GoHighLevel vs Kartra

Last updated: October 7, 2026

In the gohighlevel vs kartra decision, the short answer is this: Kartra suits coaches and course creators who want pages, checkouts, memberships, video hosting and a help desk in one easy tool. GoHighLevel suits agencies and local service businesses that need a stronger CRM, calling, texting, reviews and client sub-accounts. Below we compare pricing, features and fit, using each vendor’s official pages as of October 2026.

Our verdict in brief

Kartra wins for creators who sell digital products, thanks to built-in video hosting, a help desk, affiliate management and HIPAA compliance at no added cost. GoHighLevel wins on unlimited contacts, phone and SMS tools, reputation management and agency features. If you sell courses to an online audience, Kartra is a strong fit; if you run client accounts or a local business that lives on calls and texts, GoHighLevel is the better choice.

GoHighLevel vs Kartra at a glance

All prices and limits below come from the official pricing pages listed at the end of this article, as of October 2026.

How much does GoHighLevel cost compared to Kartra?

Both platforms list clear monthly prices. Here is what each official pricing page showed as of October 2026.

GoHighLevel pricing

• Starter: $97/month or $970/year, with 3 sub-accounts, unlimited contacts, unlimited users and all core features.
• Unlimited: $297/month or $2,970/year, adding unlimited sub-accounts, phone and email rebilling with no markup, and basic API access.
• Agency Pro: $497/month or $4,970/year, adding SaaS Mode, automated sub-account creation, rebilling with markup and advanced API access.

HighLevel offers a 14-day free trial and bills month-to-month. Phone numbers, SMS, email sends and AI features are billed by usage on top of the plan. See our GoHighLevel pricing breakdown for add-ons and usage costs.

Kartra pricing

• Essentials: $59/month billed monthly, or $52/month billed annually. Includes 500 contacts, 10,000 emails and texts per month, 5 pages, 1 product, 1 membership or course, 1 custom domain and 30 Kartra AI uses. Sales carry a 5% transaction fee.
• Starter: $119/month, or $99/month billed annually. Includes 2,500 contacts, unlimited email and SMS, 0% transaction fees, unlimited pages, products, memberships and courses, video hosting, calendars, webinars and 5 team members.
• Growth: $229/month, or $189/month billed annually. Includes 12,500 contacts, 3 custom domains, automations, affiliate management, surveys and quizzes, a help desk, funnel simulation and 10 team members.
• Professional: $549/month, or $429/month billed annually. Adds 25,000 contacts, real-time funnel analytics, 5 custom domains and help desk live chat.

Kartra offers a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, and annual billing saves up to 22%. If you pass your plan’s contact limit, Kartra upgrades you to the next tier automatically and charges a mid-cycle reconciliation fee.

What does this mean in practice?

Kartra is cheaper at the very start, especially for a creator with a small list. As your list grows, the price climbs with your contact count. GoHighLevel’s plan price stays the same whether you have 500 contacts or 50,000, though messaging usage adds to the bill.

Kartra’s flat model has a real upside: it says there are no extra fees for email sends, and SMS is unlimited from Starter up. On GoHighLevel, high-volume email and text senders should budget for usage costs.

CRM and pipelines: which is stronger?

Kartra lists lead management, sales management, lists and tags, and lead capture forms. That is enough to segment an audience, track buyers and send the right offer to the right person.

GoHighLevel lists CRM and pipelines, custom dashboards and reporting, and unified conversations as core features. Texts, calls and emails with each contact sit together in one conversation view. For a sales team that works deals through stages, GoHighLevel has the deeper CRM.

In short, Kartra’s CRM serves a marketing list well. GoHighLevel’s CRM serves a sales process well.

Email, SMS and calling

Email marketing

Kartra offers live and automated email campaigns, with unlimited email from Starter up. GoHighLevel offers email marketing with a drag-and-drop builder and Content AI, with sends billed by usage. Both are capable for broadcasts and sequences.

Text messaging

Kartra includes SMS in its campaigns and lists unlimited email and SMS from Starter up. GoHighLevel builds SMS into its workflows and its shared inbox, so your team can reply to texts from the same screen as email. For two-way texting with leads, GoHighLevel’s inbox is the stronger setup.

Calling

GoHighLevel offers inbound and outbound calling and Voice AI, billed by usage. Kartra’s pricing page does not list phone calling. If your business books jobs over the phone, this point alone often decides the comparison.

Funnels and websites

Both tools are strong here. Kartra offers a drag-and-drop page builder with hundreds of templates, multi-page funnels, checkouts, a funnel mapper and, on Growth and above, funnel simulation. Real-time funnel analytics are included on Professional.

GoHighLevel includes a website and funnel builder, domain management, forms, surveys, booking calendars and Funnel AI. Our GoHighLevel review covers the builder in more depth.

Kartra’s funnel mapper is a nice planning tool that GoHighLevel’s pricing page does not list.

Courses and memberships

This is Kartra’s home turf. It offers a drag-and-drop membership portal builder, built-in video hosting with marketing features, and unlimited memberships and courses from Starter up. Video hosting is a real advantage, because it saves you a separate video subscription.

GoHighLevel includes courses and communities in its core features, so you can deliver content and run a member space alongside your CRM. Both platforms handle courses well. Kartra’s video and membership tools feel more complete for a creator business.

Automation: who builds better workflows?

