Teachable and SamCart both allow you to create and sell courses and other digital products.
However, Teachable is designed to help creators monetize their knowledge. In contrast, SamCart was built as a checkout software to maximize sales for all types of products.
- Teachable has a free plan
- Teachable is rated as the #8 platform on SupplyGem
- Teachable has a rating of 2.4/5 on Trustpilot
- It was close, but Teachable is a winner of this comparison
- SamCart starts at $79 per month
- SamCart is rated as the #9 platform on SupplyGem
- SamCart has a rating of 2.5/5 on Trustpilot
- SamCart is a great alternative as you can sell both digital and physical products
SamCart specializes in converting sales pages and checkouts. You can sell almost any product and build courses using SamCart.
Teachable is a platform that enables creators to share and monetize their knowledge by creating courses, coaching programs, and digital downloads.
Key Takeaways:
- Teachable is the winner of this comparison for its free and affordable plans and focus on learning.
- SamCart is a good alternative if you want to optimize your sales with expert sales pages and expand your business by selling other products.
Get started on Teachable with a free plan and upgrade to a paid plan once you’re ready to create more products.
SamCart offers a 7-day free trial that allows you to test out the plan you’re interested in.
Teachable vs SamCart: Side-by-Side Look
| Teachable | SamCart | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 Overall Rank | #8 | #9 | Teachable |
| ⭐ Customer Rating | 2.4/5 | 2.5/5 | SamCart |
| 💵 Starting Price | Free, then $59/month on the Basic plan | $79/month | Teachable |
| 🔥 Discount | 33% on annual plans | 25% on annual plans | Teachable |
| 💸 Transaction Fees | $1 + 10% on the free plan 5% on the Basic plan | No transaction fees | SamCart |
| 💡 Demo or Free Trial | Free plan | 7-day free trial | Teachable |
| 💻 Build a Website | ✅ Yes | ❌ No, individual sales and checkout pages only | Teachable |
| 👩🏫 Create Courses | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | It’s a tie |
| 🧑🏫 Offer Coaching | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | Teachable |
| ✉️ Marketing Features | ✅ Yes, basic features but will likely require integrations | ✅ Yes, basic features but will likely require integrations | It’s a tie |
| 💰 Sell Physical and Digital Products | ❌ Digital only | ✅ Yes | SamCart |
| 📈 Analytics | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | SamCart |
| 🏆 Affiliate Program | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | Teachable |
| 🔗 Integrations | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | SamCart |
| 🤝 Customer Support | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | Teachable |
Teachable vs SamCart: What Are They and Which Is Best for Me?
Teachable and SamCart were created for different purposes.
Understanding their purpose and who they’re designed for can help you choose the right one.
What Is Teachable and Who Is It for?
Teachable is an easy-to-use platform that allows you to create courses, coaching programs, and digital downloads with no coding knowledge.
You can build a website to sell your products and use the marketing tools and available integrations to grow.
Teachable allows you to easily share and monetize your knowledge. It would work for content creators or anyone with an existing audience who wants to take their content online.
What Is SamCart and Who Is It for?
SamCart is primarily a checkout and sales page platform. There are tons of tools and features that you can add to your pages to boost your sales.
You can also build a course and deliver it through SamCart.
SamCart is built for creators and allows you to monetize your knowledge. It would work for those who want to sell more than just courses, as you can sell both physical and digital products.
Teachable vs SamCart: Pros and Cons
Teachable and SamCart Pros
Teachable Pros
- Offers a free plan
- Allows you to host live coaching sessions
- Can send emails to users
- Easy to sell digital downloads and bundle them with other products
SamCart Pros
- No transaction fees on any plans
- Can create unlimited products on all plans
- Flexible payment options
- Many sales boosting features, including sales page templates, an easy-to-use page builder, upsell offers, and many others
Teachable and SamCart Cons
Teachable Cons
- Transaction fee charged on the free and Basic plans
- Plans restrict the number of products you can create
SamCart Cons
- Can only create individual pages rather than a complete website
- To get live chat support, you need to pay an additional $19 per month
Teachable vs SamCart: Feature Comparison
Both platforms offer similar features, so it can be challenging to choose between them.
Understanding the differences between the features can help you choose the right platform for creating your courses.
Course Creation
Winner for Course Creation: It’s a tie.
Courses are included in all of the plans on both platforms.
However, on SamCart, you can create unlimited courses on all plans.
In contrast, Teachable limits the number of courses you can create by the plan you have.
The free plan allows you to create one course. The Basic plan allows you to create five courses. The Pro plan allows you to create 50 courses, and you can create unlimited courses on the Business plan.
| Basic Plan | Pro Plan | Business Plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Courses | 5 | 50 | Unlimited |
There are some similarities between Teachable and SamCart’s course builders, including:
- Both are super easy to use and navigate.
