Content creators, today, get unprecedented opportunities to monetize their knowledge and skills. As a result, the market for all-in-one platforms has become saturated, presenting a daunting challenge for entrepreneurs.
At the forefront of this market stands Kajabi, a platform that has become the benchmark for its comprehensive, all-in-one approach to selling online courses and digital products.
In this blog, we will identify and evaluate the leading alternatives to Kajabi that align most closely with a creator's unique business model and long-term goals.
The Kajabi Ecosystem: Benefits and Limitations
Kajabi’s prominence in the market is built on its core value proposition: a unified, all-in-one ecosystem that simplifies the process of building, marketing, and selling digital products.
This platform bundles essential business tools, including a website builder, online course creation, email marketing, and payment processing, into a single, cohesive system.
The platform also offers powerful marketing automation, such as pre-built funnels and a system for tagging contacts based on their behavior, which is a significant draw for marketers.
Furthermore, Kajabi provides a superior user experience for students. Its polished, professional learning environment, complemented by a native mobile app for on-the-go access, makes it easy for students to consume content.
The platform also includes built-in features like quizzes, surveys, and course certificates, which enhance the educational value and elevate the overall student experience.
Despite these strengths, the most common reason creators seek alternatives is Kajabi’s significant cost. With plans starting at $89 per month for a basic Kickstarter plan and climbing to $399 per month for a Pro plan, the platform represents a substantial financial commitment.
Its funnel builder, while functional, is not as robust or customizable as other competitors. Similarly, its checkout process is less flexible.
Kajabi is heavily tailored to a very specific business model: the online course creator or knowledge entrepreneur.
It is not the ideal solution for creative professionals whose primary business revolves around different activities, such as a photographer selling physical prints or a designer managing client proofing galleries.
In these cases, the user would be paying for a sophisticated course builder and marketing automations they do not need, making the platform a misaligned and expensive choice.
The Top Alternatives to Kajabi for Creative Professionals
1. Pixpa: Best Overall for Creatives and Small Businesses
Ideal for: Photographers, artists, graphic designers, and other visual creators who want to build a professional portfolio, an online store, and a blog in one unified platform.
Pricing: Pixpa offers uniquely affordable and flexible plans compared to Kajabi, with monthly subscriptions ranging from $6 to $25 per month.
All plans are all-inclusive and operate on a zero-commission model, meaning creators keep 100% of the revenue from their sales.
The platform provides a 15-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing creators to test it without risk.
Pixpa is a no-code, drag-and-drop website builder designed to be the all-in-one solution for visual-first creators.
Its strategic advantage over Kajabi is its dedicated focus on features essential for this audience, such as a stunning portfolio website builder, integrated online stores for selling physical and digital products, and advanced client gallery tools for sharing, proofing, and selling images.
This contrasts directly with Kajabi's emphasis on online courses and complex marketing funnels.
Pros:
- The platform provides a complete ecosystem for visual creatives, including a portfolio, online store, blog, and client galleries, eliminating the need for separate tools.
- A significant financial advantage is the platform's policy of charging no commission on sales, allowing creators to maximize their profits.
- The no-code, drag-and-drop builder and customizable templates make website creation simple and accessible for non-technical users.
- Pixpa offers a highly cost-effective solution with a free trial and a money-back guarantee, providing peace of mind to new users.
- The platform provides 24/7 live chat and email support from a team of real people, ensuring help is always available.
Cons:
- No free plan availabl, but a 15-day free trial gives you full access to it premium features to try out before committing to a paid plan.
2. Thinkific: Best for Educators
Ideal for: Educators and creators who want a robust, education-first platform with powerful course creation tools and built-in marketing features.
Pricing: Thinkific offers a free plan to get started, with paid plans that are more affordable than Kajabi's, starting at $36 per month when billed annually.
Thinkific's approach is centered on high-quality course creation and a superior student experience. Unlike Kajabi, which is a marketer-centric all-in-one, Thinkific is an education-centric all-in-one.
It offers detailed course creation tools, including live lessons, quizzes, assignments, and drip content, which can be easily arranged with its drag-and-drop builder.
Pros:
- Features a multimedia course builder that supports a wide range of content formats and educational tools.
- The platform prioritizes the student experience, offering detailed progress tracking and certificates of completion.
- Includes native email marketing and automation, reducing the need for external tools.
- Courses are optimized for a smooth mobile experience.
- Supports various payment options, including memberships, subscriptions, and payment plans.
Cons:
- May not have the same level of advanced marketing automation.
- Its website builder may not offer the same design flexibility as dedicated builders.
- While it has a free plan, it has limited features.
3. Podia: Best for Solo Creators and Beginners
Ideal for: Solo creators and beginners on a tight budget who need a simple, user-friendly, all-in-one solution for selling courses, digital products, and memberships.
Pricing: Podia offers a free plan with a 5% transaction fee, with paid plans that are significantly more affordable than Kajabi's, starting at $33 per month when billed annually. The paid plans offer unlimited products and zero transaction fees on higher tiers.
