There are few tools that I consider absolutely essential when running an online business.
One of them is definitely a shopping cart software.
You might consider it as the backbone of your business: it allows you to get paid for your hard work creating online courses, membership sites, masterminds, coaching programs, online summits, and pretty much anything else you’d like to sell.
But it also helps with marketing your products, giving your customers a great buying experience and ultimately, building trust.
It’s something you really can’t do without.
So, the next logical question is: what’s the best shopping cart software platform on the market?
As with all platforms and apps, the choice these days is virtually infinite.
Older companies keep updating their products and adding new features. New companies pop up every day.
In this in-depth guide, I did hard work for you.
I compared and reviewed 18 of the best shopping cart platforms, so that you can see their features and pros and cons at a glance, without having to read hundreds of reviews.
I also cover some best practices and frequently-asked questions to help you decide on the best tool for you.
Excited? Let’s get going!
What Are The Best Shopping Cart Software Services?
In this section, we are going to review the best shopping cart software services.
For each tool, a brief introduction is given with the software’s main benefits.
Then, we give a short rundown of platform’s key features, followed with some pros and cons.
A very important part of each mini-review is the ‘Who is XX for’ section.
You’ll find that some services are better suited to e-commerce store owners. Others are best if you want to sell services. Others are great for small businesses.
Pay close attention to this section, which will help you decide on what is best for your needs.
You’ll see that in many places in this article I thoroughly recommend ThriveCart.
This is my go-to shopping cart software these days, and I stand behind it 100%.
But let’s get to the reviews right away, so you can decide for yourself on the best option for you and your business.
Shopping Cart Software Reviews (Ultimate Comparison Guide)
Here are my picks for the best shopping cart software, services and platforms for 2020. After the list, you’ll find an in-depth review of each tool. Enjoy!
- ThriveCart
- SamCart
- PayKickstart
- ClickFunnels
- Kartra
- GrooveKart
- Teachable
- Thinkific
- CartFlows
- SendOwl
- WooCommerce
- Spiffy (Formerly GoSpiffy)
- Gumroad
- Shopify
- Zaxaa
- Keap (Formerly Infusionsoft)
- Ontraport
- PayCartPro
1. ThriveCart
ThriveCart is a relatively young shopping cart software (launched 2016).
However, it is rapidly gaining a large customer-base who even prefer it to more ‘bigger’ names in the industry such as SamCart.
I was one of ThriveCart’s early adopters and I have never looked back.
The software is extremely feature-rich and the constant updates it receives make it more and more impressive by the day.
The possibilities with it are really endless, and the amount of customization you can make, together with its countless integrations make it – in my opinion – the best shopping cart software currently on the market.
What’s even more interesting is that at the time of writing this, you can purchase a lifetime licence for ThriveCart at an incredibly low price (more on this below).
You can read my full review of ThriveCart here.
Who Is ThriveCart For?
ThriveCart is suitable for all kinds of businesses. It’s a robust platform that’s incredibly versatile and flexible. Plus, its many integrations make it suitable in almost any scenario.
Key Features of ThriveCart Shopping Cart Platform
- Real-time metrics and forecasting
- High-converting carts and upsells
- Supports various payment options
- Bump offers
- One-click upsell funnels
- Popup or embeddable carts
- Countless integrations
- Native sales-tax calculation
- Behavior rules
- Built-in dunning
- Affiliate-management system
Pros
- Great interface
- Great A/B testing feature
- Very frequently updated
- In-depth reporting (but easy to understand)
- Affiliate-management system is very robust
- Great price
- Very active FB community
- Great support via email
Cons
- Customization might require a little ‘work’ to get the exact look you need
- Some integrations a little cumbersome to setup
Plans and Pricing
ThriveCart is currently offering a lifetime deal for its ‘regular plan’ at $495 (normally $95/month or $1950+/year).
However, at checkout, ThriveCart gives you the opportunity to upgrade to their Pro Plan:
The Pro Plan adds various features that are really essential, especially at the low price-point they are offered.
Normally, this plan would cost $1000 to add on, but is currently offered at $195.
Here are the extra features you get with the Pro Plan:
- Powerful Affiliate Center
- Subscription saver functionality (dunning)
- Automatic Sales-Tax calculation
- Intelligent business projections
- JV Contracts
- Advanced user management
- Client usage rights
- Custom domain-name functionality
ThriveCart is an easy to use shopping cart software that’s designed to help online businesses owners sell digital products and increase revenue.
2. SamCart
SamCart has been the industry standard shopping cart software for many years.
That is, until ThriveCart was launched back in 2016.
Overall, SamCart is definitely a solid solution with tons of great features. But the problem is, ThriveCart is simply better in so many ways, lots of marketers are making the switch.
With that being said, it does have its pros – such as great A/B testing capabilities, very in-depth reporting and a great affiliate-management platform.
But when you factor-in the price SamCart currently sells at, and you compare it with ThriveCart’s lifetime deal, you’ll definitely notice where to spend your money.
Who Is SamCart For?
SamCart is a very robust platform that’s well ‘established’, so it’s suitable for most businesses, including e-commerce stores.
There are some limitations that come with which pricing plan you choose, and the overall cost of the software is pretty high.
Key Features of SamCart Shopping Cart Software
- Bump offers
- 1-click upsells
- A/B testing
- Supports payment plans
- Various integrations (email service providers, membership site platforms, payment gateways and marketing automation platforms)
- Supports coupons, trial offers and dunning
- In-depth reporting dashboard
- Affiliate-management platform
Pros
- Fast and easy to set up
- Offers a free SSL certificate
- Great control over coupons and discounts
- Great reporting and analytics
- Great knowledge-base
Cons
- Only supports Stripe and PayPal
- Customization is somewhat limited
- No native sales-tax calculation
- Not great if you are selling services
- Quite expensive
Plans and Pricing
SamCart offers a 14-day free trial. There are three pricing plans that are billed monthly.