- You can create courses split into sections and lessons.
- Drip feed your content by dates or number of days.
- Add a variety of content to your lessons, including video, text, images, audio, and more.
- Add graded and ungraded quizzes.
There are a few differences between Teachable and SamCarts course features, including:
- Teachable has a mobile app that allows users to consume your content on the go.
- Teachable enables students to leave comments on lessons.
- You can create multiple choice questions and multiple answer questions within quizzes on Teachable. On SamCart, the only quiz question option is multiple choice.
- Teachable has certificates built-in. On SamCart, there is no native way to offer certificates. You would need to integrate SamCart with a third-party tool, like an email marketing tool that automatically delivers a certificate via email to users when they complete the course.
- SamCart provides worksheets that allow you to add form fields. This is a great way for students to provide longer-form responses. You could use worksheets for assessments, feedback, or anything else.
Other Products
Winner for Other Products: SamCart
As well as courses, both platforms allow you to sell other products.
SamCart allows you to sell almost anything, and you can create an unlimited number of products, which is why we’ve chosen it as the winner of this section.
But if it’s a coaching program you want to create, we recommend Teachable over SamCart.
Teachable Other Products
- Coaching – Teachable allows you to create a coaching program outside of courses. There is a dedicated coaching product creation tool.
You can use Calendly with Teachable so that users can book a session with you. You can use the milestones to send a Zoom link for users to join a live meeting with you.
- Digital Downloads – You can attach files and sell them through Teachable. Teachable allows you to upload up to 2 GB of files for each product.
Teachable also allows you to create bundles of your products. For example, you could sell a course on cooking for beginners, with a coaching Q+A for students and a digital download that includes recipes for beginners.
SamCart Other Products
- Coaching – On SamCart, there is no coaching app or tool, but you can coach students through courses. To do this, you can schedule your content on certain dates and use YouTube live-stream links to coach your users.
- Digital Downloads – Upload your digital files and choose how you deliver them to users. You can deliver them by uploading a file that users can download or providing a digital file link.
- Other Products – SamCart allows you to sell essentially anything you want. For digital products, you can send the shopper a link. For physical products, you need to arrange shipping. You can adjust the physical product settings to suit you.
SamCart also allows you to create and sell product bundles.
Payments, Sales, and Transactions
Winner for Payment, Sales, and Transactions: SamCart
SamCart is a shopping cart tool. So naturally, it’s the winner for payments, sales, and transactions.
Teachable Payments, Sales, and Transactions
You can provide products in a variety of ways on Teachable, such as:
- Free
- One-time purchase
- Payment plan
- Subscription
There is also the option to offer users a free trial for your products.
You can create custom checkout and sales pages on Teachable. However, you need a Basic plan or above to fully customize your pages.
There are transaction fees on the free and Basic Teachable plans. The fees are as follows:
| Free | Basic | Pro | Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transaction Fees | $1 + 10% | 5% | 0% | 0% |
All plans also have processing fees:
- US credit and debit card sales – 2.9% + $0.30
- International credit and debit card sales – 3.9% +$0.30
- US PayPal sales – 3.49% + $0.49
- International PayPal sales – 4.99% + $0.49
- Chargeback fee – $15
- Backoffice fee – 2%
Teachable allows you to accept payments in a few ways.
- Monthly Payment Gateway – Students can pay via credit and debit card, PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. You can receive payments monthly to your PayPal account.
- Teachable:Pay – Students pay the same way as the Monthly Payment Gateway, but it has a more flexible payout schedule. You can choose to be paid daily, weekly, or monthly and whether payments are received into your bank or Stripe account.
- Other Gateways – Connect directly with Stripe and PayPal.
SamCart Payments, Sales, and Transactions
SamCart’s sales pages and checkout pages are fully customizable with the drag-and-drop page builder. There are tons of templates that are built to convert.
SamCart allows you to sell products with a variety of pricing types, including:
- One time
- Recurring
- Limited subscription
- Pay what you want
You can also allow customers to purchase free and paid trials.
One of the main benefits of SamCart is that there are no transaction fees on any of the plans.
SamCart has its own payment processor, SamPay. SamPay is powered by Stripe. As well as SamPay, SamCart also integrates with Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, and EasyPayDirect.
SamCart also gives the option to partially refund users rather than refunding them the full amount.
Marketing
Winner for Marketing: It depends.
Both platforms offer different marketing tools, so the winner will depend on your business needs.
Both platforms allow you to create order bumps and upsells.
Teachable also allows you to create and send emails directly to users. This isn’t possible on SamCart. However, the email feature wouldn’t replace an email marketing tool, as you can’t create automated campaigns.