Kartra lists automated sequences, tagging based on actions, and 100 pre-built campaigns on Essentials. Its plan cards list automations from Growth up, and the table marks “advanced automations” as a top-tier tool.

GoHighLevel includes workflow automation on every plan. You can combine email, SMS, calls, tags, appointments and pipeline updates in one visual builder. It also offers a snapshot library of pre-built accounts for many industries.

For multi-channel follow-up, such as texting a lead within minutes and then calling, GoHighLevel goes further. For email-led course launches, Kartra’s campaigns are easy to set up.

Agency and white-label features

GoHighLevel was built for agencies. Its pricing page lists:

• Client sub-accounts (3 on Starter, unlimited on Unlimited and Agency Pro).
• A white-labeled desktop web app with your logo and domain.
• Rebilling of phone and email usage, with markup on Agency Pro.
• SaaS Mode on Agency Pro for selling the software under your brand.

Kartra has a “Kartra for Agencies” page, and its comparison table shows “agency capacity” only on the Professional plan. Kartra’s pricing page does not list white label or resale features. For agencies, GoHighLevel remains the clear pick.

Support and learning curve

Kartra offers in-app help through its AI assistant, with the option to reach a team member, and an official Facebook group. Its interface is English only, though customer-facing pages and checkouts can be shown in many languages. Kartra has fewer moving parts, so it is usually quicker to learn.

GoHighLevel lists 24/7 support and offers premium support as a $500/month add-on. It has a larger feature set, so the learning curve is steeper. Many owners shorten it by hiring a setup partner or installing a snapshot.

Kartra also states it is HIPAA compliant at no extra cost. GoHighLevel lists HIPAA compliance as a $297/month add-on, which matters for health and wellness coaches.

When Kartra is the better choice

• You sell courses, memberships or digital products to an online audience.
• You want video hosting, a help desk and affiliate management built in.
• You want unlimited email and SMS without usage bills.
• You need HIPAA compliance without paying for an add-on.
• Your list is small and you want the lowest entry price.

When GoHighLevel is the better choice

• You run an agency and need sub-accounts, white label or SaaS Mode.
• Your business depends on phone calls, two-way texting and booked appointments.
• You have a large or fast-growing list and want unlimited contacts.
• You need reputation management, social posting and a sales pipeline in one tool.
• You want unlimited users without per-plan team caps.

Still weighing other options? Our guide to GoHighLevel alternatives compares more platforms.

What should you know before migrating from Kartra to GoHighLevel?

Moving from Kartra takes more care than a typical CRM move, because Kartra often holds your courses, videos and checkouts too. Plan the move in this order:

1. Export your leads, lists and tags, and map each to GoHighLevel tags and custom fields.
2. Download course videos and files, then rebuild each course and membership in GoHighLevel.
3. Recreate your pages and funnels, starting with the ones that bring in the most leads or sales.
4. Plan your payment cutover so active subscriptions keep billing correctly.
5. Rebuild your key email sequences as GoHighLevel workflows, and add SMS steps where they help.
6. Register for A2P 10DLC before texting U.S. numbers, and switch domains last.

Our full Kartra to GoHighLevel migration guide walks through each step in detail.

Final verdict: GoHighLevel or Kartra?

Kartra is a well-rounded creator platform. It wins on video hosting, help desk tools, bundled messaging and HIPAA coverage, and its entry plan costs less.

GoHighLevel wins for agencies and for local businesses that rely on calls, texts and appointments. Unlimited contacts and users also make it cheaper as you grow. Pick Kartra if courses are your core product; pick GoHighLevel if leads, clients and follow-up drive your revenue.

Ready to try GoHighLevel?

You can start with HighLevel through our GoHighLevel trial page and test it against your Kartra setup. If you would rather have it built for you, our GHL Starter Setup is $499 one-time; see every package on our pricing page or call us at +1 (681) 276-7045, Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM ET.

We may earn a commission if you sign up through our links, at no extra cost to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Kartra cheaper than GoHighLevel?

At the entry level, yes: as of October 2026, Kartra Essentials costs $59/month and GoHighLevel Starter costs $97/month. Kartra’s price rises with your contact count, though, while GoHighLevel includes unlimited contacts on every plan, so the gap narrows or reverses for larger lists.

Can GoHighLevel host courses like Kartra?

Yes, GoHighLevel lists courses and communities among its core features, so you can sell and deliver courses from the same account as your CRM. Kartra adds built-in video hosting and a dedicated membership portal builder, which some creators prefer for content-heavy programs.

Does Kartra have phone calling?

Kartra’s pricing page does not list phone calling as of October 2026. It lists email, SMS, calendars, help desk and live chat. GoHighLevel offers inbound and outbound calling and Voice AI, billed by usage, which matters for businesses that book work over the phone.

Is Kartra good for agencies?

Kartra has an agencies page, and its pricing table shows “agency capacity” only on the $549/month Professional plan. Its pricing page does not list white label or resale features. GoHighLevel includes client sub-accounts on every plan, a white-labeled web app and SaaS Mode on Agency Pro.

How hard is it to move from Kartra to GoHighLevel?

It depends on how much lives in Kartra: contacts and tags move fairly easily, while courses, videos, funnels and active subscriptions take more planning. Rebuild your highest-earning funnels and sequences first, and start A2P 10DLC registration early if you plan to text U.S. contacts.