9 Kajabi Alternatives in 2024 Ranked

With online community spaces thriving, it’s not a surprise that 60% of businesses are looking for ways to monetize their community spaces. Heralded as “the best place for creators to make money,” Kajabi is a popular community platform for creators and companies alike to take their brands to the next level. Complete with online courses, coaching, communities, and even podcasts, Kajabi gives you the freedom and opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals without the stress of social media.

However, despite this, Kajabi isn’t a great fit for every business. Many other platforms offer different and even better features that might be more suited to your brand.

Why look for a Kajabi Alternative?

Although Kajabi is a fantastic platform with many opportunities to connect with your community, there are still a few drawbacks and limitations to using the platform.

• Pricing concerns – Boasting a range of features, Kajabi is one of the most expensive community platforms available, with a high monthly subscription – even for the basic plan. Many Kajabi competitors, such as Teach and Thinkific, offer similar features at a much lower price.

• Comes with a learning curve – Kajabi is an advanced platform, meaning it can be difficult to understand if you’re just starting out and have never used a community platform before. You need a good wealth of technical know-how before you can sink your teeth into it properly.
  
• Limited integrations – Despite its high price point, Kajabi doesn’t offer features such as course certificates, so you’d have to offer these through third-party apps.

It’s important to pick a platform that aligns with your business requirements,  goals, and growth. If you’re still not on board with Kajabi, here are some alternatives you can try out.

Free Kajabi Alternatives

Deciding whether to go for a paid option or opt for free is a big decision. Here are some of the pros of choosing a free platform as opposed to a paid one.

• No costs – Businesses and brands don’t have to fork out monthly costs, which means they can focus on other areas of their business.
  
• Less commitment – If you’re not sure whether an online community is best for your business, free platforms give you the opportunity to try one without committing funds.
  
• Less of a learning curve – Free platforms tend to house fewer features, which means they are simpler to understand and easier to use, making them a great option for those who are just starting out.

However, the drawbacks of free platforms include:

• Fewer features – Features can be fewer and far between with free platforms. Paid plans offer much more flexibility.
  
• Fewer insights – Free platforms tend to offer more basic insights and community data as opposed to paid plans. This makes it difficult to get a good grasp on what’s working in your community.
  
• Less room to grow – Free platforms may not support you as your community grows, so you might end up switching to a paid platform anyway.

Here are a few of the best free platforms you can use to host your community.

1. Patreon

First launched in 2013, Patreon is a community site designed for creators. Described as being the perfect hub for creativity, Patreon encourages its users to build communities with their biggest fans, share first-looks at exclusive projects, and turn passions into lasting businesses.

Features: 

• In-depth analytics – This will help users get to know their communities better,
• Different revenue streams – Patreon offers memberships and subscriptions, specific benefits, and online shops to help creators maximize their revenue. 
• Community group chats – This is a great way for your community members to connect with each other.
• Personalization options – To help capture the look and feel of your brand.
• Community updates – Your community members get alerted through the app or email every time you post.
• Built-in polling – Perfect for audience feedback.

Limitations:

• Not all features will be available on the free plan
• Fewer features than other platforms. E.g. – no course builders
• Patreon keeps 5% of your income on the free plan

Best For:

Patreon is a great platform for creator-specific brands, such as video creators, podcasters, artists, writers, and game devs.

2. Discord

Since its launch in 2015, Discord has skyrocketed as one of the most popular community platforms available. Although it was originally created for gaming, Discord has since expanded to make room for a variety of other niches. Estimated at 150 million monthly active users all trying out Discord’s wealth of features, it’s not surprising that this popular platform continues to grow – especially when you consider that forming connections with other people who have similar interests is one the biggest reasons why people engage online.

Features: 

• Multi-Channel Communication – Users can create different “channels” for different topics, helping to separate the server into sections. Both private and public channels are available.
• Screen Sharing – Host live events and presentations with this feature.
• Audio messaging – Connect directly with your community members via voice. There are also dedicated voice channels.
• Threads – These help keep conversations organized.
• Real-time notifications – Your community members will always be kept in the loop with Discord’s notifications. They also have the ability to turn off alerts for specific channels.
• Community rules – Members must agree to specific rules before they can enter other channels. Discover the importance of community rules and how to set them up in your community.
• Community onboarding – Automatic welcome messages will make your community members feel appreciated.

Limitations:

• No way to customize notifications
• Limited free themes and branding
• Limited insights
• Limited support

Best For:

If you’re a digital entrepreneur who’s more focused on building connections and creating a community that others feel safe in, then Discord is your go-to platform.

3. Thinkific

Thinkific is designed to help you turn your expertise into a digital product that sells. Like Kajabi, Thinkific provides lots of ways for you to generate revenue, from bundles to subscriptions and community memberships. And with one million courses published so far and counting, it’s easy to see why so many entrepreneurs are choosing Thinkific as their community platform.

