The 9 Best ThriveCart Alternatives: What you need to know

If you are searching for ThriveCart alternatives, you likely fall into one of two categories:

1. You like the look of ThriveCart’s features, but the lack of a free trial and only option being to jump right into a lifetime account gives you the jitters. (ThriveCart, we’ve only just met!)

2. You took a gamble and signed up for a lifetime account with ThriveCart, but you now have cold feet. The reality of life together is not what you hoped. You feel let down and are looking for a new e-commerce partnership.

While ThriveCart has some great features and the one-time price is very tempting, a flat pricing model can lead to a lack of ongoing motivation to enhance the service—leaving sellers frustrated with the platform and searching for better options.

Whatever your circumstance, this article will explore eight ThriveCart alternatives that could be a better match—in terms of cost, functionality, support and the ability to trial before commitment.

Let’s dive in!

Why look for ThriveCart alternatives?

While ThriveCart has been a popular choice for digital sellers over the years, poor customer support and frustrating bugs are causing some users a lot of frustration.

A significant downside to a one-off lifetime platform fee is that the service provider then has less incentive to respond to feature requests and issues flagged by users.

By contrast, having users paying by the month who can leave at any time keeps the platform on its toes, so to speak.

These Reddit comments below exemplify the issues and concerns with a one-off payment in the context of bugs:

As well as frustrations with bugs, lots of users report frustrations with the customer support that ThriveCart offers, feeling that their issues are overlooked and under prioritized:

Comparing ThriveCart alternatives

To compare ThriveCart alternatives effectively, we need understand what ThriveCart does well, in addition to its downsides.

ThriveCart pros

• User-friendly interface: The easy-to-navigate interface allows users to set up and manage their products and simple funnels with minimal technical expertise, making it accessible.
• Affiliate management: The platform provides tools for creating and managing affiliate programs, allowing users to recruit affiliates and track their sales easily.
• Customizable checkout pages: ThriveCart enables users to create highly customizable checkout pages, offering a branded purchasing experience that can improve conversion rates.
• Upsell and cross-sell features: The platform allows for easy implementation of one-click upsells and cross-sells during checkout, helping increase users' average order values.
• Subscription and payment plan management: ThriveCart supports various billing options, including subscription management and payment plans, making it helpful for users who offer recurring products and services.
• Integration capabilities: The platform integrates with various third-party tools, including email marketing services, membership platforms, and payment gateways.
• Analytics and reporting: ThriveCart provides comprehensive analytics and reporting tools, giving users insights into sales performance, conversion rates, and customer behavior.
• One-time payment option: Yes, we listed this as a downside, but there is no doubt that a one-off payment is an attractive option for many users, ideally making it a cost-effective investment in the long run.

ThriveCart pricing

* Note this is a special offer currently and is subject to change.

Key criteria for reviewing ThriveCart alternatives

With both the positives and the negatives in mind, the criteria we’ll be paying attention to when comparing ThriveCart with the alternatives below are:

💰 Cost-effectiveness: We’ll show each platform's costs and fees
🔧 Features and tools: We’ll list the top features of each option
🆓 Free trial status: We’ll show free trials and durations
🙋🏽‍♀️ Customer support: We’ll note what support each platform offers
👨🏻‍💻 Ideal user example: For each platform, we will examine the types of users it is best suited for, as well as those for whom it won't be a match

9 Best ThriveCart alternatives

1. Checkout Page

Checkout Page is the easiest no-code builder for creating and customizing checkout pages. We help users create customizable checkout, event, and order form pages for selling digital products, subscriptions, tickets, and physical products.

Our pricing plan is subscription-based, and we charge zero transaction fees. We support multiple global payment methods and include features such as order bumps, and one-click upsells to enhance revenue.

Moreover, we pride ourselves on our friendly, fast customer support, which comes directly from our founders.

