8+ Kajabi Alternatives (2022): Which is Best for Your Course?

So, you’re finally ready to launch your online course. You’ve done your research, built your audience, psyched yourself up.

But you still have one big question to answer.

Which platform is best for your course?

The course platform Kajabi is well-known, respected, and “all-in-one”, which might make it seem like a no-brainer. 

But there are also many viable Kajabi alternatives out there, all saying they’re the best. Some are a lot cheaper. Some offer every feature you could imagine. And some are easier to get started with, especially if you’re not technically inclined.

Which one really is the best, then? It all depends on what your needs are. It’s not so much about which one is the best, but which one is best for you, right now.

To help you figure that out, let’s take a look at Kajabi — and several Kajabi alternatives — and see what each of them has to offer.

Ready? Let’s do this!

A Brief Kajabi Overview

Kajabi is a popular, “all-in-one” digital product platform. It’s best known for helping people creating courses and other information products, but you can sell physical products with it as well.

Since it’s all-in-one, you don’t necessarily need to integrate other services. They provide their own email marketing services, customized websites, analytics, CRM, and automated marketing pipelines. 

Kajabi course creation services give you plenty of customization and room to grow as big as you want, but it may take well over your 14-day trial to learn it all, and you may prefer to use some of your own tools instead.

Pros:

• Well-known digital platform
• Automates your marketing, which means less work and worry for you
• No need to integrate — or pay for — other tools

Cons:

• Higher monthly fees
• Automates your marketing, which means less control and involvement for you
• Possibly higher learning curve

Free Trial: Free for 14 days

Pricing:

• Basic $149/month or $119/month when billed annually.
• Growth $199/month or $159/month when billed annually.
• Pro $399/month or $319/month when billed annually.

Bottom Line: Kajabi is a lot — it offers a lot, but it may also cost a lot, including initial time invested. If you’re ready to go big, you may want to go with Kajabi. But if you’re just starting out, or want to keep it small and simple, you might do better with one of the Kajabi alternatives.

The Best Kajabi Alternatives for Your Online Course

1. Kartra

Kartra is a true Kajabi competitor, because it’s also an “all-in-one” platform, with many services included, and room to grow on a large scale.

While their prices are similar to Kajabi, with an even higher-priced fourth option, the starter plan is quite a bit lower than Kajabi’s lowest plan.

Everything is cloud-protected, at no additional fee. And each package includes all the services, just on a different scale. 

Although they provide everything, you can use your own domain if you want to. 

Pros:

• No coding skills required
• Plenty of features
• Free 30-day money back guarantee

Cons:

• May be too big and expensive for beginners
• Pretty short cons list, especially if you’re more experienced

Free Trial: $1 for 14 days.

Pricing:

• Starter $99/month or $79/month when billed annually.
• Silver $199/month or $149/month when billed annually.
• Gold $299/month or $229/month when billed annually.
• Platinum $499/month or $379/month when billed annually.

Bottom Line: Karta is similar to Kajabi in many ways, with at least as many services. Pricing plans start lower, but include an even higher level if you really want to expand. It may feel a little easier to navigate and get started with. 

2. Podia

This is another true Kajabi competitor, since it provides an “all-in-one” platform. They offer a variety of digital products, memberships, and webinars, plus tools for helping you build and interact with your community.

The plans are dramatically cheaper than Kajabi’s, so that makes it stand out.

While they do provide marketing support, it doesn’t include automated pipelines like Kajabi does.

Podia also offers fewer limitations on products and customers, so you don’t necessarily need to upgrade.

Another difference is that they charge a straight $20 for each additional teammate, on each of their two basic plans, so you don’t have to upgrade plans to add more people. They do have a higher-priced “Earthquaker” plan that includes 5 additional teammates.

Pros:

• Much cheaper plans
• Customizable sites, without design experience needed
• No limits on products or customers 

Cons:

• Limited customization
• Doesn’t come with automated marketing pipelines like Kajabi
• May be best for more advanced course creators.

Free Trial: Offers a 14-day free trial.

Pricing:

Billed monthly Billed annually

• Mover $39/month or $390/year.
• Shaker $79/month or $790/year.
• Earthquaker $179/month or $1790/year.

Bottom Line: If you want “all-in-one” services like Kajabi, but need a more affordable option, this may be your best Kajabi alternative. 

3. Teachable

Teachable is laser-focused on course creation and coaching. If you want advanced tools for creating great classes and working with students, and don’t need an “all-in-one” platform, Teachable may be the best choice for you. 

