Quick verdict
TL;DR: Kajabi is a polished all-in-one for courses, email, and funnels, but after its January 2026 price restructure Basic costs $143/month billed annually ($179 monthly) for just 5 products and 2,500 contacts, with no free plan. Most creators can spend far less: Thinkific for structured courses with no platform fee, Teachable from $29/month, Podia as a simple all-in-one from $42/month, and Systeme.io if you need a genuinely free start.
Bottom line up front: unless you use Kajabi’s funnels, email, and automations every week, you are probably overpaying. Thinkific and Teachable cover course selling for a third to a fifth of Kajabi Basic.
Why do people look for Kajabi alternatives?
Price is the main reason, and it got sharper in 2026. Kajabi retired its cheaper Kickstarter tier, raised Basic, and tightened its caps at the same time, so new creators now enter at $143/month billed annually while established creators saw their bills rise too. Many sellers also only use half the stack — they need courses and checkout, not a full funnel and CRM suite — or they hit the 5-product and 2,500-contact limits on Basic long before the price feels justified. If you are building a creator stack, see also our guide to the best AI tools for online course creators.
What the pricing page doesn’t make obvious
Two details most coverage still gets wrong. First, Kajabi Basic now allows only 5 products and 2,500 contacts — the contact cap was 10,000 before the January 2026 restructure, and many guides still quote the old $149 entry price, which Kajabi no longer charges. Second, if you process payments through your own third-party processor instead of Kajabi Payments or PayPal, Kajabi adds a fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth, and 0.5% on Pro on top of card processing (2.9% + 30 cents on Basic via Kajabi Payments). Neither point appears in the big headline price.
Best Kajabi alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Platform fee | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thinkific | Structured courses | Basic $40/mo billed annually | 0% on Thinkific Payments* | Best overall alternative |
| Teachable | Simple course launch | Starter $29/mo billed annually | 7.5% Starter; 0% Builder | Best low start price |
| Podia | Simple all-in-one | Mover $42/mo billed annually | 5% Mover; 0% Shaker | Best for beginners |
| Systeme.io | Free start with funnels | Free; Startup $17/mo | 0% | Best free option |
| Skool | Community-first courses | Hobby $9/mo; Pro $99/mo | 10% Hobby; 2.9% Pro | Best if community is the product |
| LearnWorlds | Assessments and training | Starter $24/mo billed annually | $5 per enrollment on Starter | Best for serious training |
| Kartra | Funnels and marketing | Starter $119/mo | 0% | Closest marketing match |
| Circle | Branded community | From $89/mo | Fees vary by plan | Best community platform |
*Thinkific notes a 0.5% charge on US/Canadian sales for sales-tax handling through Thinkific Payments. Check each vendor’s current pricing before you buy.
The 8 best Kajabi alternatives in 2026
1. Thinkific — best overall Kajabi alternative
Thinkific focuses on what most Kajabi leavers actually use: unlimited courses, quizzes, communities, and built-in email tools, starting at $40/month on Basic billed annually, with Start at $82/month. It has no platform fee through Thinkific Payments, apart from the small US/Canada tax-handling charge noted above, and offers a long 30-day trial. You lose Kajabi’s funnel builder and deeper automations, which is exactly why it costs so much less.
2. Teachable — best for a simple, cheap launch
Teachable’s Starter plan is $29/month billed annually, with Builder at $69/month removing the Starter plan’s 7.5% transaction fee entirely. The course builder, sales pages, coupons, and unlimited students keep setup simple, and Teachable Payments remits VAT and GST across 45+ countries automatically. It lacks Kajabi’s funnels and advanced automation, so growing marketing teams may outgrow it, but for a first course it is hard to beat on price.
3. Podia — best simple all-in-one for beginners
Podia sells courses, downloads, coaching, webinars, and community in one clean dashboard, with built-in email included. Mover is $42/month billed annually plus a 5% transaction fee; Shaker at $84/month drops the platform fee to zero. There is no free plan — Podia removed it in October 2024 — only a 14-day trial, so budget for the paid tier from day one.
4. Systeme.io — best free Kajabi alternative
Systeme.io is the only pick here with a real free plan: one course, up to 2,000 contacts, funnels, and email at $0, with no platform transaction fee on any plan. Startup is $17/month when you need more courses and contacts. Its course tools are more basic than Thinkific’s, but for testing whether a course will sell at all, free with funnels included is a compelling place to start.
5. Skool — best if community is the product
Skool puts courses inside a paid community with a feed, classroom, leaderboard, and calendar, which suits cohort and membership offers better than a traditional course library. Hobby is just $9/month but takes a steep 10% fee per sale; Pro at $99/month cuts that to 2.9%. Do the math on your sales volume — Hobby gets expensive fast once you are actually selling.
6. LearnWorlds — best for assessments and corporate training
LearnWorlds is the learning-depth pick: interactive video, advanced assessments, certificates, and SCORM support for training teams. Starter is $24/month billed annually but adds $5 per paid enrollment, a fee that disappears on Pro Trainer at $79/month billed annually. If your buyers are companies or your course needs real testing and compliance features, that structure can still undercut Kajabi by a wide margin.
7. Kartra — closest match for Kajabi’s marketing stack
Kartra is the alternative that tries to replace Kajabi like-for-like: courses, funnels, email, webinars, and checkout in one system, starting at $119/month with no platform transaction fee. It is not cheap, and its Starter plan also caps contacts at 2,500, so read the limits carefully. Choose it when funnels and marketing automation, not just course hosting, are why you bought Kajabi in the first place.
8. Circle — best for a branded community business
Circle builds polished, branded communities with courses, live rooms, and events, starting around $89/month. It is not a full Kajabi replacement — plan on separate tools for funnels and checkout-heavy selling — but creators whose revenue comes from an active membership often find the community experience stronger. Compare it with the all-in-one approach in our GoHighLevel alternatives guide if community plus marketing in one bill matters to you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kajabi worth $143 a month?
Only if you actively use its courses, email, funnels, and automations together every week. If you mainly host courses and take payments, Thinkific at $40/month or Teachable Builder at $69/month cover the job for far less.
What is the cheapest Kajabi alternative?
Systeme.io is free to start with one course and 2,000 contacts and charges no platform fee. Among paid course-first platforms, Teachable Starter at $29/month billed annually is cheapest, but its 7.5% sale fee means Builder at $69/month is better once sales grow.
Does Kajabi charge a percentage of sales?
Kajabi takes no revenue share through Kajabi Payments, but card processing is 2.9% + 30 cents on Basic, and using your own third-party processor adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth, or 0.5% on Pro.
Can I move my courses off Kajabi?
Generally yes — export contacts and course content, then rebuild lessons and sales pages on the new platform. Budget real time for the rebuild, especially for funnels and automations, which do not transfer automatically.
Verdict: which Kajabi alternative should you pick?
Pick Thinkific for the best all-round course platform at a fair price, Teachable for the cheapest credible launch, Systeme.io to start free, Podia for beginner-friendly simplicity, and Kartra only if you truly need Kajabi-style funnels. Stay with Kajabi if its full marketing stack is already earning its $143/month — otherwise, most creators will keep the difference and lose very little.