Tiers differ based on features, but all plans include checkout templates, integrations, payment processing, coupons, checkout popups and a free SSL certificate.
Launch Plan: $49/month. 1 admin user, only sales reporting, SamCart branding on pages, no affiliate management.
Grow Plan: $99/month. 3 admin users, no affiliate management.
Scale Plan: $199/month. Full set of features, 10 admin users, priority support via email.
SamCart is a web-based checkout platform. It helps you create a beautiful page that showcases your product and accepts the order all on the same page.
3. PayKickstart
When it comes to its sheer number of features, PayKickstart is probably second to none.
It’s got a great set of templates, a very solid affiliate-management platform and even an advanced funnel-builder.
PayKickstart is also the software that offers the most options for flexibility and customization.
The endless possibilities it gives, however, are quite difficult to navigate, and so is their interface, with so many bells and whistles that might be a little overwhelming for those just starting out.
Who Is PayKickStart For?
If you are a medium-level or advanced marketer who is looking for a highly customizable option, PayKickstart might be the choice for you.
Not really recommended for beginners due to its fairly steep learning curve and possible ‘overkill’ when it comes to features.
Key Features of PayKickStart Shopping Cart Platform
- Supports various payment gateways and options
- 50+ checkout page templates
- Popup and embeddable checkout forms
- Custom API
- Supports various payment options
- 1-click upsells, order bumps, coupons
- Dunning and cart abandonment management
- Affiliate management system
- Automatic sales and VAT tax calculation
- In-depth reporting and analytics
- Mobile app
- Countless integrations (email, webinar, CRM, etc.)
Pros
- Supports more payment processors than its competitors
- Great templates + great customization options
- Offers a marketing portal to host email swipes, banners and contests
- Checkout pages and transactional emails can automatically be translated in 25 languages
- Live chat support
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Dashboard is cumbersome to navigate
- No A/B testing feature
Plans and Pricing
PayKickstart offers a 14-day free trial. There are three pricing plans, billed either monthly or annually (20% discount).
All plans offer zero transaction fees, but there are some limitations in the amount of features you get in the cheaper plan.
Basic Plan: $29/month or $22/month (billed annually). Maximum 5 products, no order ‘bumps’, no affiliate management platform.
Professional Plan: $99/month or $77/month (billed annually). Unlimited products. No demographics reporting, no surveys, no “Audience Builder”.
Premium Plan: $149/month or $116/month (billed annually). Unlimited products. Full set of features.
PayKickstart is an easy and powerful shopping cart and affiliate management software.
4. ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels is an extremely popular tool among marketers. With it, you can easily create functioning sales funnels with a click of a button.
It allows you to customise your pages, send and collect emails, and so much more. It’s often referred-to as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for marketers.
Among the many other things you can do with the software,
However, the platform does not include a full-blown shopping cart software. In order to receive payments, you will need to integrate the software with other apps.
This is done in two ways: via their API payment integrations (for PayPal, Stripe, Keap, Apple and Android Pay, etc.).
Or, through their 3rd party product integrations (for Authorize.net, ClickBank, etc.).
All of the above obviously means that using
You can read my full review of ClickFunnels here.
Who Is ClickFunnels For?
As a shopping cart software,
I would only recommend it if you are already a
Key Features of ClickFunnels Shopping Cart Feature
- One-time and subscription-based products
- Order ‘bumps’
- Integrates with major companies through API
- 3rd party product integrations available
- Order-form testing
Pros
- Simple and user-friendly product creation
- Great integrations
- Quite flexible in terms of design (for the most part)
- Excellent ‘all-in-one’ solution
Cons
- Lacks many options you’d normally get in a ‘regular’ shopping cart software
- Slightly longer setup process than other platforms
- Quite expensive
Plans and Pricing
ClickFunnels offers a 14-day free trial.
When that is over, you have two different plans to choose from, each billed on a monthly basis.
When it comes to its shopping cart functionalities, there are some differences between plans:
if you are subscribed to the $97/month Plan, you can only have 3 payment integration.
If you are subscribed to the $297/month Platinum plan instead, you are allowed 9 total payment gateway integrations.
However, you are still limited to just one of each Third Party Cart Integrations.
Standard Plan: $97/month
Platinum Plan: $297/month
ClickFunnels is a popular all-in-one sales funnel and marketing platform. It gives you everything you need to market, sell, and deliver your products and services online – without having to hire or rely on a tech team.
5. Kartra
Just like
Among its many tools, Kartra also has a dedicated shopping cart software called “Kartra Checkouts”.
Though not as feature-rich as some of its more established competitors, Kartra Checkouts does have some interesting perks such as great-looking checkout pages (with templates), automatic buyer-tagging and good reporting.
However, you can’t use Kartra Checkouts without purchasing a plan that also includes their other products, so if you are not already a Kartra user (or plan to sign up for it), this might not be the best solution.
Who Is Kartra For?
Kartra is a great solution if you need a set of tools to manage your online business, all under the same roof.
Their shopping cart software is part of their suite of products and cannot be purchased separately, so it really only is recommended if you are already a Kartra user.
Key Features of Kartra Shopping Cart Platform
- Multiple price-points for products
- 1-click transactions
- Automatic buyer-tagging
- Upsells, downsells and order-bumps
- Can integrate with credit card or PayPal
- Trials and initial payments
- Special promotions and discount coupons
- Sales and revenue tracking analytics
- Checkout pages instantly translate in 12 languages and accept 40 currencies
- Affiliate management system built in
Pros
- Checkout pages look great
- Also supports physical products
- Automatically calculates sales and VAT tax
Cons
- Not a ‘standalone’ product
- A little bit of a learning curve before you get used to it
- Integrating gateways takes some time.