SamCart includes A/B testing, allowing you to compare and optimize your pages.
SamCart also has a cart abandonment feature that you can connect with your email marketing tool to capture prospects and generate sales.
Reporting and Analytics
Winner for Reporting and Analytics: SamCart
SamCart is the winner of reports and analytics for its detailed sales reports and ability to view student and course reports on all the plans.
Teachable Reporting and Analytics
Teachable only allows you to view course progress reports on the Pro and Business plans. These reports allow you to view lesson progress, video heatmaps, and quiz scores.
On all plans, you can view sign ups, active students, revenue, earning, and many other reports.
To view site analytics, you need to connect your Teachable account with a tool like Google Analytics and Meta Pixels.
SamCart Reporting and Analytics
SamCart has course progress reports on all the plans. It also has far more in-depth sales analytics compared to Teachable.
It includes insights to help generate more sales and increase retention. The reports available include the following:
- Monthly recurring revenue
- Refunds
- Churn analysis
- Customer lifetime value
- Active subscriptions
- Average revenue per account
- Order bumps and upsell breakdown
The reporting and analytics tools you have access to on SamCart depend on your plan.
All plans include access to the sales reporting dashboard and smart pixel tracking.
The Grow plan and above includes UTM (urchin tracking module) tracking so you can analyze what sources are bringing traffic to your pages.
There are also A/B testing reports and custom reporting and exports available on the Scale and VIP plans.
Affiliate Program
Winner for Affiliate Program: Teachable
Both platforms offer an affiliate program, so users can promote your products and receive a percentage of the revenue they generate.
On Teachable, you can access the affiliate program on both the Pro and Business plans.
On SamCart, you can access the affiliate program on both the Scale and Enterprise plans.
There are many similarities between the affiliate programs, including the following:
- Require affiliates to sign up and wait for approval.
- Choose when the cookies expire.
- Adjust the commission percentage.
- View detailed reports on earnings, commissions, and a breakdown by affiliate.
There are a few differences between SamCart and Teachables affiliate programs:
- Commission Amount – You can set a commission amount rather than a percentage on SamCart. Teachable only allows you to set percentages.
- Sign-Up Form – Create a custom affiliate application form on Teachable where you can vet your applicants before adding them to your affiliate program. You can require approval on SamCart, but you can’t create a custom application form.
- Payout Structure – SamCart combines payout amounts in a CSV file. That file can then be uploaded to PayPal to pay your affiliates, but ultimately, you are responsible for handling affiliate payouts. On Teachable, there is the option for Teachable to handle payouts for you. Or, if you prefer, you can also use your own custom payment gateway.
Integrations
Winner for Integrations: SamCart
Both platforms offer integrations, but SamCart offers more than Teachable and includes advanced automations.
Advanced automations allow you to set global rules. For example, when a user completes an order, you could unsubscribe them from the Mailchimp email marketing funnel.
On both platforms, your plan determines the integrations you can use.
On Teachable, you can’t use any integrations on the free plan. The Basic plan gives you access to third-party integrations, and the Pro and Business plans include access to Zapier actions and Public API.
On SamCart, all plans include access to the integration engine.
If you want to use advanced integrations, which include selecting triggers and actions, you need a Grow plan or above.
For CRM and custom API integrations, you need a Scale or VIP plan.
Teachable integrates with the following:
- AWeber
- DropInBlog
- Google Analytics 4
- Google Tag Manager
- Hotjar
- LinkedIn Tag
- MailerLite
- Pinterest Tag
- TikTok Pixel
- Meta Pixel
- Mailchimp
- ConvertKit
- Sumo
- Segment
- Zapier
- Circle SSO
- ActiveCampaign
SamCart integrates with the following:
- Mailchimp
- Hubspot
- Intercom
- Zapier
- ShipStation
- Klaviyo
- WordPress
- Post Affiliate Pro
- MemberPress
- Thinkific
- WishList Member
- OptimizeMember
- Ontraport
- MemberMouse
- Maropost
- Kajabi
- iContact
- GetResponse
- Drip
- ConvertKit
- Constant Contact
- ActiveCampaign
- AWever
- Keap
- Digital Access Pass
Training and Support
Winner for Training and Support: Teachable
Both platforms have incredibly helpful knowledge bases. The knowledge bases have articles on every aspect of the platform with useful step-by-step guides. You can access the knowledge bases on all of the plans.
Teachable and SamCart also offer email support for all of their users.
On both platforms, the higher your plan, the better support and resources available.
But Teachable wins this category as it offers more features on its Basic plan compared to the Launch plan on SamCart.
SamCart also charges extra for live chat support, whereas live chat is included on Teachable Pro and Business plans.
Teachable Training and Support
On the Basic plan and above, Teachable includes access to the following:
- Customer Community (Teachable:HQ) – Engage with and learn from other Teachable users.
