Kajabi vs Thinkific: What a Coach Pays and What You Get

Kajabi vs Thinkific comes down to how much of your marketing you want sitting next to your courses. Thinkific costs less and is built around courses, live cohorts and community, while Kajabi costs more and puts marketing emails, funnels, a website and a coaching scheduler in the same account. Thinkific Start is $82 a month billed annually and Kajabi Basic is $143 a month billed annually, before the fees on your sales (checked October 2026).

That's the short version. This post looks at it from a coach's side of the desk: what each plan includes, what you pay on every sale, and what you'd still add on. If Teachable is on your list too, I've compared it separately in Kajabi vs Teachable.

Every price and fee here comes from Kajabi's and Thinkific's official pricing pages and help centres, and I've said so where I couldn't confirm something.

The Short Answer for Coaches

Here's how I'd call it, based on what clients pay you for.

• If you sell courses and live group calls, and you already have an email tool you like, Thinkific Start is the lower monthly number. It includes live cohorts, coaching products, memberships and one community.
• If you want your emails, funnels, website and courses in one account, Kajabi does more of that work for you, and the plan price reflects it.
• If one-to-one coaching is a big part of your offer, look closely at scheduling. Kajabi books sessions inside its Coaching product. Thinkific links out to a booking tool such as Calendly.
• If you're comparing plan prices alone, wait until you've counted the add-ons. That's where the gap gets smaller.

If you've been reading Thinkific vs Kajabi threads on Reddit, you've probably seen the same split: Thinkific looks cheaper, and Kajabi looks like it does more. Both are fair. The useful question is which extras you'd pay for elsewhere anyway. If neither feels right, my broader shortlist for coaches leaving Kajabi covers the wider field.

What Kajabi Gives a Coach

Kajabi is a course and marketing platform. In one account you get products (courses, coaching, memberships and digital downloads), a website, landing pages, funnels, marketing emails, checkout and a community.

What it does well:

• Marketing next to the course. Marketing emails, landing pages and funnels are unlimited on every plan (checked October 2026). You can build the sales page, send launch emails, take payment and deliver the course without leaving Kajabi.
• Coaching built in. Kajabi's Coaching product handles 1:1 and group programs. The Kajabi Scheduler books sessions against your Google, Outlook or Office 365 calendar, and sessions can run on Kajabi's built-in live video. Calendly and Zoom connect too, if you'd rather keep them (Kajabi Help Center, checked October 2026).
• A community included. Basic and Growth include 1 community, and Pro includes 3.

What to watch:

• The price. Basic is $179 a month, or $143 a month billed annually. Growth is $249, or $199 billed annually, and Pro is $499, or $399 billed annually (checked October 2026). If you're already on Kajabi and wondering whether the bill still makes sense, I wrote about whether Kajabi is worth it.
• The limits on Basic. Basic includes 5 products, 2,500 contacts, 1 website and 2 admin users. Growth lifts that to 50 products, 25,000 contacts and 11 admin users.
• Your payment setup. Kajabi says it doesn't take a revenue share. If you're in a region where Kajabi Payments is offered and you use another provider instead, Kajabi adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro. PayPal is excluded from that fee (checked October 2026).

What Thinkific Gives a Coach

Thinkific is a course platform at heart. Its plans are built around courses, live lessons, communities and memberships, with a site builder, checkout and email automation around them.

When I checked in October 2026, Thinkific's pricing page listed three self-serve plans, Start, Grow and Expand, with a 30-day free trial and no free plan. If you've seen a cheaper Thinkific Basic plan quoted elsewhere, it wasn't on the pricing page when I looked.

What it does well:

• A lower entry price for a coaching setup. Start is $109 a month, or $82 billed annually. Grow is $219, or $164 billed annually, and Expand is $499, or $374 billed annually. Thinkific says annual billing saves 25% (checked October 2026).
• Live and recurring offers on the entry plan. Start lists unlimited courses, live cohorts and coaching (unlimited Zoom sessions, bookable calendars and attendance tracking), memberships and subscriptions, bundles, upsells and payment plans, and a custom domain.

