doesn't natively support a true two-tier (sub-affiliate) program where affiliates can recruit their own sub-affiliates.

Best for: Businesses looking to scale through affiliate marketing alongside their funnel and email automation tools.

🏅 Overall winner

ClickFunnels has a more comprehensive affiliate management system out of the box. If you need a true two-tier program — where your affiliates can recruit their own sub-affiliates and earn from those referrals too — neither platform supports that natively. For that, a dedicated affiliate platform like Rewardful or Tolt (both of which integrate with Checkout Page) is the way to go.

6. Drag-and-drop tools

SamCart

SamCart’s drag-and-drop functionality is limited to checkout page customization. While easy to use, it doesn’t offer the same flexibility as ClickFunnels.

Best for: Businesses that need simple, intuitive tools for checkout page design.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels features a full drag-and-drop editor for building and customizing entire funnels. This makes it highly versatile but also more complex to use.

Best for: Businesses that need extensive funnel customization.

🏅 Overall winner

This one's a tie- since they both have good drag-and-drop build functionality, but with different areas of focus.

7. A/B split testing

SamCart

SamCart's A/B testing focuses on checkout pages: test different layouts, copy, button colors, or pricing displays against each other and let traffic decide. It's included in the single plan, so there's no upgrade required. The scope is narrower than ClickFunnels' (you can't split-test full funnels), but it's well-suited to the one job it does.

Best for: Businesses that want to test and optimize the checkout step specifically.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels allows users to A/B test entire funnels, providing invaluable insights into what works best at each stage of the process. This feature is available in all plans.

Best for: Businesses that want to optimize their entire funnel for maximum conversions.

🏅 Overall winner

Tie - both platforms do well here, but with different focuses. In practice, this often comes down to whether you want simplicity or full control.

8. Email marketing and automation

SamCart

SamCart doesn't include built-in email marketing or autoresponders. Instead, it integrates with the major email marketing platforms: Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Drip, GetResponse, AWeber, HubSpot, Ontraport, Constant Contact, and Zapier for everything else. If you already pay for an email tool, this is usually the better fit — your customer data stays where you want it.

Best for: Businesses that already have a preferred email marketing tool and want to keep using it.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels includes a full built-in email marketing and automation system, with visual workflows, behavioral triggers, email autoresponders, customer segmentation, and follow-up funnels. You can run automated sequences based on funnel behavior — for example, sending a follow-up to anyone who opens an email but doesn't buy, or a re-engagement campaign to lapsed customers.

This makes it a more complete all-in-one solution for businesses that want to manage both marketing and sales in one place. For some, that’s a benefit. For others, it can feel restrictive compared to using dedicated tools.

Best for: Businesses that want an integrated marketing and automation system without relying on third-party tools.

🏅 Overall winner

ClickFunnels, for its integrated and more advanced email marketing system

9. One-click upsells

SamCart

SamCart excels at one-click upsells and order bumps, making it easy to increase your average order value. These features can be easily integrated into the checkout process.

Best for: Businesses focused on maximizing revenue per transaction.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels offers similar features but integrates them into broader funnel stages. While effective, they may not be as streamlined as SamCart’s implementation.

Best for: Businesses that want upsells as part of a larger funnel strategy

🏅 Overall winner

SamCart makes it super easy to offer one-click upsells.

10. Ease of use

SamCart

SamCart is designed with simplicity in mind. Its intuitive interface makes it easy for beginners to set up and optimize checkout pages without technical expertise. The newer AI-powered page builder generates pages from a prompt, and you can edit any element directly. SamCart gives you meta titles, meta descriptions, alt text, custom URL slugs, and custom domains on every page — useful for SEO, though deeper styling tweaks (custom CSS, advanced fonts) are limited compared to a full page builder.

Best for: Businesses that want a straightforward, user-friendly tool with solid SEO basics.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels has a more complex interface because of its wider feature set. ClickFunnels 2.0 improved usability significantly with a faster editor, cleaner layout, and a more structured page building experience. Customization runs deeper than SamCart: full CSS access, custom fonts, and granular control over every element. The blog builder added in 2.0 is useful for content-led SEO — you can publish articles on your custom domain alongside your funnels.

That said, because the platform does so much, there is still a learning curve compared to more focused tools like SamCart.

Best for: Businesses that need advanced features and are willing to invest time in learning the platform.

🏅 Overall winner

SamCart wins for ease of use

11. Customer support

SamCart

SamCart has a good reputation for its customer support, including email and chatbot options; however, for live chat with a human, you'll need to pay an extra $19 monthly.

Best for: Businesses that value responsiveness but not immediate support.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels provides 24/7 customer support, including live chat and a comprehensive knowledge base. Premium plans also include priority support.

Best for: Businesses that need round-the-clock assistance.

🏅 Overall winner:

Tie-both have pretty good reputations, but you'll pay a premium for live support from a human.

Which platform is right for you?

As we've made clear, these platforms serve quite distinct purposes and cater to different business requirements; for that reason, it's challenging to call an obvious winner based solely on features and costs.

SamCart excels at optimizing the checkout process, making it an ideal choice for businesses focused on maximizing conversions and increasing average order value at the point of sale.

The price point was a drawback — many of the features that drive revenue used to be available only in SamCart's higher tiers. That changed in 2025, when SamCart moved to a single plan with everything included, making the decision clearer than before.