Podia is designed for simplicity and ease of use, making it ideal for non-technical users who want to get their business online quickly.
It quietly evolved into a serious contender to Kajabi by offering a comprehensive suite of tools for selling courses, digital downloads, coaching, and memberships from a single, clean dashboard.
Pros:
- Offers a free plan and lower-cost paid plans, providing excellent value for money, especially for those just starting out.
- Includes unlimited courses, customers, emails, and products on its paid plans.
- Has a simple, intuitive interface and a clean website builder that requires no coding or design experience.
- On paid plans, Podia does not take a percentage of sales, a key advantage over some competitors.
- Provides free migration of products, customers, and emails from other platforms.
Cons:
- Lacks a public marketplace for organic traffic, so creators must drive their own traffic to their site.
- The community features are basic.
- The course builder is more basic and may not be suitable for complex, interactive courses.
4. Teachable: Best for Simple Online Courses
Ideal for: Beginners and content creators who want to launch simple courses and digital products quickly without technical hassles.
Pricing: Teachable offers a free plan with a 10% transaction fee and a $1 per transaction charge on course sales. The Starter plan is $29 per month with a 7.5% transaction fee, and the Builder plan, which has no transaction fees, is $69 per month.
Teachable is praised for its straightforward approach and simplicity. It focuses on the core functionality of creating and selling courses, handling payment, and taxes for creators.
The platform is designed to get a course online with minimal setup and a clean, professional look without needing a designer or code.
Pros:
- The platform is known for its user-friendly interface, which makes it easy to set up and launch a course.
- Teachable manages automatic tax processing and payments, including VAT and GST, in over 200 countries.
- All plans allow for the creation of unlimited courses, coaching, and digital downloads, with unlimited student enrollment.
- Offers basic marketing features like upsells, coupons, and email marketing.
- Students can access course content via a mobile app, enhancing the learning experience.
Cons:
- The free and lower-tier paid plans have transaction fees, which can eat into profits.
- The website builder and email marketing tools are considered basic.
- Advanced customization options for the site may require technical expertise.
5. LearnWorlds: Best for Interactive Learning
Ideal for: Educators and academic institutions that need to create highly interactive, structured, and engaging learning experiences with advanced learning tools and analytics.
Pricing: LearnWorlds offers a 30-day free trial. The Starter plan is $24 per month with a $5 transaction fee per course enrollment. Paid plans with no transaction fees start at $79 per month.
LearnWorlds is positioned as a platform for serious creators who prioritize the quality of the learning experience.
It stands out with unique features like interactive videos, SCORM compliance, and the ability to create a branded mobile app for iOS and Android, making it ideal for academic or corporate training.
Pros:
- Supports interactive videos, note-taking features, and a wide variety of assessments and quizzes.
- Provides greater flexibility to deliver standards-compliant content and switch platforms if needed.
- The ability to create a custom mobile app provides a professional and integrated learning experience.
- Offers in-depth analytics on student engagement, video consumption, and course completion.
- The platform allows for extensive customization of the course player and website design.
Cons:
- The Starter plan has a significant per-sale transaction fee.
- Has a steeper learning curve.
- Its email marketing capabilities are not as powerful as Kajabi's.
6. Systeme.io: Best for Budget-Friendly Funnel Builder
Ideal for: Budget-conscious entrepreneurs and marketers who need a comprehensive set of digital business tools, with a strong emphasis on sales funnels and email marketing.
Pricing: Systeme.io offers a "forever free" plan with a limited number of contacts, funnels, and emails. Paid plans are exceptionally affordable, starting at $27 per month for the Startup plan.
Systeme.io is a direct competitor to Kajabi, offering a similar all-in-one suite but at a fraction of the cost. Its main strength lies in its powerful and flexible sales funnel builder, which is a core component of the platform and more advanced than Kajabi's.
The platform also excels at selling various products, including physical goods and services, not just digital ones.
Pros:
- Offers a free plan and highly competitive pricing, making it accessible to anyone.
- Provides a more powerful and flexible visual workflow builder for sales funnels and email sequences than Kajabi.
- Supports the sale of physical products, services, and digital downloads in addition to courses.
- Includes a feature for automated affiliate commission payouts, which is a major time-saver.
- The drag-and-drop editor for pages and funnels is simple and user-friendly.
Cons:
- The course builder is considered basic, with limited customization and quiz options.
- The platform lacks a native community feature.
- Email customization is limited, and templates can appear dated.
7. Circle: Best for Community-Driven Solution
Ideal for: Creators and businesses who want to build a paid online community as the central focus of their business and sell courses and content within that community.
Pricing: Circle offers a 14-day free trial on all plans. The professional plan starts at $89 per month when billed annually, and the Courses plan is $99 per month.
While Kajabi includes a community feature as a supplement to its course offerings, Circle is fundamentally a community platform first.
It is designed to be a hub for discussions, live events, and exclusive content, with course creation as a built-in feature. This model is ideal for those who believe community engagement is the primary driver of their business.
Pros:
- The platform is purpose-built to foster community, with features like discussion boards, live events, and a member directory.
