Kajabi is one of the priciest online course platforms out there, which is what initially turned me away from it.
But after having my online course stolen off Thinklific, I decided to give it a try and see if it’s worth the high price tag.
I was pleasantly surprised by the abundant features Kabaji offered and the immense value it provided for my course distribution and marketing.
Here, I’ll share the ins outs of my experience. I’ll review the pros and cons of the platform and compare it to the other top online course platforms so you can determine if it’s worth the money.
Best All-in-One Course Platform
- Intuitive marketing tools to help promote and sell your course.
- No need to pay extra for email marketing, sales funnel builder, or marketing automations (all included).
- Great for selling big ticket courses.
Table of Contents
- Key Takeaways – Our Thoughts
- Kajabi Pros and Cons Video
- Kajabi Review – The Good & Bad
- What is Kajabi?
- Kajabi Pricing
- Kajabi Plans
- Recognizable Kajabi Customers
- Is Kajabi Worth the Money?
- Kajabi AI
- Kajabi Communities Overview
- Kajabi and Vibely
- Kajabi Website Case Studies
- Alternatives to Kajabi
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
We offer this website completely free to our visitors. To help pay the bills, we’ll often (but not always) set up affiliate relationships with the top providers after selecting our favorites. However, we do our best not to let this impact our choices. There are plenty of high-paying companies we’ve turned down because we didn’t like their product.
An added benefit of our relationships is that we always try to negotiate exclusive discounts for our visitors.
Key Takeaways – Our Thoughts
- Kajabi is a comprehensive platform for online course creation, marketing, and sales. It includes integrated tools like email marketing and sales funnels.
- It offers three pricing tiers (Basic, Growth, Pro) ranging from $149 to $399 per month.
- Kajabi's higher cost is offset by its all-in-one functionality, reducing the need for additional third-party tools.
- Alternatives such as Thinkific, Learndash, Teachable, Podia, and Udemy cater to diverse needs, from beginners to those seeking marketplace exposure.
Kajabi Pros and Cons Video
Kajabi Review – The Good & Bad
Pros
- Built-in email marketing tools so there’s no need to integrate a 3rd party email provider.
- Built-in sales funnel software (aka The Sales Pipeline Builder) that lets you create several types of marketing funnels to drive customer sales.
- Marketing automations that allow you to trigger emails or course offers based on things like course completion or inactivity.
- Ability to customize. You can match the look and feel of your business or website.
- You are able to choose from a large set of professionally designed, customizable themes.
- Great digital coaching platform for interactive sessions.
- Custom domain. While Kajabi will host your course, you can set the domain to make it appear as part of your website.
- You can engage with your students through a built-in Community platform (similar to a forum). You can also offer this as an upsell and even charge for it.
- You can offer students payment options like a monthly payment plan for more expensive courses.
- You can offer a monthly recurring subscription for ongoing access to a course in a membership model.
- The Kajabi marketplace offers a way for users to discover your course organically.
- Having AI help you outline and even create lessons for the course helps alleviate the complexity of creating an online course.
- Completion certificates are now available without needing to use a 3rd party provider.
Cons
- There is no free option and prices are slightly higher than other platforms (I’ll assess whether the cost is justifiable in the next section).
- The Kajabi course marketplace is small and does not have search functions for students (only a category filter).
What is Kajabi?
Kajabi Features:
- Payment integrations through Stripe and PayPal.
- Market your course through email marketing tools.
- Optimize and scale your online course.
- Fully automated marketing campaigns and funnels
- Built-in analytics tools to let users track their progress and continue to grow
- Create your own websites to store all of your courses and other important information.
- A library of ready-made themes streamlines the website creation process.
- Create a custom domain to ensure that their courses can be found easily and efficiently.
- Course creation tool that lets you create classes, videos, and other forms of digital educational content.
- Webinar funnels through Blueprints to streamline your course-selling business
- Lead generation tools
It’s safe to say that Kajabi isn’t lacking in any features (we haven’t even mentioned the networking and mobile features), making their statement as having everything you need “all in one place” a genuine claim.