Plans and Pricing
Kartra offers four different plans with either monthly or annual billing (25% discount).
Kartra’s “Checkouts” software is available in all their tiers, but the number of products you can create is limited in the Starter Plan (max 20).
As stated above, it’s not possible to purchase Kartra Memberships as a standalone product.
Here’s a full breakdown of Kartra’s pricing structure:
Starter Plan: $99/month or $79/month (billed annually). Max 20 products
Silver Plan: $199/month or $149/month (billed annually). Unlimited products
Gold Plan: $299/month or $229/month (billed annually). Unlimited products
Platinum Plan: $499/month or $379/month (billed annually). Unlimited products
Kartra is an all-round marketing software platform that simplifies every aspect of your online business.
6. GrooveKart
GrooveKart prides itself as being a much better (and more affordable) alternative to Shopify.
Needless to say, the platform is mainly aimed at those who run an e-commerce store.
It’s an ‘all-in-one’ solution that includes all the features you’d expect: product-page templates, timers, scarcity elements, reviews, funnels, etc.
Strictly speaking, their shopping cart software has a lot of interesting perks: it supports upsells, downsells, bumps, retargeting, analytics, and much more.
Pricing is very competitive, but
That said, their new product GroovePages looks like it can eventually be an interesting competitor to
Who Is GrooveKart For?
GrooveKart is an ‘all-in-one’ platform that’s specifically built for e-commerce store owners.
Its shopping cart capabilities are good, but it is not recommended if you are only looking to sell digital products (then their new product GroovePages will work better).
Key Features of GrooveKart Shopping Cart Software
- Accepts payments through PayPal, Stripe, GroovePay and Authorize.net
- No transaction fees
- Order bumps
- Scarcity and Urgency enhancers
- Pre-transaction upsells
- Same-page checkout
Pros
- Great pricing compared to competition
- Great templates
- Useful enhancements available (print on demand, etc.)
- Great support
Cons
- A little ‘thin’ when it comes to integrations
- Not so intuitive to get everything setup
Plans and Pricing
GrooveKart offers two pricing plans. The two tiers include the exact same features, but one is paid on a monthly basis, the other will charge you annually.
Monthly Plan: $99/month. Includes all features.
Yearly Plan: $497/year. Includes all features.
7. Teachable
Teachable is one of the leading online course platforms and my #1 recommendation when it comes to e-learning software.
It’s extremely easy to use right off the bat, and does not require you to have prior ‘expert’ knowledge to get started right away.
What’s even better is that Teachable can do everything you need in your online course business, all in one place.
Including taking payments for your products.
Their shopping-cart feature is obviously strictly linked to their course infrastructure and cannot be used as a standalone.
However, it does have some interesting perks such as advanced pricing options, highly customizable sales pages and can even host your own affiliate program.
What’s even more interesting is that if you need more ‘advanced’ options, you can bypass Techable’s native shopping cart and integrate a more solid solution such as ThriveCart.
Who Is Teachable For?
Teachable is a great choice if you plan on creating, managing and selling online courses.
It has an in-built shopping cart feature that does the job, but lacks some more advanced capabilities you’d normally get in a ‘regular’ shopping cart platform.
Key Features of Teachable Shopping Cart Software
- Advanced pricing options (one-time, subscription, bundles)
- Coupons and promotions
- Affiliate program management
- Customizable sales-pages
- Accepts international payments through Stripe Connect and PayPal
- Numerous integrations
Pros
- Easy-to-use ‘all-in-one’ solution
- Good integrations
- Over 100 international currencies supported
- Great support and knowledge-base
Cons
- Not much room for customization
- Some integrations need a little tweaking to work just right
Plans and Pricing
Teachable has three pricing tiers, which are billed monthly or annually (20% discount).
All plans include integrated payment processing. The main difference between the tiers is in the number of features you get.
Also, with the Basic plan, Teachable will take 5% in transaction fees, something you won’t need to worry about in the other plans.
Let’s look at Teachable’s pricing structure in more detail:
Basic Plan: $29/month or $29/month (paid annually). 5% transaction fees.
Professional Plan: $99/month or $79/month (paid annually). No transaction fees, advanced customization options, unbranded website.
Business Plan: $499/month or $399/month (paid annually).
Teachable is the most popular all-in-one course platform used by entrepreneurs to sell $500m+ to over 18 million students. It allows you to create and sell online courses and coaching with ease.
8. Thinkific
Together with Teachable, Thinkific is the other ‘elephant in the room’ when it comes to hosted online course platforms.
The two softwares are very similar and if Teachable was my #1 recommendation, Thinkific definitely comes as a close second.
Overall, Thinkific is a little more flexible and offers slightly better customization options (but Teachable looks better out of the box in my opinion and is easier for beginners).
As with Teachable, Thinkific’s shopping cart software is integrated in their online course platform and basically functions in the same way.
However, small details could make the difference here: Thinkific does not handle EU VAT tax, its checkout process is a little ‘basic’ and the overall marketing capabilities are quite bare bones.
Who Is Thinkific For?
Thinkific is another great solution if you plan on creating and selling online courses.
Just like Teachable, it has an in-built shopping cart software that directly links to your courses.
If that’s what you’re looking for, it’s great. But if you plan on selling other types of digital content, other solutions are a much better choice.
Key Features of Thinkific’s Shopping Cart Platform
- Multiple pricing options
- Coupons and promotional features (upsells, payment plans, etc.)
- Immediate payment
- 100+ currencies supported
- All credit cards accepted
- Affiliates ‘reward’ system
- Over 1000 integrations
Pros
- Great ‘all-in-one’ solution if you plan on selling courses
- Flexible payment options (currencies, cards, etc.)
- Countless integrations
Cons
- Checkout process could be improved
- No support for PayPal on recurring payments
- No EU VAT tax handling
Plans and Pricing
Thinkific has four pricing plans, each billed monthly or annually (20% discount).
