You are one person selling a handful of things. You do not need the plan built for an agency with nine clients, so you look at the entry tier and it seems reasonable. Kartra's is $59 a month, which is the cheapest way into a serious all-in-one platform.
Then you read the plan details. Kartra's Essentials tier takes 5% of every sale you make. Every plan above it takes nothing. Before you commit, it is worth seeing what a free systeme.io account does without either charge.
How much does Kartra's 5% transaction fee actually cost?
Essentials is $59 plus 5%. Starter is $119 plus nothing. Set those equal and the crossover lands at $1,200 a month in sales — at which point the 5% has grown to $60, and $59 plus $60 is the $119 you would have paid for Starter with no cut at all.
Sell less than that and Essentials is genuinely cheaper. Sell more, and the plan advertised as the affordable one costs more than the plan above it, and keeps costing more every month as the thing you are trying to grow grows. At $5,000 a month in sales, Essentials runs $309 against Starter's $119.
On annual billing the crossover comes sooner, around $940 a month, because Starter drops to $99 while Essentials only drops to $52.
Checked against Kartra's own plans and pricing pages on 3 September 2026, alongside several current third-party breakdowns. Prices move without notice — confirm at kartra.com before you decide anything.
What else the $59 plan caps
The fee is not the only constraint. Essentials holds you to 500 contacts, 10,000 emails a month, 5 pages, 1 product and 1 course or membership. Starter lifts every one of those to unlimited.
So the plan taking a cut of your sales is also the plan that stops you selling a second thing, and stops your list at 500 people — a number a working opt-in form passes inside a year. Worth naming plainly: the entry tier is priced to look accessible and structured so that succeeding on it costs you money.
Kartra is not alone in this. Across six platforms the same pattern holds — the feature you actually came for usually sits one tier above the advertised price.
What a free plan keeps that Essentials does not
- 0% platform fee on every sale — on the free plan and on every paid tier
- 2,000 contacts against Essentials' 500, with unlimited sends rather than 10,000 a month
- Email marketing with automation built in
- 3 sales funnels, built and published
- An online course, hosted and delivered to buyers
- A blog and a custom domain
systeme.io takes nothing per sale on any plan. You pay Stripe roughly 2.9% plus 30¢ — which you would pay on any platform anywhere — and the platform itself takes none of it.
Is Kartra worth it?
This is not an argument that Kartra is bad. Its automation builder is deeper than systeme.io's, and Starter and above bring video hosting, unlimited SMS and a team seat structure that systeme.io does not match. A business complex enough to use those earns back $119 a month without much trouble.
The problem is specific to the entry tier, and to anyone choosing it because it is the smallest number on the page.
Where the free plan runs out
Three funnels, one course, 2,000 contacts. Hit any of those and the free plan is no longer enough. The difference is that nothing switches off and nothing gets charged — you upgrade because the business grew, not because a clock ran out. Startup is $17 a month, and it does not take a percentage either.
If you are not sure you need an all-in-one platform at all yet, this covers what you actually need to run an online business — which is fewer things than most guides assume.
The links below are affiliate links. If you open a systeme.io account through one, I may earn a commission at no cost to you.
Create your free systeme.io account
No credit card required — free forever plan
The feature-by-feature version is on systeme.io's Kartra comparison page. Worth reading with the dashboard already open.
And if you would rather see the whole setup written down first, the Systeme.io Beginner's Quickstart Guide is free — 30 pages, 41 screenshots, from account creation to first sale.
Common questions
Does Kartra charge a transaction fee?
On the Essentials plan at $59 a month, yes — 5% of every sale. Plans above Essentials do not carry it. Sources disagree on the exact scope, so read Kartra's own plan page rather than a third-party roundup before you commit.
Which Kartra plan is cheapest overall?
It depends entirely on your sales volume. Below roughly $1,200 a month in sales, Essentials at $59 works out cheaper. Above that, Starter at $119 with no transaction fee costs less — and the gap widens every month as you sell more.
How many contacts does Kartra Essentials allow?
500, with 10,000 emails a month. Starter lifts both to unlimited. For comparison, systeme.io's free plan allows 2,000 contacts and unlimited sends.
Is there a free alternative to Kartra?
systeme.io's free plan covers pages, funnels, email marketing with automation, a checkout, a course and a blog, with no transaction fee and no card required. The limits are three funnels, one course and 2,000 contacts.
What is a transaction fee on a marketing platform?
A percentage the platform takes from each sale, charged on top of the monthly subscription and separately from what your card processor charges. Stripe's roughly 2.9% plus 30¢ is unavoidable anywhere; a platform transaction fee is not.
Related reading: a link in bio that sells without the monthly fee · the free tools that actually run an online business