ClickFunnels wins at helping you build comprehensive, multi-step sales funnels. With ClickFunnels 2.0, it also functions as a broader all-in-one platform, covering CRM, automation, eCommerce, and customer management.

It’s a better fit for businesses that want to consolidate multiple tools into a single system and manage the entire customer journey in one place.

However, for many businesses, this creates a new problem:

You’re either choosing:

• A highly specialized checkout tool with paywalled features
• Or a powerful all-in-one platform that may be more than you actually need

And that’s where things get interesting.

Checkout Page: a simpler alternative to both

If you are unsure whether either of the solutions we've covered is right for your business, there is a third option worth considering.

Instead of choosing between over-specialized checkout tools and overbuilt all-in-one platforms, some businesses are now opting for a more focused, flexible approach.

That’s exactly where Checkout Page comes in.

We're a no-code checkout page solution focused on features that help you convert, without the unnecessary complexity or feature paywalls.

Our customers love that we put them in the driving seat by enabling them to rapidly craft pages and sales funnels that can be embedded on their own websites for a seamless customer payment experience.

In other words, you get the conversion-focused benefits of tools like SamCart without the restrictions or the need for a full funnel platform like ClickFunnels.

1. Unlimited custom checkout, event, and form pages
   Create as many pages as you need, embed them into your website or funnels, and tailor them to fit any campaign or product.
2. One-click upsells and order bumps
   Boost revenue by offering additional products or upgrades with a single click, increasing average order value.
3. Flexible subscription and billing models
   Support for one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, donations, and tiered pricing, with features like free trials.
4. Cart abandonment features
   Revcover abandoned carts with our automated emails triggered in the period after a checkout is left during the payment process.
5. White-label branding and customization
   Fully customize pages with your logo, colors, and CSS, ensuring a professional, on-brand customer experience.
6. Advanced analytics and tracking
   Track sales performance, conversion rates, and payment history with built-in support for Google Analytics, Tag Manager, and custom pixels.
7. Global payment methods and currencies
   Stripe allows you to accept payments worldwide, supporting major currencies, digital wallets, and "Buy Now, Pay Later" services like Klarna and Afterpay.
8. For sales funnels: Embeddable checkout pages, one-click upsells, and multi-step checkouts integrate seamlessly into your sales funnel strategy while analytics help optimize performance.
9. Subscriptions: Flexible billing models, tiered pricing, and a white-label customer portal make it easy to manage recurring revenue and customer accounts.
10. Customer Support: We are very proud of our founder-led support team, which you can speak with via Live Chat to ensure you get the most out of our platform.

Think we might be a good fit for your business? We offer a 7-day free trial, no credit card needed!

There's no tricky setup; connect your Stripe account, and you're ready to go.

If your goal is simply to increase conversions without adding more tools, complexity, or cost, it’s a much more straightforward way to get there.

Frequently asked questions

Is SamCart better than ClickFunnels for selling single products?

Yes, SamCart is generally superior for single-product sales due to its focus on "one-page checkout" optimization. While ClickFunnels builds entire multi-stage marketing journeys, SamCart prioritizes reducing friction at the point of purchase.

Which platform has lower monthly fees in 2026?

SamCart typically offers a more affordable entry point for creators compared to ClickFunnels’ suite-style pricing. However, ClickFunnels includes email marketing tools that SamCart users would need to buy separately.

Can I use SamCart and ClickFunnels together?

Yes, many creators use ClickFunnels to build their front-end landing pages and SamCart to handle the actual checkout process. This hybrid approach leverages ClickFunnels' design flexibility and SamCart's conversion features.

Does ClickFunnels 2.0 outperform SamCart for membership sites?

ClickFunnels 2.0 includes a significantly more robust membership and customer center system than before, allowing you to manage users, courses, billing, and access in one place.

If your primary goal is a gated community or integrated customer experience rather than just a product sale, ClickFunnels is often the stronger choice.

Which platform is easier for beginners to set up?

SamCart is widely considered easier to set up because it focuses solely on the checkout page. ClickFunnels has a steeper learning curve due to its wide range of features, like funnel mapping and email automation.

What's the difference between ClickFunnels Launch and Optimize?

ClickFunnels' current tiers — Launch ($97/month), Scale ($197), Optimize ($297), and Dominate ($5,997/year) — replaced the older Startup, Pro, Basic, and Funnel Hacker plans (sometimes referred to as "ClickFunnels Platinum"). All current tiers include unlimited funnels, pages, and visitors. The main differences are workspace count (3 on Launch, 10 on Scale), team seats, and access to priority support. If you're a single-brand business, Launch usually does the job. If you run multiple brands or need more seats, Scale or Optimize make sense.

Does SamCart have built-in email marketing?

No. SamCart doesn't include native email marketing or autoresponders — it integrates with external tools like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Drip, AWeber, HubSpot, GetResponse, and Constant Contact. If you want email and checkout in one platform without an integration, ClickFunnels is the closer fit. If you already pay for an email platform you like, SamCart's integration approach lets you keep it.

How do SamCart and ClickFunnels compare on SEO and customization?

Both platforms give you meta titles, meta descriptions, alt text, custom URL slugs, and custom domains across pages. ClickFunnels goes further with full CSS access, custom fonts, and a built-in blog builder — which makes it the stronger choice if you want to combine content marketing with funnel building. SamCart's customization is more limited (no native blog, less CSS control), but its SEO basics are solid for a checkout-focused platform.