Teachable vs Kajabi: Which is Best for Your Online Courses?

With the rise of digital learning, many experts and entrepreneurs want to package their knowledge into online courses. However, building the technology and infrastructure to sell, market, and deliver courses takes serious effort.

Teachable and Kajabi are two leading platforms that provide everything you need to create, host and sell online courses, coaching programs, and membership content.

This guide examines Teachable vs Kajabi in a head-to-head comparison. We’ll evaluate their features, website builder, course authoring tools, marketing capabilities, analytics, integrations, and pricing.

By understanding the key differences between Teachable and Kajabi, you can determine which is the right online course platform for your educational content and business model.

Teachable Overview

Teachable is an online course creation platform with everything needed to sell and deliver your teaching, coaching or training content. Key features include:

Course builder – Visually build and arrange course content with video, quizzes, downloads and assignments in an intuitive drag-and-drop interface.

Website builder – Create marketing pages and funnels to attract students with customizable themes, domains, and multimedia.

Learning management – Video hosting, student progress tracking, automated messaging, and Certificates of Completion.

Secure payments – Built-in ecommerce, coupons, bundles, payment plans, and affiliate commissions.

Marketing tools – Email marketing, promotional codes, and affiliate program integration help drive sales.

Mobile access – Native iOS and Android apps allow managing courses on the go.

Reporting and analytics – Gain insights into course sales, engagement, completion rates, affiliate commissions, and student information.

Over 60,000 entrepreneurs, experts, coaches and businesses use Teachable to create and sell online courses.

Kajabi Overview

Kajabi is a more robust knowledge commerce platform optimized to sell educational products like online courses, coaching programs, communities and subscriptions. Features include:

Course builder – User-friendly visual course creation tools to structure your content with video lessons, quizzes and downloads.

Website builder – Highly customizable themes, domains, and landing pages to attract and convert visitors.

Membership sites – Offer subscription tiers with drip content schedules, community forums, and premium content.

Email marketing – Create email funnels, sequences, broadcasts, and automations to engage students and buyers.

Ecommerce – Built-in shopping cart, affiliate program, discounts, bundles, and promotion tools maximize sales.

Marketing automation – Pre-built sales funnels, lead nurturing, and segmentation convert more prospects.

Analytics – Detailed tracking across marketing, funnels, and course engagement to optimize performance.

Over 60,000 entrepreneurs use Kajabi to deliver premium instructional content to customers.

Now that we’ve provided an introduction to Teachable and Kajabi, let’s compare them across some of the most important online course platform features.

Teachable vs Kajabi Feature Comparison

Teachable and Kajabi share many core platform capabilities but also have key differences in focus areas. Here is an at-a-glance features comparison:

Some key item differences:

• Kajabi specializes in membership sites, communities, and 1-on-1 coaching
• Teachable offers extensions for webinars, coaching, and special features

Teachable focuses more narrowly on stellar course creation. But Kajabi brings together a wider ecosystem of content, community, email marketing and sales automation.

Next let’s compare the website builders, course authoring experience, and marketing tools.

Teachable vs Kajabi Website Builder

A polished marketing website is crucial for promoting your courses and converting prospects into students. Here is how the website builders compare:

Teachable

• 30+ professional themes to choose from
• Easy customization with colors, fonts, and layout
• Add multimedia like images, video backgrounds
• Mobile responsive designs
• SEO optimization tools
• Ability to use custom domains
• Built-in hosting

Kajabi

• 70+ customizable template options
• Drag-and-drop landing page editor
• Optimize pages for conversions
• Build sales funnels
• Accept payments directly on site
• 100+ integrations extend functionality
• Mobile responsive
• Custom domains

For course marketing sites, Kajabi offers more templates and customization capabilities out of the box. But Teachable still provides ample solid options to create an attractive online presence.

Course Creation Tools

Creating compelling online courses with structured content takes robust authoring tools. Here is how Teachable and Kajabi compare:

Teachable

• Intuitive visual course editor
• Upload pre-recorded videos
• Insert quizzes, audio files, PDFs
• Drip feed lessons over time
• Offer downloadable materials
• Grade quizzes and assignments
• Allow text discussions

Kajabi

• Visual course builder editor
• Upload videos and host
• Create quizzes and surveys
• Schedule lesson pacing
• Offer downloadable workbooks
• Grade quizzes and give feedback
• Enable community discussions
• More control over design look and feel

The course creation capabilities are extremely similar. Both platforms make it easy for anyone to structure interactive lessons and premium content without technical skills.

