11 best Kajabi alternatives in 2026, by what you need to replace

If you sell courses, coaching or memberships on Kajabi, having your website, emails, checkout and lessons in one place can save a lot of setup. But since Kajabi changed its pricing in January 2026, that convenience comes at a higher cost. Its cheapest plan is now Basic, at $179 a month or $143 a month billed annually. Using a payment provider other than Kajabi Payments or PayPal can also add a 2% fee to each sale.

You might not need to replace everything. Perhaps you want a cheaper course platform, a better home for your community or simply more control over checkout and payments.

We compared 11 Kajabi alternatives, looking at what each replaces, how much it costs and who it's best suited to, using vendors' own pricing and feature pages.

Quick answer: If you want to replace Kajabi's course platform, consider Thinkific, Teachable, Podia or LearnWorlds. Systeme.io is a budget-friendly all-in-one option with a permanent free plan. For paid communities, look at Skool, Circle or Mighty Networks. And if you're happy with your existing course platform but want a different checkout, Checkout Page works with your own Stripe account, charges 0% in per-transaction platform fees and has a free plan for up to $3,000 in monthly sales.

Why look for Kajabi alternatives?

Kajabi puts courses, coaching, a community, a website, email marketing, funnels and podcasts behind one login. Payments through Kajabi Payments cost 2.9% + 30¢ per US card sale on Basic, falling to 2.7% + 30¢ on Pro, with no extra platform fee. For a creator who wants one bill and one dashboard for the whole business, that's a lot in one product.

It isn't the right fit for everyone, though, particularly since the 2026 price change.

• The entry price. Basic costs $143 a month billed annually. It includes a website, email marketing, funnels and course hosting, so the value depends on how many of those you'd otherwise pay for separately.
• Limits on the cheapest plan. Basic allows 5 products, 2,500 contacts and 2 admin users. Once your list grows past 2,500 people, you either move to Growth at $199 a month billed annually or buy extra contacts, which Kajabi sells in blocks of 25,000 for $125 a month.
• A surcharge on other payment providers. If you take payments through a third-party provider such as Stripe, Kajabi adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro, on top of the provider's own fees. PayPal and Kajabi Payments are exempt. On $5,000 a month of Stripe sales on Basic, that's an extra $100 a month.
• Features on higher plans. Affiliates are only available on Growth and Pro, and Basic comes with no AI credits.
• More control over checkout. Some sellers want to take payments on their own Stripe account, match the checkout to a website built elsewhere, or add their own questions and pricing options at checkout.

If you're weighing up percentage-based fees more generally, our breakdown of Gumroad's fees shows how a cut of every sale adds up as your sales grow.

Kajabi overview: pricing and what's included

Kajabi is an all-in-one platform for selling courses, coaching, community memberships, podcasts and digital products. It hosts your videos, runs your website and email list, and takes payments through Kajabi Payments, so you don't need separate tools for each job.

The table shows what each plan costs and what it allows.

Prices from Kajabi's pricing page, checked October 21, 2026. The surcharge applies to third-party providers such as Stripe and excludes PayPal and Kajabi Payments.

Kajabi's pricing page no longer lists the cheaper Starter plan, and it doesn't state a trial length. Its annual plan cards also show the higher monthly figure next to "billed annually", so confirm the annual total before you pay. Our Kajabi pricing guide works through what you pay at three sales levels, including the fees on subscriptions and on third-party payment providers.

Kajabi still suits sellers who use its email automations, sell coaching or podcasts alongside their courses, and are happy with the checkout. Every plan includes unlimited marketing emails, funnels and landing pages, so the price covers several tools you'd otherwise pay for separately. If your sales are high enough that $143 a month is a small share of revenue, keeping everything in one login may be worth the cost.

How to choose a Kajabi alternative

Start with what you want to change about Kajabi. You may want to replace the whole platform, move your community elsewhere or simply find a more affordable way to take payments. These four questions will help you narrow down the options.

Which part of Kajabi do you want to replace? If you want to move everything, Thinkific, Teachable, Podia, LearnWorlds, Systeme.io and Kartra offer platforms that host your courses and bring other parts of your business together. If your priority is a paid community, Skool, Circle and Mighty Networks put the community first, with courses as an additional feature. If you're happy with your existing setup and only want to change how customers pay, ThriveCart and Checkout Page focus on checkout, while SamCart offers checkout alongside sales tools. Our SamCart pricing breakdown covers its costs and features in more detail.

