Systeme.io or Kartra: which all-in-one lets a UK coach sell for less?
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Quick summary
Start on Systeme.io. Kartra only earns its price if you need its higher-tier extras and the bill is not a worry.
Best for a UK coach, consultant or course creator with up to 2,000 contacts, or anyone watching every pound: Systeme.io. The free plan is $0, needs no card and does not expire. It covers 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, 1 course and unlimited email sends. Paid plans start at $17 a month (Startup, 5,000 contacts). Systeme.io says every plan has 0% transaction fees. We earn from Systeme.io.
Best for an established business that wants a customer helpdesk, surveys and quizzes, and an affiliate scheme in the same login, and can pay at least $189 a month (Growth, billed annually): Kartra. There is no free plan. The pricing page advertises a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Essentials is $59 a month (500 contacts, and a 5% fee on your sales). Starter, the first plan with 0% transaction fees, is $119 a month billed monthly or $99 billed annually. We do not earn from Kartra.
| When | Named in the article |
|---|---|
| You have fewer than 2,000 contacts and want to pay nothing | Systeme.io, free plan |
| You have 2,000 to 5,000 contacts | Systeme.io Startup, $17 a month |
| You have 5,000 to 10,000 contacts | Systeme.io Webinar, $47 a month |
| You want to run your own affiliate scheme without paying for a top tier | Systeme.io. Kartra lists affiliates from Growth, $189 a month billed annually |
| You want a customer helpdesk, surveys and quizzes, and real-time funnel analytics in one bill, and price is secondary | Kartra, Growth or Professional |
| Your business is mostly a newsletter, not a course or a funnel | Neither. See our beehiiv comparisons, linked below |
The short version
Systeme.io and Kartra both try to replace a stack of separate tools: landing pages, sales funnels, checkout, email, courses and memberships. The difference that matters to most UK sole traders is the bill. Systeme.io starts free and its top plan is $97 a month. Kartra starts at $59 a month and its top plan is $549 a month billed monthly.
Kartra does include things Systeme.io’s pricing page does not list, such as a customer helpdesk and surveys and quizzes on Growth and above, and help-desk live chat and real-time funnel analytics on Professional. If you will not use those, you are paying for them anyway. Text messages are not a difference: both list SMS, and both vendors’ help pages say you connect your own Twilio account to send it.
What public reviews say
Both figures below are from Capterra, read on 31 October 2026. Capterra’s own head-to-head block on the Kartra page shows the two side by side.
| Capterra | Systeme.io | Kartra |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 4.8 out of 5 from 2,132 reviews (Capterra page, last updated 29 September 2026) | 4.5 out of 5 from 168 reviews (Capterra page, last updated 19 October 2026) |
| Ease of use | 4.6 | 4.0 |
| Value for money | 4.9 | 4.3 |
| Customer service | 4.8 | 4.1 |
| Trustpilot and G2 | Not included. Trustpilot refused our fetch (403) and G2 was not read, so no figure is given. | |
Systeme.io has more than twelve times as many Capterra reviews as Kartra, so its score rests on a much bigger sample.
“It centralizes our marketing needs, streamlining campaigns, lead management, and result analysis, saving us time and ensuring effective reach to our target audiences.”
Marcin J., freelancer, quoted in the pros and cons summary on Systeme.io’s Capterra page.
“My main issue: as someone with absolutely NO EXPERIENCE in coding or computer programming, I found the domain implementation downright impossible without asking for outside help.”
Nicole F., owner, on the same Systeme.io Capterra page. Domain setup is one of the complaints flagged in that summary.
“Overall, Kartra has been a good experience. It is a powerful all-in-one platform that can do a lot, and that is probably its biggest strength. At the same time, it takes a bit of time to learn, so it may not feel super easy in the beginning.”
Matthew M., holistic nutritionist, Capterra, 15 April 2026. Overall rating 4.0. The same review says Kartra “can be expensive for someone starting out.”
“It's great if you want to have a business that produces at leas $500,000 or more but if you have a smaller company or one man show, find something else.”
Lisa G., coach and consultant, Capterra, 1 June 2025, on the same Kartra page. Overall rating 4.0. Spelling in the quote is the review’s.
What you actually get
Checked 31 October 2026 on Systeme.io’s pricing page and Kartra’s pricing page. Prices are US dollars, as both pages show them.