Unlike Teachable, Thinkific offers a 100% free plan, which does have some limitations.
When it comes to shopping-cart capabilities, the plans do have some differences (see below). However, all tiers offer instant payouts.
Here’s a full breakdown of Thinkific’s pricing structure:
Free Plan: No affiliate reporting, no coupons and promotions, doesn’t support payment plans.
Basic Plan: $49/month or $39/month (paid annually). Doesn’t support payment plans.
Pro Plan: $99/month or $79/month (paid annually). Full set of shopping-cart features
Premier Plan: $499/month or $399/month (paid annually). Full set of shopping-cart features.
Thinkific is an all-in-one course platform with everything you need to run your education business under one roof. It helps you easily create, market & sell your own online courses.
9. CartFlows
CartFlows is a plugin that’s specifically built to integrate with your WordPress website.
It’s used by many e-commerce store owners as an enhancement to other softwares such as WooCommerce to improve and maximize their checkout experience.
As a matter of fact, CartFlows has a strong focus on sales funnels and is often considered a cheaper version of ClickFunnels.
Its list of features is impressive and its capabilities when it comes to marketing and automation are right there with the ‘big guys’.
That being said, it’s more suited to the e-commerce industry and probably not the best if you only plan on selling digital products (though it can handle that as well).
Who Is CartFlows For?
If you are looking for a cheaper alternative to
It’s definitely more geared towards e-commerce store owners, so keep that in mind when making your choice.
Key Features of CartFlows Shopping Cart Software
- Funnel builder
- Ready made templates that work with all page-builders
- Conversion-focused checkout forms
- One-click order bumps
- Unlimited upsells/downsells
- Cart abandonment automations
- Analytics and tracking
- Dynamic linking
- Checkout custom fields
Pros
- Easy to use
- ‘All-in-one’ solution: funnel builder + shopping cart software
- Works seamlessly with all WordPress page-builders (like Thrive Architect)
- Great flexibility as it’s built on WordPress
Cons
- Can’t share funnels outside of your own website
- Very limited split-testing features
Plans and Pricing
CartFlows only offers one plan. It’s currently discounted at $299/year. The plan includes the full set of features.
CartFlows is a sales funnel builder and checkout software for WordPress. Not sure what a sales funnel is or how to set one up? CartFlows does all the hard work for you.
10. SendOwl
SendOwl is a shopping cart software that’s specifically designed for those selling digital products.
It’s extremely easy to use and the UI is easy to navigate and very intuitive.
It offers a good set of features, such as very flexible payment models, a wide variety of integrations and even a custom checkout template builder.
However, its simplicity means it’s meant to just work ‘as-is’: there are not many customization options overall the platform lacks a little flexibility.
Who Is SendOwl For?
A great choice if you are looking for something easy to understand (and use) that works right out of the box.
Pricing, too, is quite competitive. But if you need more ‘advanced’ capabilities, SendOwl might not be your best bet.
Key Features of SendOwl Shopping Cart Platform
- Various product options (including memberships and subscriptions)
- Responsive checkout forms (embeddable)
- Multi-language support
- Various payment options (credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, etc.)
- Inbuilt affiliate platform
- Upsells
- Cart abandonment
- Discounts
- Gifting
- Custom checkout fields
- API access
Pros
- Easy to use
- Great integrations
- Great pricing
- Great custom checkout template builder
- Supports “pay what you want” pricing
- Supports payment with Bitcoin
Cons
- Limited customization options
- Lacks A/B testing features
- Support is only via email
Plans and Pricing
SendOwl has four three pricing models. You can go for the ‘standard’ rates, the ‘self-hosted’ option or activate a subscription.
Following are the rates for the ‘standard’ model.
SendOwl offers a 30-day free trial. Then, there are four tiers in this model which differ based on the features you get. Payment is monthly.
Basic Plan: $9/month. Max 10 products, Limited customization and 1GB storage
Standard Plan: $15/month. Max 30 products. Affiliate program. Customization options and 3GB storage.
Premium Plan: $24/month. Max 100 products. 1 subscription. Upsells and cart abandonments. 5GB storage.
Business Plan: $39/month. Max 250 products. 3 subscriptions. Multiple users. 15GB storage.
11. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open-source WordPress plugin that’s specifically aimed at helping entrepreneurs and companies create and run online stores.
Since it’s open source, it’s constantly updated by developers, and the fact that it’s built upon WordPress makes it extremely flexible and customizable.
It’s a very popular solution among e-commerce store owners, but the plugin does also support digital product delivery.
WooCommerce includes all the features you’d need to build your digital store from the ground-up, and the list of its capabilities is virtually endless.
When it comes to its shopping cart capabilities, it’s one of the best solutions around in terms of what the plugin can actually do.
However, there is a caveat. WooCommerce ‘alone’ is pretty basic. You’ll only be able to access the extra advanced features if you integrate it with other (paid) add-ons.
Who Is WooCommerce For?
If you need something that can manage your whole online store and want a solution that’s highly flexible and customizable, WooCommerce could be for you.
However, the learning curve is quite steep and the fact you’ll need to pay extra for pretty essential add-ons make it not so convenient after all
Key Features of WooCommerce Shopping Cart Software
- WordPress Content Integration
- Pre-installed payment gateways
- Automatic Taxes
- Custom Tax Calculations
- Geo-location enabled taxes
- Simplified Coupon System
- Discount Coupons and codes
- In-depth reporting
- CRM/Store Management
Pros
- Great solution for WordPress site owners
- Highly customizable
- Great integrations
- Add-ons give it great capabilities
- Open source, so constantly updated by developers
Cons
- Some glitches when WordPress updates
- Self-hosted: you’ll need to handle updates and maintenance
- Steeper learning curve
- Some add-ons are pretty expensive
Plans and Pricing
As a basic plugin, WooCommerce is free.