Checkout Page features

✅ Create checkout pages, event pages, and order forms in minutes
✅ Sell digital products, subscriptions, event tickets, physical items, and more
✅ Monthly subscription with ZERO fees on sales
✅ No lock in; leave any time
✅ Offer payment plans, take donations, charge setup fees, and take deposits
✅ Increase AOV by offering bundles, one-click upsells, and order bumps
✅ Offer coupons and discount codes
✅ Trusted partnership with Stripe for secure payment processing
✅ Easy integration with services including Zapier and Google Analytics
✅ Advanced analytics to track performance and conversions
✅ Outstanding customer support from our founders via Live Chat

💳 Checkout Page pricing

Free trial?
✅ 7-day free trial, no card needed.

Full pricing:
See Checkout Page’s full pricing

🙋‍♀️ Customer support
Live Chat support with speedy response times and assistance directly from our founders.

🏆 Who is Checkout Page a match for?
Sellers of digital products and event tickets who prioritize flexibility, customization, ease of use, and lots of features tailored to high-converting checkouts. All with top notch customer support to help you get the best from the platform.

😞 Who is Checkout Page less suitable for?
Individuals seeking a platform that includes a website or course builder instead of primarily emphasizing optimized checkout pages.

2. SendOwl

SendOwl supports creators and small businesses in selling and delivering digital products with features like automatic file delivery, bundling options, and the ability to drip-feed content over time.

If a customer leaves something in their cart, SendOwl's cart abandonment recovery emails can help remind them to return and complete their purchase.

The platform includes built-in marketing tools for social media sharing and easy checkout link embedding.

SendOwl features

✅ Straightforward setup that allows users to create product listings for both digital and physical products quickly
✅ Users can sell a range of products, including music, videos, software, and subscription services
✅ Affiliate management tools that automatically track sales and commissions.
✅ SendOwl enables users to bundle products for sale and gradually release digital files.
✅ Automated email reminders to entice sales from customers who abandon their carts during checkout.

💳 SendOwl pricing

Free trial?

✅ 7-day free trial

Full pricing:

See SendOwls full pricing

🙋🏽‍♀️ Customer support
No Live Chat. Help center resources and email only.

🏆 Who is SendOwl a match for?
Educators and trainers can benefit from its features, such as bundling and drip-selling, which allow them to offer course materials progressively and keep students engaged.

😞 Who is SendOwl less suitable for?
Anyone for whom quick response times from customer support are pivotal to your business.

3. Podia

Podia is an all-in-one platform for creators and sellers of digital products, online courses, memberships, and webinars. Its simple interface helps users build storefronts, manage customers, and process payments.

Podia also has tools for email marketing, affiliate management, and analytics. It allows creators to engage their audience, grow their businesses, and boost revenue.

Podia’s features

✅ An in-built course builder helps creators to design and organize their entire curriculum without technical expertise.
✅ Set up websites and online stores to add products to
✅ Podia provides tools for creating and monetizing community spaces
✅ Users can sell a variety of digital products, including online courses, coaching sessions, and memberships
✅ Rich analytics to help creators understand their audience and optimize their courses and other offerings
✅ Podia Email supports needs from newsletters to crafting targeted sales pitches

💳 Podia pricing

Free trial?

✅ 30-day free trial

Full pricing:

See Podia’s full pricing

🙋‍♀️ Customer support
No Live Chat. Email, community, and chatbot support are offered.

🏆 Who is Podia a match for?
Teachers and trainers who want to create and sell online courses can quickly build comprehensive curriculums and engage with their students.

😞 Who is Podia less suitable for?
Those who want zero restrictions on their website or storefront. Some users have found Podia’s tools to be limiting in this area.

4. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress users that enables them to create and manage online stores. It provides a range of features, including the ability to sell physical and digital products, manage inventory, process payments, and handle shipping.

WooCommerce allows users to customize their stores with themes and plugins without requiring extensive technical skills.

