Best Kajabi Alternatives in 2024
Kajabi is a popular choice for course creators to build the environment for a quality learning process, but still, it is not the only choice. The software solutions market is full of various companies that offer their products, so let’s go through it and find the best solution for your business.
Best Kajabi Alternatives | Scrile Meet
Best Kajabi Alternatives
With the development of the modern world, the labor market starves for experts in the digital niche. In 2022 spending on digital transformation would reach $1.8 trillion, and by 2025 global digital transformation would increase up to $2.8 trillion. Consequently, more and more people are considering getting the knowledge to follow the trend. As a result, the demand creates supply, and such business niches as online coaches, webinars, digital courses, and e-learning platforms increase in popularity.
Kajabi is a popular choice for course creators to build the environment for a quality learning process, but still, it is not the only choice. The software solutions market is full of various companies that offer their products, so let’s go through it and find the best solution for your business.
Kajabi Specific Features
Launched in 2010 for a couple of years, Kajabi was considered the optimal choice for those who want to run their online courses without hiring a big team of software developers. The company offers three pricing plans for business owners and solo influencers with online courses:
- Basic – $149 per month
- Growth – $199 per month
- Pro – $399 per month
In general, education entrepreneurs got interested in the Kajabi platform for multiple reasons:
- The possibility to create unique products like networking forums, online webinars, digital products, etc.
- Focus on building websites and adding new web pages.
- Tools to collect analytics and track marketing goals.
- Useful extensions and plugins for email marketing campaigns.
- Ability to analyze the results of marketing and sales schemes.
Though considering clear pricing and functional tech features, Kajabi has some weak aspects that can’t be ignored.
Kajabi Weaknesses
Even though Kajabi has a solid position in the software market, in some aspects, Kajabi loses to the competitors. Which makes the search for alternatives very reasonable. As the main cons of Kajabi, we have highlighted four issues:
Failure to build a complex community.
The only feature that helps to create a community with Kajabi is a forum feature, but it is not enough for people aiming to build a loyal audience base around the brand. The majority of business owners are bound to create additional Facebook groups to have a chance to keep in touch with the community.
A membership community is essential for a course owner and students. The more people they have to communicate with, the more progress they have in their studies. Being a virtual community member, you can gather into study groups, work out projects, and share experiences. Using a platform that limits users on such an essential aspect of running a digital course seems odd.
Poor mobile app service.
For e-learning mobile apps are as crucial as communities; probably, they will become even more important in the future. Today, students using mobile devices perform better productivity in comparison to the rest. The gamification of the educational process, microlearning, and modern mechanisms for information delivery allows students to complete courses 45% faster.
Unfortunately, the Kajabi native mobile app features were left back in 2019. Kajabi provides limited options for business owners to customize their mobile courses with very weak private label applications.
The cost of the software.
Even though the Kajabi pricing list is clear for course creators, the amount of money that the company takes for its services is almost twice what the competitors offer. So if you choose the cheapest Kajabi plan for your course platform, you would get the minimum amount of features for the price that the Kajabi competitors sell the most complex plans.
Poor customer support.
It is essential to have a customer-friendly support and security team for a platform that provides people with such services. Unfortunately, many customers doubt that Kajabi can give any of it. Moreover, some clients decided to stop their Kajabi subscription for the poor support from the company’s side. There are many unpleasant comments on Twitter:
“We’ve been trying out @Kajabi. As a platform it is good with some excellent elements. Sadly their support and resources are poor. Actually very poor. Broken Links, inadequate search for learning items and seriously webinars only in US time and seem not available for catch up?”
“My experience with support from them has been horrible!”
“If you’re building an exceptional LMS and want a profitable, fast-growing, women-led business on your platform, DM me! Looking for @Kajabi alternative after weeks of security and privacy outlook questions willfully ignored in really bad, tone-deaf customer support thread. 😬”
Taking into account these four crucial Kajabi issues, we strongly recommend you consider the Kajabi alternatives for a digital course platform creation.
Guide to Find an Ideal Alternative
As the market is full of alternative products and companies that are ready to supply creators with software solutions, unprepared creators might get lost in the great scope of offered options. Here is the list of points you should think of when you decided to launch a digital course business:
Knowing answers to these questions would make the choice much easier and help you to put aside the alternatives that don’t suit you.
The Best Kajabi Alternatives
Congratulations, you’ve come to the main point of this article! Here are the top 5 platforms that provide better solutions for online courses, than Kajabi does. Choose one of these Kajabi alternatives and make your educational business not only lucrative but also easy to manage.
Some of them offer better email marketing tools, some may help with social media marketing promotion, or have free plans, check it out and find your ideal Kajabi alternative.
Scrile Meet
Scrile Meet is one of the best Kajabi alternatives that cover most of Kajabi problematic points. With Scrile Meet customers get great tech solutions for course platform creation, a clear pricing policy, and no commission fees of creators’ revenue.
As an all-in-one solution, Scrile Meet offers a robust set of services that help customers create unique products and generate an audience.