However, in order to access its more advanced features, you’ll need to purchase extra ‘add-ons’ from the official store.
12. Spiffy (Formerly GoSpiffy)
Spiffy is a shopping cart software that directly integrates with your Keap (Infusionsoft) account.
With it, you can improve the default checkout forms Keap offers by completely redesigning them to improve UX and conversions.
Its drag-and-drop builder is easy to use and can really revolutionise your standard Keap cart, by adding elements such as custom fields, offer bumps, and much more.
Who Is Spiffy For?
Spiffy can only be used in conjunction with a Keap (Infusionsoft) account to improve its standard checkout and shopping cart features.
Key Features of Spiffy Shopping Cart Software
- Drag-and-drop form builder
- Ability to add urgency elements to forms
- Ability to add ‘snippets’ such as Terms and Conditions checkboxes, custom fields, offer bumps
- One-click upsells
- Order-fields translation
Pros
- Great UI in both front and backend
- Easy to use
- Excellent enhancement for Keap
Cons
- An added cost to Keap, which is already pretty expensive
Plans and Pricing
Spiffy has two pricing plans. The monthly plan is $50/month, while the yearly plan is $37/month (billed annually, 26% discount).
There is no significant difference between the two plans. The only feature that is not available in the monthly plan is Advanced Snippet Support.
13. Gumroad
Gumroad is one of the longest-running and most established platforms when it comes to shopping carts.
It is also a full-blown online store builder and has a browsable marketplace for users.
Gumroad is the preferred choice for many bloggers and entrepreneurs, mainly due to its ease of use and the fair number of features it offers.
More advanced capabilities are certainly something that’s missing in Gumroad: if you are looking for something more solid, I’d still recommend ThriveCart.
However, the basics are certainly there. It’s also one of the cheapest shopping cart alternatives, which makes it a very viable option for those just starting out.
Who Is Gumroad For?
Gumroad is perfect if you want an easy-to-use solution that ‘does the job’ and isn’t too advanced.
It’s great for digital products, but can also handle physical goods. It’s probably not the best option if you need to sell services.
Key Features of Gumroad Shopping Cart Platform
- Multiple pricing options supported
- Easy offer codes
- Multiple currencies supported
- ‘Pay what you want’ pricing
- Licence-key generator for software
- Supports product rentals
- Affiliate portal
- In-depth analytics
- Automatic workflows
Pros
- Great-looking and customizable checkout forms
- Checkouts can be embedded on other sites
- Good affiliate portal capability
- Has built-in gated content and video hosting
Cons
- No split testing feature
- Doesn’t support upsells or bump offers
- Few integrations
Plans and Pricing
Gumroad offers two types of accounts: free and Premium.
In both tiers, Gumroad will take out a percentage on your sales.
Free Account: 8.5% + $0.30 per sale.
Premium Account: starts at $10/month (or $108/year). Fee: 3.5% + $0.30 (USD) per sale.
14. Shopify
Shopify is probably the best-known software in the game when it comes to creating and managing an online store.
It’s used by thousands of companies, mainly in the e-commerce industry.
Shopify’s strongpoints are its simplicity and ease of use in the backend, coupled with its great-looking storefronts on the frontend.
Its various integrations make it capable of becoming a ‘one-stop-shop’ for sellers, who can manage all the moving parts in their business under one roof.
When it comes to its shopping cart capabilities, Shopify is a very robust solution, though it does fall a little short when it comes to conversion-enhancing elements and marketing features (no one-click upsells, etc.).
Who Is Shopify For?
Shopify is a great solution if you plan on running an e-commerce business.
Even though the platform can handle digital products, it’s built and aimed mainly at stores that sell physical goods.
It’s a hosted platform, so all the ‘work’ will be done by the platform itself: you virtually don’t need a website to start selling your products.
Key Features of Shopify Shopping Cart Software
- Credit card and PayPal payments (over 100 gateways)
- Encrypted and secure data
- Automatic tax-rate calculation
- Checkout pages can be translated in over 50 languages
- Mobile optimized
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Free SSL certificate
Pros
- Easy to use
- Embeddable ‘buy’ buttons
- Great ‘app store’ to enhance its functionalities
- Great iOS and Android apps
Cons
- Not as flexible as some of its competitors
- Some features only performed through an added-on app
- Not many ‘marketing’ and conversion-optimisation features
Plans and Pricing
Shopify offers a 14-day free trial. Plans are only billed monthly and come in three tiers.
Shopping cart functionalities are available in all three plans. The main difference is in the fees Shopify will charge for credit card payments.
Basic plan: $29/month.
Shopify Plan: $79/month.
Advanced Plan: $299/month.
15. Zaxaa
Zaxaa is a fairly popular shopping cart software that is used by many bloggers, course creators and coaches.
It has a simple interface and is fairly easy to use. Its list of features is quite good, with email marketing automation standing out among the rest as something that makes it unique.
Zaxaa is focused on marketing and conversions, which means it is a little lacking when it comes to UX and customization options.
It integrates well with many other softwares and platforms, though it fails to really become an ‘all-in-one’ solution.
Who Is Zaxaa For?
Zaxaa is a good option if you want some pretty good marketing capabilities to augment your regular shopping cart.
It’s an overall solid platform, though other competitors offer a wider range of features.
Zaxaa is perfectly suited for all types of digital products, but might not be the best option for e-commerce site owners.
Key Features of Zaxaa Shopping Cart Platform
- Supports all kinds of digital products, but also coaching, consulting and done-for-you services
- Various payment options supported
- Embeddable checkout forms
- Automatic product delivery
- Free access to Zaxaa’s membership site plugin
- Email marketing automations
- Affiliate program management
- In-depth analytics
Pros
- Easy to setup and launch products
- Instant commissions for affiliates
- Great email marketing capabilities
Cons
- Not very flexible
- Integrations can be improved
- Some tech glitches reported
Plans and Pricing
Zaxaa offers a 30-day free trial. There is only one plan available.
