Editorially reviewed by Carlos Gil. Prices checked on vendor pricing pages on 2026-10-08. This page contains one affiliate link (LearnWorlds), labeled where it appears. How we make money.
Kajabi Basic costs $143 a month billed annually, or $179 month to month, and that gets you 5 products, 1 community, 1 website and 2,500 contacts. Growth is $199 annual / $249 monthly and Pro is $399 / $499. If you're shopping for an alternative, the honest answer is that most of them are cheaper on the sticker and some of them are more expensive once their transaction fees kick in. The table below prices all nine at the same $5,000 a month in sales so you can see which is which.
Short version:
- Cheapest for a paid community: Skool Pro or Stan, if you can live without Kajabi's email tool.
- Best for structured courses: Thinkific or LearnWorlds.
- Best like-for-like replacement: Podia (it also bundles email, site and community).
- Avoid at $5k/month: any plan that takes a 5% to 10% cut on top of processing (Skool Hobby, Teachable Starter, Podia Mover). They're cheap only while revenue is small.
Why creators leave Kajabi
The entry price. $143 a month is the floor, billed a year at a time ($1,716). Monthly billing is $179. Kajabi's own FAQ says Basic is for people who "haven't sold anything yet," which is a lot to pay before your first sale. Its 14-day free trial, per the pricing page, converts to Growth Monthly at $249 unless you cancel or pick another plan.
Paying for parts you don't use. Kajabi's pitch, from its own pricing FAQ, is that it's the email tool, the website, the community and the checkout in one. That's a good deal if you use all four. If you already send email from Kit or beehiiv and your site lives somewhere else, you're paying for duplicates.
Limits that push you up a tier. Basic caps you at 5 products and 2,500 contacts, and AI credits start on Growth (500 a month). Extra contacts come in blocks of 25,000 for $125 a month, per Kajabi's FAQ. The jump from Basic to Growth is $56 a month on annual billing.
Community that isn't the main event. Kajabi includes one community on Basic and Growth (three on Pro). Creators whose product is really the community often find purpose-built tools like Skool or Circle a better fit for daily engagement.
What Kajabi does well, and why staying can be right: it takes no revenue share on sales (you pay card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 on Kajabi Payments in the US, lower on higher plans), and your email, pages and checkout share one contact record.
The nine alternatives
1. Skool: best for a paid community with courses attached
Skool is a community feed, a course classroom, a calendar and gamification (points, levels, leaderboards) in one simple product. There are two plans: Hobby at $9/month with a 10% + $0.30 transaction fee, and Pro at $99/month with 2.9% + $0.30 (3.9% + $0.30 on charges of $900 or more), according to Skool's pricing page and subscriptions FAQ. Skool is the merchant of record and pays out weekly.
- Pick it if your members pay for access to you and each other, and you want one login for feed, classroom and calls.
- Skip it if you need email marketing, sales pages or funnels. Skool has none of those, and Zapier is Pro-only.
- Portability watch-out: you can't connect your own Stripe account; billing runs through Skool. Members can be exported from the Members tab, but paying subscriptions don't move with you.
- vs Kajabi: cheaper and more social on Pro; no email, no website.
2. Circle: best for a branded community with room to grow
Circle is a community platform with courses, events, live streams and paywalls. Professional is $89/month billed annually or $99 monthly, Business is $199 / $219, and Circle charges a transaction fee of 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale, and 0.5% on Circle Plus, on top of Stripe's fees. Custom domain, courses, Zapier and bulk import/export are on every plan, and there's a 14-day trial with no card. Email is an add-on (Email Hub, $99/month per 10,000 contacts).
- Pick it if you want a polished community under your own domain with more structure than Skool.
- Skip it if you want email included; Circle's add-on costs real money.
- vs Kajabi: better community, weaker marketing, similar total cost once fees are in.
For the three-way breakdown, see Skool vs Circle vs Kajabi.
3. Thinkific: best pure course platform for the money
Thinkific review · thinkific.com
Thinkific has no free plan; it offers a 30-day free trial. Basic is $40/month billed annually ($54 monthly), Start is $82 / $109 and Grow is $164 / $219. Thinkific Payments is priced at 2.9% per its pricing page; if you use Stripe or PayPal directly, Thinkific adds a third-party gateway fee that varies by plan and isn't listed on the pricing page.
