Category: All In One

Kajabi

From

$119/mo

overall

9/10

trial

30 Days

TL;DR

Pros

  • The Apple of online course platform: you can't really go wrong
  • Outstanding UX and course delivery/design
  • Probably the best community and support in the industry

Cons

  • Page builder lacks a bit of flexibility and easy-to-use templates
  • Small premium on pricing

What You Should Know

  • Best All-in-one platform for beginner course creators
  • World Class user experience and course design
  • Very mature platform and large community of fellow course creators
  • On the higher end of the pricing range

Ratings

Feature: 8

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Features: 8

User Experience: 10

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Features: 8

Pricing/Value: 7

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Features: 8

Support & Community: 10

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Features: 8

What is Kajabi?

Kajabi is one of the first all-in-one platforms to create and sell online courses. They've been around since 2010 and currently have about 50,000+ users (according to their website).

They're possibly THE most well-known online course platform in the industry and have a dedicated support team and a huge community with a lot of fans.

We've ranked Kajabi #1 Overall platform for course creators.

Features: What Can You Do With Kajabi?

You can pretty much do anything you need to run your online business with Kajabi because it is an all-in-one platform.


For instance, with Kajabi you can:

  • Design and host courses
  • Send and automate emails campaigns
  • Take Payments and setup Affiliate Programs
  • Create 1-Click Upsell/Downsell
  • Build a website and marketing funnel
  • Create a Blog
  • Offer a Community or Forum
  • Coaching capability
  • Podcast hosting and distribution
  • Access the code editor
  • Mobile App

This is a very well-rounded set of features which in part explain why so many people use Kajabi.

Another reason for its success is that it struck a good balance between feature-overwhelm and versatility.

Let's dive into these a bit more: 

Kajabi Online Course & Membership

The #1 feature where Kajabi currently outperform any other SaaS platform, is it's online course builder.

Kajabi has some of the most variety when it comes to customizing the course experience and design.

It offers different themes designed for a range of needs and styles of digital courses (i.e. publisher, self-paced, dripped, membership, etc.).

Each of these template can be customized to a certain extent to fit your brand and to influence your customer experience.

If you're the kind of person that likes to mess with code, then you have the option to customize even more! With the Kajabi Growth plan, you get access to the code, allowing for even further flexibility with the layout and functionality of your course.

You can build your curriculum in the back-end easily by uploading your content with unlimited hosting

kajabi course back end

You also have access to some learning tools such as Assessments and Quiz to test your student's knowledge.

This is also how you can set up smart automation to tag, email or unlock things depending on your student getting a passing grade or failing the Quiz.

Course can be drip based on a number of days after enrolment or on completion of a certain module.

Unlimited video hosting is available on any plan, but you can also choose Audio-based lessons.

Kajabi Page & Funnel Builder: 

Kajabi makes regular update and improvement on it's page editor, which is an easy front-end builder:

Kajabi page builder

You can choose from a variety of elements and use preset templates.

All of these are responsive and allow just enough customization for you to build a page you like but keep some degree of layout structure so your pages are conversion-optimized and easy to use.

Now, these templates are more guides and placeholders than real plug-and-play templates, but you can also buy these from 3rd party sellers.

Additionally, Kajabi fixed the main shortcoming of their block’s layout so that now you can duplicate them, making it even easier to build pages! 

Unfortunately, you still cannot "save" them for another page or move them from section to section.

The new updates also brought a big improvement on the other pages of your course hosting site like your login page, library, blog and more. 

With these updates, you have the flexibility to customize the user's journey to your liking!

Kajabi Emails 

Kajabi’s email system can handle everything from small to very large lists, and they’ve made a few recent updates that make email even easier.

With Kajabi’s email system you can also automate the marketing of your courses, so you can spend less time managing it and more time making money. 

However, keep in mind that Kajabi’s email system is not as advanced as a fully-fledged CRM like Active Campaign. 

A full CRM tool will have more advanced automation and capabilities than what Kajabi offers, but Kajabi’s system definitely will do the job for 95% of course creators using Kajabi.

Additionally, Kajabi’s block builder makes it very intuitive to design your emails.

Kajabi, like most email marketing software has 3 different email tools: Broadcast, Sequences, and Automation.

Broadcasts are the one-off emails you'll send on a specific date and time, used for timely campaigns or newsletters.

Sequences are the autoresponders you'll set to start based on chosen triggers. For example, the purchase of a product, the submission of an opt-in form, or even more advanced events like course progress.

kajabi email sequences

Automation in Kajabi is the If X Then X rules that glue everything together in the back-end to manage and engage your list and students.

