Kajabi Review 2026
Kajabi's three plans, what the contact and product caps mean in practice, the card fees, and four cheaper course platforms with dated prices.
Kajabi is worth it once a course, membership or coaching business earns money, and it is too expensive for a first course. Basic costs $143 a month billed yearly ($179 billed monthly) for 2,500 contacts and 5 products. Growth ($199 a month billed yearly) raises that to 25,000 contacts and 50 products, and Pro ($399 billed yearly) removes the product cap. Kajabi takes no platform cut, but card sales carry its processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic.
Key factsBest for: Creators running courses, memberships or coaching with…
- The all-in-one platform for experts who already earn: email, funnels, checkout and community on one bill, with plan caps that decide when to upgrade.
- Free trial: 14 days, standard
- Card fee on Basic: 2.9% + $0.30 per card sale
- Platform revenue share: None
- Money-back guarantee: 30 days on every plan
Pros
- Email, funnels, landing pages and marketing emails are unlimited on every plan
- No platform revenue share; card fees run from 2.9% down to 2.7% by plan in the US
- Annual billing saves 20 percent, $432 a year on Basic and $1,200 on Pro
Cons
- Basic caps you at 2,500 contacts and 2 admin users, so growth forces a plan change early
- The trial locks bulk contact import and several automation actions until you pay
- A course-only buyer pays for a bundle they may not use, which Kajabi's own FAQ concedes is expensive for course delivery alone
KajabiMost course sellers do not need Kajabi on day one. They need a course player, an email list and a checkout, and a course-only tool covers that at a much lower monthly bill. Kajabi earns its monthly bill when those pieces, plus a website, a community and sales pages, have to run from one account and one invoice.
If the newsletter comes first, read our beehiiv review before you commit to a bundle. For a head-to-head on the newsletter side, see beehiiv vs Kit.
Toolradar data: of the 69 online course platforms we track, 42% are free, freemium or open source.
Thinkific is the third most cross-shopped course platform on Toolradar, listed as an alternative to 43 tools.
What is Kajabi?
Kajabi is an all-in-one platform for selling courses, memberships, coaching, communities, newsletters, podcasts and digital downloads. Its product menu lists those formats next to email marketing, a website builder, funnels and automations, payments, analytics and a contact CRM.
For a buyer comparing it with a course-only tool, the difference is not the course player. It is the bundle, and whether you use enough of the bundle to justify the monthly fee. If email is the product rather than a channel, compare the platforms in our best email marketing software guide.
How Kajabi works
You start with the 14-day trial, pick a plan and build products, pages and emails in one account. The trial is a real test of the platform, but with limits: bulk contact import stays locked until you pay, and so do several automation actions such as sending emails, granting offers and registering contacts for events.
Until then you add contacts one at a time or collect sign-ups through forms.
If the list is the bigger cost, compare list-size pricing in our Mailchimp pricing breakdown.
If you want an email tool that is free to start before any bundle, see the free email marketing software guide.
Plan limits follow three numbers: products, contacts and admin users.
Funnels, landing pages and marketing emails are unlimited on every plan, so the caps that bite are list size and team size, not how many campaigns you send.
Kajabi key features
Kajabi pricing
Kajabi prices each plan monthly or with annual billing. Basic is $179 a month, or $143 a month billed yearly. Growth is $249 or $199 a month, and Pro is $499 or $399. Annual billing is 20 percent off, which the page shows as $432, $600 and $1,200 a year saved.
Prices were verified in October 2026 on Kajabi's pricing page.
Extra capacity is sold separately. Contacts come in blocks of 25,000 at $125 a month, and the FAQ says the block works at any size.
The card fee is the main cost of a sale. On Basic, a $97 course costs $2.81 plus $0.30 in card fees, or $3.11, which leaves $93.89. A third-party processor adds 2% on Basic, so the same sale costs $1.94 more.
The launch offer on the pricing page reads $0 to start with $4,747 in launch support, and it ends October 13, 2026.
Treat that as a promotion, not a plan price.
The 14-day trial is the standard one: the Kajabi help center confirms it and lists which features stay locked until you pay.
Alternatives, all priced on their own pricing pages in October 2026: Teachable starts at $29 a month billed yearly on Starter, Thinkific at $40 a month billed annually on Basic, Podia at $42 a month, and Systeme.io at $17 a month with a free plan.
Methodology: each price is the monthly or billed-yearly list rate on the US pricing page, read on October 10, 2026, with no discounts applied and no currency conversion.
