Kajabi is a US-based all-in-one platform for course creators, coaches, and membership operators. One subscription covers courses and memberships, coaching, a community, a website, unlimited email and funnels and checkout.
The plans are published in full, and so is the fee schedule that sits on top of them — including the platform fee that applies when you bring your own payment processor. How those two charges add up on your own sales volume is the part that decides the real cost.
The bundle is the product and one price covers all of it. What decides the final bill is what the platform takes on every payment, plus what the entry tier leaves out.
What Kajabi actually is
The platform positions itself as the “knowledge business” platform — one subscription for everything an info product operator needs to run their business end-to-end. From the home page, the bundle covers:
- Courses and memberships — self-paced and live cohort formats.
- Coaching — the Backstage product ships with voice notes, direct messaging, and custom learning paths on every plan.
- Community — private “access groups” inside one community per website. Basic and Growth get 1 community each; Pro gets 3.
- Website and custom domain — included on every plan, with Pro adding the ability to edit the underlying code.
- Landing pages, funnels, marketing emails — unlimited on every plan, no per-email charge.
- Checkout and payments — Kajabi Payments, the platform’s own processor, at a published rate per tier; third-party processors are listed as integrations and billed differently. Stripe and PayPal are not the same product.
- AI features — Cofounder (an AI partner for the business) and MCP (connect the platform to Claude and other AI tools) ship on every plan. AI credits are tiered: 0 on Basic, 500 on Growth, 1,000 on Pro.
The vendor’s flagship on Pro is the branded mobile app — your content in the App Store under your own name. Per the pricing page, that piece alone is “$199/mo value” and only Pro includes it.
Plans and pricing — the full table
All numbers below come from the pricing page, captured September 2026. Prices in USD. Annual billing saves 20%. The 14-day free trial runs first; the 30-day money-back guarantee applies to the paid period that follows it.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing (per month) | Annual total | Contacts included | Team seats | Products | AI credits/mo | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $179 | $143 | $1,716 | 2,500 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 14 days + 30-day MBG |
| Growth | $249 | $199 | $2,388 | 25,000 | 11 | 50 | 500 | 14 days + 30-day MBG |
| Pro | $499 | $399 | $4,788 | 100,000 | 26 | Unlimited | 1,000 | 14 days + 30-day MBG |
What you get unlocked at each step matters more than the headline price.
Basic is the entry tier — courses, coaching, memberships, downloads, podcasts, one website, one community, unlimited emails, unlimited landing pages, unlimited funnels, custom domain, checkout, Kajabi Payments, the Cofounder AI, and MCP. Team seats cap at 2. What is not in the tier:
- advanced automations (no conditional filters).
- webhooks.
- API access.
- the affiliate program.
- live cohort courses.
- the branded mobile app.
- comment-to-DM.
- code editing.
- removal of the “Powered by Kajabi” footer.
Growth adds live cohort courses, advanced automations with conditional filters, webhooks, the affiliate program, comment-to-DM automation, removal of the platform’s footer, a discounted Kajabi Payments rate, and 11 team seats. AI credits jump from 0 to 500 per month. Products you can sell climb from 5 to 50. Contacts go from 2,500 to 25,000.
Pro adds the branded mobile app in the App Store, unlimited products, 3 websites, 3 communities, 26 team seats, API access, the ability to edit the underlying website code, the deepest Kajabi Payments discount, and 1,000 AI credits per month.
The payment-fee structure nobody summarizes well
The pricing page buries the payment math behind three numbers that all change with plan tier.
Kajabi Payments charges tiered card-processing fees (US entities; non-US rates differ):
- Basic: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- Growth: 2.8% + $0.30
- Pro: 2.7% + $0.30
Platform fee if you bring your own processor: applies to any third-party payment processor excluding PayPal and Kajabi Payments. On a $100 sale:
- Basic: 2.0% → $2.00 platform fee + your processor’s fee
- Growth: 1.0% → $1.00 platform fee + your processor’s fee
- Pro: 0.5% → $0.50 platform fee + your processor’s fee
The pricing page is explicit that the platform fee is “on top of” the third-party processor’s own fee. If you sell through Stripe Connect or Authorize.net on Basic, the platform adds its 2.0% on top of whatever that processor charges. The 2.9% + $0.30 card rate belongs to Kajabi Payments and does not apply on this path.
The per-country breakdown is published in Kajabi Payments processing fees. Those rates are not tied to the plan the way the US ones are. In the UK the help center lists four card categories:
- standard UK cards: 1.5% + £0.20.
- premium UK cards: 1.9% + £0.20.
- EEA cards: 2.5% + £0.20.
- international cards: 3.25% + £0.20.
It adds only that you may qualify for discounted card rates based on your plan. EU SEPA rates differ again. Check the help article before you sign up if you are outside the US.
The practical effect is that Kajabi Payments is almost always the right choice on Basic and Growth unless you specifically need a processor Kajabi Payments does not cover. On Pro the gap narrows but does not close.
What the math looks like in practice
Two scenarios are useful to model, because the platform’s pricing rarely matches how an operator actually feels the cost.
Scenario A — coach selling a $500 group program on Basic (annual, Kajabi Payments).
Annual subscription: $143 × 12 = $1,716 per year. If you sell 60 seats over the year at $500 each, gross revenue is $30,000. Kajabi Payments takes 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, so $14.80 per sale. Across 60 sales that is $888. Effective total platform cost: $1,716 + $888 = $2,604, or 8.7% of gross.
