Thinkific is the cheaper place to host a course. Kajabi costs more because it also replaces your email tool, funnel builder, and landing pages.
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Table of Contents
- Why This Comparison Matters
- Quick Verdict: Choose Kajabi If / Choose Thinkific If
- Kajabi Overview
- Thinkific Overview
- Head-to-Head: Pricing and Fees
- What a Month Costs: Worked Examples
- Head-to-Head: Features
- Head-to-Head: Ease of Use
- Email, Funnels, and the Hidden Tool Stack
- Who Should Choose Kajabi?
- Who Should Choose Thinkific?
- Migration Guide: Switching from Thinkific to Kajabi (or Back)
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Bottom Line
Why This Comparison Matters
Kajabi and Thinkific both let you sell online courses from your own domain, and both cost more than $100 a month on their entry plans when billed monthly. The difference is what that money buys. Kajabi bundles courses with email marketing, funnels, and landing pages, while Thinkific focuses on course delivery and learning tools.
This guide compares the two on published US pricing, payment processing fees, plan limits, and the outside tools each one makes you buy. You’ll get worked monthly costs for a realistic solo creator, a clear “choose this if” verdict, and a migration checklist.
If you’re still deciding whether you need a course platform at all, our Payhip vs Kajabi comparison covers the lighter-weight option.
Quick Verdict: Choose Kajabi If / Choose Thinkific If
Choose Kajabi if:
- You want one login for courses, email newsletters, sales funnels, and landing pages.
- You sell five or fewer products and have fewer than 2,500 contacts (Kajabi Basic’s caps).
- You’d otherwise pay separately for an email marketing tool and a funnel builder.
Choose Thinkific if:
- You want the lowest monthly bill for hosting courses. Start costs $82 a month billed annually, against $143 for Kajabi Basic.
- You need unlimited courses on the entry plan.
- You need learning features like quizzes, assignments, certificates, and exams.
- You already run email through another tool and don’t want to pay twice for it.
Kajabi Overview
Kajabi is an all-in-one creator platform for selling courses, coaching, memberships, and communities. Every plan includes a website, built-in checkout, and email marketing.
Key strengths:
- Bundled marketing tools. Every plan includes unlimited emails, landing pages, and funnels, per Kajabi’s pricing page.
- Coaching and communities included. Basic covers courses, coaching, memberships, and one private community.
- Lower outside-processor fees on higher plans. Kajabi’s fee for third-party processors drops from 2% on Basic to 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro.
Key weaknesses:
- Product cap on the entry plan. Kajabi Basic lets you sell only 5 products.
- Contact limits. Basic includes 2,500 contacts. Kajabi’s FAQ prices extra contacts at $125 a month per block of 25,000.
- Kajabi branding stays on Basic. You need the Growth plan to remove it.
Pricing summary: Kajabi Basic costs $179 a month billed monthly or $143 a month billed annually ($1,716 a year). Growth costs $249 monthly or $199 a month annually. Pro costs $499 monthly or $399 a month annually. Kajabi offers a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee (Kajabi pricing, checked November 2026).
Thinkific Overview
Thinkific is a learning platform for selling courses, memberships, and communities, with tools for grading work and running cohorts. It targets solo creators and also sells into businesses through B2B seat sales.
Key strengths:
- Unlimited courses on every plan. Even the Start plan has no course cap, according to Thinkific’s pricing page.
- Learning tools built in. Start includes quizzes, assignments, certificates, live cohorts, and coaching with Zoom.
- Lower entry price. Start costs $82 a month billed annually, which is $61 a month less than Kajabi Basic.
Key weaknesses:
- No bulk email on Start. Thinkific lists bulk email on Grow and above, so Start users usually need a separate email tool.
- Thinkific branding on Start. Removing it requires the Grow plan.
- No free plan. Thinkific’s FAQ says there is no free plan and offers a 30-day free trial instead.
Pricing summary: Thinkific Start costs $109 a month billed monthly or $82 a month billed annually. Grow costs $219 monthly or $164 a month annually. Expand costs $499 monthly or $374 a month annually. Plus is quote-only (Thinkific’s US pricing page as captured October 22, 2026; Thinkific shows local currency to visitors outside the US).
