Creator and checkout platform

ViralPayouts vs Kartra

ViralPayouts has no monthly fee, pays your affiliates for you and pays recruiters on every program. You pay 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3%, and nothing in a month when nobody sells. With Kartra, you pay your affiliates yourself and has two-tier recruiting on some plans only. It costs $59 to $229 a month + 5% of transactions.

Every figure for Kartra comes from its own pages or named review sites, checked 12 October 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom.

Why brands pick ViralPayouts over Kartra

Best fit: Brands that just need a partner + recruiter program with payouts handled, on top of the checkout they already use.

$0 a month
No plan and no setup fee. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month.
Payouts done for you
One invoice per program. ViralPayouts sends every partner and recruiter their money and collects tax forms.
Recruiters built in
Customer links and recruit links on every program, with the override set your way and reversed on refunds.

Start a program free

Side by side

	Kartra	ViralPayouts
Price	$59 to $229 a month + 5% of transactions	$0 a month. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month.
Setup fee	Not stated	None
Fee for paying affiliates	None from Kartra: 'Kartra does not provide banking services and cannot send money to your affiliates.'	Included in the fee above: no charge to the brand for sending payoutsPartners pay Whop's own fee when they withdraw to their bank
Pays your affiliates for you	No	Yes You fund by bank transfer; we pay every partner
Two-tier recruiting	Higher plans2 levelsGrowth (affiliate management is on Growth, Professional, Enterprise)	Yes Two levels on every program: share of commission, share of sale or fixed. Paid on approved sales, never sign-ups
Public program directory	Yes	Yes Partners browse and join with one account
Tracking	affiliate tracking links; promo codes; custom landing pages per affiliate; branded link domain	First-party links with click IDs, signed server-to-server events, Stripe Checkout webhook
Coupon tracking	Yes	Yes A code per partner, per program
Mobile app tracking	Not stated	App installs, sign-ups and purchases reported from your server through the signed event API, with bounties on them. No SDK to ship in your app.
API, webhooks, MCP	API, webhooks	REST API for brands and partners with an OpenAPI spec, an MCP server for AI agents, a signed event API and partner postbacks
Integrations	PayPal, Inbound and outbound API, IPN, on-site email lists/tags for affiliates	Stripe Checkout, Shopify orders, any backend via the event API

Kartra plans in full

Essentials: $59 a month, plus 5% of transactions. 500 contacts, 1 product; 5% transaction fee on sales; NO affiliate management
Starter: $119 a month. 2,500 contacts; 0% transaction fee; NO affiliate management
Growth: $229 a month. 12,500 contacts; 0% transaction fee; affiliate management, helpdesks, API access
Professional / Enterprise: price not published. Affiliate management included per help center; price not captured

Pricing source

Where ViralPayouts comes out ahead of Kartra

What Kartra offers

Coaches, course creators and info-product businesses wanting pages, funnels, email, checkout, memberships and affiliate management in one platform.

Creator and checkout platform · G2 3.9 (62 reviews) · Trustpilot 3.2 (129 reviews)

Why ViralPayouts is the better choice

ViralPayouts pays partners for the brand; Kartra 'cannot send money to your affiliates'.
Two levels on every program by default, with separate customer and recruit links, without a $229/month plan.
Works with any checkout via signed S2S event API and Stripe Checkout webhook; Kartra tracking requires Kartra checkout.
Append-only ledger and test network with simulated money.

What Kartra users say

Paraphrased from public reviews. Follow each link to read the original.

Praise

A G2 reviewer calls Kartra's affiliate program 'phenomenal'; others list affiliate management among the tools it consolidates. g2.com
Trustpilot reviewer (Oct 2025) found one-to-one support knowledgeable and reassuring. trustpilot.com

Complaints

A G2 reviewer says their affiliates struggled with the platform, hurting event promotion. g2.com
Slow support (up to a week) and buggy page builder (Trustpilot, 2025-2026). trustpilot.com
Price rose multiple times; 'very costly in the long run' (Trustpilot, Dec 2024 / Jan 2025). trustpilot.com
Kartra itself warns PayPal instant affiliate payouts make refunds/chargebacks hard to recover and don't work for subscriptions or bumps. support.kartra.com

About Kartra

In their words:: "The all-in-one platform that turns your expertise into scalable income." (homepage H1)
Company:: Kartra Inc., 187 E. Warm Springs Rd., Suite B - NV101, Las Vegas, Nevada (address on compare page) · Kartra Inc.
Named customers:: Kate Kordsmeier (blogger & coach, testimonial), Louise Henry (online business educator, testimonial)
Website:: kartra.com

Try ViralPayouts on test money

Set your commission and recruiter override, see what each sale costs you, and run it on the test network before a real partner joins. No monthly fee.

Start a program See pricing

More comparisons

All comparisons

Sources for Kartra (14), checked 12 October 2026

Kartra is a trademark of its owner. ViralPayouts is not affiliated with Kartra. Prices and features change: check kartra.com before you decide. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.