- Pick it if courses are the product: lessons, quizzes, certificates and student progress matter more than funnels.
- Skip it if you rely on Kajabi's built-in email and funnels. You'll need an email tool.
- vs Kajabi: stronger course delivery, much cheaper entry, bring your own email.
4. Teachable: closest familiar course store
Teachable review · teachable.com
Starter is $29/month billed annually ($39 monthly) with a 7.5% transaction fee and 5 products. Builder is $69 / $89 with 0% transaction fees and 10 products; Growth is $139 / $189 with 50 products. Teachable offers a 7-day free trial and a 30-day guarantee.
- Pick it if you want a straightforward hosted course and digital-product store and you're past a few hundred dollars a month (so Builder's 0% fee is worth it).
- Skip it if you're on Starter and selling well. At $5,000/month, 7.5% is $375 a month in fees.
- vs Kajabi: similar shape, lower entry, watch the Starter fee.
5. LearnWorlds: best for interactive courses and academies
LearnWorlds review · Try LearnWorldsAFFILIATE (affiliate link)
Starter is $24/month billed annually ($29 monthly) plus $5 per paid enrollment. Pro Trainer is $79 / $99 with no enrollment fees and adds subscriptions, memberships and payment plans; Learning Center is $249 / $299 and adds full white-label. Every plan has a 30-day free trial, video hosting, a built-in community and selling on your own domain. You connect your own Stripe or PayPal, per LearnWorlds' pricing page.
- Pick it if you sell training that needs interactive video, assessments, certificates or SCORM, or you're building a branded academy.
- Skip it if you sell a membership on Starter: subscriptions start on Pro Trainer, and the $5 enrollment fee adds up on volume.
- vs Kajabi: deeper learning tools, your own payment processor, less marketing automation.
6. Podia: closest all-in-one to Kajabi at a lower price
Podia bundles a website, online store, community and email. Mover is $42/month billed annually ($49 monthly) with a 5% transaction fee, Shaker is $84 / $99 with no Podia fee, and Earthquaker is $150 / $179. Email is included up to 100, 500 or 1,000 subscribers depending on plan, with more available as an add-on. Stripe or PayPal charge their own processing (2.9% + $0.30 in the US, per Podia's FAQ). 14-day free trial.
- Pick it if you like Kajabi's one-login model but not its price.
- Skip it if your list is large; Podia's included email is small and you'll pay for more.
- Migration note: Podia's FAQ says it will migrate up to 50 products on Mover and 150 on Shaker and Earthquaker, including course content, downloads, customer emails and free community and membership subscribers. Paid subscriptions aren't on that list.
- vs Kajabi: same idea, smaller email allowance, about 40% cheaper on the comparable plan.
7. Stan: best for selling from your link in bio
Stan review · stan.store · Kajabi vs Stan
Stan is a link-in-bio storefront that sells courses, digital products, coaching calls and memberships. Creator is $29/month or $300/year; Creator Pro is $99/month or $948/year, with a 14-day trial. Stan says it charges 0% transaction fees; Stripe or PayPal processing still applies. Upsells, order bumps and payment plans are Creator Pro features, per Stan's pricing page.
- Pick it if most of your buyers come from Instagram or TikTok and you want a mobile-first checkout.
- Skip it if you need a full course player with quizzes or a website with SEO pages.
- vs Kajabi: a fraction of the price, built for social traffic, much less depth.
8. Whop: best for selling access with no monthly fee
Whop review · whop.com · Gumroad vs Whop
Whop has no subscription plan. Its fee documentation lists 2.7% + $0.30 per domestic card sale (+1.5% for international cards, +1% if currency conversion applies), ACH at 1.5% capped at $5, optional add-ons (0.8% payment orchestration, 0.5% billing automation, 2% when Whop collects and remits tax), and payout fees such as $2.50 for next-day ACH.
- Pick it if you sell Discord or Telegram access, a signal group, software or a community and want zero fixed cost.
- Skip it if you need a structured course with progress tracking and an email platform in one place.
- vs Kajabi: no monthly fee, lower card rate, far less course and marketing tooling.