- Courses and content are seamlessly integrated into the community experience, which can increase engagement.
- Offers gamification features like leaderboards, streaks, and badges to encourage interaction.
- Allows for paid memberships and one-time purchases, providing multiple revenue streams.
- Provides mobile apps for iOS and Android, ensuring members can stay connected on the go.
Cons:
- The course assessment tools are limited compared to dedicated learning platforms.
- The platform is subscription-only and has transaction fees on lower tiers.
- It is not a comprehensive all-in-one platform for marketing funnels and email automation.
8. Mighty Networks: Best for Social Learning Experience
Ideal for: Creators and organizations that want to build a social learning experience with a strong emphasis on community, courses, and gamification.
Pricing: Mighty Networks offers a 14-day free trial. The Community plan is $41 per month, and the Courses plan is $99 per month when billed annually. The Growth plan is $360 per month.
Mighty Networks combines community features with a course builder to create a holistic learning hub. It is differentiated by its focus on social learning, which is facilitated through live events, chat spaces, and activity feeds. The platform’s gamification features are a key component of its approach to engagement.
Pros:
- The platform is specifically designed to combine a robust community with courses and events, fostering a social learning environment.
- Supports one-time payments, subscriptions, and memberships, offering a variety of ways to monetize content and community.
- Features like leaderboards, streaks, and badges gamify the learning experience, encouraging student participation.
- All plans include unlimited members, spaces, and administrators, allowing for easy scalability.
- Has native mobile apps for iOS and Android, which is a key feature for member engagement.
Cons:
- Transaction fees apply to the lower-tier plans.
- The platform is not as robust for complex course assessment tools.
- Live-streaming capacity and features are limited on lower-tier plans.
9. ClickFunnels 2.0: Best for Marketers for Sales Funnels
Ideal for: Marketers and entrepreneurs who prioritize building powerful, high-converting sales funnels for high-ticket offers, physical products, or services.
Pricing: ClickFunnels 2.0 offers a free trial but no free plan. The Launch plan is $81 per month, and the Scale plan is $164 per month when billed annually.
ClickFunnels is a marketing platform first and a course platform second. Its primary focus is on building "value ladders" and automated sales funnels to guide potential customers through a conversion journey.
While it has recently added course features, its core strength remains in its powerful funnel builder and marketing automation.
Pros:
- Its visual funnel builder and customizable checkout pages are more powerful and flexible than Kajabi's.
- The platform is built specifically for marketing and sales, offering advanced features like A/B testing, countdown funnels, and a vast library of templates.
- Ideal for selling a wide range of products beyond courses, including e-commerce goods and services.
Offers a wider range of third-party integrations than Kajabi. - The platform does not charge a percentage of sales.
Cons:
- The course platform is basic and lacks advanced LMS features.
- It does not have a native community feature or a mobile app.
- The user interface can be more complex and have a steeper learning curve for beginners.
10. Kartra: Best for Advanced Marketing Automation
Ideal for: Experienced marketers and agencies who need powerful marketing automation, email sequences, and a CRM to scale their business.
Pricing: Kartra's pricing is higher than many alternatives, starting at $83 per month when billed annually.
Kartra is a robust, all-in-one marketing automation powerhouse designed for marketers who want deep control over their sales funnels and customer relationships.
While it has a built-in course feature, its primary strength is its advanced email marketing, lead tagging, and behavioral automation.
Pros:
- Offers advanced "IF and THEN" marketing automation sequences and a visual funnel mapper to plan complex campaigns.
- Provides in-depth analytics on sales funnels, email engagement, and lead behavior.
- Supports a variety of monetization methods and product types.
- Features like white-labeling and advanced user management make it ideal for agencies handling multiple clients.
- Includes robust A/B testing functionality to optimize pages and marketing assets.
Cons:
- The course creation features are basic.
- It does not have a native community feature or a mobile app for students.
- The user interface can be complex and overwhelming for beginners due to the platform's feature richness.
How We Evaluated Kajabi Alternatives
Pricing & Monetization: The evaluation considered more than just the advertised monthly price. The entire pricing model was analyzed, including the presence of free plans and transaction fees. This approach helps determine the platform's long-term financial viability for a creator.
Feature Depth & Specialization: Instead of simply checking if a platform has a certain feature, the analysis assessed the quality and depth of its core functionality. For a course platform, this means evaluating the robustness of its learning management system, while for a marketing tool, it means scrutinizing the power of its funnel builder.
Ease of Use & Support: The user experience was a key criterion. This includes the learning curve required to get started, the design of the user interface, and the availability and quality of customer support, whether through documentation, live chat, or email.
Scalability & Integrations: The assessment considered how well a platform can grow with a business, including limits on products, contacts, and students, and its ability to connect with other essential tools and services through integrations or APIs.
Conclusion
The search for the "best" Kajabi alternative is a strategic decision based on the creator's unique business model, financial goals, and desired growth path.
By making a deliberate choice that aligns with their core business model, creators can avoid the paradox of the all-in-one and select a tool that will truly push their creative journey.