First of all, with Scrile Meet, there is no need to worry about payments and methods to handle them. The platform offers ready-to-go solutions with the integration of most popular payment systems. No back ways, only direct transfers from students to the course creator’s or admin account.
If you know nothing about coding, Scrile Meet offers you a turnkey solution to build an online course without knowing even a line of code. Scrile Meet is a full-featured product that lets business owners create a platform with their custom design, branding, logo, and other essential features. Remember you may have no technical skills, but create a great platform with a membership subscription or a unique website with an ideal online course.
Moreover, customization of the platform is available at any time. If your business has changed the colors of the logo, you applied a new font to the name of the course, and there is no problem; you can easily change it on your own from the admin dashboard.
With Scrile Meet, you get an affordable platform that allows you to set an admin that would be responsible for hosting and managing your platform dashboard, adding new details and information, updating the posted content, and controlling the platform in general. So, to be aware of aspects that a course creator and business owner should work on, Scrile Meet offers great analytical tools to keep track of all the transactions that go through the site and control the income. With this data, creators can work on marketing strategies and sales plans.
| Startup | Enterprise | |
| Plans pricing | $10 per month (14-days free trial) | Contact Scrile Meet managers to get an individual offer depending on your needs |
| Features included | Custom domain name Testing billing account Access to the admin panel User-friendly interface Website pages editor Storage space up to 5 GB | 0% commission fee on everything you sell on the platform Custom domain name Personal billing account Access to the admin panel Intuitive editor of website pages Storage space up to 100 GB Unlimited customization with the access to source code Technical support 24/7 Extendable cloud storage Extensible hosting solutions Option to create your own content policy for your site |
Thinkific
Thinkific is a great solution for those online course creators who know nothing about coding and afraid that it would cost them a fortune to hire an experienced team of software developers, with Thinkific there is no need to know code.
All the Thinkific online courses and websites are created with drag and drop tools. Some course creators find it boring as it means that all Thinkific products would look the same, but it is really helpful for beginners. With Thinkific website and online course builder creators can find numerous templates for digital courses, mini-courses, online webinars, membership sites, and media storage.
Though an aspect that really bothers business owners is that Thinkific doesn’t offer any marketing services. So if you consider forced sales promotion and running a complex marketing strategy to increase sales of your online courses, you have to consider some third-party solutions to manage email and marketing.
| Free | Basic | Pro | Premier | |
| Plans pricing | $0 per month | $49 per month | $99 per month | $499 per month |
| Features included | No limit on number of students Limited number of courses per one Thinkific account 1 admin user access No coding course constructor Built-in payment solutions Pre-made Thinkific template for sites Customer support via phone and email Thinkific store with plugins | No limit on number of students, courses you sell 1 admin user access Customer support via live chat Unique domain name Special discounts from Thinkific Scheduled posts Direct communication with students via email Special marketing trainings by Thinkific | No limitations on number of customers, courses, or posted content Admin access to the site for 2 users Premium support Post private and public courses Create special pricing plans and discounts for special occasions Special certificates for those who have finished the courses Membership communities Online lessons Extra features for course creation Pro marketing trainings from Thinkific team | No limitations on number of customers, courses, or posted content Admin access to the site for 5 users Thinkific onboarding (a part of marketing management) Unlimited number of membership communities Integration of final online exams White-label site |
Teachable
For creators that want to have all-in-one solutions that would provide them with marketing tools, and components for online course creation we recommend paying attention to Teachable, another Kajabi alternative. As the majority of platforms that offer online course creation, Teachable also has a drag and drop approach for a course and website creation.
Teachable affiliate program is another aspect that stands for choosing Teachable as the main competitor alternative for Kajabi. Affiliate marketing is a strong strategy that helps influencers, bloggers, and business owners to grow their audiences and develop their businesses.
Unfortunately, some unprepared creators might find Teachable less user-friendly than the rest of the alternatives. It takes way more time to get used to the platform, tools, and Teachable dashboards.
| Free | Basic | Pro | Business | |
| Plans pricing | $0 per month | $39 per month | $119 per month | $299 per month |
| Features included | No limit on students or courses you sell Teachable takes 10% commission fee No delay on payments Ready to go Teachable templates for courses with quizzes and tests Dashboard for 1 host Third-party software integrations (e.g.: Google Analytics) | Teachable takes 5% commission fee Paid membership community Dashboard for 2 admin users Special training for online course creation from Teachable team Custom domain name Unique discounts Email marketing tools | Teachable doesn’t take any commission fee Access for 5 admin users Premium assistance from Teachable customer support team Advanced analytical reports on selling online courses White-label site with branded sign up and log in pages Custom course final certificates | Teachable doesn’t take any commission fee Access for 20 admin users Priority in support queue Manual or automated import of submitted students Email marketing Video calls for group trainings |
Podia
Podia is another Kajabi alternative tool with all-in-one features. With Podia, there is no limit on the type of product you create: membership website, a private community, an online course, a live video webinar, or a media library; you can do whatever you want.