Who is responsible for sales tax? This depends on the platform you choose. Most platforms on this list can calculate the tax due on an order and collect it at checkout, either built in or through an integration such as Stripe Tax, but you're still responsible for registering with the relevant tax authorities, reporting the tax and paying it over. Teachable says it calculates, collects and remits sales tax, VAT and GST on sales through Teachable Payments, and Skool says it collects VAT from members in the EU and pays it over itself. A merchant of record takes a different approach: it becomes the seller in the transaction and assumes responsibility for those tax obligations. Our Lemon Squeezy alternatives comparison explains how these platforms work.

What will it cost at the sales you expect? The monthly subscription is only part of the cost. Check for transaction fees and any extra charges for using your own payment provider, too. To make the differences easier to compare, here's what each option would cost in a month with $5,000 in sales:

Annual billing where offered; Systeme.io and Mighty Networks at their monthly rates. Card processing, usually around 2.9% + 30¢ per US card payment, comes on top for every platform. Prices checked October 21, 2026.

These figures cover the platform itself. Kajabi includes a website, unlimited marketing emails, funnels and landing pages on every plan, while some of the cheaper options leave out email marketing or a website, so add the cost of any tools you'd need alongside them before comparing.

Our Stripe fee calculator shows what card processing adds to your own monthly sales.

Do you need a different platform, or a different plan? Not every frustration with Kajabi is a reason to move. If the Stripe surcharge is the problem, taking payments through Kajabi Payments removes it. If you only need affiliates, Growth may cost less than a migration. Moving enrolled students and their progress to a new course platform is the hardest part of switching. If your lessons are fine where they are and the checkout is what you want to change, replacing only the checkout keeps that work to a minimum.

11 best Kajabi alternatives and competitors compared

How we compared: we reviewed each platform's current pricing page and feature pages in October 2026. We haven't run hands-on tests of these platforms, and where a judgment below is ours, we say so.

The table shows the 11 alternatives side by side, grouped by whether they host your course content.

Lowest published price, billed annually where offered, with any transaction fee on that plan. Checked October 21, 2026.

The cheapest starting prices tend to come with a transaction fee, so compare the plan you'd need at your current sales, not the lowest one listed.

1. Thinkific

Thinkific is a course platform where you build lessons with a drag-and-drop builder, add quizzes and certificates, and host your videos. Its main advantage over Kajabi is the depth of its teaching tools, including AI quiz generation and certificates with continuing-education credit fields. You can sell courses, memberships, digital downloads, coaching and webinars. It's focused on teaching rather than marketing, so automated emails are included, bulk emails to students start on Grow, and it connects to Mailchimp and ConvertKit for wider campaigns. If you rely on Kajabi's email marketing today, compare those tools with what you use now.

Key features:

• Drag-and-drop course builder for video, quizzes, assignments, surveys and downloads
• AI course outline and quiz generators
• Certificates with continuing-education credit fields
• Learning communities with topic spaces, direct messages and mobile notifications
• Memberships and subscriptions
• One-step checkout with order bumps, coupons and abandoned cart emails
• Native payments with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Afterpay and Klarna

Pricing: Start is $82 a month billed annually ($109 monthly), Grow is $164 ($219 monthly) and Expand is $374 ($499 monthly), with a 30-day free trial and no free plan. Thinkific's own payments process at 2.9% with no platform fee, while using Stripe or PayPal adds a gateway fee that Thinkific says varies by plan.

Best for: course sellers who want stronger teaching tools than an all-in-one marketing platform offers.

Checkout Page take: Thinkific's pricing page no longer shows its Basic plan, so the cheapest way in is now Start at $82 a month billed annually.

2. Teachable

Teachable is a course platform for getting a first course online quickly, with a simple builder and payments handled through Teachable Payments. Its main advantage over Kajabi is the price of entry, since the Starter plan is $29 a month billed annually against $143 for Kajabi Basic. You can sell courses, coaching, digital downloads and memberships. The Starter plan takes 7.5% of each sale, so its low price only holds while sales are small. Once you're selling regularly, Builder is the plan to compare with Kajabi.

Key features:

• Drag-and-drop course builder for video, audio, text and files
• Auto-graded quizzes and completion certificates
• Drip content to release lessons on a schedule
• Digital downloads sold as their own product
• Upsells and cart recovery on every plan
• Affiliate program on Builder and Growth
• Sales tax, VAT and GST calculated, collected and remitted through Teachable Payments

Pricing: Starter is $29 a month billed annually ($39 monthly) with a 7.5% transaction fee, Builder is $69 ($89 monthly) and Growth is $139 ($189 monthly), with the 0% fee on the higher two applying when you use Teachable Payments. US card processing is 2.9% + 30¢, and the pricing page mentions both a 7-day and a 30-day free trial, so check which applies when you sign up.