You have more options for evaluating and communicating with students, and courses are easy to create and highly customizable. 

They also offer payment plans for students, coupons, affiliate programs, sales pages, and analytics. 

There’s a free plan, with most of the basic services included. You just won’t have as many complex options for course materials, and you’ll be charged a $1 plus 10% fee per transaction. 

Pros:

• Rich options for course creation 
• Unlimited products and students on all paid plans
• Free plan and other affordable plans
• Mobile app

Cons:

• Isn’t “all-in-one”
• You’ll need a separate website, email service, etc.

Free Trial: Offers a free plan. 

Pricing:

• Free
• Basic $39/month or $29/month when billed annually.
• Pro $119/month or $99/month when billed annually.
• Business $299/month or $249/month when billed annually.

Bottom Line: If you want to focus on course creation and already have your own platforms for other parts of your business, this could be your Kajabi alternative. It may also be a simpler choice for beginners.

4. Thinkific

This platform is similar to Teachable, in that it is just focused on course creation, and has many similar features. Additionally, it offers membership sites, and allows you to build a website. 

Thinkific supports video courses, PDF’s and other formats. You can make drip courses, certificates, graded quizzes, and live videos.

It also includes a free plan, and unlike Teachable, it doesn’t come with transaction fees.

Since it lacks some of the business-building features, it may not be considered an even Kajabi competitor.

Pros:

• Simple to use and navigate — no coding
• Free plan — unlimited time, for one course
• Lower learning curve for beginners
• Flexibility, varied design options

Cons:

• Lighter on marketing features
• Plans a bit more expensive if you need more services
• Not “all-in-one” 

Free Trial: Offers a Free Plan

Pricing:

• Free
• Basic $49/month or $39/month when billed annually.
• Pro $99/month or $79/month when billed annually.
• Premier $499/month or $399/month when billed annually.

Bottom Line: Very similar to Teachable, including a free plan. Does also allow memberships, and lets you build a website. More expensive basic and premier plans, but the middle plan is less than Teachable, and no transaction fees are charged.

5. Hyax

A mostly “all-in-one platform,” that’s somewhat similar to Kajabi, but you do need a separate email system. You can sell courses and other digital products, memberships, and also physical products.

Pros:

• Easy, templated design and setup
• Ability to collect recurring payments and add upsells and discounts
• Unlimited time free trial until your course is ready to launch
• Built-in digital file delivery for videos, software, and other digital products

Cons:

• Requires a separate email platform
• Not as affordable as some

Free Trial: Offers a free trial for any plan, where you can set up your course and marketing materials, then pay when you launch.

Pricing:

• Beginner $99/month ($49/month with current intro pricing).
• Advanced $199/month ($99/month with current intro pricing).
• Enterprise Need to request a custom quote.

Bottom Line: Hyax is not completely “all-in-one”, like Kajabi, but it still offers a lot of what you need, with minimal setup. Compared to other Kajabi alternatives, Hyax has moderate pricing — not the highest, but definitely not the lowest. The unlimited trial time to learn your way around could be a real plus.

6. Teachery

This site could be described as simple, colorful, and visually pleasing. Teachery keeps the setup easy, so you can focus on what you do best. You can work within two basic but customizable templates.

They offer drip sessions, lessons, and sub-lessons, and recurring payments. Something different about Teachery is that they are not the actual course platform. You need to bring in your own platform, which may or may not be desirable.

To quote their website, what makes them different is that they offer: “Zero additional fees, uncomplicated tech, unlimited everything” (courses, payment and landing pages, and students).

Pros: 

• User-friendly
• Good for beginners
• Affordable
• Unlimited courses, pages, and students

Cons:

• No quizzes or certificates
• Limited marketing features
• Requires your own platform
• Not a lot of extras 

Free Trial: Has a 14-day free trial.

Pricing:

• Single Pricing Plan $49/month or $490/year.

Bottom Line: This site is created by and for course creators, for ease of use. There is just one plan, with “unlimited everything.” This makes it slightly more expensive for beginning users, but much less expensive for those who would usually need moderate to higher-level plans.

7. Pathwright

This is an excellent educational tool, and works for small course creators, but it’s primarily geared toward large organizations.

You can use it free for an unlimited time, to become familiar with the platform, but once you’re ready to publish, you need to get a paid plan. 

This is another platform that focuses on course creation and student experience features, but is lighter on marketing tools. It allows you to create a whole educational community. 

This platform is fairly expensive even for the starter plan. They do, however, offer scholarships to educators who meet specific criteria.