Head-to-Head: Pricing and Fees
Here’s how the published plans line up. All prices are in USD.
| Plan tier | Kajabi (monthly / annual per month) | Thinkific (monthly / annual per month) |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Basic: $179 / $143 | Start: $109 / $82 |
| Middle | Growth: $249 / $199 | Grow: $219 / $164 |
| Upper | Pro: $499 / $399 | Expand: $499 / $374 |
| Enterprise | Not listed | Plus: quote only |
| Free trial | 14 days | 30 days |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Fee or limit | Kajabi | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in processor card rate (US) | 2.9% + 30¢ (Basic), 2.8% + 30¢ (Growth), 2.7% + 30¢ (Pro) | 2.9% per Thinkific’s FAQ |
| Extra fee for third-party processors | 2% / 1% / 0.5% by plan (excludes PayPal) | A gateway fee that “varies per plan type,” in select countries |
| Products or courses | 5 / 50 / unlimited | Unlimited on all plans |
| Contacts included | 2,500 / 25,000 / 100,000 | Not capped on the pricing page |
| Team seats (admins) | 2 / 11 / 26 “people on your team” | 2 / 6 / 15 administrators |
| Branded mobile app | Included on Pro | $199/mo add-on, included on select Plus plans |
Fees change. Always verify current rates on Kajabi’s pricing page and Thinkific’s pricing page before you commit. This article is not financial or tax advice.
Thinkific is cheaper at the entry and middle tiers, and Expand costs $25 a month less than Kajabi Pro on annual billing. On annual billing, Thinkific Start costs $984 a year against $1,716 for Kajabi Basic, a gap of $732.
At the middle tier, Thinkific Grow costs $1,968 a year against $2,388 for Kajabi Growth. At the top tier, Thinkific Expand costs $4,488 a year and Kajabi Pro costs $4,788.
Kajabi’s outside-processor fee is worth a close look. Kajabi charges 2% on Basic if you take payments through a third-party processor other than PayPal. Use Kajabi Payments or PayPal and that fee doesn’t apply.
What a Month Costs: Worked Examples
Plan prices leave out processing fees. Take a solo creator selling a $200 course 20 times a month, which comes to $4,000 in monthly sales.
Assumptions: annual billing, payments through each platform’s built-in processor, and no sales tax, refunds, or chargebacks. Thinkific’s FAQ states a 2.9% rate without a fixed per-sale fee, so the table also shows the total if a standard 30¢ fee applies.
| Cost line | Kajabi Basic | Thinkific Start | Thinkific Grow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan (annual, per month) | $143 | $82 | $164 |
| Card processing (2.9% of $4,000) | $116 | $116 | $116 |
| Fixed fee (20 × 30¢) | $6 | $0 to $6 | $0 to $6 |
| Monthly total | $265 | $198 to $204 | $280 to $286 |
| Email marketing included? | Yes | No bulk email | Yes |
Thinkific Start is about $61 to $67 a month cheaper than Kajabi Basic in this example. That gap shrinks if you add a paid email tool to Thinkific Start.
If you need bulk email inside the course platform, compare Kajabi Basic with Thinkific Grow instead. Then Kajabi comes out $15 to $21 a month cheaper.
Monthly billing widens the gap. Kajabi Basic at $179 plus $122 in processing comes to $301 a month. Thinkific Start at $109 plus $116 to $122 in processing comes to $225 to $231.
On the same $4,000 month, Kajabi Basic costs $265 and Thinkific Start costs about $198 to $204 before you add any outside tools.
Head-to-Head: Features
Both platforms host video courses, sell memberships, and run communities. They differ in where they put their effort.
| Feature | Kajabi | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| Courses | Yes (5 products on Basic) | Unlimited on all plans |
| Coaching | Included on all plans | Live cohorts and coaching with Zoom on Start |
| Communities | 1 on Basic and Growth, 3 on Pro | 1 on Start, 3 on Grow, 10 on Expand |
| Email marketing | Unlimited emails on all plans | Bulk email from Grow up |
| Funnels and landing pages | Unlimited on all plans | Not listed as a core plan feature |
| Quizzes, assignments, certificates | Not listed on pricing page | Included on Start |
| Affiliate program | Growth and above | Not listed; revenue sharing with partners from Grow |
| B2B seat sales and invoicing | Not listed | Grow and above |
| API access | Pro | Grow and above |
| Remove platform branding | Growth and above | Grow and above |
Kajabi wins on marketing. Thinkific wins on teaching. Kajabi’s plans list funnels, landing pages, unlimited emails, and (from Growth) advanced automations and an affiliate program. Thinkific’s plans list quizzes, assignments, certificates, exams, question banks, and student engagement reports.
