Kartra: What It Is, Pricing and How to Use It (2026 Guide)

What is Kartra?

Kartra is an all-in-one platform for coaches, course creators and small businesses that sell knowledge products online. In one account you build landing pages and websites, collect leads with forms, send email and SMS, take payments with checkouts, host videos and courses in a membership portal, book calls with calendars and answer customers through a helpdesk. Kartra AI drafts page copy, broadcasts and SMS.

It is run by Kartra Inc., based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Its billing is handled under the Genesis Digital name.

The problem Kartra solves is tool sprawl. A typical coaching business might pay for a page builder, an email platform, a checkout tool, a course host, a scheduling app and a support inbox, then spend time connecting them. Kartra replaces that stack with one login, one contact database and one bill, at the cost of being less deep in each area than a specialist.

Who it is for

• Coaches and consultants who sell programmes, take bookings for calls and want payment, scheduling and follow-up emails in one place.
• Course creators who need sales pages, checkout and a members’ area for their courses without stitching tools together.
• Info-product businesses running launches with affiliates, since affiliate management is built in from the Growth plan.
• Small agencies that build funnels for clients and want the agency dashboard on Growth and above.

Who should not use it: businesses that mainly need email marketing (a dedicated platform such as Sender or Kit costs far less); marketers who only need landing pages for paid traffic (Leadpages or Unbounce are more focused); teams that need the app in a language other than English; and anyone who would stay on Essentials long term, because its limits are tight.

Key features

• Landing Pages & Websites. A drag-and-drop page builder with templates and pop-ups for sales pages, opt-in pages and full sites. Essentials allows 5 pages; Starter and above are unlimited. A custom code page arrives with Growth.
• Email Marketing. Broadcasts and automated sequences for email and SMS, with lists and tags for lead management. Kartra says there are no extra fees for email sends.
• Funnels & Campaigns. Pre-built campaigns you can import (100 on Essentials) and a Funnel Mapper for planning the steps of a funnel. Growth adds funnel simulation, and Professional adds real-time funnel analytics.
• Checkouts. Sell products with buyers paying by credit card or PayPal. The newer checkouts (New Checkouts in Kartra’s release notes) add Klarna, Google Pay and Apple Pay. Checkouts support 24 languages with optional geo-detection, and accounts can use 21 currencies.
• Memberships and courses. A membership portal builder for courses and paid communities. Essentials allows one membership or course; Starter and above are unlimited.
• Calendars. Appointment booking for calls and classes. Recent releases added buffer time between appointments, rescheduling, class cloning and paid bookings through New Checkouts.
• Video Marketing. Video hosting with a custom player, from Starter.
• Help Desks and Affiliate Management. Support tickets from Growth (with live chat on Professional), and an affiliate programme for your products from Growth.
• Kartra AI. Copywriting inside Kartra Pages and Broadcasts. It generates whole pages or sections, broadcasts and SMS, guided by an AI business setting that stores your brand voice, audience and goals. It is a capped writing helper, not an agent that runs campaigns for you.

Pricing

At the time of writing Kartra has four plans, all with a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Prices are in US dollars, charged by card, and were verified on kartra.com/plans-and-pricing on 2026-10-14.

Plan	Monthly	Yearly (per month)	Contacts	Email and SMS	Transaction fee	Custom domains	Team members
Essentials	$59	$52	500	10,000 per month	5%	1	Not listed
Starter	$119	$99	2,500	Unlimited	0%	1	5
Growth	$229	$189	12,500	Unlimited	0%	3	10
Professional	$549	$429	25,000	Unlimited	0%	5	Not stated

What each plan unlocks:

Plan	Adds
Essentials	5 pages, 1 product, 1 membership or course, form builder, funnel mapper, checkouts, advanced analytics, 100 pre-built campaigns, Kartra AI (30 uses)
Starter	Unlimited pages, products, memberships and courses, video hosting, calendars, Kartra AI (100 uses), 1-on-1 onboarding call (per the trial page)
Growth	Automations, affiliate management, surveys and quizzes, helpdesk, funnel simulation, agency capacity, API access, custom code page, unlimited languages
Professional	Real-time funnel analytics and helpdesk live chat, plus everything in Growth

Points to keep in mind:

• Essentials is an entry ticket, not a business plan. The 5% transaction fee alone costs $50 on every $1,000 you sell, which quickly outweighs the $60 a month you save versus Starter.
• Automations start at Growth. If you need behaviour-based sequences or an affiliate programme, plan on $189 a month billed yearly.
• The contact limit is soft, the other limits are hard. Pass your contact limit and Kartra upgrades you to the next tier with a mid-cycle reconciliation fee. Domains, languages and team members simply stop at the limit.
• Some numbers on the pricing page disagree. Kartra AI uses on Growth appear as 200 in one table and 250 in another, and one comparison row lists 1,000 emails for Essentials while the plan card says 10,000. Confirm with Kartra if either matters to you.
• Yearly billing saves up to 22%. Subscriptions are paid by card; PayPal is not accepted for the Kartra subscription itself.