If you send regular emails and are wanting to optimize your delivery as much as possible, Kajabi also has a custom domain sender option.

You can also create templates to re-use later!

Kajabi Checkout & Affiliate system

Next, let’s dive into the checkout cart and attached affiliate system Kajabi offers.

To create a checkout, you will need to create an Offer. In contrast with Products (the actual course content) offers are unlimited!

This screenshot shows where you'll set all of the offer details including pricing, start date, automation and more.

Pricing options for your course in Kajabi are very flexible and you can set up different types of payments including a one-off, subscription, payment plan, free and paid trial.

From there, you will also be able to edit your checkout, which is specific to this particular Offer.

Admittedly, the checkout design is limited, but at least it is conversion optimized!

The main limitation to note with Kajabi's checkout is the fact that you can only have one pricing option per checkout. 

So, if you have a membership with both monthly and yearly pricing options, you'll need to create two Offers and checkout, and link out to both from the sales page.

You'll need to connect Stripe or Paypal to be able to take payments, or you can use the native Kajabi Payments tool!

Upsell/Downsell

Kajabi allows for 1-click Upsells and Downsells.

What this means is that you can make an offer right after the checkout page for someone to get an upgrade or additional product.

Kajabi upsell example

This is very useful and widely used by course creators to increase basket value and take advantage of the fact that people are most likely to say yes to a product once they've already made the decision to buy a first one.

Kajabi allows for 1-click upsell and downsell, making this very easy to put forward to your lead.

kajabi upsell flow

You can add as many Upsell and Downsell as you want which will always work with this simple IF/THEN pattern:

Upsell #1: 

IF "No" > Downsell #1

IF "Yes" > Upsell #2

Etc.

Kajabi Community Products

After acquiring Vibely at the end of 2022, Kajabi took its Community feature to the next level!

All users can now take advantage this specialist platform seamlessly within Kajabi

Here is in a nutshell what you'll be able to do with the new Kajabi Community:

  • Create different channels (Circles) or group conversation, similar to a Facebook group
  • Create Event, meetups and live online sessions, directly within the platform (no need for Zoom!)
  • Mobile app, for your members to keep in touch on the go.
  • Gamification, with a Leaderboard and challenges to engage your community better

Webinar hosting

For hosting live events and webinars, Kajabi doesn’t have its own native hosting platform. You will have to use a 3rd party tool such as Streamyard or Zoom. Luckily, you can then embed these inside Kajabi.

That being said, you can recreate an evergreen webinar funnel with the tools inside (this is still just a workaround).

Kajabi Access

In an effort to provide an option for users to get the kind of high-end support and premium experience that's hard to create at scale, Kajabi introduced Kajabi Access.

We did a full review of everything you need to know about this new offer, but here is the gist of it:

  • It doubles everything that can be counted, and much, much more! That means pipelines, email subscribers, product slots, sites,...
  • You have access to six 1:1 sessions with a Kajabi Customer Success Manager
  • You can use the Code editor on any plan (which is usually only available on the highest plan)
  • You get early access to new releases and features

Kajabi Mobile App

Kajabi was one of the first online course platform to launch a mobile app to make all of your programs easy to access and consume:

To get your students to use the mobile app you will need to direct them to their app store to download the Kajabi app. If you want a branded app you'll have to pay an extra $199 per month.

Overall, course pages are very mobile-friendly, even though you won't have a lot of customization options.

It's also only meant for your students to use, so you cannot log-in to your admin dashboard or publish new content from the Kajabi app. 

You can however, use the Kajabi Creator app to get notifies on new sales, optin and manage your contacts.

That being said, the app is really top-notch and makes Kajabi stand out in an era where mobile content is so important.

Kajabi Podcasts

An exciting release Kajabi made in 2021 is Kajabi Podcast.

This is your new way to host and distribute your paid or free podcast!

Essentially, Kajabi is replacing the need for using a platform such as Anchor.fm, Buzzsprout or Libsyn, by allowing you to centralize your podcast posting and letting the rest automated to push your episodes to the most popular listening platforms.

Free podcasts will work that way and also have a space on your Kajabi site.

Paid podcasts can be sold via Offers with a private podcast feed.

Keep in ind that Kajabi Podcasts products do count toward the Product allowance of your account (see pricing section).

Kajabi Coaching

Kajabi has announced the release of a brand new product: Kajabi Coaching.