Pricing is either monthly or yearly (40% discount) and is interestingly based on how many contacts you have.
A 30k contact list, for example, will cost you $77/month or $46.20/month (paid yearly)
16. Keap (Formerly Infusionsoft)
Formerly known as Infusionsoft, Keap is one of the leading email service providers on the market.
But email is not all that Keap can manage. Far from it.
Automations, advanced sales pipelines, funnels and its “workflow builder” are among the many features Keap can boast: that’s the reason why so many big-name marketers use it to basically manage all their marketing in one place.
Included in Keap’s many capabilities is also a shopping cart software that has some pretty cool perks to it (see features below).
The main downside of this marketing ‘powerhouse’ is its very steep learning curve and its price.
Not really for the beginners out there, but among the best if you’re a more seasoned marketer.
Who Is Keap For?
Marketers, medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs with a hefty budget.
Key Features of Keap Shopping Cart Software
- Accepts credit cards, sends invoices and tracks payments all within the app
- Supports PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Credit
- Can handle automatic payments
- Automatic reminders for overdue payments
- In-depth reporting
- Easy invoice creation
- Can sync with Xero or QuickBooks
Pros
- Very advanced, endless possibilities
- Great ‘all-in-one’ solution for all marketing-related tasks
- Great support and training
- Very advanced integrations and API
- Can also handle inventory tracking and fulfilment
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Very expensive
- Integrations not so intuitive to setup
Plans and Pricing
Keap comes with a mandatory ‘setup-fee’ (between $99 and $999, depending on your plan of choice).
This also includes coaching on how to use the software. Keap offers three monthly pricing plans.
The main difference is in the features you’ll get.
One caveat: the shopping cart feature and related capabilities is only available in the Infusionsoft plan.
Keap Grow: $79/month. Does support invoicing and one-time payments.
Keap Pro: $149/month. Does support invoicing, one-time payments and recurring payments.
Infusionsoft: $199/month. Includes full shopping cart features.
17. Ontraport
Ontraport is a full-blown CRM software that includes email marketing and automation capabilities, a landing page builder and a shopping cart software.
It used to be very popular in the past few years (especially compared to Infusionsoft), but it has recently lost a bit of its appeal among bloggers and lifestyle entrepreneurs.
However, Ontraport offers a wide variety of features that really come in handy if you need solid automations implemented in your business.
When it comes to its shopping cart capabilities, Ontraport has basic payment-collecting features, but also interesting perks such as behavior-based popup forms, order bumps and one-click upsells.
Who Is Ontraport For?
Ontraport’s shopping cart sofware can really be used by any business, but the overall structure of its CRM functionalities make it more suitable for education-based companies and those running membership sites.
Key Features of Ontraport Shopping Cart Software
- Built-in forms in pages to take orders
- Behavior-triggered lightboxes and popups
- Order-bumps and one-click upsells
- Integrates with over 15 payment gateways natively
- Can also integrate with third-party shopping carts
Pros
- Wide range of possibilities with its integrated CRM
- In-depth reporting
- Great native integrations
- Very flexible overall
- Free trial available
Cons
- Can be costly if you’re on a budget
- Non-native integrations can be improved
- UI is not extremely user-friendly
Plans and Pricing
Ontraport offers a 14-day free trial. Charges are monthly and you can cancel anytime. Pricing levels vary based on the number of subscribers you have on your list.
Ecommerce features are only available in the Plus, Pro and Enterprise plans.
Basic Plan: $79/month (1000 subscribers max)
Plus Plan: $147/month (2500 subscribers max)
Pro Plan: $297/month (10k subscribers max)
Enterprise Plan: $497/month (over 200k subscribers)
18. PayCartPro
Despite being fairly unknown, PayCartPro features some great tools to create high-converting checkout pages (and take payments).
Similarly to more established competitors such as ThriveCart, it offers 1-click upsells and downsells, bump offers, conversion-optimized templates and much more.
However, the platform falls a little short in some pretty key areas such as integrations, the ability to fully customize checkout pages and has very poor tech support.
Who Is PayCartPro For?
If you’re looking for a ‘good enough’ solution that doesn’t give a ton of options and isn’t extremely flexible, PayCartPro might be a good choice, especially given its fairly low price.
Key Features of PayCartPro Shopping Cart Software
- Conversion-focused checkout form templates
- Intuitive checkout-page builder
- Mobile responsive forms
- Integrates with most email service providers
- One-time and recurring payments
- 1-click upsells, downsells, cross-sells and OTOs
- In-depth reporting
- Split testing
Pros
- Great tracking and analytics.
- Optimized checkout cart templates and easy set up process (they “borrow” templates from some industry leaders and offer them inside of PayCarPro).
- Compatible with quite a few languages and currencies
Cons
- No physical product support
- Not many native integrations
- Only supports Stripe
- No native digital sales tax support
- Not very customisable/flexible
Plans and Pricing
PayCartPro offers a 30-day free trial. Once that is over, prices start at $19/month.
What Is A Shopping Cart Software?
A ‘shopping cart’ software allows you to create and manage digital or physical products in an ‘online store’, and ultimately sell those products to your customers.
Shopping cart software take and process payments, and store owners can easily monitor their sales through the analytics and reporting that the software offers.
The best options out there also give you various marketing functionalities aimed at maximizing your customer value, such as bump offers, one-click upsells, etc.
The Anatomy of a High-Converting Checkout Page
Not all checkout pages (and shopping carts) are created equal.
Over the years, I have tested many shopping cart tools and countless variations on checkout pages to make them the best they can ever in terms of user-experience and, most importantly, conversions.