Best for: creators launching a first course who want a low monthly cost while they test demand.

Checkout Page take: Starter's 7.5% fee means Builder becomes the cheaper plan once your sales pass about $535 a month.

3. Podia

Podia is an all-in-one platform for solo creators, with courses, downloads, coaching, webinars, a community, email and a website in one place. Its main advantage over Kajabi is cost, as the Shaker plan covers the same kinds of products for $84 a month billed annually with no transaction fee. It also calculates sales tax for customers in 230 jurisdictions. Its email plans are small, though, with 100 subscribers on Mover, 500 on Shaker and 1,000 on Earthquaker. If your list is bigger, you'll pay for extra subscribers, which narrows the price gap with Kajabi.

Key features:

• Courses with drip scheduling
• Digital downloads with unlimited files per product
• Paid coaching sessions with booking links
• Webinars hosted through Zoom
• Community spaces organized by topic or tier
• Email automations triggered by sign-ups and purchases
• A shopping cart checkout, with post-purchase upsells on Shaker and Earthquaker

Pricing: Mover is $42 a month billed annually ($49 monthly) with a 5% transaction fee, Shaker is $84 ($99 monthly) and Earthquaker is $150 ($179 monthly), with no transaction fee on the higher two. There's a 14-day free trial with no card needed, and Stripe or PayPal charge their standard processing fees on top.

Best for: solo creators selling a mix of courses, downloads and coaching who want one simple dashboard.

Checkout Page take: affiliate marketing and upsells are only available on Shaker and Earthquaker, so Mover isn't a like-for-like swap for Kajabi's selling tools.

4. LearnWorlds

LearnWorlds is a course platform built around interactive learning, with interactive video, assessments, certificates and SCORM support. Its main advantage over Kajabi is that teaching toolset, which suits training businesses and anyone selling structured, assessed courses. You can sell courses, bundles and subscriptions, and run a community on a branded school website. Mass email is limited by plan, and the Starter plan includes none. Starter also charges $5 for every paid enrollment, so most sellers will compare Pro Trainer with Kajabi.

Key features:

• Interactive video with automatic transcripts, quizzes and chapters
• Assessment builder and certificates
• AI tools for creating course content
• Website builder with 50+ templates
• Community discussion boards, private groups and cohorts
• SCORM support for packaged training content
• Checkout through your own Stripe or PayPal, with subscriptions and payment plans on Pro Trainer and above

Pricing: Starter is $24 a month billed annually ($29 monthly) plus $5 per paid enrollment, Pro Trainer is $79 ($99 monthly) and Learning Center is $249 ($299 monthly), with no enrollment fee on the higher plans. There's a 30-day trial and no free plan, and Stripe or PayPal charge their own processing fees.

Best for: course creators and training businesses who want interactive, assessed courses.

Checkout Page take: a branded mobile app is a paid add-on from Pro Trainer upward and isn't offered on Starter.

5. Systeme.io

Systeme.io is a funnel-first all-in-one platform with sales funnels, email marketing, courses, a community, a website and blog, and affiliate management. Its main advantage over Kajabi is price, starting with a permanent free plan that includes a course, three funnels and 2,000 contacts. You can sell courses, community access, digital and physical products, and bookings, with no transaction fees and payments going through your own Stripe or PayPal account. The free plan is limited to one automation rule and one email campaign. Most active sellers move to a paid plan once they start building email sequences.

Key features:

• Sales funnels with order bumps, one-click upsells and A/B split testing
• Email campaigns and automated sequences, with unlimited sends on every plan
• Course builder with drip content, module locking and progress tracking
• Paid or free community spaces linked to courses and funnels
• Website and blog with a custom domain, including on the free plan
• Affiliate program management on every plan
• Evergreen webinars and a booking calendar

Pricing: the free plan covers 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels and 1 course, Startup is $17 a month with 5,000 contacts and 5 courses, Webinar is $47 and Unlimited is $97. Annual billing gives two months free, and there are no transaction fees on any plan.

Best for: sellers on a tight budget who want funnels, email and courses in one place without a monthly fee to start.

Checkout Page take: Systeme.io is the only platform on this list with a free plan that includes both email marketing and course hosting.

6. Kartra

Kartra is an all-in-one marketing platform with checkouts, funnels, email and SMS, memberships and courses, video hosting and a helpdesk. It covers much of the same ground as Kajabi, with marketing and selling tools as the focus. Its Starter plan is $99 a month billed annually, against $143 for Kajabi Basic, with unlimited products and pages. The cheaper Essentials plan is limited to one product, one membership or course, and 500 contacts, with a 5% transaction fee. Most course sellers will compare Starter or Growth with Kajabi.

