Softwr

E-Commerce · head to head

Braintree vs SamCart

Braintree logo

Braintree

E-Commerce

PayPal's payment gateway and processor for cards, PayPal, Venmo and digital wallets

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SamCart logo

SamCart

E-Commerce

The number one checkout platform

From
$79/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Braintree the merchant relationship sits with PayPal, whose risk operations can place reserves on or hold funds in accounts they flag, and appeals run through support queues, so a business with thin working capital carries real exposure to a decision it cannot negotiate.; SamCart no feature differentiation between CORE and PRO tiers, pricing tier based on expected transaction volume only
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Braintree and SamCart actually diverge.

Attributes where Braintree and SamCart differ
AttributeBraintreeSamCart
Starting priceOn request$79/month
Pricing modeltransactionsubscription

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (E-Commerce).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Braintree

  • Card processing
  • PayPal and Venmo acceptance
  • Digital wallets
  • Hosted fields
  • Card vault
  • Recurring billing
  • Split payouts
  • Multi-market coverage

Only in SamCart

Nothing recorded that Braintree does not also cover.

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Braintree

  • A United States consumer brand that wants Venmo in the checkout rather than as an off-site redirectnot SamCart
  • A subscription business that needs a vault and recurring billing alongside wallet acceptancenot SamCart
  • A marketplace splitting each payment between the platform and multiple sellersnot SamCart
  • A merchant consolidating card and PayPal acceptance into a single integration and a single settlementnot SamCart

SamCart

  • Increasing average order value through automated order bumps and upsellsnot Braintree
  • Recovering failed subscription payments with retry logic and dunning managementnot Braintree
  • Generating sales pages, emails, and ads with AI from product descriptionsnot Braintree
  • Sending cart abandonment recovery emails without customer re-entrynot Braintree
  • Migrating existing customer bases from competing platforms without data lossnot Braintree

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Braintree

  • The merchant relationship sits with PayPal, whose risk operations can place reserves on or hold funds in accounts they flag, and appeals run through support queues, so a business with thin working capital carries real exposure to a decision it cannot negotiate.
  • Cross-border transactions and currency conversion carry additional charges on top of the headline rate, so an international customer base costs materially more per order than the quoted percentage suggests.
  • Disputes carry a per chargeback fee in addition to the reversed transaction amount, so a category with a high dispute rate loses money at roughly twice the rate a naive model predicts.
  • Leaving means requesting a vault export to another PCI compliant processor and then re-tokenising every stored card and every active subscription, which is an engineering project with a customer-visible failure mode if any subscription fails to migrate.
  • It is a payments component rather than a commerce platform, so checkout, tax determination, invoicing and refund workflow still have to be built and maintained somewhere else, and merchants who assume otherwise underestimate the integration.

SamCart

  • No feature differentiation between CORE and PRO tiers, pricing tier based on expected transaction volume only
  • Transaction fees of 2.9% plus $0.30 apply to all plans

Pricing, plan by plan

Braintree

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Braintree review.

SamCart

$79/month
  • CORE$79/month
    • All features included
  • PRO$199/month
    • All features included

Which should you pick?

Choose Braintree if

  • You need card processing.
  • You also want paypal and venmo acceptance.
Braintree review

Choose SamCart if

Nothing in the data separates SamCart from Braintree on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

SamCart review

Questions people ask

Is Braintree or SamCart better?
Neither clearly leads. Braintree starts at On request and SamCart at $79/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Braintree or SamCart?
Braintree starts at On request and SamCart at $79/month.
Does Braintree or SamCart run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Braintree best used for?
Braintree is most often used for a united states consumer brand that wants venmo in the checkout rather than as an off-site redirect, a subscription business that needs a vault and recurring billing alongside wallet acceptance, a marketplace splitting each payment between the platform and multiple sellers, a merchant consolidating card and paypal acceptance into a single integration and a single settlement. Of those, a united states consumer brand that wants venmo in the checkout rather than as an off-site redirect and a subscription business that needs a vault and recurring billing alongside wallet acceptance are not what SamCart is typically brought in for.
What can Braintree do that SamCart cannot?
Braintree covers Card processing, PayPal and Venmo acceptance, Digital wallets, Hosted fields.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Braintree: How is it different from using PayPal directly?

Braintree gives you a full processing account and a native checkout with cards, PayPal and Venmo in one integration, rather than a redirect flow bolted onto a separate card processor.

SamCart: How much does SamCart cost?

SamCart offers two subscription tiers: CORE at $79/month and PRO at $199/month. Both plans include all features with no restrictions between tiers.

Source
Braintree: Is Venmo the main reason to choose it?

For United States consumer brands, frequently yes. It is the practical route to native Venmo acceptance, and no competing processor offers an equivalent.

SamCart: What are SamCart's transaction fees?

SamCart charges a transaction fee of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction on all payments processed through the platform.

Source
Braintree: What does it actually cost?

A percentage plus a fixed fee per transaction on standard accounts, with interchange-plus available at volume. Add cross-border and currency conversion charges, plus a fee per chargeback, before comparing.

SamCart: Does SamCart offer a free trial?

Yes, SamCart offers a 7-day free trial available for both the CORE and PRO plans, allowing customers to test the platform before committing to a subscription.

Source
Braintree: How hard is it to switch away later?

Harder than most merchants expect. The vault export to another compliant processor is possible but every stored card and subscription has to be re-tokenised and tested.

SamCart: Does SamCart offer migration services from other platforms?

Yes, SamCart offers done-for-you migration services for customers switching from Kajabi, ThriveCart, ClickFunnels, Shopify, and Teachable. Specific pricing for migration services is not listed on the main page.

Source
Braintree: Can PayPal hold my money?

Reserves and holds are a documented part of PayPal's risk management. Ask about reserve policy for your category and volume before you migrate revenue onto it.

Share

Related pages

More on Braintree

More on SamCart

Keep looking

Other head to heads