9. Mighty Networks: best for a community-plus-courses brand with an app
Mighty Networks review · mightynetworks.com
Launch is $79/month billed annually ($950/year), Scale is $179 and Growth is $354 per month billed annually. Transaction fees are 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale and 0.5% on Growth and above, plus processing. Branded apps come through Mighty Pro (quoted). The monthly-billing prices weren't shown on the page we checked, so we only list annual.
- Pick it if you want courses, events and community under one brand and may want your own app later.
- Skip it if you want the lowest fixed cost; Launch is close to Kajabi Basic before fees.
- vs Kajabi: stronger community, branded-app path, weaker email and funnels.
What each option costs at $5,000 a month
Example. Assumptions: $5,000 a month in sales from 100 charges of $50 (for instance 100 members at $50/month); all US cards; the cheapest plan that can sell a recurring membership; annual billing where offered, shown as a monthly figure; card processing at 2.9% + $0.30 per charge where the platform passes processing through ($175 a month on these numbers). No refunds, disputes, taxes, payout fees or add-ons. Email costs for platforms without email are not included (see the next section).
| Platform and plan | Plan fee | Platform transaction fee | Processing | Monthly total | Email included? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kajabi Basic | $143 | $0 | $175 | $318 | Yes (2,500 contacts) |
| Skool Hobby | $9 | 10% + $0.30, processing included: $530 | included | $539 | No |
| Skool Pro (monthly price; annual not shown) | $99 | none beyond 2.9% + $0.30 | $175 | $274 | No |
| Circle Professional | $89 | 2%: $100 | $175 + $35 Stripe Billing* | $399 | Add-on |
| Teachable Starter | $29 | 7.5%: $375 | $175** | $579 | Basic |
| Teachable Builder | $69 | 0% | $175** | $244 | Basic |
| Thinkific Basic | $40 | 0% on Thinkific Payments | $175*** | $215 | No |
| LearnWorlds Pro Trainer | $79 | 0% | $175 | $254 | No |
| Podia Mover | $42 | 5%: $250 | $175 | $467 | Yes (100 subscribers) |
| Podia Shaker | $84 | 0% | $175 | $259 | Yes (500 subscribers) |
| Stan Creator | $25 ($300/yr) | 0% | $175 | $200 | Pro plan only |
| Whop | $0 | none beyond card rate | $165 (2.7% + $0.30) | $165 + payout fees | No |
| Mighty Networks Launch | $79 | 2%: $100 | $175 | $354 | No |
* Circle's help center gives an example that adds Stripe Billing at 0.7% for recurring payments; we included it. Remove it for one-time sales.
** Teachable's processing rate wasn't confirmed on its pricing page; 2.9% + $0.30 is assumed.
*** Thinkific lists Thinkific Payments at 2.9%; the $0.30 per charge is our assumption.
What the table says: at $5,000 a month, Kajabi Basic is mid-pack, not the most expensive. The plans that look cheapest on a pricing page (Skool Hobby at $9, Teachable Starter at $29, Podia Mover at $42) are the most expensive here because they take a percentage. The cheapest options (Whop, Stan, Thinkific Basic) all require you to add your own email tool, and that can close most of the gap.
What you lose leaving Kajabi
Kajabi is several products sharing one contact list. When you leave, each one needs a replacement, or you decide you didn't need it.
| Kajabi piece | What it does for you | What replaces it |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing email | Unlimited broadcasts and sequences to your contacts (2,500 on Basic) | A dedicated email platform such as Kit, MailerLite or beehiiv. Our sister site BestSends compares them. Podia includes a small allowance; Stan includes email on Creator Pro. |
| Landing pages, funnels and website | Sales pages, opt-in pages and a site on your domain | Your course platform's page builder (Thinkific, Teachable, LearnWorlds and Podia all have one), or your own site. Skool, Circle and Whop are much lighter here. |
| Community | 1 community (3 on Pro) inside the same login | Skool, Circle or Mighty Networks if community is the product; the built-in communities in Thinkific, LearnWorlds and Podia if it's a bonus. |
| Checkout and payments | Kajabi Payments with no revenue share; affiliate programs | Each platform's checkout. Check the transaction fee row above before you pick a plan. |
| Automations and one contact record | Tags, purchases and email behavior in one place | Zapier or native integrations between your course platform and email tool. This is the part that breaks most often in a two-tool stack, so test purchase-to-tag before you launch. |
| Branded mobile app (Pro) | Your own app in the app stores | Mighty Pro or Circle Plus (both quoted). Most others offer a shared student app, not a branded one. |
If you use three or more of these rows every week, Kajabi's bundle is probably doing its job. If you only use courses and checkout, you're the person this page is for.