Key features:

• Checkout pages and a form builder
• Funnel mapper, with funnel simulation on Growth
• Email and SMS marketing, unlimited from Starter upward
• Memberships and courses, unlimited from Starter upward
• Video hosting
• Booking calendars
• Affiliate management, surveys, quizzes and a helpdesk on Growth

Pricing: Essentials is $52 a month billed annually ($59 monthly) with a 5% transaction fee, Starter is $99 ($119 monthly), Growth is $189 ($229 monthly) and Professional is $429 ($549 monthly), with no transaction fee on Starter and Growth. There's a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Best for: marketers who want funnels, email, SMS and courses in one platform for less than Kajabi.

Checkout Page take: Kartra's pricing page gives different contact and domain limits for Professional in different sections, so confirm them before choosing that plan.

7. Skool

Skool is a community platform with courses attached, combining a discussion feed, a classroom for courses, a calendar and built-in live calls. Its main advantage over Kajabi is engagement, since points, levels and leaderboards reward members for taking part and can make courses available once members reach a set level. You can charge for memberships or sell one-time courses, and every plan includes unlimited members, courses and videos. It's built around the community rather than marketing. A website, funnels and email campaigns to people outside the group usually run on other tools.

Key features:

• Community feed with categories, posts and comments
• Classroom for courses, which can open up once members reach a set level
• Calendar for scheduling events
• Live calls hosted inside Skool, without a separate streaming tool
• Points, levels and leaderboards
• Paid memberships and one-time course sales
• Plugins such as membership questions, welcome messages and Zapier, several of them on Pro only

Pricing: Hobby is $9 a month with a 10% transaction fee, and Pro is $99 a month with a 2.9% transaction fee, both with unlimited members, courses and videos. There's a 14-day free trial, annual billing gives two months free, and Skool collects and pays over VAT itself on payments from members in the EU.

Best for: creators whose main product is membership of an active community.

Checkout Page take: with 10% taken from every sale, Hobby costs more than Pro once you're selling about $1,270 a month.

8. Circle

Circle is a community platform with courses, events, live streams and member chat in one branded space. Its main advantage over Kajabi is the community itself, with topic-based spaces, discussions, paywalls and live rooms for groups that meet and talk regularly. You can sell community access, courses and events, and every plan allows unlimited members. Email marketing is a paid add-on on most plans, and Circle takes a transaction fee on payments, from 2% on Professional down to 0.5% on Circle Plus. If you want community and email under one login, budget for the Email Hub add-on.

Key features:

• Community spaces with discussions and a personalized feed
• Courses for members
• Events and live streams, with 100 attendees on Professional
• Member chat and direct messages
• Paywalls for paid access
• Workflows and automations from Business upward
• Email Hub for broadcasts and automations, an add-on at $99 a month for 10,000 contacts

Pricing: Professional is $89 a month, Business $199 and Scale $419, all billed annually, with transaction fees of 2%, 1% and 1%. There's a 14-day free trial, and a custom branded app is only included on Circle Plus, which is priced on request.

Best for: community-led businesses that want courses and events alongside discussion.

Checkout Page take: Circle's pricing page only lists annual prices, so check the monthly total before you commit.

9. Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is a community platform that combines community, courses, events and livestreaming, with native iOS and Android apps for members. Its main advantage over Kajabi is the member experience, including an AI Cohost that offers guidance tuned to your community. You can charge for memberships, courses and events, and every plan allows unlimited members. Each plan takes a transaction fee, from 2% on Launch down to 0.5% on Growth. An app published under your own name is only available on Mighty Pro, which is priced on request.

Key features:

• Community spaces with member profiles
• Courses alongside the community
• Online and in-person events
• Livestreaming, with 20 hours a month and 100 viewers per stream on Launch
• Paid memberships
• AI Cohost and an optional writing assistant
• Native iOS and Android apps for members

Pricing: Launch is $79 a month or $950 a year, Scale is $179 a month and Growth is $354 a month, with transaction fees of 2%, 1% and 0.5%. There's a 14-day free trial with no card needed, which runs on the Growth plan.

Best for: community builders who want members to use a mobile app as their main way in.

Checkout Page take: Mighty Networks advertises two months free on annual billing, but $950 a year for Launch is more than ten months at $79, so check the figure at checkout.

