Podia promises a simple all-in-one solution for selling courses, memberships, and digital products. But when you look closely, the real cost adds up – monthly subscriptions, transaction fees, and limited sales optimization tools that hold your growth back.
At ThriveCart, we believe in helping you sell more, keep more, and scale your business without ongoing fees or hidden costs.
Let’s break down the differences and see why ThriveCart is the smarter choice for serious creators and entrepreneurs.
BUSINESSes POWERED
Representing 1.5% of the creator economy, people trust ThriveCart to grow their business & boost revenue.
PRODUCTS SOLD
Sell your digital products, courses, & physical products to a growing audience with tools designed to scale your business, fast.
IN PROCESSED SALES
Driven by high-converting checkouts, upsells, & optimized funnels used across 1000s of businesses.
Feature
ThriveCart
Podia
Pricing
✅ $495 – One-time payment for life
❌ $39–$89/month
Transaction Fees
✅ $0 fees, ever
❌ Up to 5% transaction fees on Mover plans
Recurring Platform Subscription Fees
✅ No monthly or annual fees — buy it once, own it for life
❌ Ongoing monthly / annual payments required
Checkout & Cart
✅ Advanced customizable checkout with high-converting templates
❌ Basic checkout, limited customization
1-Click Upsells & Bump Offers
✅ Included with all licenses
❌ Limited upsells, no advanced funnels
Subscription Management
✅ Flexible, advanced subscription & dunning tools
❌ Basic recurring payments, limited flexibility
Sales Funnel Builder
✅ Built-in funnel builder with logic-based flows
❌ No true funnel builder — only product pages
A/B Testing
✅ Native built-in A/B split testing
❌ Not available
Cart Abandonment Recovery
✅ Built-in abandonment & recovery tools
❌ Not included
Affiliate Center
✅ Fully integrated affiliate management (with Pro+)
❌ Only available on $89/month “Shaker” plan
Custom Integrations
✅ Zapier, API, webhooks, and direct integrations with top tools
❌ Limited integrations, mostly Stripe/PayPal + email
Multiple Payment Options
✅ Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Authorize.net, Buy Now Pay Later
❌ Stripe & PayPal only
Custom Receipts & Thank You Pages
✅ Fully customizable
❌ Very limited options
Tiered Pricing & Bundles
✅ Create bundles, trials, tiered pricing offers
❌ No native bundling, limited pricing flexibility
⭐ 4.3/5
⭐ 3.9/5
⭐ 4.6/5
⭐ 4.2/5
No ongoing fees
– Pay once and keep 100% of your profits.
Better checkout tools
Optimized carts, upsells, bumps, and funnels.
Serious marketing power
Affiliate management, A/B testing, advanced dunning.
Scales with your business
From your first sale to $1M+, ThriveCart is built to grow with you.
Podia is fine for beginners who want something simple. But if you’re serious about scaling your business and keeping more of your hard-earned revenue, ThriveCart is the smarter long-term choice.
👉 Join the thousands of creators who have switched from Podia to ThriveCart, and never looked back.
I more than doubled the conversion rate – it was more like 4x or 5xing. Going from a third-party, scammy-looking checkout page to my own branded one really helped. And I loved ThriveCart’s dashboard. Being able to so easily see metrics let me make better decisions powered by data.
Course Creator School and The Passive Project
I was considering Kajabi and Kartra platforms, but if I built my house on that platform I’d be paying over $1,800 per year. And when you’re starting out you want to bootstrap.
ThriveCart expert and strategist
I do all the marketing and we’ve got a decent team of ten different people, and all I have to worry about is content and my podcast. ThriveCart has been an incredible boost for us and allowed us to publish this incredibly meaningful content that’s helped thousands of people.
Course creator and owner of TheRiseToTheTop.com
I’ve released ebooks and online courses through ThriveCart. I’m planning on exploring more complex sales funnels soon.
YouTube marketing coach
It is so easy to setup a sales page or funnel, checkout and bump order with this software. They have a build in “page builder” with all the necessary components and you can simply duplicate your products to create new similar funnels.
Web consultant
The team got Pro+ setup in under an hour, and we have already seen an increase in AOV from adding an additional order bump, accepting crypto and the new reporting has been extremely helpful for our leadership team.
CEO and Founder of Onfolio
“I’m getting that ‘kid in a candy store’ feeling. Hands-down best purchase decision I’ve ever made. Thrivecart is amazeballs.”
MJI Solutions
Upgrading to ThriveCart Pro+ transformed how I run my business affiliate setup became seamless, reporting improved drastically, and features like multiple order bumps and subscription management finally gave me the flexibility I needed to scale effortlessly.
Founder of Passive Income Journeys
