Systeme.io vs Kartra pricing: contacts, fees and year one
Systeme.io starts free and its paid plans run $17 to $97 a month. Kartra starts at $59 a month, or $52 billed annually, and charges 5% on sales on that plan. Limits and year-one cost at four list sizes, read October 20, 2026.
The short answer
Systeme.io costs less than Kartra at every list size we priced. Systeme.io has a Free plan at $0 with 2,000 contacts, and its paid plans run from $17 to $97 a month, or $170 to $970 a year billed annually. Kartra has no free plan on its pricing page. Its entry plan, Essentials, is $59 a month, or $52 a month billed annually, for 500 contacts, and it charges a 5% transaction fee on your sales.
At 2,500 contacts the gap is $170 a year on Systeme.io Startup against $1,188 a year on Kartra Starter, both billed annually. At 25,000 contacts it is $970 against $5,148.
Prices were read on systeme.io/pricing and kartra.com/pricing on October 20, 2026, in US dollars. StackOnSale earns a commission if you buy Systeme.io through our link. We have no partnership with Kartra and have not tested either product.
Price per plan, side by side
Kartra sells four plans: Essentials, Starter, Growth and Professional, each billed monthly or annually. Its toggle says "Save up to 22%". By our arithmetic the annual saving is 11.9% on Essentials, 16.8% on Starter, 17.5% on Growth and 21.9% on Professional, so only the top plan reaches the headline figure.
Systeme.io sells Free, Startup, Webinar and Unlimited, plus a Custom plan for teams with no published price. Its annual prices are yearly totals: $170, $470 and $970, which is 16.7% less than 12 monthly payments on each plan.
Systeme.io and Kartra, published prices and limits| Plan level | Systeme.io | Kartra |
|---|
| Free | $0: 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, 1 course, 500 students | No free plan. 14-day free trial |
|---|
| Entry plan | Startup: $17 a month, or $170 a year. 5,000 contacts, 10 funnels, 5 courses | Essentials: $59 a month, or $52 a month billed annually. 500 contacts, 1 course, 5% transaction fee |
|---|
| Second plan | Webinar: $47 a month, or $470 a year. 10,000 contacts, 50 funnels, 20 courses | Starter: $119 a month, or $99 a month billed annually. 2,500 contacts, unlimited courses |
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| Third plan | Unlimited: $97 a month, or $970 a year. Unlimited contacts, funnels and courses | Growth: $229 a month, or $189 a month billed annually. 12,500 contacts |
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| Fourth plan | Custom for teams, price on request | Professional: $549 a month, or $429 a month billed annually. 25,000 contacts |
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| Transaction fees | 0% on every plan | 5% on Essentials, 0% on the other plans |
|---|
| Emails | Unlimited on every plan | 10,000 a month on Essentials, unlimited from Starter |
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Read on systeme.io/pricing (monthly and annual billing, comparison table) and kartra.com/pricing (Monthly and Yearly, plan cards and comparison table), October 20, 2026. US dollars.
Transaction fees
Systeme.io's pricing page lists 0% transaction fees on every plan, Free included. That is Systeme.io's own fee: the payment processor you connect, such as Stripe or PayPal, charges its own fees, which we did not verify.
Kartra charges 5% on sales on Essentials, according to its plan card. Starter, Growth and Professional show 0% transaction fees. On $2,000 of sales a month, 5% is $100 a month, or $1,200 a year, before processor fees. At that level of sales, Kartra Starter at $99 a month billed annually costs less in total than Essentials at $52 plus the fee.
Year-one cost at four list sizes
The yearly figures below are 12 times the monthly price shown on each pricing page, or Systeme.io's published yearly total, before payment fees and tax. Each row uses the cheapest plan whose contact limit covers the list size.
Year one at four list sizes| List size | Systeme.io | Kartra |
|---|
| 500 contacts, 1 course | Free: $0 | Essentials: $708 billed monthly (12 x $59), or $624 billed annually (12 x $52), plus 5% of sales |
|---|
| 2,500 contacts | Startup: $204 billed monthly (12 x $17), or $170 billed annually | Starter: $1,428 billed monthly (12 x $119), or $1,188 billed annually (12 x $99) |
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| 10,000 contacts | Webinar: $564 billed monthly (12 x $47), or $470 billed annually | Growth: $2,748 billed monthly (12 x $229), or $2,268 billed annually (12 x $189) |
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| 25,000 contacts | Unlimited: $1,164 billed monthly (12 x $97), or $970 billed annually | Professional: $6,588 billed monthly (12 x $549), or $5,148 billed annually (12 x $429) |
|---|
StackOnSale arithmetic on the prices above, before payment processor fees and tax.
What each plan includes
Systeme.io, from its comparison table: unlimited emails sent on every plan; sales funnels at 3, 10, 50 and unlimited; automation rules at 1, 10, 100 and unlimited; custom domains at 1, 3, 10 and unlimited; courses at 1, 5, 20 and unlimited; 500 students on Free and unlimited students on the paid plans; evergreen webinars from the Webinar plan (10) up. Booking calendars, blogs, communities and physical products are listed on every plan, with caps by plan.
Kartra, from its plan cards: Essentials has 500 contacts, 10,000 emails a month, 5 pages, 1 product, 1 membership or course, 1 custom domain and 30 Kartra AI uses. Starter has 2,500 contacts, unlimited email and SMS, unlimited pages, products and courses, video hosting, calendars, 5 team members and 100 AI uses. Growth has 12,500 contacts, 3 custom domains, automations, affiliate management, surveys and quizzes, a helpdesk and 10 team members. Professional has 25,000 contacts, 5 custom domains, real-time funnel analytics and helpdesk live chat. Kartra states a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Which one fits
If your list is under 2,000 contacts and you sell one course, Systeme.io Free covers it at $0, with 500 students. Kartra's cheapest plan covering that list is Starter, because Essentials stops at 500 contacts.
If you need a helpdesk with live chat or real-time funnel analytics inside the same tool, Kartra lists them on Growth and Professional, and we did not find them on Systeme.io's pricing page. Check that you need them before paying the difference: $1,798 a year at 10,000 contacts, billed annually, by our arithmetic.
If you mostly need funnels, email and courses, Systeme.io's paid plans cover more contacts per dollar on every tier we compared.
What we could not verify
Kartra's pricing page is not consistent on two points. Its comparison table gives Growth 200 Kartra AI uses in one place and 250 in another. One column of the table lists 1,000 emails where the Essentials card says 10,000 emails a month; we used the card. We did not verify what Kartra counts as a contact or a product, the processor fees on either platform, or whether prices differ outside the United States.
Questions
Is Systeme.io cheaper than Kartra?
Yes, at every list size we priced. At 2,500 contacts, Systeme.io Startup is $170 a year billed annually and Kartra Starter is $1,188 a year billed annually. Read October 20, 2026.
Does Kartra have a free plan?
Not on its pricing page. Kartra states a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Systeme.io has a free plan with 2,000 contacts and 1 course.
Does either one take a cut of sales?
Systeme.io lists 0% transaction fees on every plan. Kartra charges 5% on Essentials and 0% on Starter, Growth and Professional. Payment processor fees are extra on both.
How many contacts does each plan allow?
Systeme.io: 2,000 on Free, 5,000 on Startup, 10,000 on Webinar and unlimited on Unlimited. Kartra: 500 on Essentials, 2,500 on Starter, 12,500 on Growth and 25,000 on Professional.
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