| Systeme.io | Kartra | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes. 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, 1 blog, 1 course, 1 affiliate programme, 1 custom domain, unlimited email sends. No card, and it does not expire. The free plan has lower limits elsewhere, such as 1 automation rule and 1 email campaign. | No free plan. |
| Trial and guarantee | No trial is needed because the free plan is permanent. The pricing page advertises 2 months free on annual billing. | 14-day free trial advertised on the pricing page. 30-day money-back guarantee. Yearly billing “Save up to 22%”. |
| Plans, billed monthly | Free $0 (2,000 contacts). Startup $17 (5,000 contacts). Webinar $47 (10,000 contacts). Unlimited $97 (unlimited contacts). | Essentials $59 (500 contacts). Starter $119 (2,500). Growth $229 (12,500). Professional $549 (25,000). |
| Plans, billed annually (per month) | Not printed as dollar figures on the page we read. The page says annual billing gives 2 months free. | Essentials $52. Starter $99. Growth $189. Professional $429. |
| Transaction fees | 0% on every plan, including free. | 5% on Essentials. 0% on Starter and above. |
| Unlimited sends on every plan. | Essentials: 10,000 emails and texts a month. Starter and above: unlimited email and SMS. | |
| Courses and products | Free: 1 course. Startup: 5. Webinar: 20. Unlimited: unlimited. | Essentials: 1 product and 1 membership or course, 5 pages. Starter and above: unlimited products, memberships, courses and pages. |
| SMS | Listed on the pricing page under SMS Marketing (Twilio SMS). Systeme.io’s help page says you connect your own Twilio account, and SMS costs are managed through Twilio. | Counted in the Essentials send allowance and listed as unlimited from Starter. Kartra’s help page says you need a Twilio account to send SMS. |
| Affiliate scheme for your own products | Included on all plans (1 programme on free). | Listed from Growth upwards. |
| Webinars | Evergreen webinars from the Webinar plan. | Webinars listed from Starter. |
| Extras the other does not list | Unlimited sub-accounts on every plan, each with the same limits as your plan. | Video hosting from Starter. Helpdesk, surveys and quizzes from Growth. Help-desk live chat and real-time funnel analytics on Professional. |
| Going over your contact limit | The pricing FAQ suggests moving up a plan as your list grows. | Kartra’s FAQ says you are automatically upgraded to the next tier, with a mid-cycle reconciliation fee. |
The offer
Systeme.io: free plan, $0, no card, up to 2,000 contacts. Startup is $17 a month. Annual billing is advertised as 2 months free. Open a free Systeme.io account.
Kartra: no free plan. 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, as advertised on the pricing page. Essentials is $59 a month, or $52 a month billed annually. Kartra’s pricing page.
What the gap looks like over a year, using only the monthly prices above: a list of 2,500 contacts fits Systeme.io Startup at $17 a month, or Kartra Starter at $119 a month. That is $204 a year against $1,428, a difference of $1,224. On Kartra’s annual billing, Starter is $99 a month, or $1,188 a year. Your card issuer may add a foreign-exchange charge on a dollar subscription.
On Kartra Essentials the 5% transaction fee also counts. If you sold £1,000 of coaching or courses in a month, that would be £50 to Kartra, on top of whatever your payment processor charges.
Which one fits you?
A Plymouth life coach with 400 contacts and one £97 programme. Systeme.io’s free plan covers the list, the course and the checkout at $0, with no transaction fee. Kartra’s cheapest plan would be $59 a month plus 5% of each sale. Systeme.io, clearly.
A bookkeeper in Leeds selling a self-assessment mini course to 3,000 contacts. Systeme.io Startup at $17 a month covers 5,000 contacts and 5 courses. Kartra Starter covers 2,500 contacts, so this list would push you to Growth under Kartra’s FAQ rule. Systeme.io.
A fitness studio with 8,000 contacts that wants text reminders and a customer helpdesk. Both platforms send texts through your own Twilio account, so the reminders are not a reason to pay more. The helpdesk is where Kartra makes a case: Growth lists one, with 12,500 contacts, at $229 a month or $189 billed annually. Systeme.io Webinar is $47 a month for 10,000 contacts, but its pricing page does not list a helpdesk, so you would add a separate tool. Price both setups before you choose.
A consultant who wants other people to sell their course for commission. Systeme.io includes an affiliate programme on every plan, including free. Kartra lists affiliates from Growth. Systeme.io.
A writer whose business is really a weekly newsletter. Neither is the obvious pick. Have a look at beehiiv and our beehiiv vs Kit comparison first.
Where Kartra is the better buy
If you already earn enough that $189 to $429 a month is a small line in your accounts, and you want a helpdesk, live chat and real-time funnel analytics without stitching tools together, Kartra puts them in one login. Its reviewers praise exactly that. Its reviewers also say it takes time to learn and gets expensive as your list grows.
Where Systeme.io is the cheaper buy
For almost everyone starting out, and for most UK sole traders under 10,000 contacts. You can build the funnel, the course and the email sequence on the free plan, and only pay when your list passes 2,000 people. If you later need to pass sales into a spreadsheet, your accounts software or a CRM that Systeme.io does not connect to, an automation tool such as Make can sit alongside it. See our Make vs Zapier guide for how those tools are priced.
Related comparisons: Systeme.io vs Kajabi, Systeme.io vs ClickFunnels, Systeme.io vs GoHighLevel and Systeme.io vs Podia.
Before you move from Kartra, export your contacts and note which tags drive which emails. Rebuilding the tags is the slow part of any switch.
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Update details
- — Published.
- — Corrected: Systeme.io’s pricing page also lists SMS through Twilio, and Kartra needs a Twilio account for SMS too, so SMS is no longer described as a Kartra-only extra. Calendars removed from Kartra’s extras, as Systeme.io lists a booking calendar.