- Launch Accelerator Challenge – Create a course that’s ready to go in 30 days with help from the Teachable team to keep you on track.
- Live Group Coaching – Teachable experts host live sessions twice a week. The sessions include live demos and a Q and A.
If you have the Pro or Business plan, you can contact support via live chat.
The Business plan also provides priority support, meaning your queries are prioritized over other Teachable users.
SamCart Training and Support
SamCart’s plans include weekly webinars and support via email.
The Grow plan also includes a 24-hour guaranteed response to emails, and the Scale plan includes priority email support, allowing you to skip ahead of other support tickets.
The VIP plan has a few additional support features. These include a dedicated account manager, technical setup support, subscription migrations support, and product roadmap prioritization.
SamCart offers a few additional paid support and training tools:
- Dedicated Live Support – $19 per month
This is a live chat add-on that can be added to any plan. It is the quickest and easiest way to contact SamCart for help. The live support is open Monday to Friday between 9 AM and 5 PM Central Time. - CreatorU – $144 per year
Learn from the most successful SamCart users. CreatorU is a library of data-driven business blueprints. You can read reports, watch videos, and download scripts and templates. There is also an exclusive community of other SamCart creators.
Teachable vs SamCart: Pricing and Plan Comparison
Teachable Pricing
| Free | Basic | Pro | Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $59/month | $159/month | $665/month |
| Annual Plans | Free | $39/month | $119/month | $499/month |
| Discount on Annual Plans | N/A | 33% | 33% | 33% |
SamCart Pricing
| Launch | Grow | Scale | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $79/month | $159/month | $319/month |
| Annual Plans | $59/month | $119/month | $239/month |
| Discount on Annual Plans | 25% | 25% | 25% |
SamCart also offers a fourth plan, VIP.
The VIP plan’s price is only available on request and is suitable for businesses making over $50,000 per month.
VIP is a “done-for-you” plan. SamCart manages migration from another platform, builds product pages, and provides an expert who can work on a personalized marketing strategy for your business.
Teachable Plans
On Teachable, the access you have to features increases as you upgrade.
| Free | Basic | Pro | Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create Courses | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Basic Quizzes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Graded Quizzes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Drip Feed | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Course Certificates | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Coupons and Order Bumps | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Upsells | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Unbranded Website | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Custom Domain | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
The number of products you can create and students you can have also increases as you upgrade.
| Free | Basic | Pro | Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Courses | 1 | 5 | 50 | Unlimited |
| Digital Products | 1 | 5 | 50 | Unlimited |
| Coaching Products | 1 | 5 | 50 | Unlimited |
| Students | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
SamCart Plans
SamCart’s plans allow you to create unlimited products, pages, and courses and have unlimited students.
The main difference between SamCart’s plans is the marketing and conversion tools available.
| Launch | Grow | Scale | VIP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Products and Pages | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Courses | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Students | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Email Customization | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Custom Thank You Pages | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Free and Paid Trials | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Coupons and Discounts | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Order Bumps and Upsells | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| White-Label Branding | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Buy Now, Pay Later | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Multiple Payment Options | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| A/B Testing | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
So, Is Teachable or SamCart Better for Me?
Teachable is our preferred platform for its free plan and easy-to-use course builder. It would work for all creators looking to monetize their knowledge through courses, coaching, or digital products.
SamCart is a more flexible platform and would suit a wider range of creators as you can create both digital and physical products. It is also designed to help you generate sales with expertly designed sales page templates and customizable checkouts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Teachable or SamCart Better for Courses?
Both platforms have great course builders that are super easy to use.
There are differences. You can create unlimited courses with unlimited students on all SamCart plans. Teachable limits the number of courses and students you can have by the plan.
Teachable has more comprehensive quizzes with both multiple-choice and multiple-answer questions. But, SamCart has Worksheets, which are interactive areas that can be used for a variety of things, including submitting long-form answers, receiving feedback, and more.
What Is the Difference between Teachable and SamCart?
The main difference is their purpose. Teachable is designed to monetize your knowledge, allowing you to create and sell digital products. SamCart was designed as a sales and checkout page builder. There are a lot of similarities, including the ability to create and sell courses.
Is Teachable or SamCart Cheaper?
Teachable offers a free plan that allows you to create and sell your first product.
The starting paid plans, Basic and Launch, on Teachable and SamCart cost the same, $79 per month or $59 per month when paid annually.
Is SamCart Easier to Use than Teachable?
Both platforms are super easy to use and would be great for beginners. SamCart does offer more page templates, and the course and quiz builders are more intuitive, which might give it a slight edge over Teachable. However, Teachable’s free plan gives you plenty of time to get to grips with the platform before committing to a paid plan.