What to watch:

• Thinkific's branding stays on Start. Removing it starts at Grow, along with 3 communities, bulk email to students, bulk student import, API access and PayPal payments.
• Live calls happen outside Thinkific. Thinkific's help centre says coaching sessions and webinars can't be hosted directly in Thinkific, so you'll run them on Zoom, Google Meet or something similar (checked October 2026).
• A branded mobile app is extra. Thinkific lists its branded iOS and Android app as a $199 a month add-on.

Prices and Fees Side by Side, Checked October 2026

Here are the plans most coaches compare. All prices are USD, before tax, from each platform's official pricing page (checked October 2026).

Now the fee rules, because this is where Thinkific vs Kajabi pricing gets fiddly.

• With each platform's built-in payments. Thinkific Payments charges US businesses 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment, plus 0.7% on subscriptions and payment plans and 1.5% on international cards. Kajabi Payments is 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic for US entities, and Kajabi's pricing page links to a by-country list for everyone else.
• With Stripe or another provider. Thinkific adds a third-party gateway fee on Stripe transactions: 2% on Start, 1% on Grow and 0.5% on Expand, for businesses in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU. Thinkific stops charging it once you pass $1M in sales in a calendar year. Kajabi's fee is 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro. Both sit on top of the provider's processing fees.
• Sales tax on Thinkific. If you use Thinkific's sales tax and VAT solution, its help centre lists a 0.5% fee on each transaction where tax is assessed, for buyers in the US, Canada, the UK, the EU and Switzerland.
• Coaching from Australia? Thinkific's fee page lists 1.75% + A$0.30 per card payment for Australian businesses, and Australia isn't on its list of countries for the gateway fee.

Here's what that looks like on a $500 course bought with a US card, at the rates on those pages:

• Thinkific Start with Thinkific Payments: 2.9% + $0.30, so $14.80.
• Kajabi Basic with Kajabi Payments: 2.9% + $0.30, also $14.80.
• Either one on Stripe: add the 2% platform fee ($10) on Thinkific Start or Kajabi Basic, plus Stripe's processing fees.

So on the built-in payments, the cost per sale lands in the same place. The real difference is the plan price and what that price includes.

Coaching Calls, Memberships and Community on Each

This is the part coaches feel every week.

Coaching calls. On Kajabi, a Coaching program can be 1:1 or group. Clients schedule sessions from their library, you set your availability, and confirmation emails carry calendar links. On Thinkific, a Coaching product takes a booking page link from Calendly, Google Calendar, Zoom Scheduler or a similar tool, and the call itself runs on your video platform. For group sessions inside a course, Thinkific's Live Lessons connect to Zoom, and its help centre notes that a free Zoom account caps meetings at 40 minutes. It also says Live Lessons don't send automatic email reminders, so you'd add students to a calendar invite yourself (checked October 2026).

Memberships. Kajabi lists memberships with tiered access among its products. Thinkific puts memberships and subscriptions on Start, and lists paid community memberships on every plan, with the option to bundle community access into a course.

Community. Kajabi includes 1 community on Basic and Growth, and 3 on Pro. Thinkific Start includes 1 community with 10 spaces and 5 live events, Grow includes 3 communities with 20 spaces and unlimited live events, and Expand lifts that to 10 communities and 200 spaces (checked October 2026).

Your clients never see your plan. They see how easy it is to book a call and find the next lesson.

So which fits? If your coaching is mostly group calls inside a course, Thinkific Start covers it well at the lower price. If you sell 1:1 packages, Kajabi's built-in scheduler and live video save you a separate booking tool. If your community serves more than one audience, compare Thinkific Grow's 3 communities with Kajabi Pro's 3, because that's where each one lifts the limit.

What You Will Still Add On With Each One

Here's what each one tends to leave to you.