What Is Kajabi Used For?
Kajabi is an all-in-one platform primarily used to sell online courses. This business makes it very easy to create, market, and grow online courses, membership sites, and coaching programs. They also provide other tools like a website builder, payment gateway, email marketing, a mobile app, and pre-built templates.
The great thing about Kajabi is that it is very easy to use, and creators do not have to learn any code or have to worry about integrations.
If you need someone to help you design a more complex course or page, check out our guide here >>
What Sets Kajabi Apart From Other Providers?
The two features that set Kajabi part from all other platforms are:
- It is the only all-in-one platform with no need for 3rd party tools
- It has a major focus on sales and marketing tools. This includes its own built-in email management, sales funnel builder, and marketing automation.
Kajabi Pricing
How much does Kajabi cost?
Kajabi has three pricing options ranging from $149-$315 / month. All pricing plans can be purchased annually for a cost savings. Upgrading or downgrading your plan doesn't incur any additional costs and can be done at any time.
There are no hidden Kajabi fees. However, there is a standard Stripe merchant processing fee of 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction.
One of the nice things that Kajabi offers is a money-back guarantee. If for whatever reason you are not satisfied with Kajabi within 30-days of your first payment, you can cancel your subscription and request a refund.
Kajabi Plans
Feature/Plan | Kajabi Basic | Kajabi Growth | Kajabi Pro |
---|---|---|---|
Monthly Cost | $149 (or $119 if billed annually) | $199 (or $159 if billed annually) | $399 (or $319 if billed annually) |
Products | 3 | 15 | 100 |
Pipelines | 3 | 15 | 100 |
Contacts | 10,000 | 25,000 | 100,000 |
Active Members | 1,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
Websites | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Admin Users | 1 | 10 | 25 |
Landing Pages | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Marketing Emails | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Kajabi University | Access Included | Access Included | Access Included |
Webinars & Events | Included | Included | Included |
Ready to Use Templates | Available | Available | Available |
Automation | Basic | Advanced | Advanced |
24/7 Chat Support | Not Available | Available | Available |
Remove Kajabi Branding | Not Available | Available | Available |
Kajabi Basic
The Basic Plan which gives users a total of 3 products and 3 pipelines. Through this plan, clients can use an unlimited number of landing pages and marketing emails. They are limited to 10,000 contacts and 1,000 active members, as well as a single website for one admin user.
The Basic Plan costs $149 a month, or $119 a month if the annual billing plan is selected. Furthermore, users gain access to Kajabi University, webinars, dozens of premade templates, key automation, and more.
Kajabi Growth
The next and most popular plan is the Growth Plan, which ups the number of products and pipelines to 15. Users can gain up to 25,000 contacts as well as 10,000 active members. Though they are restricted to one website, up to 10 admins can be deployed.
The Growth Plan costs $199 a month, or $159 a month if paid through the annual subscription. Users will receive advanced automation, 24/7 chat support, and the ability to remove Kajabi’s name from their domains.
Kajabi Pro
The final plan is the Pro Plan, allowing users up to 100 products and pipelines, 100,000 contacts, 20,000 active members, and 3 websites for 25 admin members.
My pick for the best plan is the Growth plan for $199/month
The Growth Plan comes with comes with integrated email, a sales funnel builder, marketing automation, and affiliate tools to help you sell your course.
Recognizable Kajabi Customers
Kajabi is used by over 25,000 course creators including big names like Amy Porterfield (online marketing expert), Brendan Burchard (personal development coach), and Billy Gene (social media marketing guru).
Kajabi has been accessed by over 33 million students and has generated over $650 million in sales.
Is Kajabi Worth the Money?
Kajabi is worth the money for those seeking an all-in-one platform with robust sales and marketing tools, despite its higher price compared to competitors.
Assuming the basic features of comparable plans are relatively the same, Kajabi offers key extra functions.
Most providers only include just one of the functions below and no one else provides a sales funnel builder. So, if you didn’t use Kajabi, you would need to pay for each of these features separately from a 3rd party and integrate them with your course platform.