In this section we are going to look at the various ‘ingredients’ that make up a high-converting checkout page, broken down one by one.
This checkout page is for my premium flagship course Virtual Summit Mastery (although we’ve changed the offer a bit since then).
It was created using ThriveCart’s ‘embed’ feature and designed with Thrive Architect.
Here’s what it looks like as a whole. Each number indicates a section that is explained in detail below:
1. At-a-glance description of your offer that highlights what people are going to get when they buy.
In this case, I have also added an image.
This section can be replaced by your company or course logo to increase trust.
2. “What you get” section.
This should list ALL that the customer will get when they buy (including bonuses), with bullet points.
This section is basically a summary of what you included in your sales-page
3. Contact information to be filled by your customer.
Only ask for the information you actually need (simplify whenever possible)!
4. Terms and Conditions Checkbox.
Customers have to agree to your terms and conditions (which are linked here as well).
5. Pricing and payment options.
Here, the customer can choose a payment option and the way in which they’d like to pay (usually credit card and PayPal)
6. Bump offer (optional).
This will increase the value of each customer.
Whenever possible, I highly recommend that you can come up with a compelling bump offer to increase the cart value.
7. Clear Order button
8. “Secure Checkout” and “Satisfaction Guaranteed” logos.
9. Order summary
10. Testimonials.
11. Money-back guarantee terms (if you have any)
12. Ways to contact support
13. Further ‘security protection’ logos (optional)
What Are The Benefits Of Using A Shopping Cart Software?
Shopping cart softwares are a key component in your business if you plan on selling courses, digital products, coaching or services.
A good and reliable platform comes with a series of benefits for both you, the creator, but also for your customers.
Here are some of the key advantages of using such tools:
1. Data and insights
Every time a customer makes a purchase, your shopping cart software will record a set of data that gives you invaluable insights on your buyers.
What product did they buy?
Where are they from?
Did they go for the upsell?
These and many other elements will be available to you in the software’s analytics, allowing you to make better and more informed decisions to optimize your current products or when creating new ones.
2. Marketing tools
The most advanced shopping carts out there come with a long list of marketing features aimed at maximising your conversion rates and boost your sales.
Elements such as bump offers, OTOs, upsells and downsells are essential functionalities that will allow you to present your customers with related offers just at the right time.
This makes it easier for them to buy your products, and ultimately increases your bottom line.
3. All in one place
Shopping cart platforms give you a ‘hub’ where you can control the whole selling process without having to constantly switch between various softwares.
With tools such as ThriveCart, for example, you can easily create products and checkout forms, monitor their performance, take payments and even manage affiliates that will promote your offers for you.
Everything is neatly organized in a single place: no need for complicated spreadsheets and graphs.
4. Great customer experience
On the front-end, the best shopping cart softwares are able to offer your customers a great buying experience, with beautifully designed storefronts and clean, effective checkout forms.
The best shopping cart tools out there give the whole purchasing process a ‘professional’ feel that will build trust between you and your buyers.
But most of all, your customers will feel safe when entering their credit card details and making the purchase.
A crisp-looking checkout page with the right elements in the right places can go a really long way!
6. Integrations
As noted above, your shopping cart can become a one-stop-shop for selling and marketing your products.
But that’s not all. These tools often have great integrations with third-party softwares that enhance their capabilities in virtually endless ways.
Sure, integrations with payment gateways such as PayPal and Stripe are the norm these days.
But the best carts out there even work with email service providers, CRMs, webinar software and the list goes on.
This gives your platform ‘superpowers’, and can revolutionise the way you run (and automate) your business
7. Cost-Effective
This directly ties in with points #3 and #5 above.
And I get it, investing in yet another tool might be another burden, especially if you’re on a budget.
But think about what you’d spend if you had to buy every piece of software separately.
Your monthly (or yearly) bill would probably be in the hundreds or even thousands.
Plus, even a few sales of your product might allow you to recoup your investment in a matter of days.
No need to overspend on ‘overkill’ products, but seriously consider making this purchase as it will definitely benefit you in the long run.
How To Choose The Best Shopping Cart Software For You
Tough question to answer.
With so many options out there, as is common with software these days, it’s easy to get stuck in analyzing every tool’s features, making comparisons, and ultimately being back to square one.
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ tool.
But what I can do is give you a list of elements you should definitely look out for in a shopping cart platform.
This will help you understand the ‘essentials’ and ultimately give you a hand in making your decision.
1. Payments. The bare minimum
This goes without saying, but the first thing you should look out for in a shopping cart software is its ability to take payments.
Specifically, you’ll want your software to accept the most widely-used gateways, such as PayPal and Stripe, together with all major credit cards.
But you’ll also want your tool to be flexible and ‘updated’: does it allow customers to use ApplePay or Google Pay? Does it support cryptocurrencies?
There’s nothing worse than a customer who wants to buy your product but cannot do so because they can’t pay for it!
2. Conversions
In a shopping cart software, being able to create a checkout page is simply not enough.
After all, you could do that with a regular page-builder and a simple PayPal ‘buy’ button.
What you want your shopping cart to do is provide you with pages (or templates) that are proven to convert, with elements that boost those conversions such as scarcity features, testimonials, etc.
3. Marketing
Ok, you’ve got a tried and tested checkout page that is proven to convert. I’m afraid you’re only halfway there.
Your shopping cart platform should also enable you to enhance that customer’s experience and maximise your revenue by presenting relevant side-offers that your buyer might take you up on.
Does your tool of choice support upsells and downsells?
Does it offer OTOs and ‘order bumps’?
Don’t be cheap when it comes to marketing capabilities!
4. Pricing
You will have understood by now that I consider shopping cart softwares one of the best investments you can make in your business.
But there is one element here that I’d like to draw your attention upon.
