Is Cardel an alternative to Kartra or Shopify?

Cardel is a home for your craft: a site of your own with a blog, newsletter, shop, community, and one inbox. It can replace Kartra or Shopify when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Kartra and Shopify are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Kartra or Shopify?

Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Kartra or Shopify for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.

How much does Cardel cost compared with Kartra and Shopify?

You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Kartra and Shopify set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.

How do I switch from Kartra or Shopify 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.

Compare

KartravsShopify

Kartra joins checkout, email automation, memberships, and a helpdesk in one system. Shopify is the commerce platform: storefront, checkout, inventory, POS, email, and inbox.

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How Kartra and Shopify compare

Kartra is the operator's all-in-one. Checkouts with one-time, recurring, or installment pricing, email and SMS campaigns that react to what a lead does, membership portals for courses, calendars with paid bookings, a helpdesk with tickets and a wiki, and split tests on up to four page versions. If you run offers, sequences, and a member area as one machine and want the analytics to match, Kartra was built for exactly that.

Shopify is what you use when the store is the business. World-class checkout, inventory and shipping, taxes, POS, thousands of apps, Shopify Email, Shopify Inbox, and a theme store make it the standard for merchants of every size. It scales from one product to a warehouse without changing platforms.

Where they are different

Kartra

Kartra pages are campaign pages first.
Kartra has blog page templates and a WordPress push, not a blog engine.
Kartra's helpdesk takes tickets from a forwarded support address on Growth and up.

Shopify

Shopify's blog and pages serve the store.
Shopify Inbox handles chat.
Shopify doesn't manage scheduling natively.

Choose Kartra when you sell through checkouts and sequences, deliver inside memberships, and want a helpdesk, affiliates, SMS, and split testing wired to the same lead record.

Choose Shopify when you sell products at volume and need inventory, shipping, tax, and apps.

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What's on Kartra and Shopify

A check means that capability is available. Kartra and Shopify are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.

Site and brand

Workspace site
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
Custom domain
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
Editor Mode
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
Theme and fonts
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included

Public content

Blog
Kartra: Not included
Shopify: Included
Reader engagement
Kartra: Not included
Shopify: Included
Showcase pages
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
Shop pages
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included

Reach and quality

SEO
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included

Audience and email

Audience
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
Email templates and From addresses
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
AI Email Template Builder
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
Email on your domain
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Not included
Marketing emails
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
Campaign workflows
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included

Messaging

Built-in chat
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
Messaging Center
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
AI Suggest
Kartra: Not included
Shopify: Included

Commerce

Shop payments
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
Orders and fulfillment
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Not included

Team

Admin users
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
Per-admin permissions
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included
AI Assistant
Kartra: Included
Shopify: Included

Feature comparison for Kartra and Shopify
Feature	Kartra	Shopify
Site and brand
Workspace site	Included	Included
Custom domain	Included	Included
Editor Mode	Included	Included
Theme and fonts	Included	Included
Public content
Blog	Not included	Included
Reader engagement	Not included	Included
Showcase pages	Included	Included
Shop pages	Included	Included
Reach and quality
SEO	Included	Included
Audience and email
Audience	Included	Included
Email templates and From addresses	Included	Included
AI Email Template Builder	Included	Included
Email on your domain	Included	Not included
Marketing emails	Included	Included
Campaign workflows	Included	Included
Messaging
Built-in chat	Included	Included
Messaging Center	Included	Included
AI Suggest	Not included	Included
Commerce
Shop payments	Included	Included
Orders and fulfillment	Included	Included
Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.	Included	Not included
Team
Admin users	Included	Included
Per-admin permissions	Included	Included
AI Assistant	Included	Included

* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Kartra or Shopify, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Kartra or Shopify may add or remove features that are not shown here.