Kajabi Cost Analysis |
|||
Kajabi Functionality | 3rd Party | 3rd Party Cost (Low-end) | 3rd Party Cost (High-end) |
Sales Funnel Builder | ClickFunnels | $97/month | $297/month |
Marketing automations | Zapier | $20/month | $120/month |
Email Service Provider | MailChimp | $10/month | $299/month |
Website themes + blog | Bluehost | $8/month | $119/month |
Affiliate Platform | ShareASale | $550 start-up (equates to $46/mo. for first year). Plus 20% of affiliate earnings transaction fee. |
As you can see, if you used a course platform other than Kajabi, 3rd party costs can easily range from $181/mo. to $881/mo., not including affiliate platform transaction fees.
So even if you only plan to use 1 or 2 of these key features, my assessment is that Kajabi functions more than justify the cost!
Overall, Kajabi’s, all-in-one platform will ease the burden of figuring out 3rd party tools and allow you to build professional looking sales funnels that no other platform can match.
Kajabi AI
Kajabi now integrates AI to create course outlines, lesson content, and landing page copy, which gets your course up and running faster and more efficiently.
Creating a course can feel pretty daunting. There are tons of things to keep track of when creating a course. Having an AI on board will help you create certain aspects of the course and remove some of the burdens of course creation.
Given how Kajabi wants to truly be an all-in-one option for creators, it’s no surprise that they’ve integrated AI to round out their offerings.
Kajabi Communities Overview
Kajabi has just announced that it has acquired Vibely and will soon be offering its services as part of Kajabi’s monthly subscription program.
Let’s learn a bit more about what this means for Kajabi’s customers.
What Is Kajabi Communities?
Kajabi Communities is a feature that Kajabi already offers where customers can form communities within their course platform for their users to discuss ideas with each other.
These communities are similar to Facebook groups and can be exclusive if the organizer (course owner) wants them to be.
Administrators can create multiple different communities for specific topics or offer these communities as a separate feature for an additional charge.
Also Read: Steps to take when your course has been pirated
Kajabi and Vibely
The next generation of Kajabi Communities will use the Vibely platform, which Kajabi has recently acquired.
This will add features that foster closer relationships and more interactive groups to the existing Kajabi Communities feature.
Some of these features include:
- Challenges
- Leaderboards
- Live calls
- Chat support
- Accountability tools
Essentially, the Vibely acquisition will create a better overall experience for those using Kajabi Communities.
Kajabi Website Case Studies
1. Grant Cardone Training Center
Grant Cordone is known as one of the top salespeople who provide marketing and sales training online. The site leverages Kajabi’s ability to host a large library of growing training videos for their clients.
Additionally, the Grant Cardone Training Center makes use of Kajabi’s landing pages and email marketing to help bring in a flow of new clients. Finally, this course serves a large number of students which can be facilitated by Kajabi’s ability to scale.
2. Glossible by Sonia Roselli Beauty
Glossible is one of the most popular destinations for those who want to learn how to become better makeup artists.
With Kajabi, the site creates several small courses specializing in different areas of make-up art. Additionally, Glossible has its eCommerce shop, which allows the company to have an additional stream of income.
To get more shoppers and students to the site, Glossible makes great use of Kajabi’s landing pages and email capabilities. The company can create marketing campaigns that flow easily to the website and convert more sales.
3. Juice Guru Institute
The wellness space is one of the most competitive markets out there. That’s where there is a big opportunity for someone to sell courses on how to market to this lucrative yet crowded market.
The Juru Guru Institute uses Kajabi’s many attractive templates to create a stunning landing page and home page that can attract and convert more students.
Additionally, the Juice Guru Institute uses Kajabi’s blogging tool to optimize the content of the site for SEO. The website can create blog posts that are SEO-friendly and can attract a higher number of cold traffic which can lead to more sales.
4. Full Plate Living
Full Plate Living is a website that sells nutrition programs to those who want to eat better and enhance their wellness.
The website uses Kajabi’s blogging tools to create attractive, SEO-friendly blog posts, which also include multi-media content such as videos and audio content.