Make sure you check the tool’s price carefully and make some pretty simple calculations before you choose.
Does the software you have chosen cost – say – $500/annually?
Well, if your product sells for $47, you’ll only need to make 10 sales in a whole year to recoup your investment.
And it’s likely you’ll have more than one product, with some offers being way more expensive than $47.
Again, don’t be cheap. But make your calculations and decide accordingly.
5. Support
Most of the tools we’ve reviewed in this article are designed to work ‘right out of the box’.
That is generally true: many of these shopping carts are easy to setup and use right off the bat.
But as with everything, things will break. Integrations might not work as you want them to.
A payment might not come through, for some reason or the other.
Be sure to check the option the company has when it comes to support.
Is it email only? Do they also offer phone and/or live chat assistance?
Best Shopping Cart Software FAQs
All of the above should have given you a pretty good idea of the options you have when it comes to shopping cart softwares.
But I get it, there are probably more questions running around in your mind right now.
That’s why I’ve decided to compile this brief Q&A to address some of the most common questions I get asked when it comes to shopping carts and checkout page services.
What is the definition of a shopping cart software?
A ‘shopping cart’ is a specific piece of software that enables creators to feature their digital (or physical) products in an ‘online store’.
The tool also allows the creator to manage their store and ultimately sell their products to customers.
Shopping cart softwares take and process payments, and store owners can easily monitor their sales through the analytics and reporting that the software offers.
What is the best shopping cart platform for course creators?
As a course creator myself, I have used many shopping cart solutions over the years, but my #1 recommendation for course creators has to be ThriveCart.
With its awesome set of features, flexibility and great price, it’s a no brainer solution that offers all the functionalities a course creator will probably need, and then some.
An honorable mention must also go to SamCart and PayKickstart, which are both very solid alternatives. Not quite of the same value as ThriveCart, but good options nonetheless.
If you are looking for ‘all-in-one’ marketing platforms that also include shopping carts, my best recommendations are definitely ClickFunnels and Kartra.
All-in-one course platforms such as Teachable and Thinkifc can also work, but they lack some features you’d get with true shopping cart software.
That said, if you need more advanced features, it is possible to use Teachable or Thinkific together with a tool like ThriveCart (I’ve done this before, and it directly integrates with Teachable, and via Zapier with Thinkific).
What is the best cheap shopping cart (on a budget)?
As noted above, I strongly believe that purchasing a solid shopping cart software is one of the best investments you can make in your business.
Plus – like I said – even the more expensive tools will pay for themselves pretty soon, as you start making sales of your products.
But if you’re on a really tight budget, the best alternative out there has to be Gumroad.
They offer a free plan, which is great (if you don’t mind paying a little commission on your sales).
Their paid plan (Premium) is also very cheap, starting at only $10/month.
Since you can grab ThriveCart for a lifetime deal right now, it will be more valuable over time (and has so many more useful features than Gumroad… it’s not even worth comparing the two).
What is the best shopping cart for services?
Not all shopping carts are great if you want to sell services from your store.
This type of ‘product’ is a little more complex to manage (one-off or ongoing gig?), so not all softwares handle it well and give you the necessary features to accommodate this type of offer.
One tool that has a specific option for services among its product types is SendOwl.
This would be my best pick in this scenario, also give the fact that it’s priced fairly cheap (lowest tier starts at $9/month).
What is the best free shopping cart software?
Let me be super clear: I don’t recommend going with a free shopping cart software.
Mainly, for two reasons.
The first being that there is no software that’s ‘entirely free’.
Even those companies who offer free plans will likely charge you pretty high commissions on sales, which defies the point of the platform being free altogether.
Second, free platforms are often only free in their most basic and virtually unusable versions.
These softwares will require paid add-ons to perform tasks that you’d get as standard in a paid tool.
Lastly, I’d steer clear of any shopping cart that is entirely free due to their usual lack of maintenance and support.
What is the best shopping cart software for ecommerce?
The E-commerce ‘world’ makes a very heavy use of shopping cart platforms, and the softwares themselves are constantly adding features to cater to the industry’s needs.
There are various options in our list that can work well if you run an e-commerce store.
However, my top picks would be Shopify and WooCommerce.
Shopify, if you need an easy-to-use and all-in-one solution that works pretty well right out of the box.
WooCommerce, if you need more flexibility and customization options. Plus, the integrations it supports can really make it a powerhouse of features that’s hard to beat.
GrooveKart is also a great new tool you can consider if you’re running an e-commerce store.
What is the best shopping cart software for small business?
Once again, my top pick here would be ThriveCart.
Its flexibility and awesome features make it a good fit for almost any kind of business.
But the platform was developed with bloggers, digital product creators, entrepreneurs and small business in mind, so you’ll find it definitely caters to all needs, and then some.
Conclusion: What’s The Best Shopping Cart Software Tool To Use In 2023?
We’ve definitely covered a lot in this post, from individual shopping cart reviews, tips, FAQ’s and much more.
Making the right decision when it comes to choosing the best shopping cart software is hard, and as I outlined above, many factors come into play.
But if you value experience, I can definitely tell you I’ve tried and tested many tools over the years, and I do have a very good idea of how these platforms perform in various scenarios.
And my top recommendation for both beginners and more advanced users in 2020 is ThriveCart, hands-down.
The lifetime deal that they offer also makes it a no-brainer and even more valuable compared to the competition. Get started with ThriveCart here.
Take a look at what it can do and decide for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
OVER TO YOU
There you have it. I hope this ultimate guide was useful and gave you some good guidance on how to choose the best shopping cart software for your needs.
Now, over to you: have you tried any of these platforms?
Were you satisfied/disappointed?
Any tool you are using that I didn’t mention?
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Recommended Reading on NavidMoazzez.com: If you’d like to sell more of your products and services, check out my in-depth review of the best webinar software to use this year.