This is meant to support the exploding demand in coaching services and help Kajabi users deliver great programs

Although this feature is now live for most users right now here is what we know:

  • You will be able to create Coaching programs with a set number of Sessions, within which will be Resources, Notes and an Agenda.
  • You'll be able to easily connect your booking system (Calendly, Acuity,etc.) or use the built-in scheduling system to allow your coaching clients to book their next session with you
  • This will come at no extra cost and will make things easy to keep your coaching in Kajabi and track individual progress

Kajabi Blog

Kajabi is one of the rare online course platform to enable its users to create a Blog.

A lot of course creators use content marketing to gain visibility and that can be through SEO and creating blog post.

This is something you can manage in Kajabi with a 'Blog' page that will list all of your posts, and the creation of Posts, similar to WordPress.

There are a few more things to be aware of, but generally the Kajabi Blog feature is a great tool at your disposal and should be all you need.

User Experience: Is Kajabi Easy To Use?

User experience is one of the biggest strengths of Kajabi.

The company has an acute sense of design in everything it does. Even out of the box, the student's experience is pristine and streamlined. The minimalist look of both the back-end and front-end makes spending time on the platform a very enjoyable experience.

Because of its relatively high degree of flexibility, you can also influence the customer flow and journey to your liking.

The platform is also easy to use, but if you do need help, they have an extensive library and documentation to help get you started with both the platform and marketing your course. Check out Kajabi University to learn more. 

There really isn’t much more to say other than there currently are no other platforms that compare to Kajabi on user experience!

Pricing: How Much Is Kajabi?

The Basic plan starts at $119 per month the Growth plan at $159/month, and the Pro plan is $319 a month. See our full Kajabi pricing review for more details!

All of their plans can be billed monthly or annually, but you can get an extended 30 days trial by using our special link here.

Even as an all-in-one, Kajabi is on the higher end of the cost scale.

So, Kajabi may not be a fit for all course creators, especially if they don't intend to use all the bells and whistles of the platform.

That being said, if you're starting from scratch and planning on using it for everything, the investment is well worth it, and you probably won't outgrow the platform anytime.

How is the Support & Community for Kajabi?

Another big asset of using Kajabi is their community and support.

Kajabi has a relatively responsive support team and you can chat with them live anytime. Plus, their support agents tend to be very friendly and actually know the platform, which is not always the case with customer support!

As mentioned before, they also have extensive documentation on everything you could want to achieve with the platform and answers to all of the questions you have. Their documentation gets updated frequently, so you can always find an answer there.

If you’re still looking for more feedback and support, you can join the Kajabi Community, which they call Kajabi Heroes. 

With a Facebook group of over 21,000 people, this is one of the most helpful and knowledgeable communities in the course creator’s industry.

This is also the best place to find Kajabi experts to help you out!

Kajabi clearly places their clients at the core of their business and their priority, even rewarding you with personal gifts and rewards as you celebrate revenue milestones.

In short, there are very few places with such a passionate community in the course creation industry and you definitely won't feel alone with Kajabi!

Our Overall Rate:  9/10

Features

User Experience

Affordability

Community & Support Rating:

Pros:

  • The Apple of online course platform: you can't really go wrong
  • Outstanding UX and course delivery
  • Probably the best community and support in the industry

Cons:

  • Page builder lacks a bit of flexibility and easy-to-use templates
  • Small premium on pricing

Conclusion:

After testing it out, we can say that Kajabi is one of the best platforms for course creation on the market. 

The platform is one of the pioneers of all-in-one features and it has a proven track record as a long-lasting solution for course creators. If you’re looking to have everything in one place to market your digital products, then Kajabi may be the perfect platform for you.

Kajabi does have some limitations, but overall, it has everything you need to be a very successful course creator, as most of its members can attest!

Kajabi FAQ

Is Kajabi worth it?

That's a subjective question but Kajabi definitely makes creating and selling online course a lot easier!

What is Kajabi used for?

Kajabi is mostly used by businesses selling online programs and wanting everything to be centralized within one platform.

What platforms does Kajabi replace?

Kajabi replaces the need for a website hosting, a landing page builder, a checkout system, an email marketing system and video hosting.

Can I sell physical products on Kajabi?

Kind of.

Although that's not what the platform is meant for you can either use workarounds or use the native Shopify integration to make this happen.

Is Kajabi mobile friendly?

Yes!

Everything created on Kajabi can is mobile reponsive. You can also use the Kajabi mobile app for a native experience!

Joey Mazars

Online Course Platform Expert

Hi, there! I've literally spent thousands of hours helping clients build their online courses on these platforms through my marketing services.

I've become obsessed with helping them find the right fit for their needs and decided to guide other creators through their decision process with these detailed reviews.

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