10. ThriveCart

ThriveCart is a cart and funnel platform that now includes ThriveCart Academy, its course and community platform, on every plan. Its main advantage over Kajabi is checkout tooling at a lower price, with one-click upsells, A/B testing and cart recovery on the entry plan. You can sell courses, digital and physical products, and subscriptions, and you connect your own Stripe or PayPal account with no fee on sales. It doesn't include email marketing, so you'd connect a separate email tool. Our ThriveCart pricing guide covers its plans and lifetime deal in more detail.

Key features:

• Customizable cart and checkout pages
• One order bump on Standard, and multiple order bumps on Pro+
• One-click upsells and downsells, A/B split testing and cart recovery
• Subscriptions, split pay and Buy Now Pay Later
• Sales tax automation
• Affiliate center with automated payouts, plus dunning, on Pro+
• ThriveCart Academy courses and communities, with up to 2,000 members and 100 GB of video on Standard

Pricing: Standard is $37 a month billed annually ($47 monthly) and Pro+ is $67 ($87 monthly), with a 30-day free trial and 0% fees on sales. ThriveCart says a lifetime option is still available, and when we checked its checkout in July 2026, Standard lifetime cost $495.

Best for: sellers who want strong checkout tools first, with courses included.

Checkout Page take: because every plan includes ThriveCart Academy, sellers who only want a checkout pay for course tools they may not use.

11. Checkout Page

Checkout Page is a no-code checkout built on Stripe, where you create branded checkout pages and embed them on your own site, including Kajabi, Framer, Webflow and WordPress pages, or share them as hosted pages and payment links. Its main advantage over Kajabi is control of the checkout on your own Stripe account, with no surcharge for using Stripe. You can sell courses, coaching, memberships, subscriptions, payment plans and digital downloads, with files delivered through a branded customer portal. It doesn't host video lessons, track course progress, or run a community or email marketing. If your lessons stay on Kajabi or another platform, Checkout Page replaces only the checkout, and our guide to adding Checkout Page to Kajabi shows how.

Key features:

• Embedded, pop-up and hosted checkout pages, plus payment links
• Order bumps, with one-click upsells and cart recovery on Scale
• Subscriptions, payment plans, free trials and pay-what-you-want pricing
• Custom fields with conditional logic
• Digital file delivery and a branded customer portal
• Coupon codes, including codes applied automatically through a link
• Payments into your own Stripe account, with cards, wallets and Buy Now Pay Later

Pricing: the Free plan covers up to $3,000 in monthly sales with Checkout Page branding, Launch is $24 a month billed annually ($29 monthly), and Scale starts at $83 a month billed annually for up to $10,000 in monthly sales. Checkout Page charges 0% per transaction fees, and you pay Stripe's processing fees directly.

Best for: course and membership sellers who want to keep their content where it is and improve the checkout.

Checkout Page take: Checkout Page doesn't replace Kajabi's course hosting, community or email, so it suits sellers who want to change how they get paid rather than where they teach.

If you'd like to try the checkout-only route, you can start Checkout Page for free and upgrade once your sales pass $3,000 a month.

Kajabi alternatives FAQ

What is the cheapest Kajabi alternative?

Systeme.io is the cheapest full alternative, with a permanent free plan that includes 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels and 1 course, and paid plans from $17 a month. Skool's Hobby plan costs $9 a month but takes 10% of every sale. If you only need a checkout, Checkout Page has a free plan for up to $3,000 in monthly sales.

What is the best Kajabi alternative for course creators?

That depends on your budget and how much teaching depth you need. Thinkific has more learning tools, such as AI quiz generation and continuing-education certificates, from $82 a month annually. Teachable starts at $29 a month annually, though that plan takes 7.5% of sales. LearnWorlds suits interactive, assessed courses, with Pro Trainer at $79 a month.

Is LearnWorlds better than Kajabi?

It depends on whether teaching tools or marketing tools matter more to you. LearnWorlds has interactive video, assessments, certificates and SCORM support, with Pro Trainer at $79 a month billed annually. Kajabi includes more marketing in one plan, such as funnels, podcasts and unlimited marketing emails, from $143 a month billed annually. LearnWorlds' Starter plan also charges $5 per enrollment.

Does Kajabi charge transaction fees?

No, not on payments through Kajabi Payments, where US card processing is 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, 2.8% + 30¢ on Growth and 2.7% + 30¢ on Pro. If you use another provider such as Stripe, Kajabi adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro. PayPal is exempt from that surcharge.

Can I keep Kajabi and just replace its checkout?

Yes. You can embed another tool's checkout on your Kajabi pages and keep your courses, community and emails where they are. Checkout Page works on Kajabi pages and takes payments into your own Stripe account. Check first how buyers will get course access, since Checkout Page passes purchase details on through Zapier or webhooks. See Checkout Page vs Kajabi.