If you already have some information products like pre-recorded webinars, ebooks, and special lists of valuable resources, you can share them with your Podia membership site members.
Podia is also a Kajabi alternative popular among influencers, bloggers, and brands that already have an audience, and there is no need for them to build it. Podia shows a high level of social media integration into the courses built with it.
Unfortunately, a great list of uploading options Podia struggles with their own free layouts for courses, training, and coaching landing pages. It has a limited selection of free Podia templates, so Podia customers tend to produce and sell similar content in terms of design and overlay.
Podia sites have the same sections; for example, if you see sections on the course website: “Creator bio,” “What’s included,” etc., it would most likely be a Podia website.
| Mover | Shaker | Earthquaker | |
| Plans pricing | $33 per month Plus 14 days free trial | $75 per month Plus 14 days free trial | $166 per month Plus 14 days free trial |
| Features included | Creating a unique website with Podia Tools for basic email marketing Direct messaging service within Podia website Membership community creation No limit on the number of courses, media file downloads, and webinars | All the same features from the Mover plan Option to enable Podia affiliate program for influencers Marketing tools | All the same features from the Shaker plan Premium support communication level Onboarding program for members (a part of marketing program) Networking calls for Podia creators |
Udemy
If you are a creator that looks for a Kajabi alternative that would take minimum time for online course creation and don’t want to deal with marketing and email strategy for the site or course promotion, then Udemy is a solution that you have to consider.
With Udemy, you cannot create an independent online course that you would run on your own. Udemy is a platform that allows experts and course creators from all over the world to share their knowledge and experience online.
We really like Udemy because it has a great free teaching center that provides beginners with all the information they need to run their first online course.
As creators who have chosen Udemy instead of Kajabi just share their courses within the platform, they don’t need to take care of tools needed for the course sales promotion. The platform would do everything to sell the course. The most proper phrase for courses presented on the Udemy website is “set it and forget it” all the sales procedures are automated.
Though being a very popular platform for online courses, Udemy has two crucial disadvantages for creators that would make you consider choosing one of the alternatives mentioned above.
First of all, there are thousands of other courses people sell on the platform. If you want your course to stand out, it has to present unique content that would sell the course better than any marketing tool.
Note: We do recommend you explore the alike courses presented on Udemy and work on the content of your online course.
Secondly, Udemy cuts from 25% to 50% of creators’ income from sales. It is a business that makes money on creators and invests your time and expertise into your students; remember that in the case of Udemy, students are firstly the platform clients, and you just provide them with service.
| Team | Enterprise | |
| Plans pricing | $360 annually (per one user) plus taxes | Upon request |
| Features included | Available 6,500 online courses Create a unique logo and link Mobile application for users | Available 14,000 online courses Create a unique logo and link Create new topics Run membership groups within the site Access to Udemy Business Pro |
As you see the industry constantly develops, in 2024 Kajabi is not the only that helps online course creators to manage email addresses of students, complex marketing strategies along with sales funnels. Though some questions are frequently asked on the Internet, we decided to collect them all together for you to have all the needed information in one place.
Kajabi Alternatives FAQ
Is Kajabi the only choice to create an online course?
No, the industry is full of various platforms and Kajabi alternatives. At least in this review, we have listed five great tools that course creators can use instead of Kajabi, for example, Scrile Meet.
Do I have to buy third-party programs to manage marketing if I choose a Kajabi alternative?
It depends on the exact Kajabi choice that you prefer. Some of them don’t have tools for email marketing or provide only general reports of the course analytics. Some great tools can help you with these issues; for example, MailChimp is a great tool for email marketing.
What is the ultimate advantage of Scrile Meet to Kajabi?
With Scrile Meet, it does not matter if you start an online course or teach people online; you have a wide choice of tools worth trying in practice.
Are there any Kajabi alternatives that provide scheduling tools?
Yes, for example, with Scrile Meet, course hosts can publish their schedule, so students would pick the time and book it for private consultations.
Is it worth looking for a cheaper platform than Kajabi?
Actually, Kajabi is one of the most expensive platforms presented on the market. This article lists several companies competing with Kajabi and providing free pricing plans (Teachable and Thinkific) and one with a very cheap plan (Scrile Meet Startup plan). So, if you are tight on a budget, don’t spend hundreds of dollars on Kajabi; there are options to start a digital course for a fair price.
Conclusion
Under no doubt, Kajabi is a comprehensive platform, but to fit changing trends and new goals of educational businesses, some changes should be made in time. Today the market of Kajabi alternatives that provide products with inbuilt email marketing tools, features that help with course scheduling, sales automation, and free or almost free plans has got far ahead.
Moreover, companies that take care of their products and the customers would always be the choice.
Finally, straightforward advice for content creators and business owners, consider products that allow you to have a free trial period to check out everything on your own. No review would help you to make a decision unless you try it.
That is why, we offer a free trial period of Scrile Meet platform for you to try all the built-in features of the software and learn how to use it for your business.