How to use Kartra: step-by-step

1. Start the trial and set up the basics

1. Start the 14-day trial on the plan you expect to use. Starting on Starter or Growth lets you test unlimited pages and, on Growth, automations before you pay.
2. Connect a custom domain for your pages and set up your sending domain for email, so messages come from your brand rather than a shared address.
3. Fill in the AI business setting (brand voice, audience, goals) before you use Kartra AI. Every draft draws on it, so a vague profile produces vague copy.
4. Import your existing contacts into a list and tag them by source (for example “old newsletter” or “past client”) so you can segment later. Only import people who opted in.

2. Build an opt-in page and lead magnet funnel

1. Open Funnels & Campaigns and browse the pre-built campaigns. Importing one that matches your goal (for example a lead magnet) gives you pages and emails to edit rather than a blank start.
2. Edit the opt-in page in the page builder. Use Kartra AI to draft the headline and section copy, then rewrite it so it sounds like you and makes a specific promise.
3. Add a form that puts new leads on your list with a tag, and deliver the freebie on the thank-you page or by email.
4. Map the steps in the Funnel Mapper so you can see where people drop off once traffic arrives.

3. Sell a product with checkout and a membership

1. Create a product, set the price and choose a New Checkout so buyers can pay with card, PayPal, Klarna, Google Pay or Apple Pay.
2. Build the membership portal for the course or programme, add lessons and videos, and connect it to the product so buyers get access. New Checkouts can also be added to membership sidebars for upsells.
3. Write a sales page in the page builder and link its buttons to the checkout.
4. Add a short email sequence for buyers: access details, a first-step lesson and a check-in a few days later.

4. Take bookings with a calendar

1. Create a calendar for discovery calls or coaching sessions, set your availability and add buffer time between appointments.
2. For paid sessions, choose the “Paid - New Checkout” registration option so clients pay when they book.
3. Link the calendar from your sales page or thank-you page, and tag people who book so you can follow up by email.

Tips to get better results

• Choose the plan by features, not contacts. Most businesses outgrow Essentials on pages, products or the 5% fee long before they reach 500 contacts.
• Start from pre-built campaigns. Importing a campaign and editing it is faster than building pages and emails from blank templates.
• Ration Kartra AI uses. With 30 or 100 uses, generate whole sections rather than single lines, and do variations of headlines in a general assistant. Our guide on how to write better prompts applies to both.
• Tag everything. Tags on form signups, purchases and bookings are what make later segmentation and Growth-level automations work.
• Watch your contact count. Clean out inactive leads before you hit the limit to avoid an automatic upgrade and a mid-cycle fee.
• Use the trial for a real launch. Build one complete funnel, from opt-in to checkout to members’ area, inside the 14 days. That shows you whether the all-in-one trade-off suits you.

Limitations and common problems

• Steep jump to automation. Automations, affiliates, surveys and helpdesk are Growth features. Workaround: if you only need simple follow-up emails, check whether Starter’s broadcasts and campaigns are enough before upgrading.
• Breadth over depth. Each module is adequate rather than best in class. Dedicated landing page tools offer more testing, and dedicated email tools offer richer automation for less money. Workaround: keep Kartra for checkout, memberships and calendars, and judge each module against what you actually use.
• Hard limits on domains, languages and seats. There are no add-ons; you upgrade the whole plan. Plan your domain and team needs before choosing a tier.
• Inconsistent pricing details. The pricing page contradicts itself on Kartra AI uses for Growth and on the Essentials email allowance. Ask support in writing before relying on either figure.
• Quiet changelog. Kartra’s public release notes were roughly weekly in the first half of 2026, but the latest entry at the time of writing is 9.75.0 from 21 July 2026, which removed Skype as a helpdesk channel and the Facebook Comments widget from the page builder.
• AI transparency. Kartra does not name the model behind Kartra AI, and the privacy policy does not mention AI. If you handle sensitive client information, avoid pasting it into AI prompts until Kartra clarifies how that data is used.

Alternatives

• GetResponse - email, automation, landing pages, webinars and a course creator, with a free plan and much lower entry prices.
• Kit - email for creators with digital product sales and paid newsletters; cheaper if email is the core of your business.
• Leadpages - a focused landing page builder for coaches and small businesses who already have email and checkout sorted.
• ActiveCampaign - deeper automation and a CRM if nurturing and segmentation matter more than built-in courses and checkout.
• ClickFunnels, Kajabi and Systeme.io - the closest all-in-one rivals for funnels, courses and checkout; compare the tier that includes the features you need.

See more options in our marketing tools directory.

Verdict

Sign up for Kartra if you are a coach or course creator who wants pages, checkout, memberships, calendars and email in one place, and you can justify Starter at $99 to $119 a month or Growth at $189 to $229 for automations and affiliates. Use the 14-day trial to build one complete funnel and decide on that evidence.

Skip it if you mainly send email, mainly need landing pages, or would sit on Essentials with its 5% transaction fee and 5-page cap. A specialist email or page tool will cost less and do that one job better.