Migration and portability
What you can take with you, and what you can't:
- Contacts: Kajabi lets you export contacts to CSV; Kajabi's help center says the download link is emailed and stays valid for three days. Export before you cancel.
- Course content: plan to re-upload videos and rebuild modules. No platform we checked imports a Kajabi course in one step. Podia's migration service covers course files and text for a set number of products, and Teachable's Growth plan lists imported students.
- Paying subscribers: this is the hard part. We found no Kajabi documentation on moving Kajabi Payments subscriptions to another processor. The usual approach is to stop new sales on Kajabi, sell on the new platform, then ask existing members to re-subscribe before a set cutover date. Expect some churn.
- Lock-in on the way in: Skool doesn't let you use your own Stripe account, so moving off Skool later means the same re-subscribe problem. LearnWorlds and Podia use your own Stripe or PayPal, which makes the billing relationship more yours. Circle runs payments through Stripe with its fee applied on top.
Our house rule: choose the platform where your email list and payment relationship stay under your control. That's the part of the business you can't rebuild.
Should you actually switch?
Stay on Kajabi if your email, pages, courses and community are wired together and converting, or if you're on Growth or Pro and genuinely use the extra products, contacts and admins. A cheaper platform plus a separate email tool rarely saves enough to justify a migration that risks paying members.
Switch if you can name two Kajabi features you never open. The common winning setup is a course or community platform plus an email tool you choose yourself. If you haven't sold anything yet, Kajabi's own advice puts you on Basic at $143/month; a $25 to $40/month platform is a cheaper way to test whether the offer sells.
What would change our recommendation: Kajabi cutting Basic's price or raising the 5-product cap, or a competitor adding a no-revenue-share plan with real email built in.
How we review: methodology. Scores and rankings are editorial; commissions don't change them.
- How much does Kajabi cost in 2026?
Basic is $143/month billed annually or $179 monthly, Growth is $199 or $249, and Pro is $399 or $499, per Kajabi's pricing page. Kajabi takes no revenue share; Kajabi Payments processing in the US is 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% on Growth and 2.7% on Pro, and third-party processors add a 2%, 1% or 0.5% fee by plan.
- What is the cheapest Kajabi alternative?
On fixed cost, Whop, because it has no monthly plan. Among platforms with a monthly fee, Stan Creator ($300/year) and Thinkific Basic ($40/month billed annually) were cheapest in our $5,000/month example. Add the cost of an email tool for a fair comparison.
- Is Skool cheaper than Kajabi?
On Pro, yes: $99/month plus 2.9% + $0.30 per charge came to about $274/month in our example versus $318 for Kajabi Basic. On Hobby, no: the 10% fee made it about $539. Skool also has no email or website. See Skool vs Circle vs Kajabi.
- Which Kajabi alternative is best for courses?
Thinkific for straightforward courses at a low entry price; LearnWorlds if you need interactive video, assessments or a branded academy.
- Can I move my Kajabi courses and members?
Contacts export to CSV and content can be rebuilt. Paying subscriptions generally don't transfer between platforms, so most creators ask members to re-subscribe on the new platform before a cutover date.