With Thinkific Start, plan for:

• An email tool for your newsletter. Thinkific's Email Automation is on every plan, and its help centre says it currently offers one sequence type, a Sales Flow, plus abandoned cart emails. Bulk email to students starts at Grow. I couldn't find a newsletter or broadcast tool for leads on Start, so plan on an email platform such as Mailchimp or Kit, which Thinkific connects to.
• A booking tool for discovery calls and 1:1 sessions, such as Calendly.
• A video call tool, since sessions run on Zoom or something similar.
• The step up to Grow, if you want Thinkific's branding off, PayPal at checkout or more than one community.

With Kajabi Basic, plan for:

• Calendly or Zoom, if you'd rather keep them than switch to Kajabi's scheduler and live video.
• The step up to Growth once you pass 2,500 contacts or 5 products.
• Pro, if you want a branded app in the app stores. Kajabi's FAQ points app buyers to Pro.

I haven't priced the add-ons because every coach's set is different. Write down the tools you'd keep with each option, check each one's pricing page, and add them to the plan price. That's your real monthly number.

The quiet cost isn't on any pricing page. It's the stitching between tools: checking that every new buyer landed in the right course and community, that your email list matches your student list, and that booking links still work after a change. In most coaching businesses, the person doing that stitching is the coach.

For my business, I build on ESTAGE, a business hub where the website, community, courses and CRM sit together in one place under your brand. 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 the plain-language version, here's what ESTAGE is.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Thinkific cheaper than Kajabi?

On plan price, yes. Thinkific Start is $82 a month billed annually, or $109 monthly, while Kajabi Basic is $143 a month billed annually, or $179 monthly (checked October 2026). Card fees on each platform's built-in payments are the same for US sales, at 2.9% + $0.30. Once you add the email and booking tools Thinkific leaves to you, the gap gets smaller, so add those up before you decide.

Is Kajabi better than Thinkific for coaches?

It depends on what you sell. Kajabi suits coaches who want marketing emails, funnels, a website and a built-in scheduler for 1:1 sessions in one account. Thinkific suits coaches who mainly sell courses, cohorts and group calls, are happy keeping a separate email and booking tool, and want a lower monthly price.

Does Thinkific charge transaction fees?

Not on Thinkific Payments, beyond processing: 2.9% + $0.30 per US card payment, plus 0.7% on subscriptions and payment plans. If you use Stripe instead, Thinkific adds a third-party gateway fee of 2% on Start, 1% on Grow and 0.5% on Expand for businesses in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU, on top of Stripe's processing fees (checked October 2026).

Does Thinkific have email marketing?

Some. Email Automation is on every plan, with a Sales Flow sequence and abandoned cart emails, and Grow adds bulk email to your students. For a regular newsletter or a nurture sequence for new leads, most coaches will want an email platform alongside it. Thinkific connects with tools such as Mailchimp, Kit and ActiveCampaign.

Can Thinkific do coaching calls and memberships?

Yes. The Start plan lists live cohorts and coaching, memberships and subscriptions, and payment plans. Coaching products use a booking link from a tool like Calendly, Google Calendar or Zoom Scheduler, and the calls themselves run on Zoom or a similar video tool rather than inside Thinkific (checked October 2026).

Can I move my courses from Kajabi to Thinkific?

Yes, but plan for it to be hands-on. Start with a Kajabi export of your contacts and customers, rebuild each course in Thinkific, then bring your students across. Bulk student import is on Grow and up, and Thinkific's help centre says active subscriptions can't be transferred directly, so paying members will need to sign up again. My guide to migrating from Kajabi without losing members covers the order I'd do it in.

Join The Community

Choosing between Kajabi and Thinkific is easier when you can talk it through with coaches who've weighed the same trade-offs. That's what the HubSteady Community is for: comparing setups, checking the real fees, and working out how to stop being the glue between your tools. Bring your shortlist and your questions, and we'll work through them together.

If that sounds useful, Join The Community.