Kartra Review 2024: Detailed Analysis of Features + Pros & Cons
Kartra is a SaaS platform targeted at digital marketers, small businesses, coaches, content creators, and consultants. It lets users create an online presence (like an email newsletter) and build an audience. It also provides various tools to simplify and automate processes. With Kartra, you can capture leads, build websites, send marketing emails, create membership sites, and more.
In short, Kartra combines various marketing tools into a single platform to streamline operations and make online business management more efficient.
But is it the right tool for your business? Does it offer good value for money? How well do the features work? What are the best alternatives?
Before you drop your money on a subscription, our Kartra review will help you find the answers and more.
Overview of the Features: What Can Kartra Do?
Kartra aims to be an all-in-one solution for small businesses and digital marketers in particular. Its users are focused on basic business processes such as lead capturing and marketing automation. The platform also lets agencies manage marketing for their clients.
Here is the full scope of features offered by Kartra:
Feature | What can you do with it? |
---|---|
Sales funnel builder | Design visual sales funnels to guide customers toward a specific action. |
Landing page Builder | Create targeted landing pages to capture leads and promote offers. |
Checkouts | Securely process payments directly through Kartra. |
Lead capture | Capture leads through forms and manage them within the platform. |
Email marketing | Send automated email sequences, manage subscribers, and segment your email list. |
Webinars | Host and manage webinars directly through Kartra. |
Affiliate management | Recruit and manage affiliates to promote your products. |
Website Builder | Build basic websites to host landing pages and funnels. |
Membership sites | Create and manage membership sites for exclusive content delivery. |
Video hosting and marketing | Upload and host videos directly and track analytics. |
Product sales | Sell digital products such as courses and ebooks through Kartra. |
Customer care | Manage customer support inquiries through a ticketing system and live chat. |
Calendars and appointments | Schedule appointments and manage your calendar. |
Funnel analytics | Track the performance of your sales funnels and identify areas for improvement. |
Campaign analytics | Analyze the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. |
Advanced reporting | Gain insights into your audience and marketing efforts (only with the Agency Plan). |
3rd party integrations | Connect Kartra with other platforms and tools. |
API access | Connect to Kartra’s platform using API keys. |
Kartra Agency | Manage multiple client accounts seamlessly. |
Custom programming | Integrate custom code for advanced functionalities (only with the Agency Plan) |
Kartra AI | AI-powered content creation tools. |
Kartra can do many things, but what truly matters is how current (and former) customers feel about the platform.
Kartra Reviews: Customer Thoughts and Feedback
To get a well-rounded picture of Kartra’s capabilities, we explored online reviews from various sources. This way, we can evaluate both the strengths and weaknesses users have experienced.
Below you will see a few handpicked reviews, aiming for a neutral perspective to help you decide if Kartra aligns with your business needs.
Positive Reviews
Here, we have a happy customer who feels Kartra helps them run their businesses better by having all relevant functions under one roof. They feel an all-in-one solution is saving them both time and money.
In their feedback, a reviewer describes various Kartra features and explains how this multi-faceted marketing platform has helped their business. They feel that Kartra is expensive and could offer more customization to match its competitors. They add that they find the affiliate marketing and automation features beneficial.
We found a review where the customer talks about the analytics offered by Kartra and how the checkout feature works really well. They also feel that non-technical users can easily use Kartra to build and run an online business. They also add words of praise for the landing page templates but mention that there’s a bit of a learning curve.
This customer feels that Kartra works really well but is a little pricy. They were happy with the results Kartra got them but decided to move on because of the high charges. They speak positively about the automation and scalability aspects of the platform.
Negative Reviews
The review rates Kartra 1.5/5 because the user feels the platform has many technical issues and does not work as promised. They add that the drag-and-drop email and page builders work poorly and are tedious to use. They also have critical words to say about the video hosting, analytics, and funnel features of Kartra.
We already saw this issue mentioned in other reviews — Kartra has a learning curve and can get expensive for people with a limited marketing budget. The review mentions these points and also adds that the platform is slow and buggy.
Here, we have a positive review turn into an extremely negative review. The user signed on to Kartra to use its page-building, email marketing, and list-building features. But they suddenly lost access to Kartra and were booted off the platform. This resulted in their business going under, and the user is annoyed about the apathetic customer care service.
According to this customer, Kartra’s user experience is abysmal. They feel the user interface is unwieldy and none of the functions work well. They signed on to build an audience for an online course but write that the experience has not been great so far.
From what Kartra users are saying, the scoreboard looks like this:
The positives | The negatives |
---|---|
Streamlined marketing | Costs |
Accepting payments is simple | Learning curve |
Good landing page builder | Buggy and slow |
Built for affiliate marketing | Analytics are basic |
Below, we compile our takeaways from all the online reviews we read.