SOURCES (CHECKED OCT 10, 2026)
| Claim | Source URL | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Kajabi Basic $143 annual / $179 monthly; Growth $199 / $249; Pro $399 / $499; "Save 20%" | https://kajabi.com/pricing | 2026-10-08 |
| Kajabi limits: products 5/50/unlimited; communities 1/1/3; websites 1/1/3; contacts 2,500/25,000/100,000; admins 2/11/26; AI credits 0/500/1,000; branded app and API on Pro | https://kajabi.com/pricing (compare table) | 2026-10-08 |
| Kajabi Payments 2.9%/2.8%/2.7% + $0.30 (US); third-party processor fee 2%/1%/0.5% | https://kajabi.com/pricing | 2026-10-08 |
| Kajabi FAQ: Basic "if you haven't sold anything yet"; "takes no cut of your sales"; contacts blocks 25,000 for $125/month | https://kajabi.com/pricing (FAQ / JSON-LD) | 2026-10-08 |
| Kajabi 14-day trial converts to Growth Monthly at $249 unless cancelled | https://kajabi.com/pricing (JSON-LD offer description) | 2026-10-08 |
| Kajabi 30-day money-back guarantee | https://kajabi.com/pricing (per 2026-10-07 check in content/compare-skool-vs-circle-vs-kajabi-NEW.md) | 2026-10-07 |
| Kajabi contacts CSV export, link valid 3 days | https://help.kajabi.com/en/articles/12695419-how-to-export-your-contacts (via search index, per prior record) | 2026-10-07 |
| Skool Hobby $9 + 10%; Pro $99 + 2.9%; 14-day trial | https://www.skool.com/pricing | 2026-10-08 |
| Skool 3.9% + $0.30 above $900; merchant of record; can't use own Stripe; weekly payouts | https://help.skool.com/article/86-subscriptions-faq (prior record) | 2026-10-07 |
| Skool member export, Zapier Pro-only | https://help.skool.com/article/148-where-can-i-find-members-answers-to-membership-questions ; https://help.skool.com/article/56-zapier-integration (prior record) | 2026-10-07 |
| Circle Professional $99 / $89; Business $219 / $199; fees 2/1/1/0.5% | https://circle.so/pricing | 2026-10-08 |
| Circle 14-day trial, custom domain, courses, Zapier, bulk import/export on all plans, Email Hub $99/mo per 10k | https://circle.so/pricing (prior record) | 2026-10-07 |
| Circle fee example including 0.7% Stripe Billing | https://help.circle.so/p/payments/paywall-setup/paywall-transaction-fees (search index, prior record) | 2026-10-07 |
| Thinkific Basic $54/$40, Start $109/$82, Grow $219/$164; no free plan, 30-day trial; Thinkific Payments 2.9%; third-party gateway fee varies by plan | https://www.thinkific.com/pricing/ | 2026-10-08 |
| Teachable Starter $39/$29 + 7.5%; Builder $89/$69 0%; Growth $189/$139 0%; product counts; 7-day trial, 30-day guarantee; imported students on Growth | https://www.teachable.com/pricing | 2026-10-08 |
| LearnWorlds Starter $24 annual / $29 monthly + $5 per paid enrollment; Pro Trainer $79 / $99; Learning Center $249 / $299; subscriptions from Pro Trainer; own Stripe/PayPal; 30-day trial | https://www.learnworlds.com/pricing/ | 2026-10-08 |
| Podia Mover $42/$49 + 5%; Shaker $84/$99; Earthquaker $150/$179; email 100/500/1,000; processor 2.9% + 30c; 14-day trial; migration scope | https://www.podia.com/pricing (JSON-LD + FAQ) | 2026-10-08 |
| Stan Creator $29/mo or $300/yr; Creator Pro $99/mo or $948/yr; 0% transaction fees; 14-day trial; upsells/payment plans on Pro | https://stan.store/blog/stan-store-pricing/ (Stan's official blog, updated 2026-07-22) | 2026-10-08 |
| Whop 2.7% + $0.30; +1.5% intl; +1% FX; ACH 1.5% max $5; add-ons 0.8/0.5/2%; payout $2.50 next-day ACH | https://docs.whop.com/fees | 2026-10-08 |
| Mighty Networks Launch $79, Scale $179, Growth $354 per month (annual); Launch $950/yr; fees 2/1/0.5/0.5% | https://www.mightynetworks.com/pricing | 2026-10-08 |
| Example math | Derived: 100 charges x $50; processing 100 x (2.9% x $50 + $0.30) = $175; Skool Hobby 100 x (10% x $50 + $0.30) = $530; Whop 100 x ($1.35 + $0.30) = $165; plan fees as listed | 2026-10-08 |