Thinkific also has a B2B angle Kajabi doesn’t advertise. Grow adds bulk enrollment by CSV and invoicing for companies buying seats. If you train staff for client businesses, that matters.
Kajabi Pro includes a branded app in the App Store. On Thinkific, a branded mobile app costs $199 a month extra unless your Plus plan includes it.
For a third option on the course side, see how Teachable compares with Thinkific and how Kajabi stacks up against Teachable.
Head-to-Head: Ease of Use
Neither platform needs coding to launch a course. The learning curve depends on how much you plan to use.
Kajabi asks you to learn more on day one. Because the website, email, funnels, and courses live in one dashboard, a first-time user has more screens to figure out. The upside is that once it’s set up, a sale, a welcome email, and course access all run from the same system.
Thinkific is quicker to get a course live. The course builder is the center of the product, and the 30-day trial gives you twice as long as Kajabi’s 14 days to build before paying. The trade-off shows up later, when you connect an outside email tool and keep two contact lists in sync.
Admin seats matter for small teams. Kajabi Basic and Thinkific Start both include 2 admins. On the middle tier, Kajabi’s pricing page lists 11 “people on your team” for Growth, while Thinkific lists 6 administrators for Grow.
Email, Funnels, and the Hidden Tool Stack
For many creators, this is where the choice gets made. The plan price is only fair to compare once you count the tools each plan replaces.
On Kajabi, every plan includes unlimited emails, landing pages, and funnels. If you’d otherwise pay for an email marketing service and a landing page builder, Kajabi’s higher price absorbs those bills.
On Thinkific Start, bulk email isn’t included. If you want to send newsletters from Start, you’ll need a separate email marketing service, which adds its own monthly fee that usually grows with your list.
Here’s a simple way to run the numbers for yourself:
- Write down Kajabi Basic’s annual price: $143 a month.
- Write down Thinkific Start’s annual price: $82 a month.
- Add the monthly cost of the email tool you’d use with Thinkific at your current list size.
- Add any landing page or funnel tool you’d also need.
- If steps 2 to 4 total more than $143, Kajabi Basic is the cheaper stack.
Watch Kajabi’s contact cap. Basic includes 2,500 contacts. Past that, you either buy extra contacts at $125 a month per 25,000 or move to Growth at $199 a month annually. Thinkific’s pricing page doesn’t list a contact cap, but your outside email tool probably prices by list size.
Who Should Choose Kajabi?
- Solo creators running their whole business from one tool. If you want courses, newsletters, funnels, and a website under one login, Kajabi is built for that.
- Coaches who sell a few high-ticket offers. Five products on Basic is enough for a flagship course, a coaching package, and a membership.
- Creators replacing two or more paid tools. If you’re paying for email and a funnel builder already, Kajabi can cost less than Thinkific plus those tools.
- Creators who want an affiliate program. Kajabi Growth includes one, so other people can sell your course for a commission.
Who Should Choose Thinkific?
- Educators with a large course catalog. Unlimited courses on Start means no product cap, even on the cheapest plan.
- Creators who already have an email tool they like. If your list lives elsewhere and you plan to keep it there, Thinkific Start avoids paying twice for email.
- Trainers selling to companies. B2B seat sales, invoicing, and bulk enrollment on Grow fit corporate training work.
- Courses that need assessment. Quizzes, assignments, certificates, and (from Grow) exams and question banks suit certification-style programs.
- Price-first buyers. At $82 a month on annual billing, Thinkific Start is the cheaper way to get a branded course site live.
If your products are downloads rather than courses, a lighter tool may fit better. Our Payhip vs Thinkific comparison and Podia vs Gumroad comparison cover that ground.
Migration Guide: Switching from Thinkific to Kajabi (or Back)
As a rough planning estimate, moving a small catalog takes a weekend and a larger one with quizzes and subscriptions can take two to four weeks. Plan around these steps:
- Export your students. Download your student and customer list as a CSV from your current platform, including emails and enrollment dates.
- Download your course files. Save your original videos, PDFs, and quiz content. Re-uploading from your own masters is cleaner than ripping from the old platform.
- Rebuild course structure. Recreate modules and lessons on the new platform. Quizzes and certificates often need to be rebuilt by hand.
- Plan subscriptions and payment plans carefully. Active recurring payments are tied to the processor. Check with both platforms’ support before moving subscribers, or you risk double billing or lost renewals.
