Kajabi vs Skool: Course Business or Community First?

Kajabi vs Skool comes down to one question: is your coaching business a course business or a community business? Kajabi suits coaches whose course or program is the main thing people buy, with email, pages and checkout in the same account. Skool suits coaches whose group is the product, with one simple feed, a classroom and a calendar. Kajabi starts at $143 a month billed annually and Skool at $9 a month, and both leave you something to add (checked October 2026).

That's the short answer. The rest of this post is how to tell which shape your business has, and what you'll still be stitching together either way.

I've used both. I ran my business on Kajabi for a long stretch, and I've run a community on Skool. Neither one is a bad tool. Each is very good at one shape of business, and each quietly hands you a job for the parts it doesn't cover.

The Short Answer: Course Business or Community First

Here's the quickest way I know to pick. Look at what people actually pay you for.

• If they pay for a course or program, and the community is there to help them finish it, Kajabi fits better. Your sales pages, emails, checkout and course live together.
• If they pay to be in the room, and the classroom is there to support the group, Skool fits better. Members log in to talk, learn and show up to calls.
• If it's honestly both, you're choosing which half to make easy and which half to bolt on. That's the part most comparisons skip, so I'll come back to it.

Kajabi's comparison pages make a strong case for Kajabi, and Skool fans make a strong case for Skool. I'd rather you match the tool to your business than pick a winner.

What Kajabi Does Well, and What It Leaves to You

Kajabi is a course and marketing platform. In one account you get products (courses, coaching and memberships), a website, landing pages, funnels, marketing emails, checkout and a community. The community sits next to everything else as one product among many.

What it does well:

• Selling a course from start to finish. You can build the sales page, run the launch emails, take the payment and deliver the course without leaving Kajabi.
• Email marketing to people who haven't bought yet. Marketing emails are unlimited on every plan, so your newsletter and welcome sequence sit beside your products (checked October 2026).
• No platform cut of your sales. Kajabi says it doesn't take a cut of your sales. Kajabi Payments card fees are 2.9% + $0.30 per payment on Basic for US entities (checked October 2026).

What it leaves to you:

• A lively community. Kajabi's community works, but it's one part of a big product. If the conversation is what people pay for, you'll do more of the work to keep the room busy.
• Room to expand. Basic includes 5 products, 2,500 contacts, 1 website, 1 community and 2 admin users (checked October 2026). Pass those limits and you're looking at Growth.
• The price. Basic is $179 a month on monthly billing, or $143 a month billed annually. Growth is $249 a month, or $199 billed annually (checked October 2026). If you're already on Kajabi and wondering whether that bill still makes sense, I wrote about whether Kajabi is worth it, and my post on the Kajabi price increase covers how the pricing has moved.

One more fee to know about: if you take payments through most other providers instead of Kajabi Payments (PayPal is excluded), Kajabi adds a 2% fee on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro (checked October 2026).

What Skool Does Well, and What It Leaves to You

Skool keeps things deliberately plain. There's a community feed, a classroom for courses, a calendar for live calls, and points and levels that reward people for taking part. Members tend to find it easy from day one.

What it does well:

• Getting people talking. One feed, one place to post, and points that give members a small reason to join in.
• Simple setup. You can have a group, a classroom and a call schedule ready in an afternoon.
• Room for lots of people. Both plans list unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls, plus a custom URL and affiliates (checked October 2026).

What it leaves to you:

• Email marketing. Skool emails your members admin announcements, a weekly digest and event reminders, according to its help centre (checked October 2026). What I couldn't find is a newsletter list or a welcome sequence for people who haven't joined yet. For that, most coaches keep a separate email tool.
• A website and sales pages. Skool gives you a group page, not a full website, so many coaches keep a separate site for their story, services and sales pages.
• Keeping the feed alive. A simple feed is a strength until it goes quiet. If that's already happening to you, I wrote about why a Skool community feels like a ghost town and what tends to bring it back.

Price and fees: Hobby is $9 a month with a 10% transaction fee. Pro is $99 a month with a 2.9% transaction fee (checked October 2026). There's a yearly option on the pricing page that Skool says gives you 2 months free.

Kajabi vs Skool Side by Side

Here are the main plans next to each other. All prices are USD, before tax, from each platform's pricing page (checked October 2026).

A few things the table can't show:

• The fee matters more as your prices go up. On a $2,000 program seat, Skool Hobby's 10% is $200 and Skool Pro's 2.9% is $58. Kajabi Payments card fees on Basic come to $58.30, at the rates on each pricing page.
• Kajabi's plan price includes email and pages. Skool's doesn't, so the cheaper sticker isn't the whole bill.
• Kajabi has a Pro plan too, at $499 a month or $399 billed annually, with 3 communities and 100,000 contacts (checked October 2026). Most coaches comparing it with Skool won't need it.