Pros:

• Easy to use course-builder
• Focused on education and student experience
• Good user experience and support for educators and students
• Room to grow into an educational “institution”

Cons:

• Expensive for a small business
• Short on marketing features
• Can’t continue with free plan once you start your class

Free Trial: Offers a free trial for as long as you want to get set up, but requires payment to actually launch your course.

Pricing:

• Starter $99/month or $89/month when billed annually.
• Essentials $199/month or $179/month when billed annually.
• Complete $499/month or $449/month when billed annually.

Bottom Line: A rich, personal educational experience, but on a large scale. May be best suited to organizations or large knowledge businesses.

8. LearnWorlds

This is another good option if you want to essentially create your own university. You can offer a course catalog, list of instructors, and student profiles, and decide on your own pricing plans.

It’s rich in course-building, community, and some marketing features, including the option to offer free lessons to help sell your course. You can also create and sell ebooks, and add games and other interactive features to your course.

Includes most of what you need for your business, like Kajabi, but it’s more focused on course creation than on marketing.

Pros:

• Easy, question-based set up and helpful user experience
• No transaction fees except in starter plan
• Affordable starter plan

Cons:

• May be overwhelming to assimilate
• Could be more than what you need
• Starter plan has fewer features

Free Trial: 30-day free trial, no credit card required.

Pricing:

• Starter $29/month or $24/month when billed annually.
• Pro Trainer $99/month or $79/month when billed annually.
• Learning Center $299/month or $249/month when billed annually.

Bottom Line: This is a well-rounded Kajabi alternative that still focuses on course creation. The starter plan is a very affordable way to get started. When you’re ready, there’s plenty of room to grow.

9. Ruzuku

Ruzuku allows course creators to host live webinars and interact directly with their students. Of course the webinars can also be recorded for later consumption.

They also focus on providing a simple, easy-to-use experience, with support that allows you to focus on your course and your students. They also have built-in community-building features.

However, you may need a separate email marketing provider.

They keep the graphics simple, provide trainings that help you be a better educator, and provide tech support for you and your students, so you don’t have to get stuck in the technical details.

Pros:

• Live webinars/student interaction
• Simplicity of set-up and use
• A support team
• No transaction fees

Cons:

• Not as many design and customization options
• Limited to multiple-choice quizzes 
• Doesn’t have the sophisticated marketing systems of some platforms 

Free Trial: 14-day free trial. No credit card information required.

Pricing:

• Bootstrapper  $99/month or $74.75/month when billed annually.
• Up-and-Comer  $149/month or $83.08/month when billed annually.
• University $199/month or $125/month when billed annually.

Bottom Line: Stronger on course creation and student experience than on marketing. Maybe not budget-friendly for beginners, especially if you have to bring in extra services.

10. Skillshare

Skillshare is a more specialized platform, designed to work well for artists, writers, and other creatives who have a specific skill they want to teach. It’s a marketplace format rather than a learning management system, so it’s a more passive experience for you on the business side.

It’s simple to get started, because you don’t have to make your own brand or set up landing pages and so on. You just add your course to Skillshare’s catalog.

Pros:

• No fees!
• Focus on teaching, not on the business side of things
• Build your name by presenting short classes
• A good way to get started quickly

Cons:

• Possibly less income potential
• Less freedom with course formats
• You are part of a large catalog, not your own brand

Free Trial: Offers a 14-day free trial.

Pricing:

There are no pricing plans, because you don’t pay for monthly services. You just get paid on a type of royalty system. 

Bottom Line: This is a narrower platform that won’t meet everyone’s needs. But if you fit its profile as a creative skills teacher who wants a simple, free way to get started, it might be just the right Kajabi alternative for you.

So Many Kajabi Alternatives, So Much to Decide

Which platform will you choose? As we’ve seen, there are many viable options, each with different strengths. 

Some are better on price, some easier to set up, some include more features. Some are better for beginners and some are more suited to established course creators.

Of course if you can afford it, can utilize most of its features, and like keeping everything in one place, Kajabi itself may be right for you. But if not, there are plenty of Kajabi alternatives for you to choose from.

We recommend you start by weighing your options, and then write down the platforms that seem like a good fit. Then take advantage of a free trial to test each one out and see which one works best for you.

Taking these simple steps is a powerful way to ensure you’re choosing the right platform for your online course.

Now go ahead and find your perfect course platform!

Want to learn more about the online course creation process? We invite you to enroll in our Free Hybrid Courses Bootcamp so you can set yourself up for long-term success.