WooCommerce features

✅ Allows users to easily add, edit, and organize various products, including physical items and digital downloads.
✅ Wide range of themes and plugins to customize the look and feel of an online store.
✅ Tools for tracking stock levels, processing orders, and managing inventory.
✅ Supports multiple payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and credit card processing
✅ Open-source means it’s free to use (some features incur fees)

💳 WooCommerce pricing

WooCommerce is free, as is WordPress, however there are costs to running a store, such as:

• Hosting costs: Can range from $3.99 to $5,000 per month, with an average annual cost of about $120.
• Domain registration: The average cost is around $15 per year but can be higher for premium domains.
• Theme costs: Free options are available, but paid themes typically range from $20 to $100 annually.
• Shipping extensions: Depending on the tools used, the cost can range from $0 to $119 per year.
• Payment gateway fees: Generally around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, depending on the gateway chosen.
• Additional features: WooCommerce offers many additional features or tools that can be purchased separately, such as security plugins and backup solutions.

Read more about WooCommerce’s pricing.

🙋🏻‍♂️Customer support
WooCommerce offers a help center and email form.

🏆 Who is WooCommerce a match for?
WooCommerce is well-suited for small business owners looking to expand their online presence through a WordPress site. For example, a local handmade jewelry maker with a WordPress blog can use WooCommerce to create an online store.

😞 Who is WooCommerce less suitable for?
WooCommerce is limited only to WordPress users and some users have complained about ease of use and needing to update very frequently.

5. PayHip

Payhip is an e-commerce platform that helps creators sell digital products, courses, coaching programs, memberships, and more. Its features include customizable landing pages, payment processing, and coupon and discount codes, making it straightforward for users to manage sales and distribution.

PayHip features

✅ Coursebuilder helps users structure modules and lessons for easy navigation
✅ Control the release of course materials over time to maintain pace
✅ Boost average orders with features like cross-sells, upsells, coupons and discounts
✅ Setup for coaches to offer sessions and consultations
✅ Payhip assists with handling EU & UK tax

✅ Digital software sellers can generate license keys

💳 PayHip pricing

Free trial?

No, but they have a free plan.

Full pricing:

See PayHip’s full pricing and features list.

🙋🏽 Customer support
No Live Chat. Email and telephone support are available.

🏆 Who is PayHip a match for?
Solo course creators and coaches enjoy Payhip. They find it easy to set up their offerings and enjoy the free plan while growing their business.

😞 Who is PayHip less suitable for?
Payhip’s shop and checkout pages offer limited design customization, which can be a hurdle for users looking for more extensive branding opportunities.

6. Gumroad

Gumroad is a popular marketplace platform renowned for its ease of use. It helps creators sell digital products while providing sellers greater visibility by connecting them to a larger audience.

With a straightforward setup process, sellers can quickly upload their files and begin selling, making it an accessible option for those with minimal technical expertise and needing to develop a customer base.

Gumroad features

✅ Sell an array of digital products, such as memberships, downloads, software & subscriptions
✅ Ability to create an online storefront and benefit from marketplace traffic
✅ Activate comments and feedback on products to allow users to engage
✅ Easily create promotions and discounts
✅ Merchant of Record means Gumroad is responsible for handling all tax requirements
✅ Gumroad’s popularity as a marketplace means you may benefit from the traffic and visibility (not guaranteed without work!)

💳 Gumroad pricing
Gumroad has no plans and takes a 10% sales fee from all transactions.

Free trial?
No, but accounts are free. You pay fees only when you sell.

Full pricing:
See Gumroad’s pricing page

🙋🏿Customer support
No Live Chat. Email-based customer support

🏆 Who is Gumroad a match for?
Solo creators, startups, and small businesses find Gumroad a helpful place to test new product ideas and connect with an active audience.

😞 Who is Gumroad less suitable for?
Anyone selling in any volume at all! Those fees mount up to epic proportions.

7. SamCart

SamCart is an e-commerce platform designed specifically with the digital product seller in mind. It offers a range of features, that maximize conversion rates and automate the delivery of digital content like ebooks, files, and software.