Kartra Reviews: A Summary
Users praise Kartra for its comprehensive marketing toolkit. Managing multiple marketing activities can be a burden, so its customers think positively of Kartra. Its ability to offer agency services is another advantage, allowing marketers to offer a wider range of solutions to their clients.
The landing page builder and payment forms are also popular with its users.
On the negative side, buggy and slow performance appears to be an issue with Kartra. We came across comments mentioning this more than a couple of times while researching customer sentiment.
As Kartra is an all-in-one platform, it appears it does an okay job of offering basic functionalities. We didn’t see any reviews mention a lack of qualified support representatives; this most likely means that customer care at Kartra is responsive.
Kartra: Strengths
Kartra has been around for just 6 years but it has built a loyal customer base. Let’s see what users love about the tool.
Multiple Marketing Functions
Kartra excels in providing multiple marketing functions within a single platform, greatly streamlining the marketing process for businesses. By integrating tools for page building, email marketing, sales funnels, video hosting, and more, Kartra eliminates the need for multiple third-party services.
This consolidation not only reduces the complexity of managing different tools but also ensures your marketing efforts are in sync. This streamlined approach helps businesses save time, reduce costs, and maintain a cohesive marketing strategy.
Landing Page Builder
Kartra’s landing page builder is one of its more popular features, offering a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface. Users can create professional-looking pages without needing any coding skills.
Customers also get a template library with a variety of page templates that cater to different business needs, from simple opt-in email capture pages to complex conversion pages. They can customize these templates extensively, adjusting layouts, adding elements, and integrating forms to capture leads.
The preview function allows users to see how pages will look across different devices.
Good for Affiliate Marketing
Kartra provides robust tools for managing affiliate programs effectively.
Users can set up and customize affiliate programs and define commission structures, payout schedules, and tracking methods. Kartra’s built-in analytics gives insight into affiliate performance to help identify top-performing affiliates and optimize strategies.
Additionally, the platform allows for the easy creation of digital products that affiliates can use to market products or services. The ability to manage everything from a single dashboard simplifies the process of running an affiliate program.
Online Payments
Kartra’s online payment functionality provides a secure and efficient way to handle transactions. The platform supports multiple payment gateways, including PayPal and Stripe, allowing users to offer various payment options to their customers.
Setting up products and pricing is straightforward, with options for one-time payments, recurring subscriptions, and installment plans. Kartra also offers features such as order bumps and upsells, which can increase the average order value.
Kartra: Weaknesses
What is it about Kartra that could make it a bad fit for a business? Below, we examine the pitfalls of signing up with this SaaS platform.
The Cost
One of the notable cons of Kartra is its cost, which can be a significant barrier for small businesses and startups. The platform offers several pricing tiers, but even the basic plan can be relatively expensive compared to competitors that offer similar functionality.
This higher price point is reflective of Kartra’s all-in-one approach, but it may not be justified if a customer does not need the full suite of features. Additionally, there is no free plan, only a 30-day trial for a dollar, which might not be enough time for someone to fully evaluate the platform’s capabilities.
Learning Curve
While Kartra claims to be user-friendly, the extensive range of features it offers can result in a steep learning curve for new users.
The sheer number of tools and options available can be overwhelming, especially for those who are not already familiar with marketing automation platforms. One may need to invest considerable time to understand how to use each feature effectively and integrate it into the business processes.
This learning curve can slow down the initial setup and implementation, potentially delaying marketing campaigns and other business activities. If users seek a more straightforward, plug-and-play solution, this complexity can be a significant drawback.
Slow Performance
Another issue that some users have reported with Kartra is slow performance. The platform can occasionally experience lagging or slow loading times, which can be frustrating, especially when working on time-sensitive tasks.
This performance issue affects the user experience, making the processes of building landing pages, sending email campaigns, or managing customer interactions less efficient.
Basic Analytics
While Kartra does offer analytics and reporting tools, some users find them to be relatively basic compared to more specialized analytics platforms. The provided data and insights, while useful, may not be as detailed or customizable as needed for advanced marketing analysis.
This limitation could affect the ability to understand customer behavior deeply, track detailed campaign performance, or make data-driven decisions. If users rely heavily on in-depth analytics, they may need to integrate Kartra with more robust analytics tools, which can increase overall costs.
Kartra: Pros and Cons Summary
Through the lens of customer reviews, let’s dissect the pros and cons of Kartra:
Kartra Pros | Kartra Cons |
---|---|
Having so many features under one roof is handy. | Users find the costs to be extremely high. |
Accepting payments and selling courses is easy with Kartra. | The platform is plagued by slow and glitchy performance. |
You can build good-looking landing pages with the drag-and-drop builder. | Analytics are basic at best. |
The platform offers a range of features for affiliate marketers and agencies. | Prepare to invest some time into learning how everything works. |
As pricing is the most commonly-mentioned complaint about Kartra, let’s explore why.
Kartra Pricing: What’s All the Noise About?
