ALTERNATIVES
What replaces Kartra when contact tiers get expensive?
Kartra prices every plan by contact count, from 500 on Essentials to 25,000 on Professional, so a growing list is usually the real reason to look elsewhere. Systeme.io removes the contact ceiling entirely on its Unlimited plan. ClickFunnels caps by email contacts too, but at higher thresholds per tier. Kajabi fits if the list is actually students and members, not just leads. Match the alternative to what's actually growing.
Kartra's real pricing lever is your contact count
Every Kartra plan is scoped by contacts, not by pages or funnels: Essentials caps at 500 contacts, Starter at 2,500, Growth at 12,500 and Professional at 25,000, per the official pricing page. Email sending itself is unlimited from the Starter plan up, so the constraint isn't how much you send, it's how many people you've added. That structure means the growth that triggers an upgrade is list growth, which is exactly the metric a switch should be judged against.
Systeme.io: remove the ceiling entirely
Systeme.io removes the contact ceiling entirely on its Unlimited plan, at $97 per month, alongside unlimited sales funnels, courses, automation rules and communities. Below that, Startup ($17 per month) covers 5,000 contacts and Webinar ($47 per month) covers 10,000 with evergreen webinars included.
| Systeme.io | Free | Startup | Webinar | Unlimited |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | free | $17/mo | $47/mo | $97/mo |
| Billed annually | · | · | · | · |
| Contacts | 2,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | unlimited |
| Sales funnels | 3 | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| Courses | 1 | 5 | unlimited | unlimited |
| Custom domains | 1 | · | · | unlimited |
| Evergreen webinars | · | · | included | · |
| Automation rules | · | · | · | unlimited |
| Webinars | · | · | · | unlimited |
| Communities | · | · | · | unlimited |
Annual billing is advertised as 2 months free; the pricing page does not itemise annual per-plan amounts. Current amounts: the official Systeme.io pricing page.
The Startup price displayed may reflect a promotional rate.
Pick this if your list is the thing that keeps growing and you want one plan that stops taxing that growth.
ClickFunnels: a different cap, funnel-first instead of helpdesk-first
ClickFunnels caps by email contacts too, just at different numbers: 10,000 on Launch, up to 400,000 on Dominate, alongside unlimited funnels on every tier. The ceiling is real, but it moves further out per tier than Kartra's, and the product is funnel-first rather than the all-in-one marketing suite (helpdesk, membership, checkout) Kartra bundles.
Pick this if your growth is mostly in funnel volume and page variety, and you're fine trading Kartra's helpdesk and membership modules for a page builder with more editing depth. The side-by-side is in ClickFunnels vs Kartra.
Kajabi: when the growing number is students, not leads
If the growing number is actually students or members rather than cold leads, Kajabi frames the same growth differently: Basic covers 2,500 contacts, Growth 25,000, and Pro 100,000, each with unlimited funnels and a platform built around delivering the product, not just marketing it. That's a different job than Kartra's helpdesk-and-checkout suite.
Pick this if most of those contacts are people who bought something and now need course access, not just people on a list. Kartra and Kajabi are compared directly in Kartra vs Kajabi.
What Kartra keeps that the others don't
Kartra bundles a helpdesk, membership areas, checkout and marketing automation into every tier, priced consistently around one number, contacts. None of the three alternatives above match that exact bundle: Systeme.io and ClickFunnels don't include a helpdesk, and Kajabi centers on course delivery rather than general marketing automation. If the bundle itself is the value, not just the contact ceiling, the trade going elsewhere isn't free.
Questions people also ask
At what point does a growing list make Kartra expensive?
Each jump, 500 to 2,500 to 12,500 to 25,000 contacts, is a full plan tier, so the cost rises in steps rather than gradually. If your list crosses a tier boundary every few months, a plan with a higher or unlimited contact ceiling is worth comparing before the next jump.
Does Systeme.io really have unlimited contacts?
On the Unlimited plan, at $97 per month, yes, alongside unlimited funnels, courses, custom domains, automation rules and communities, per the official pricing page. Lower Systeme.io plans still cap contacts, just at different numbers than Kartra.
Is ClickFunnels a good Kartra alternative if I need a helpdesk?
Not directly. ClickFunnels is funnel and page-first; it doesn't bundle a helpdesk module the way Kartra does. If the helpdesk is part of why you use Kartra, factor in a separate support tool when comparing the real cost.
Should I move to Kajabi or stay on Kartra if I sell both courses and physical products?
Kajabi is built around course and membership delivery specifically; Kartra's broader marketing and checkout suite may fit a mixed catalog better. Compare the two directly against your actual contact count and product mix in Kartra vs Kajabi.