Full Plate Living demonstrates that someone can attract a large number of customers and students without having to use a paid media strategy.
Additionally, Full Plate Living is an attractive website that uses many full-color visuals which are ideally laid out thanks to Kajabi’s large selection of blogging templates. Finally, Full Plate Living uses Kajabi’s analytics to track website traffic and conversion numbers.
5. Education By Matt Johnson
Matt Johnson is one of the top trainers for those who want to be a wedding photographer. Since photography is such an integral part of the training program, the client makes use of Kajabi’s multi-media blogging capabilities. Additionally, the site leverages the platform’s landing pages and email campaigns to convert more website visitors into students.
This site is an ideal example of how you can get a healthy stream of students to your niche course site by using a combination of Kajabi’s multi-media, marketing, blogging, and SEO tools.
Alternatives to Kajabi
Kajabi is one of the better course platforms and comes packed with features. I've also compared Kajabi vs Teachable.
While Kajabi has an all-in-one offering, if you are looking for a more affordable option, Thinkific is ideal. It comes at a much lower price point and easily integrates with your favorite 3rd party platforms. Thinkific also has a viable free offering for people selling their first course.
Here are the top alternatives to Kajabi:
- Thinkific – Best for beginners. Read our full review
- Learndash – Best for WordPress users. Read our full review
- Teachable – Best for marketing tools. Read our full review
- Podia – Best for digital entrepreneurs selling courses, memberships, and digital products. Read our full review
- Udemy – Best for those seeking a large marketplace and audience. Read our full review
Conclusion
With a blend of course creation, marketing, and sales tools, Kajabi sets itself apart as a one-stop online course shop. Despite a price that’s higher than competitors, the myriad of integrated features makes it a great option for many digital course sellers.
Ready to take your online course to the next level?
Give Kajabi a shot.
Sign up for Kajabi's free trial today and experience firsthand how it can transform your online course delivery and marketing strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Kajabi?
Kajabi is a “one-stop shop” software for selling online courses. It’s an all-in-one program that allows users to start a business by selling their own online classes.
Is Kajabi legit?
Yes, Kajabi is a legitimate company. The company was founded in 2010 by Travis Rosser and Kenny Rueter. Kajabi has 60+ employees serving over 25,000 course creators.
Who uses Kajabi?
Kajabi is used by tens of thousands of individual course creators and accessed by over 33 million students.
Does Kajabi replace MailChimp?
Kajabi has built in email marketing tools so there’s no need to use a 3rd party email provider. However, you can integrate it with popular email service providers like Aweber, MailChimp, Drip, ConvertKit and Active Campaign.
Can I sell physical products on Kajabi?
Yes, you can sell physical products through Kajabi. However, the software is primarily designed to sell courses and digital products.
Does Kajabi have gamification?
Yes Kajabi supports gamification. Gamification is a way to boost engagement through goals and challenges like points, awards, and badges. It helps students stay motivated and absorb more information.
What is a Kajabi pipeline?
Pipelines are marketing funnels, designed to maximize your conversions of leads and sales. You can connect landing pages, videos, and email marketing drips in a series to nuture leads into making purchases.
Does Kajabi integrate with WordPress?
Yes, Kajabi integrates with WordPress, allowing you to get it up and running quickly.
Is Kajabi mobile friendly?
Yes, Kajabi courses are fully mobile responsive and render well on any phone, tablet, or computer.
Is Kajabi free?
No. Kajabi offers a free 14-day trial, but the service is not free.
Does Kajabi charge transaction fees?
No, Kajabi does not have transaction fees.
Is Kajabi a LMS?
Yes, Kajabi is a web-based learning management system (LMS). LMS software is used to provide training courses and educational content in both written and video format.
Where is Kajabi located?
Kajabi headquarters is in Irvine, California.
What does Kajabi mean?
Kajabi is a knowledge commerce platform that allows users to create online courses or digital products and sell them. The name “Kajabi” comes from an aboriginal word meaning “to take flight,” according to Travis Rosser, one of the founders.