There’s a very obvious pattern in the Kartra reviews we read; both good and bad reviews mention that Kartra is expensive. Once you get past your free trial, at the very least, you’re looking at spending $119 a month for just 2,500 contacts.
Check out this pricing table for a better idea of how tiered plans work at Kartra:
Kartra plan | Price | Features |
---|---|---|
Free trial | Free/30 days only | ‣ Unlimited products ‣ Memberships and courses ‣ Funnel mapping ‣ Forms ‣ Kartra AI ‣ Web pages & opt-in forms ‣ Memberships & courses ‣ Funnels and campaigns ‣ Unlimited email & SMS ‣ Checkouts ‣ Lead capture ‣ Lead & sales management ‣ Calendars ‣ Funnel simulations ‣ Advanced Analytics ‣ Automated Sequences |
Starter | $119/month | ‣ All of the above + ‣ Unlimited emails ‣ 2,500 contacts ‣ 1 domain ‣ 1 language ‣ 5 team members ‣ Unlimited landing pages & forms ‣ Unlimited emails & sequences ‣ Memberships & courses ‣ 100+ ready-to-launch campaigns ‣ Calendar scheduling/booking |
Growth | $229/month | ‣ All of the above + ‣ 12,500 contacts ‣ 3 domains ‣ Unlimited languages ‣ 10 team members ‣ Funnel simulation ‣ Webinars for 300 attendees ‣ Affiliate management ‣ Advanced automatons ‣ Surveys & quizzes ‣ Help Desk |
Professional | $549/month | ‣ All of the above + ‣ 25,000 contacts ‣ 5 domains ‣ 20 team members ‣ Real-time funnel analytics ‣ Webinars for 1,000 attendees ‣ Help Desk live chat ‣ Agency capacity ‣ API access ‣ Custom code page |
Enterprise | $999/month | ‣ All of the above + ‣ 50 domains ‣ 250,000 contacts ‣ 50 team members ‣ Webinars for 5,000 attendees |
It’s obvious that Kartra can cause a significant dent in your budget, especially if you have a large contact list. That’s exactly why you should consider the alternatives we’ve lined up below.
Kartra Alternatives
Kartra isn’t the only platform offering such a wide range of marketing functions; we’ve put together its top 3 competitors below, and you should definitely consider these.
ClickFunnels
For entrepreneurs seeking a laser focus on building high-converting sales funnels, ClickFunnels is a compelling alternative to Kartra. It comes with a user-friendly interface that simplifies the creation of effective sales funnels, targeted landing pages, and automated email campaigns.
For more details on this tool, check out our in-depth ClickFunnels review; there are also ClickFunnels alternatives you can evaluate.
Compared to Kartra’s broader feature set, ClickFunnels might be easier for beginners to navigate due to its streamlined approach. This focus allows entrepreneurs to concentrate on crafting persuasive sales sequences without getting overwhelmed by extraneous functionalities.
Kajabi
If you’re a passionate creator or course builder, Kajabi stands out as a solid alternative to Kartra.
It offers a robust suite of tools specifically designed to help you set up an online business. Kajabi streamlines the process of creating, managing, and selling online courses, memberships, and digital products.
While Kartra can handle these tasks, Kajabi’s dedicated feature set, such as built-in student management and community features, might provide a more seamless and efficient experience for course creators.
Builderall
Builderall is an attractive option if you seek a cost-effective alternative to Kartra. It offers functionalities similar to Kartra, including sales funnels, email marketing, website building, and even webinar hosting.
Builderall even comes with a free plan, allowing you to experiment with its features before committing to a paid subscription. This gives it a significant advantage over Kartra, which requires a paid plan from the outset.
However, it’s important to consider that Builderall’s free tier likely has limitations compared to the features offered in Kartra’s paid plans. Carefully evaluate your needs and weigh the limitations of the free plan before deciding.
Integrate With Campaign Refinery for Best Results
All-in-one marketing solutions will rarely offer you the best email deliverability, which is the ability of emails to reach the inbox instead of getting filtered.
Email plays a critical role in the success of your business.
It’s the best way to connect with your customers, as you will send a wide range of emails, such as:
While Kartra or any of the alternatives we listed above are great for lead capture or page-building, you need an email partner you can depend on. And that’s exactly why Campaign Refinery is the best email platform for your needs.
It integrates flawlessly with most marketing platforms thanks to Zapier, but that’s not the best part. Campaign Refinery has the best deliverability rates in the market — if you want to give your emails the highest chance of landing in the inbox, you should join our email platform!
Additionally, you get:
- Robust automation tools,
- Powerful segmentation and tagging features,
- Gamification to help boost engagement,
- A list-cleaner that filters invalid emails automatically,
- Affordable prices,
- An in-depth analytics dashboard.
Campaign Refinery is where email veterans achieve their best email performance.
If you want to experience it too, apply to be a Campaign Refinery customer today!