Teachable vs Kajabi Email Marketing and CRM

Nurturing leads and staying engaged with students requires email marketing and CRM capabilities. Here is how the platforms compare:

Teachable

• Collect emails on landing pages
• Export email lists
• Integrate with email providers like Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Drip
• Send broadcast emails
• Automated emails when milestones hit
• Access analytics on emails and funnels

Kajabi

• Drag-and-drop email editor
• Create email sequences, drips and broadcasts
• Segment contacts and manage lists
• Track email performance
• Automate responses based on behaviors
• Integrates with email services like Mailchimp
• CRM to manage students and prospects

For email marketing, Kajabi has a notable advantage with its native automation and list management while Teachable relies on external services. But both sufficiently cover email needs.

Next let’s examine the mobile experience.

Teachable vs Kajabi Mobile Apps

Mobile-friendly courses allow students to learn on the go from anywhere. Here is how the mobile apps compare:

Teachable

• iOS and Android apps
• Download course content for offline access
• Stream course videos
• View notes and documents
• Take quizzes
• Track progress

Kajabi

• iOS and Android apps
• Access courses and communities
• View membership site content
• Stream videos
• Download course materials
• Take quizzes
• Notifications and messaging

The mobile course experience is very robust on both platforms. Students can fully engage with content and learning whether on desktop or mobile.

Teachable vs Kajabi Analytics and Reporting

In-depth analytics help optimize course marketing and improve student outcomes. Here’s an overview of reporting:

Teachable

• Visual sales and enrollment reporting
• Student progress and completion rates
• Engagement and course feedback
• Website conversions by source
• Affiliate commissions tracking
• Export reports as CSV or PDF

Kajabi

• Charts for enrollments, subs, and revenue
• Views and engagement across content
• Lead capture and conversion reporting
• Email performance reporting
• Affiliate program analytics
• Funnel optimization insights
• Export or schedule reports

Teachable and Kajabi both provide excellent analytics into sales, enrollments, engagement, and conversions. Kajabi’s focus on marketing funnels gives it a slight edge. But both deliver ample data.

Teachable vs Kajabi Integrations

Third party integrations help connect your course platform with other business tools. Here are some of the top integration options:

Teachable

• Zapier – Connect with 1000+ apps including email, analytics, webinars, and coaching tools
• Native payment processor connections
• Webhooks to build custom integrations

Kajabi

• Zapier – Integrate with 1000+ apps
• Native integrations with popular CRMs, analytics, email services
• Webhooks for custom integrations
• 100+ marketing and sales apps

Through Zapier, both platforms can connect with every important external system you need. But Kajabi offers a few more native integrations out of the box.

Teachable vs Kajabi Pricing

Teachable and Kajabi both offer free trials for 14 or 30 days. Their paid pricing plans at the basic level are:

At the basic plan, Teachable is significantly more affordable especially when you factor in the 10% commission Kajabi takes on payments. But Kajabi provides more advanced functionality.

Both platforms grow more expensive at higher tiers as your volume increases and you need more advanced features.

Ideal Users for Teachable

Teachable best suits these users:

• Bootstrappers – Very reasonable entry pricing to get started.
• Coaches / Consultants – Add coaching services and integrate webinar tools.
• Independent Instructors – Custom branding and marketing site to promote your personal teaching.
• Course Entrepreneurs – Focus on course creation then integrate other tools as needed for webinars, email, etc.
• Small Teams and Businesses – Upgrade for more seats and capabilities as you expand.

Teachable centers around excellent course creation coupled with basic sales and marketing tools. The affordable pricing works well for solopreneurs and small teams.

Ideal Users for Kajabi

Kajabi excels for these user profiles:

• Subscription Businesses – Offer memberships with dripped content, community forums, and premium extras.
• Digital Publishers – Combination of content, courses, subscriptions.
• Agencies – White label and host client courses with more advanced features.
• Coaches – End-to-end coaching management from intake forms to packaged programs.
• Affiliate Marketers – Utilize built-in affiliate program and marketing tools.

