Compare
Heartbeatvs
ThriveCart
Heartbeat is a friendly home for a small paid community with chat, events, and courses. ThriveCart is a lifetime-priced checkout with bumps, upsells, affiliates, and courses.
How Heartbeat and ThriveCart compare
Heartbeat is a friendly place to start a paid community without a big budget. For $49 a month you get channels, threads, chat, voice rooms, DMs, unlimited courses and events, a custom domain, checkout pages, five automation workflows, and Pulse, an AI that actually sets up channels, offers, and pages for you. Grow adds unlimited workflows, DM rules, an affiliate program, and white-label email; Scale adds a branded app. For a founder with a small group who wants courses and calls next to the conversation, Heartbeat covers a lot for the price.
ThriveCart is a cart that pays for itself once. A one-time price buys high-converting checkout pages, order bumps, one-click upsells, subscriptions, coupons, affiliate management, and a course platform through ThriveCart Learn. Digital sellers who hate monthly fees and love conversion rates have made it a cult favorite.
Where they are different
Heartbeat
- Heartbeat's landing page is the door to a private space.
- Heartbeat emails members through workflows and a weekly digest.
- Heartbeat's events sync to members' calendars.
- Heartbeat charges 5% to 1.25% on payments.
ThriveCart
- ThriveCart is the cart, not the site.
- ThriveCart hands buyers to your email tool.
- ThriveCart has no inbox or bookings.
Choose Heartbeat when a small paid community with courses, calls, and member chat is the product.
Choose ThriveCart when checkout conversion, bumps, and affiliates matter and you want to pay once.
Compare features
What's on Heartbeat and ThriveCart
A check means that capability is available. Heartbeat and ThriveCart are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.
Site and brand
- Workspace siteHeartbeat: IncludedThriveCart: Not included
- Custom domainHeartbeat: IncludedThriveCart: Included
- Theme and fontsHeartbeat: IncludedThriveCart: Included
Audience and email
- AudienceHeartbeat: IncludedThriveCart: Included
- Marketing emailsHeartbeat: IncludedThriveCart: Not included
- Campaign workflowsHeartbeat: IncludedThriveCart: Not included
Commerce
- Shop paymentsHeartbeat: IncludedThriveCart: Included
Team
- Admin usersHeartbeat: IncludedThriveCart: Included
- AI AssistantHeartbeat: IncludedThriveCart: Included
* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Heartbeat or ThriveCart, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Heartbeat or ThriveCart may add or remove features that are not shown here.
Heartbeat vs ThriveCart pricing
Compare plans, prices, and what it costs to get started.
Heartbeat
Current plans and prices
See what Heartbeat charges on their pricing page.
ThriveCart
Current plans and prices
See what ThriveCart charges on their pricing page.
Cardel: An alternative to
Heartbeat and ThriveCart
You don't pay until you publish.
Cardel provides a home for your craft. Share and sell your work, grow your audience, and bring your community together on a site of your own.
Common questions
Is Cardel an alternative to Heartbeat or ThriveCart?
Cardel is a home for your craft: a site of your own with a blog, newsletter, shop, community, and one inbox. It can replace Heartbeat or ThriveCart when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Heartbeat and ThriveCart are marked.
Can I use Cardel with Heartbeat or ThriveCart?
Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Heartbeat or ThriveCart for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.
How much does Cardel cost compared with Heartbeat and ThriveCart?
You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Heartbeat and ThriveCart set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.
How do I switch from Heartbeat or ThriveCart to Cardel?
Start with Build Your Site, set up your home, and bring your work over at your own pace. You do not have to move everything on day one.