If Circle is also on your list, my Circle vs Kajabi comparison covers that pair, and the best community platform for coaches shortlist puts all the main options side by side.

The Real Monthly Bill Once You Add the Missing Pieces

This is where the plan price stops being the whole story. Here's the cheapest honest line-up for each side.

Skool Pro at $99 a month, plus:

• the email tool you already use for your newsletter and welcome sequence
• a website or page builder for your sales pages, if you sell anything beyond the group
• a booking tool for discovery calls, if you take one-to-one clients
• an automation tool to pass new buyers from your checkout or email list into Skool, if they don't buy inside Skool

Kajabi Basic at $143 a month billed annually, or $179 monthly, plus:

• a booking tool for discovery calls, if you don't already have one
• more of your time in the community, if the conversation is what people pay for
• the step up to Growth once you pass 2,500 contacts or 5 products

I haven't put prices on the add-ons because every coach's set is different, and I'd rather you look them up than trust my guess. Write down the tools you'd keep with each option, look up each one's pricing page, and add them to the plan price. That's your real monthly number.

None of these tools are bad. The quiet cost is the stitching between them. Someone has to check that every new buyer got into the group, that the email list matches the member list, and that the links still work after a change. In most coaching businesses I've seen, that someone is you.

Which One Fits You: Three Coach Scenarios

Here's how I'd call it for three common setups.

The course-led coach

You sell a signature program, maybe $500 to $2,000, through a launch or an evergreen funnel. The community is where students ask questions and share wins while they work through the course.

I'd lean Kajabi. Your sales pages, emails, checkout and course sit in one account, and the community supports the course rather than carrying it. Plan a little extra effort to keep the community active between launches.

The community-led coach

People pay a monthly fee to be in your group. You run weekly calls, post prompts, and the classroom holds a handful of short trainings.

I'd lean Skool. It's built for exactly this, members find it easy, and Pro's 2.9% fee keeps more of each payment than Hobby's 10% once you're charging. Plan for a separate email tool so you can reach people before they join.

The coach who's doing both

You've got a course, a paid community and maybe a mastermind on top. This is where people end up running Kajabi and Skool together, with an automation tool in the middle and two logins for every client.

I'd slow down here. Before you add a second platform, count what you'd be stitching together and who'll look after it. If you're thinking about moving off Kajabi altogether, my guide to migrating from Kajabi without losing members walks through doing it carefully.

For my business, I build on ESTAGE, a business hub that brings your website, community, courses and CRM into one place under your name. I'm an ESTAGE Founding Ambassador and earn a commission if you sign up through my links. ESTAGE is in its invitation phase, and it won't suit everyone. If you'd like to see how it compares, I've written up ESTAGE vs Skool, and here's what ESTAGE is in plain language.

Whatever you choose, the test is the same: does it fit what people pay you for, and how much are you signing up to stitch together around it?

Join The Community

Picking between Kajabi and Skool is easier when you can talk it through with coaches who've already tried both. The community is where we work through exactly this: which setup suits which coaching model, what the fees really add up to, and how to stop being the glue between your tools. Bring your coaching model and your shortlist, and ask the questions you'd rather not ask a sales rep.

If that sounds useful, Join The Community.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Skool better than Kajabi?

It depends on what people pay you for. Skool is better when the community is the product and you want one simple group with as little setup as possible. Kajabi is better when a course or program is the main sale and you want email, sales pages and checkout in the same account as the content.

Can Skool replace Kajabi?

For a community-led business, often yes. Skool covers the group, a classroom for courses and a calendar for live calls. What it doesn't give you is Kajabi's email marketing, website and sales pages, so most coaches who switch keep or add an email tool and a site for those jobs.

Is Skool cheaper than Kajabi?

On plan price, yes. Skool Hobby is $9 a month and Pro is $99 a month, while Kajabi Basic is $179 a month or $143 billed annually (checked October 2026). Once you add the email tool and website Skool doesn't include, and the transaction fee on your sales, the gap is smaller than the sticker suggests.

Does Skool have email marketing?

Not in the way Kajabi does. Skool emails your members admin announcements, a weekly digest and event reminders, according to its help centre (checked October 2026). I couldn't find a newsletter list or welcome sequence for people who haven't joined yet, so most coaches pair Skool with a separate email tool.

Can I use Kajabi and Skool together?

Yes, and plenty of coaches do, usually with Kajabi for courses and email and Skool for the community. The trade-off is two logins for your clients, member data in two places, and an automation tool or manual step to get each new buyer into the group. Count that upkeep before you set it up.

Should I move my community from Kajabi to Skool?

Move if the community has become the main thing people pay for and you want a simpler, livelier room. Stay if your course sales lean on Kajabi's emails, pages and checkout. Either way, plan the move so members know where to go, and count the tools you'd need around Skool first.