SamCart top features

✅ Sales boost features such as one-click upsells, cross-sells, and order bumps increase AOV
✅ Users can establish affiliate programs with the built-in affiliate management tools
✅ Offers recurring billing options like subscription services or payment plans
✅ Automated digital content delivery, such as software, courses, and eBook,s is provided upon purchase.
✅ Cart abandonment email features automatically send follow-up emails to customers who do not finish their purchases
✅ Customer support includes Live chat and email

💳 SamCart pricing

Free trial?
✅ 7-day free trial

Full pricing:
See SamCart's full pricing and features

🏆 Who is SamCart a match for?
Those who can afford the more expensive plans and utilize the full feature sets, such as cart abandonment emails and affiliate management features, will likely drive higher profits from their sales.

😞 Who is SamCart less suitable for?
Anyone on a budget wanting to use SamCart’s starter plan. It lacks essential features like add-ons and one-click upsells.

8. Sellfy

Sellfy is an e-commerce platform that enables creators, artists, and small businesses to directly sell digital products, physical goods, subscriptions, and print-on-demand items to their audience. It provides an easy way to manage print-on-demand services, allowing users to offer custom merchandise without needing inventory.

Sellfy features

✅ Sell various products, including digital goods, physical items, and print-on-demand. merchandise, and subscription services.
✅ Easily create and personalize a visually appealing online store that reflects your brand
✅ Utilize features like discount codes, email marketing, cart abandonment emails, and upselling
✅ Protect digital files with features like PDF stamping and limited download attempts
✅ Accept payments securely through PayPal and Stripe.

💳 Sellfy pricing

Free trial?

✅ 14-day free trial

Full pricing:

See Sellfy’s full pricing

🙋‍♀️ Customer support
No Live Chat or telephone. Email support is offered 24/7.

🏆 Who is Sellfy a match for?
Sellfy is ideal for artists and designers who want to sell print-on-demand products, such as apparel and accessories, without the hassle of inventory or fulfillment.

😞 Who is Sellfy less suitable for?
Sellfy is known as a good ‘starter store’ but lacks advanced customization and marketing tools that more established businesses often desire.

9. ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels is a platform designed to help businesses create and optimize end-to-end sales funnels. It lets entrepreneurs, marketers, and small business owners create custom sales pages, landing pages, and membership sites. The platform has many templates and drag-and-drop features, making aligning funnels with branding and marketing easy.

ClickFunnels features
✅ Run A/B split tests on funnels, landing pages, and email campaigns.
✅ Access comprehensive analytics to track performance metrics
✅ Create sales funnels from templates or with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor
✅ Built-in email marketing capabilities to engage audiences with automated email sequences
✅ Customizable options for one-click upsells, down sells, and order bumps to maximize sales.
✅ The platform provides tools to build and sell online courses

💳 ClickFunnels pricing

Free trial?

✅ 14-day free trial

Full pricing:

See ClickFunnel's full pricing and features list.

🙋🏼‍♂️Customer support
Live Chat, AI Chatbot, and email support are offered.

🏆 Who is ClickFunnels suitable for?
This looking for a solution that helps them build a comprehensive sales funnel.

😞 Who is ClickFunnels less suitable for?
For those who do look to ClickFunnels for more complex sales funnel creation, the features are reportedly difficult to master and not beginner-friendly.

The best ThriveCart alternatives for you

Taking a balanced look at the features, costs, and customer support offerings of the platforms we’ve compared above, we’ve landed upon two winners for different use cases:

🏆 For rich digital product-oriented features that are easy as pie to use + rapid, expert customer support: Checkout Page

🏆 For end-to-end digital course creation and membership features for online educators looking to build communities: Podia

Final thoughts

For better and for worse—we’ve taken an honest look at ThriveCart. We’ve addressed what makes it appealing and, on the flip side, what turns users off, motivating them to look for alternative options.

We’ve looked at key features, costs, free trials, and customer support options to compare eight ThriveCart alternatives, making it easy to see what they offer, who they work well for, and who they may not be the perfect match for.

If you think Checkout Page could be a match for you, we invite you to take up our 7-day free trial—no credit card required!

Our library of free digital product templates will help you create checkout pages in minutes.

Our support team can assist you with any questions via our Live Chat, and if you like what you see, you can book a demo with our founders.

We hope to see you soon!