Best Kajabi Alternatives in 2026 (Cheaper + Better)

Kajabi is the obvious starting point for anyone looking to sell courses or memberships online. But at $149 a month minimum, it’s a big commitment, and not always the right one.

I set these up for clients regularly. The platform I recommend depends entirely on what someone is building, what they already have in place, and how much additional admin they want to take on long-term. Kajabi is the right answer sometimes. Often, it isn’t.

So if you’re thinking about adding courses or memberships to your offering, or you’re already on Kajabi and want to switch to something leaner, here is what I’d actually look at.

This post covers the 10 best Kajabi alternatives in 2026, what each one is genuinely good for, and how to figure out which fits your business.

Kajabi alternatives at a glance

Note: prices are accurate at the time of writing. The costs below do fluctuate depending on annual/ monthly billing. 

Platform	Starting price	Free plan	Best for
ThriveCart Learn	$495 one-time	No	Sellers who want to pay once
Teachable	$39/month	Yes (limited)	Course creators wanting simplicity
Thinkific	$36/month	Yes	Growing course businesses
Podia	$33/month	No	Creators selling multiple product types
Systeme.io	Free	Yes	Beginners or budget-conscious creators
Stan Store	$29/month	No	Social media-first creators
LearnWorlds	$24/month	No	Interactive, high-end course delivery
Mighty Networks	$41/month	No	Community-first businesses
Moodle	Free (self-hosted)	Yes	Non-profits and technical users
Squarespace	$16/month	No	Simple digital product sales

Why people leave Kajabi

Pricing is the most common reason. 

The entry-level plan is $149/month, and most people hit the product and pipeline limits fast enough that they end up on $199.

Kajabi is a great all-in-one, but that’s actually the problem for a lot of established businesses. If you already have a website and an email platform you’re happy with, you’re not getting an all-in-one. You’re getting duplicate tools and a more expensive stack.

Top 10 Kajabi alternatives

1. ThriveCart Learn

Best for: course creators who want to pay once

ThriveCart Learn is a course delivery platform built on top of ThriveCart’s checkout system. The headline difference: it’s a one-time payment. Currently $495 for ThriveCart, with Learn included at no extra cost. No monthly fees.

Features:

• Course builder with quizzes and completion tracking
• Built-in checkout and upsell flows
• Affiliate management
• Student management dashboard

Pricing: $495 one-time (includes ThriveCart + Learn)

The honest downside: ThriveCart is primarily a checkout tool, not an all-in-one platform. You won’t get email marketing or a website builder included.

See how ThriveCart compares to Kajabi in detail in our Kajabi vs ThriveCart breakdown.

2. Teachable

Best for: course creators who want a proven, simple platform

Teachable has been around since 2013 and has over 100,000 creators on it. The course creation experience is clean and the learning curve is minimal.

Features:

• Course builder with video, quizzes and certificates
• Basic email tools included
• Affiliate marketing on paid plans
• Native checkout with multiple currency support

Pricing: Free plan (10% transaction fee), $39/month Basic, $119/month Pro

The honest downside: The free plan has a 10% transaction fee and limited customisation. You’ll feel the ceiling quickly if you’re scaling.

3. Thinkific

Best for: growing course businesses that want flexibility

Thinkific gives you more product types than most Kajabi alternatives: courses, communities, bundles and digital downloads, all from one platform. The free plan is genuinely usable.

Features:

• Drag-and-drop course builder
• Communities (similar to Kajabi’s community feature)
• Unlimited students on all plans
• App store with third-party integrations

Pricing: Free, $36/month Basic, $74/month Start

The honest downside: The app store model means some features you’d expect to be included cost extra through third-party apps.

4. Podia

Best for: creators selling courses, memberships and digital downloads together

Podia is one of the tidiest all-in-one options for digital product creators. It covers courses, memberships, webinars and coaching from one dashboard, with no transaction fees on paid plans.

Features:

• Courses, memberships and digital downloads
• Email marketing included
• Live chat for your customers
• Clean, simple interface

Pricing: $33/month Mover, $75/month Shaker

The honest downside: Podia’s course builder is functional, not flashy. If you want high-end video delivery or interactive content, look elsewhere.

5. Systeme.io

Best for: beginners, budget-conscious creators, or anyone testing their first offer

Systeme.io has a free plan that includes 1 course, 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels and unlimited emails. That’s a proper free plan, not a trial. For new creators testing their first offer, it’s the most accessible starting point on this list.

Features:

• Courses, membership sites, email marketing and funnels
• Automation builder
• Affiliate management
• All included on the free plan (with limits)

Pricing: Free (genuine free plan), $27/month Startup, $47/month Webinar

The honest downside: The interface feels dated, and customer support on the free plan is limited. As your business scales, you’ll likely outgrow it.

6. Stan Store

Best for: social media-first creators (especially Instagram and TikTok)

Stan Store is built for creators who drive traffic from social media. It’s a single link-in-bio storefront where you can sell courses, digital products and 1:1 bookings. No website required.

Features:

• Mobile-first storefront
• Digital product delivery
• Courses and coaching bookings
• Integrations with Instagram and TikTok

Pricing: $29/month Creator, $99/month Creator Pro

The honest downside: Stan Store is a storefront, not a full platform. If you need quizzes, certificates and a proper student portal, this isn’t it.

7. LearnWorlds

Best for: high-end interactive courses and professional educators

LearnWorlds is the most feature-rich course platform on this list. Interactive videos, SCORM content, branded mobile apps (on higher plans) and assessments that go well beyond basic quizzes.

