PayKickstart or SamCart for affiliates you recruit

You already have the affiliates. You want the network hop link out of the checkout. The order form still has to offer a bump, run an upsell, and record which partner sent the buyer. PayKickstart and SamCart both run that checkout through a payment gateway you connect. The choice is which plan includes affiliate tracking, and which charges sit on top of that plan.

Neither company is the merchant of record. You still file taxes and handle customer disputes. The merchant of record guide explains those duties for ClickBank, Digistore24, and a processor you connect yourself.

Affiliate tracking on the plan you would buy

PayKickstart's price list opens with flat tiers and every feature included, and those plans add no PayKickstart fee to a sale. The processor still charges its own rate. The entry row in the table shows that plan after a 14-day trial, and it includes a monthly revenue cap. Instant and delayed commissions, a first tier and a second tier, a marketplace, and Wallet sit on the same feature list as the checkout tools.

SamCart's pricing table lists Core as the cheaper plan and places the Affiliate Center on Pro, along with one-click upsells, order bumps, A/B testing and Subscription Saver. SamCart offers a 7-day trial on those plans, and PayKickstart's trial lasts 14 days. Core includes a hosted checkout, with affiliate tracking on Pro.

When the people promoting the offer are ones you recruited, compare PayKickstart's entry row with SamCart Pro, which is the plan that includes the Affiliate Center.

SamCart vs PayKickstart: who gets credit for the sale

PayKickstart can show the credited partner on the checkout itself. The help article on affiliate credit says the buyer will see #aid= in the URL, and that code identifies the affiliate credited for the sale.

SamCart credits the most recent affiliate link. Its Affiliate Center article says the last referrer gets the credit when more than one affiliate sends the same customer.

That article also says commission stays at zero until you set a rate on the product. Leave a product untouched and the partner earns nothing on it.

You bring the partners into both programs. PayKickstart lists a marketplace in its feature list, and your partners join from there. You still choose what they earn. SamCart's article describes a private program: you set the commission, and the cart keeps a record of the link that earned the sale.

Partner contracts, then the payment you send

PayKickstart's affiliate page says you create revenue sharing contracts with business partners, and that the account tracks and pays each partner according to the contract. A launch partner who takes a cut is set up under one of those contracts, and the cart tracks their share on each sale.

SamCart's article describes a rate you choose, then a payout step. Clicking Payout produces a CSV with a line for each affiliate being paid. You pay that list yourself. PayPal MassPay is one method the article allows. The sale still settles through the processor on your account.

The PayKickstart payout article says instant, automated PayPal payouts are available only to Growth and Scale vendors. The public pricing table does not give a monthly price for Growth or for Scale. Those are the plans that include automated PayPal. The entry row does not mention it.

Stripe sales, and sales through gateways other than PayPal, are manual. The article says you send every manual commission yourself. On a Stripe sale, PayKickstart expects you to pay the affiliate yourself. SamCart's payout step gives you a CSV to pay from. On Stripe, both carts leave you a list to pay at the end of the month.

What a sale costs on top of the plan

On the flat PayKickstart plans the company adds no fee of its own to the sale. Connect's starting rate is in the fee row. Linking a gateway you already run is the other path. You pay the subscription for the software, and the card company bills the transaction at its own rate.

Launch is priced as a share of revenue, with no subscription, and with access to the same features. That share is the Launch row. It takes the place of the monthly subscription. Stripe or PayPal still bills its own rate on top of it.

That first paid tier stops at the monthly revenue cap listed in the overage row. Past that cap, PayKickstart bills the overage percentage shown in that row.

SamPay's rate, and the Pro tax line in basis points, are in the fee row. SamCart describes SamPay as the processor charge and lists no extra SamCart fee on it. Those basis points sit apart from the Pro subscription.

A network's cut is a different bill, because the network also pays the affiliate. The fee calculator shows what you keep on a $97 sale after that cut. Here you pay for the software, you pay the processor, and you pay the partner the rate you set.

Bumps and upsells on that same plan

PayKickstart puts the checkout tools on the same feature list as affiliate tracking, so that subscription carries both, up to the revenue cap. SamCart lists one-click upsells and order bumps on Pro, beside the Affiliate Center, the A/B tests and Subscription Saver. Core does not include order bumps or affiliate tracking.

Subscription Saver is a name on the Pro plan. PayKickstart's pricing page highlights the flat subscription and the partner contracts. Subscription Saver is in this matchup because it shares SamCart Pro with affiliate tracking and the A/B tests.

What you still handle after the cart is connected

You still find the partners and ask them to promote. The marketplace row for PayKickstart, and the center inside SamCart, are where those partners sign up. On JVZoo, affiliates use the launch calendar to request an offer for a specific date. PayKickstart and SamCart sign up affiliates you have already recruited. PayKickstart offers a second-tier commission, so an affiliate can earn from someone they recruited, at a rate you choose.

You also send the commission, except in the Growth and Scale PayPal case above. Your payment gateway handles a refund or a chargeback. If those costs are why you would stay on a network, see network checkout or your own cart.

A year of the plan that tracks partners

A year on PayKickstart's entry tier, at the monthly price in the table, comes to $948. A year on SamCart Pro comes to $2,388. Both totals equal twelve times the monthly list price, and the processor's fee is charged on top of each sale. SamCart's lower plan matches the PayKickstart entry price and leaves affiliate tracking off.

Launch has no monthly charge. Whether that revenue share costs less than the $948 yearly total depends on what the offer sells. Once revenue exceeds the entry cap, the overage percentage in the table applies.

PayKickstart vs ThriveCart, if a third cart is still open

PayKickstart or ThriveCart for affiliates you pay yourself is the pair when both of these carts are still open. SamCart or ThriveCart sets Pro+ against SamCart Pro.

My take

I would start on PayKickstart's entry subscription when the launch needs Partner Contracts and the month stays inside the revenue cap in the table. Affiliate tracking is included on that subscription, and the flat plans add no PayKickstart fee to the sale.

I would buy SamCart Pro when hosted pages, courses, Subscription Saver and A/B tests have to live on the same plan as affiliate tracking, and a CSV at the end of the month is acceptable, since Core stops at the hosted checkout.

A Capterra review of PayKickstart says "It is a bear to configure." Schedule that setup before affiliates expect a live link. That plan still requires the setup time the review describes.

If you need a marketplace that pays the affiliates for you, stay with a network checkout. With PayKickstart and SamCart, you recruit the affiliates yourself.