With more expansive platform capabilities, Kajabi suits publishers, agencies, and coaches running full knowledge commerce businesses.

Teachable vs Kajabi Customer Reviews

Teachable Reviews

“Teachable is the best platform I’ve found for easily creating and selling online courses as an entrepreneur without being super tech savvy.” – Nat Eliason

“We have built a 7 figure course business on Teachable. Their platform combined with tools like Podia allow us build exactly the member experience we want.” – Sunny Lenarduzzi, Eat More Plants

“As a bootstrapped entrepreneur, I love Teachable because it made starting an online course business accessible. I don’t need all the complexity many competitors offer.” – Alex Miles, CEO Little Green List

Kajabi Reviews

“We could not have built our multiple 7-figure education brands without Kajabi handling the tech, marketing, and community.” – Chalene Johnson, CEO Camper Club

“Kajabi has been a cornerstone for our coaching business. The support, community, features – everything we need to reach students globally.” – Christina Canters, The Speaker’s Circle

“We easily built a 7-figure membership site with Kajabi hosting all our online courses, membership content, and community.” – Harris Fellman, Founder Authority Hacker

Both platforms boast excellent reputations and reviews reflecting their respective strengths at different stages.

Teachable vs Kajabi: How Do You Choose?

With extensive feature overlap, how do you decide between Teachable and Kajabi? These pointers can help:

• Teachable excels at streamlined online course creation with smooth sales and marketing. Start here if you just want to package and sell courses.
• Kajabi suits coaches, agencies and publishers managing memberships and communities – not just standalone courses.
• Kajabi costs significantly more but you gain more advanced email, community and funnel features. Assess if those extras justify the price hike for your needs.
• Teachable’s simplicity and affordability works well for solopreneurs and bootstrappers, while Kajabi suits larger teams.
• If starting out or not needing the full Kajabi ecosystem, Teachable should meet requirements at a lower price point to test course viability.

For most independent instructors, Teachable can provide everything needed at much lower cost. But Kajabi shines managing larger digital brands selling integrated content and community access.

Teachable and Kajabi Alternatives

While Teachable and Kajabi lead the market, here are some alternative online course platforms to also consider:

• Thinkific – Also very user-friendly for course creation and marketing. Plans from $49/month
• LearnWorlds – More advanced course features and built-in community. Plans from $59/month.
• Podia – Specializes in membership sites, video courses, marketing automations. Plans from $39/month.
• LearnDash – WordPress LMS plugin. Very customizable but more technical. Plans from $159/year.
• Academy of Mine – Video-centric platform great for virtual classrooms. Plans from $40/month.
• Learnyst – Geared towards course packs, bundles, and subscription access. Plans from $150/month.

For different needs like more customization or built-in community, comparing all leading providers is wise before deciding. But Teachable and Kajabi make great starting points.

Key Things to Know About Teachable and Kajabi

When evaluating Teachable vs Kajabi, keep these key differentiators in mind:

• Teachable specializes in robust yet easy course creation and sales.
• Kajabi provides an end-to-end knowledge commerce ecosystem.
• Teachable integrates other tools like webinars, coaching, email marketing via Zapier
• Kajabi includes built-in community, email marketing, and sophisticated sales funnels.
• Teachable starts at a much lower entry price point.
• Kajabi costs more but unlocks additional advanced capabilities.
• Teachable better suits bootstrapped solopreneurs and small teams.
• Kajabi enables larger digital publishers and agencies to sell integrated content and access.

The “best” platform depends on your specific goals, needs and budget. But understanding these differences helps inform the right choice.

The Bottom Line

Both Teachable and Kajabi enable creating, marketing, and selling online courses, but take different approaches:

• Teachable specialized in course creation and maximizing course sales. Simpler and more affordable.
• Kajabi provides an integrated knowledge commerce ecosystem combining courses, communities, email marketing and sophisticated sales funnels.
• Teachable starts at $29/month so works well for solopreneurs.
• Kajabi costs significantly more at $119/month but with more advanced capabilities.
• Teachable is the best fit if you just want to get your courses online quickly.
• Kajabi suits larger teams and brands running membership sites or managing coaching clients.
• You can always start with Teachable and switch to Kajabi later on if needed.

Evaluating your specific goals, needs and budget determines whether Teachable or Kajabi is the ideal online course platform for your educational business.