Features:

• Interactive video with clickable elements
• Custom certificates
• SCORM/xAPI compatible
• White-label mobile app on Pro plans
• Built-in website builder

Pricing: $24/month Starter (with 5% transaction fee), $79/month Pro Trainer, $249/month Learning Centre

The honest downside: The $24 plan has a transaction fee and limited courses. The plan you actually want is $79 or above.

8. Mighty Networks

Best for: community-first businesses

If community is your main product rather than a course add-on, Mighty Networks is in a different category to most platforms on this list. It’s built around bringing people together, with courses and events layered in.

Features:

• Community spaces (text, video, events)
• Courses with cohort delivery options
• Live streaming
• Native mobile apps

Pricing: $41/month Community, $99/month Courses, $179/month Business

The honest downside: The course experience isn’t as polished as dedicated course platforms. If you want great courses with community as a bonus, Thinkific or Teachable are stronger choices.

9. Moodle

Best for: non-profits, educational institutions or technical users who want full control

Moodle is open-source and free to self-host. If you have technical resource or a developer, you can build a fully customised learning platform with no platform fees at all.

Features:

• Fully customisable with a huge plugin library
• SCORM, H5P and xAPI compatible
• Enterprise-ready
• Free to self-host

Pricing: Free to self-host (hosting typically costs $10-50/month); managed hosting from $80/month via MoodleCloud

The honest downside: Moodle is not a self-serve platform. Without technical knowledge, setup and maintenance is a real barrier. Not a fit for solo creators.

10. Squarespace

Best for: simple digital product sales with a professional-looking website

Squarespace isn’t a course platform, but it handles simple digital product sales (PDFs, downloads, templates) cleanly and the websites look professional out of the box. If your course is really just a set of files and you want to keep things simple, it’s worth considering.

Features:

• Digital product delivery
• Clean, professional templates
• Email campaigns on higher plans
• Basic member areas

Pricing: $16/month Personal, $23/month Business

The honest downside: Squarespace’s course and membership functionality is basic. If you need video hosting, progress tracking or quizzes, use a different tool.

How to choose

Before a client commits to any platform, these are the questions I ask them.

What are you actually selling? A single course, a membership, digital downloads, or a mix? Some platforms specialise. Others try to do everything and do none of it particularly well.

What does this cost you over a year? Monthly fees compound quickly. A $79/month platform is close to $1,000 before you’ve made a single sale. If you’re planning to use it long-term, ThriveCart Learn’s one-time fee is worth serious consideration.

Do you already have email marketing in place? Some platforms bundle it in. Others don’t. If yours doesn’t, factor in what you’re already paying, or will pay, for that separately.

Where is your audience coming from? If it’s social media, Stan Store makes the path from post to purchase as short as possible. If it’s search or referrals, a proper course platform will serve you better.

Not sure where to start?

Whether you’re setting something up for the first time or you’re already on a platform that isn’t working for you, the process is the same: you need honest advice before you commit.

I’m not going to point you toward something because it’s easiest for us to set up. You have a choice here, and it should be based on your business, not ours. Across our team of OBM Associates, we work across all of these tools regularly. What we recommend will always be what we think is the right fit for your business, not the path of least resistance for us.

If you want a second opinion on your tech stack, or someone to handle the setup or migration properly, get in touch. 

Kajabi alternative FAQs

These are the questions I hear most often from clients researching this space.

What are the leading all-in-one platforms for selling online courses?

Kajabi, Thinkific, Podia and Systeme.io are the strongest all-in-one options in 2026. All four bundle course delivery, email marketing and digital product sales. Kajabi is the most complete and the most expensive. Systeme.io is where I’d send someone who wants to start without a big upfront commitment.

What is the most affordable Kajabi alternative?

Systeme.io has a genuine free plan: 1 course, 2,000 contacts, unlimited emails. For paid plans, Squarespace at $16/month and Stan Store at $29/month are the most affordable monthly options. If you’re planning to use a platform long-term, ThriveCart Learn’s one-time $495 fee works out cheaper than most monthly subscriptions within six months.

How do I migrate from Kajabi to another platform?

Export your student list, download all course content, build the new platform fully before you touch your domain, and give students clear notice before you switch. Most platforms have an import tool for Kajabi exports. This is one area where I’d genuinely recommend getting support rather than doing it alone. Done wrong, you lose student data and access, and unpicking it takes far longer than doing it properly the first time.

Which platforms work best for creators selling multiple product types?

Podia and Systeme.io are the strongest options if you’re selling a mix of courses, downloads, memberships and coaching from one place. ThriveCart Learn is worth considering if you’d rather own your checkout separately and connect your own email tool alongside it.

Which Kajabi alternatives are best for beginners?

Teachable and Systeme.io. Teachable’s course builder is clean and well-documented. Systeme.io lets you set everything up before spending anything, which is useful if you’re still validating your offer.

Which platforms have email marketing built in?

Podia and Systeme.io include it natively. Teachable and Thinkific connect to most major email tools via Zapier or direct integrations. If email is central to how you sell, factor that into the decision before you commit.

Are there genuinely free Kajabi alternatives?

Systeme.io is the only one I’d call genuinely free rather than a trial. You get 1 course and 2,000 contacts with no time limit. Thinkific’s free plan is usable for a single course. Moodle is free to self-host, but you need technical resource to run it, so the cost shows up elsewhere.

Not sure which platform fits your business?

We help online business owners set up, migrate and optimise their tech stack. If you’d like a second opinion before committing to a platform, or someone to handle the migration, get in touch and I’ll give you my honest opinion.