Features: 

• Course builders – Turn your expert knowledge into easy-to-follow courses designed to bring in revenue.
• Notifications – Thinkific offers both in-app and push notifications.
• Quizzes and surveys – To help engage your audience.
• Live events & office hours – Connect with your community in real-time.
• Live support.

Limitations:

• Limited features on the free plan, such as only one course available.
• Limited support
• Fewer marketing features than other platforms

Best For:

Thinkific’s free plan is great for entrepreneurs who are just getting started with their community or who only need limited features. With the option to create one course and unlimited students, you can start monetizing your skills.

Best Kajabi Alternatives

If you’re a professional who is looking for a cheaper alternative to Kajabi, we have a list of fantastic alternatives that offer similar features to help you turn your passion into a thriving business. All these platforms have something to offer, whether in terms of scalability, support, customization, or overall value.

4. Teach.io

Teach is built specifically to help you turn your passion into a thriving business with all the features you need. Teach takes away app switching, so you can manage events, respond to community members, and build your courses, all in one place. 

Like Kajabi, you can monetize your passion. Unlike Kajabi, Teach offers a flat price that gives you access to all its features. Get unlimited courses and unlimited students, all at no extra cost.

Features:

• Customizable notifications – Stay in the loop and never miss a message.
• Course builders – From personalized group coaching to virtual class rooms and live events, course creation and management has never been easier.
• Messaging – Chat with community members and answer queries without the hassle of switching apps.
• Built-in calendar – Manage important events all within one place.
• Customizable sales pages – Improve conversion rates with sales pages made easy.
• Auto-affiliate program – Get a huge 40% commission when one of your students is inspired to create their own group.

Teach offers all the tools you need to help your community grow. Try their 14-day free trial.

5. Podia

Unlike Kajabi, Podia offers a free plan, unlimited products, and unlimited customers to help you start earning money from your skilled expertise. From then on, you can try different plans with different features and benefits to build your online business. 

Features:

• Website builder with custom domains – Free and easy to use. Available on all plans.
• Built-in email and affiliate marketing – For you to generate additional revenue streams.
• Payment integrations – Give your community members more ways to pay with PayPal and Stripe.
• Sell courses – Turn what you’re passionate about into a thriving business.
• Harness webinars, digital downloads, and coaching sessions – Generate more income through different revenue streams.
• Customer support.

6. Teachery

If you’re looking for a much simpler version of Kajabi that looks good, then Teachery is the platform for you. This website prides itself on having everything you need, but in a way that’s simple and easy to understand, helping you turn your ideas into income. They also offer one simple plan as opposed to Kajabi’s tiered plans.

Features:

• Customization – Create a course that feels like your brand.
• Lesson themes – Designed to help beginners get started.
• Checkout pages – Style your pages to match your brand and get recurring payments.
• Add external widgets – Such as Canva slides.
• Unlimited products – From landing pages to the number of students, everything is unlimited. 

7. LearnWorlds

This platform focuses on helping you build dynamic, successful, and engaged courses, no matter your academy type. Whether you’re a creator, coach, non-profit, or enterprise, LearnWords has a range of tools to help you prioritize course creation, with a huge range of different features like Kajabi.

Features:

• Course building – Fast course-building tools to help you get up and running.
• Course types – Create listed or private courses and free or paid courses.
• Create assessments – With different question types and banks, create course assessments with ease.
• Certification – Build-it certificates to reward your students.
• Landing pages, pop-ups, and forums – Designed to help you grow.

8. Systeme

Systeme is a great alternative platform to Kajabi if you want to focus on the marketing side of your community. With website building, email marketing, and sales funnels, you can market your course smartly and effectively without getting bogged down by over-complicated tech. 

Features:

• Marketing features – Use sales funnels, email marketing, and more to market your course.
• Build websites – Create webpages easily without complicated tech.
• Manage affiliates.
• Create courses – Build courses fast and easily.
• Free account – Start free and upgrade to access more features.

9.  LearnDash

Focus on community and course building with LearnDash. This platform doesn’t just act as an online course platform; it’s also an online course plug-in, which means you can use LearnDash’s features on your own website, giving you complete control. This is something Kajabi doesn’t offer, as you’d have to use their platform to build and host your courses.

Features:

• Assignment management – Approve submissions, award points, and leave comments.
• Student organization – Split students up into groups.
• Course customization – Choose themes and display a course library.
• Automated notifications – To offer instant feedback
• Subscriptions, memberships, and course bundles – To increase revenue.

Conclusion

Although Kajabi is an excellent platform, offering many different features, there are still reasons why entrepreneurs are looking for alternatives to Kajabi, from the pricing to the technical know-how required to use it. However, if the above alternatives have shown us anything, it’s that one platform doesn’t fit all businesses. Each platform has something unique to offer, whether that’s a focus on marketing, a simple interface, branding prioritization, or an all-in-one platform.

As you weigh up the pros and cons of each platform, it’s worth considering Teach.io for a simple, all-in-one interface. Playing host to many of the features on this list, Teach has everything course creators need to turn their passion into a sustainable income. Try Teach’s 14-day free trial today.