- Move your email list. If you’re going to Kajabi, import contacts and check you stay under the 2,500 contact cap on Basic. If you’re going to Thinkific, decide whether your list lives in Thinkific (Grow and up) or an outside tool.
- Redirect your domain. Point your custom domain at the new platform and set up redirects for old course URLs.
- Run both for a short overlap. Keep the old platform active for a billing cycle so enrolled students don’t lose access mid-course.
Use the free trials to test before you commit: 14 days on Kajabi and 30 days on Thinkific.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kajabi more expensive than Thinkific?
Yes, at the entry level. Kajabi Basic costs $143 a month on annual billing, while Thinkific Start costs $82 a month. Kajabi includes email marketing and funnels in that price, so the gap shrinks if you’d otherwise pay for those tools separately.
Does Thinkific have a free plan?
No. Thinkific’s pricing FAQ says it doesn’t offer a free plan. It offers a 30-day free trial instead.
Does Kajabi have a free trial?
Yes. Kajabi’s pricing page lists a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee on its plans.
What transaction fees does Kajabi charge?
Kajabi’s pricing page lists US card rates of 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, 2.8% + 30¢ on Growth, and 2.7% + 30¢ on Pro. If you use a third-party processor other than PayPal, Kajabi adds a 2%, 1%, or 0.5% fee depending on plan.
What transaction fees does Thinkific charge?
Thinkific’s FAQ says its built-in processor, Thinkific Payments, is priced at 2.9%, in line with Stripe and PayPal. In select countries, using Stripe or PayPal directly adds a third-party gateway fee that varies by plan.
Can I sell unlimited courses on Kajabi?
Only on Pro. Kajabi Basic allows 5 products and Growth allows 50. Thinkific allows unlimited courses on every plan, including Start.
Which platform has better email marketing?
Kajabi. Every Kajabi plan includes unlimited emails, landing pages, and funnels. Thinkific lists bulk email only on Grow and above, so Start users typically connect an outside email tool.
Which is better for beginners?
Thinkific is quicker for getting a first course online, and its 30-day trial gives you more time to build. Kajabi has more to learn up front, but it suits beginners who would rather learn one system than connect several.
Can I remove platform branding?
Yes, but not on the entry plans. Kajabi removes its branding from the Growth plan up, and Thinkific removes its branding from the Grow plan up.
Which platform is better for selling to businesses?
Thinkific. Its Grow plan adds B2B sales with invoicing and bulk enrollment by CSV, which suits corporate training. Kajabi’s pricing page doesn’t list B2B invoicing.
How long does it take to move from Thinkific to Kajabi?
As a rough estimate, a small catalog with a few courses can move in a weekend. Larger catalogs with quizzes, certificates, and active subscriptions often take two to four weeks, mostly because recurring payments and assessments need careful rebuilding.
Do Kajabi and Thinkific offer branded mobile apps?
Yes. Kajabi includes a branded App Store app on its Pro plan. Thinkific sells a branded mobile app as a $199-a-month add-on, included on select Plus plans.
The Bottom Line
Thinkific is the cheaper course host. Start costs $82 a month on annual billing, and you get unlimited courses plus quizzes and certificates. Kajabi Basic costs $143 a month but includes email marketing, funnels, and landing pages, which Thinkific Start doesn’t.
If you only need to host and sell courses and you already have an email tool, choose Thinkific. If you want to run courses, email, and sales funnels from a single dashboard and you sell a handful of products, choose Kajabi.
The cleanest way to decide is to add up your current tool bills and compare them against each plan. Then use the free trials to build one module on each before you pay.
Compare more course platform costs on CartCompare
Related Articles
- Kajabi vs Teachable: Course Platform Costs Compared (2026): how Kajabi’s bundle compares with Teachable’s course-first plans.
- Teachable vs Thinkific: Course Platform Costs (2026): the two course-first platforms side by side.
- Payhip vs Kajabi: Which Costs Less for Creators (2026): a lower-cost alternative for selling downloads and simple courses.
About This Research
Chloe Cruz has spent four years writing about eCommerce and covers platforms for CartCompare (LinkedIn).
This comparison is based on Kajabi’s published US pricing page (checked November 2026) and Thinkific’s US pricing page as captured on October 22, 2026, plus Thinkific’s current pricing FAQ. The cost tables are our own calculations from those published rates, using a stated $200 course price, 20 sales a month, and annual billing. They leave out sales tax, refunds, chargebacks, and the cost of outside tools.
Content reviewed and updated: 2026-11-09
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