Thinkific suits course businesses that want unlimited courses from the first plan and tools for cohorts, exams and selling seats to companies. Kajabi suits creators who want courses, a website, email contacts and a community bundled into one plan. As of October 2026, Thinkific starts at $82 a month billed yearly and Kajabi at $143 a month billed yearly.
Kajabi and Thinkific both target people who teach online, but they draw the lines in different places. Thinkific doesn't cap courses on any plan and builds up towards teams and companies. Kajabi caps products and contacts by plan and folds in email and a website. I read both pricing pages to compare them on each company's own terms.
Kajabi and Thinkific compared
| Kajabi | Thinkific | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan, billed yearly | Basic, $143 a month | Start, $82 a month |
| Entry plan, billed monthly | $179 a month | $109 a month |
| Middle plan, billed yearly | Growth, $199 a month | Grow, $164 a month |
| Top published plan, billed yearly | Pro, $399 a month | Expand, $374 a month |
| Courses or products on entry plan | 5 products | Unlimited courses |
| Community | 1 community on Basic | 3 communities on Grow, 10 on Expand |
| Discount for paying yearly | 20% | 25% |
What Thinkific's plans include
Thinkific's Start plan already includes unlimited courses, live cohorts and coaching with Zoom sessions and bookable calendars, quizzes and certificates, bundles, upsells and payment plans, memberships and a custom domain. Grow removes Thinkific branding, adds 3 communities, exams and question banks, and lets you sell bulk seats to companies and collect payment by invoice. Expand adds 10 communities with 200 spaces, 1000 GB a month of video bandwidth, 15 administrator accounts and revenue sharing with up to 10 partners.
What Kajabi's plans include
Kajabi Basic includes 5 products, 2,500 contacts, 1 website, 1 community and 2 admin users. Growth moves to 50 products, 25,000 contacts and 11 admin users, and Pro removes the limits. Kajabi says it doesn't take a revenue share as a platform, and every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The difference that decides it
Thinkific is built around teaching at scale: unlimited courses, cohorts, exams and selling to businesses. Kajabi is built around running a whole creator business from one login, with your email list and website included. If your plan is a catalogue of courses for individuals and companies, Thinkific's structure fits. If your plan is a few signature products backed by email marketing, Kajabi's bundle fits.
Kajabi's tiers are laid out in our Kajabi pricing guide.
Paying monthly or yearly
Both platforms reward paying for the year. Thinkific shows a 25% saving on annual billing and Kajabi a 20% saving. On Thinkific that turns Start from $109 a month into $82, and on Kajabi it turns Basic from $179 into $143. If you're still testing whether your course will sell, pay monthly for the first few months, then switch to yearly once you're confident. Kajabi says you can move from monthly to annual billing at any time, and it's worth checking Thinkific's terms before you commit to a year.
For Thinkific's plans in full, see our Thinkific pricing guide.
Questions to settle before you choose
- How many courses do you plan to publish in your first year?
- Do you need your email list and website inside the same platform?
- Will you sell to companies, or only to individuals?
- How many people on your team need admin access?
For more on building your course, see my guide to building an online course website and this list of course creation tools.
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My advice on Kajabi or Thinkific
Count your courses and your contacts before you decide. If you'll publish more than a handful of courses or sell team seats, Thinkific's unlimited courses and B2B tools make sense from day one. If you have a growing email list and a few core offers, Kajabi saves you running separate email and website tools. Both offer free trials, so build one real lesson on each and see which one you'd be happy using every week.
Do you make online course software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place in comparisons like this one.
Frequently asked questions
Is Thinkific cheaper than Kajabi?
On entry plans, yes. As of October 2026, Thinkific Start is $82 a month billed yearly ($109 monthly) and Kajabi Basic is $143 a month billed yearly ($179 monthly).
Does Thinkific limit the number of courses?
No. Thinkific's Start plan includes unlimited courses.
How many products can I sell on Kajabi Basic?
Kajabi Basic includes 5 products, 2,500 contacts, 1 website and 1 community.
Can I sell courses to companies on Thinkific?
Yes. Thinkific's Grow plan includes B2B sales and invoicing, so you can sell bulk seats to companies.
Does Kajabi take a revenue share?
No. Kajabi says it doesn't take a revenue share as a platform. Card processing through Kajabi Payments has a fee that varies by country.