Toolradar's best-of page for course platforms covers the wider category.
For automation depth on a list, read our ActiveCampaign review.
| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Kajabi Basic | $179/mo, or $143/mo billed yearly | 5 products, 2,500 contacts, 1 website, 2 admin users, card fee 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Kajabi Growth | $249/mo, or $199/mo billed yearly | 50 products, 25,000 contacts, 1 website, 11 admin users, card fee 2.8% |
| Kajabi Pro | $499/mo, or $399/mo billed yearly | Unlimited products, 100,000 contacts, 3 websites and communities, 26 admin users, card fee 2.7% |
| Kajabi extra contacts | $125/mo per 25,000 contacts | Added to any plan when the contact cap is reached |
| Teachable Starter | $39/mo, or $29/mo billed yearly | 5 products, 7.5% transaction fee on Teachable Payments |
| Thinkific Basic | $54/mo, or $40/mo billed annually | Unlimited courses, 5 digital downloads and 5 coaching or webinar products, 2.9% payment fee |
| Podia Mover | $42/mo | 50 products, 5% Podia transaction fee on top of processor fees |
| Systeme.io Free | $0 | 2,000 contacts, 1 course, 3 funnels, 500 students, no expiry |
| Systeme.io Startup | $17/mo | 5,000 contacts, 0% transaction fee, two months free on annual billing |
Kajabi pros and cons
What we like
- Email, funnels, landing pages and marketing emails are unlimited on every plan
- No platform revenue share; card fees run from 2.9% down to 2.7% by plan in the US
- Annual billing saves 20 percent, $432 a year on Basic and $1,200 on Pro
- Pro adds 100,000 contacts, unlimited products and 26 admin users for larger teams
What could be better
- Basic caps you at 2,500 contacts and 2 admin users, so growth forces a plan change early
- The trial locks bulk contact import and several automation actions until you pay
- A course-only buyer pays for a bundle they may not use, which Kajabi's own FAQ concedes is expensive for course delivery alone
Who Kajabi is for
Kajabi is the right buy for a creator who already sells courses, memberships or coaching and wants the list, the sales pages and the checkout under one bill. The math favors it once revenue covers the monthly fee.
Basic billed yearly comes to $1,716 a year, and it earns its place if it replaces a course host, an email tool and a funnel builder you already pay for. It is the wrong buy for a first course.
Watch the step-ups. Basic allows two admin users, so a three-person team is on Growth from day one.
A list past 2,500 contacts moves you to Growth, which is $70 a month more at monthly billing. Kajabi's own FAQ says Pro is for anyone running more than one brand or wanting their own app in the App Store. Newsletter-first buyers should also read the Kit review and the beehiiv review.
Best Kajabi alternatives
If Kajabi is not the right fit, these are the closest options.
| Tool | Best for | Starts at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kajabi | Creators running courses, memberships or coaching with email, funnels and checkout on one bill | From $143/mo billed yearly | Visit → |
| Teachable | Solo course sellers who want a low entry price and a course-first tool | From $29/mo billed yearly on Starter (5 products, 7.5% fee) | Visit → |
| Thinkific | Course sellers who want unlimited courses and a 30-day trial before they pay | From $40/mo billed annually on Basic | Visit → |
| Podia | Creators selling digital downloads and courses who want no platform fee at the mid tier | $42/mo on Mover (50 products, 5% Podia fee) | Visit → |
| Systeme.io | Budget-minded sellers who want funnels, email and courses at a low monthly cost | Free plan | Visit → |
The bottom line
If the newsletter, the courses and the checkout are one business, Kajabi is the platform to beat in this group. Unlimited funnels, landing pages and emails on every plan, no revenue share and a 14-day trial make it a real option for an established seller.
The price rises fast: Basic's 2,500-contact cap runs out early.
For a course-only start, Teachable Starter or Thinkific Basic keeps the bill under $60 a month at billed-annual rates, and Systeme.io gives you a free plan to test the funnel side first.
For the wider creator stack, read the creator monetization tools guide, and see the Toolradar profiles for Kajabi and Teachable.
Cite this: MarketingShot, "Kajabi Review 2026: Pricing, Plans and Is It Worth It", October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
Prices and plan details come from each vendor's own pricing page, re-checked by the Toolradar pricing tracker.
- Kajabi pricingchecked Sep 2026
- Teachable pricingchecked Sep 2026
- Thinkific pricingchecked Sep 2026
- Podia pricingchecked Sep 2026
Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.
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