The 2,500-contact ceiling is fine if your marketing audience is below that.
Scenario B — creator with 80,000 contacts on Pro, monthly billing.
Monthly subscription: $499 per month = $5,988 per year. The 100,000-contact ceiling covers the list. With the deepest Kajabi Payments rate (2.7% + $0.30), on $200,000 in annual course revenue you pay $5,400 + $18 in transaction fees. Total platform cost: $5,988 + $5,418 = $11,406, or 5.7% of gross.
Add the 26 admin seats and the branded mobile app, and the math lands below what you would pay for a Teachable + Circle + ConvertKit + SamCart stack at the same scale.
The right way to read these numbers is per dollar of revenue, not per month. The platform becomes cheaper as a percentage the higher your revenue climbs on a given tier — which is the opposite of most SaaS pricing.
AI features and credits
The platform’s AI strategy is interesting because the AI features ship on every plan — what you pay for is monthly credits.
- Cofounder: an AI partner for building and running the business. Available on Basic, Growth, and Pro.
- MCP: connects Kajabi to Claude and other MCP-compatible AI tools. Also, it ships on every plan.
- Expert Agents: marked “Coming soon” on every plan on the pricing page as of September 2026.
Credit allocation:
- Basic: 0 monthly credits. AI features are present but cannot run unless topped up.
- Growth: 500 credits per month.
- Pro: 1,000 credits per month.
Top-ups cost $15/month for an additional 500 credits on any plan. Heavy AI use on Basic therefore starts at $158/month once you add the top-up — still short of the $199 Growth price, and without the Growth features above.
Who Kajabi is for
The platform is built for three profiles:
- Coaches and course creators at $10k–$200k/year. Basic covers the first $10k tier if you stay under 2,500 contacts and 5 products. Growth covers the operator scaling toward $50k with multiple offers, an affiliate program, and live cohorts. Pro is for the $200k+ business that wants its own app in the App Store and unlimited products.
- Membership operators who want one stack. Communities, courses, paid newsletters, and checkout in one account with unlimited emails. The 30-day money-back guarantee makes the trial cheap to test.
- Creators who hate duct-taping five tools together. The platform replaces a typical stack:
- Teachable for courses.
- Mailchimp or ConvertKit for email.
- SamCart or ThriveCart for checkout.
- Circle or Mighty Networks for community.
- a landing page builder. The trade-off is higher per-transaction fees than dedicated tools.
Who should look elsewhere
Three cases where the platform is the wrong pick:
- High-volume low-margin businesses. At 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction on Basic, a $20 sale costs $0.88 in fees (4.4%). Cheaper rates exist in the category, but not on every competitor’s entry plan. Teachable’s Starter keeps 7.5% of a sale and Podia’s cheapest tier charges 5%, while Thinkific sends you to a third-party gateway that adds its own fee.
- Anyone who needs deep custom integrations. API access is Pro-only. Webhooks land at Growth. If you want Zapier-style integrations on Basic, you are out of luck.
- Anyone who wants only one feature. If all you need is a community, Mighty Networks or Circle is cheaper. If all you need is a course platform, Teachable or Thinkific is cheaper. If all you need is email, ConvertKit or Beehiiv is cheaper. Kajabi’s value is in the bundle, not in any single piece.
How it compares with the alternatives
| Tool | Cheapest paid plan (annual) | Course engine | Community | Payments | Free trial | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kajabi Basic | $143/month annual | Courses + coaching | Yes (1 community) | Unlimited | Kajabi Payments 2.9% + $0.30 | 14 days |
| Teachable | Lower entry tier | Courses only | Add-on | Add-on | 7.5% transaction fee on Starter | 7 days |
| Thinkific | Lower entry tier | Courses only | 1 on Basic, 3 on Grow | Add-on | Third-party gateway fee applies | 30 days |
| Podia | $42/month annual | Courses + webinars + downloads | Yes | Capped by plan | 5% fee on the Mover plan | 14 days |
| Circle | $89/month annual, below Kajabi Basic | Included | Native (community-first) | Add-on | 2% on Professional | 14 days |
| Skool | $9/month flat | Courses | Native | Limited | Stripe | 14 days |
| Mighty Networks | $79/month | Courses | Native | Add-on | Stripe | 14 days |
The comparison is not clean because the platform bundles more on Basic than anyone else bundles at the same price. The flip side is that if you do not need the bundle, the per-feature alternatives cost less per month and take less per transaction.
Pricing policy details that matter
A few small-print points that change real cost:
- Annual billing saves 20%: Basic $179 vs $143; Growth $249 vs $199; Pro $499 vs $399.
- 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan, not just the free trial. If you pay for a month and walk away, the platform refunds within 30 days.
- AI credit top-ups are $15/month for an additional 500 credits, on any plan, sold as one-time purchases at the end of a cycle. The page does not say whether an unused top-up carries over.
- Contact top-ups are published: contacts come in blocks of 25,000 for $125 a month, at any size.
- PayPal is treated as a separate processor category and the 0.5–2.0% platform fee does not apply to PayPal transactions.
- Outside-US card rates differ. The pricing page links to per-country rate sheets in the help center.
Which tier to buy
Kajabi at Basic ($143/month annual) is one of the cleanest entry points into the all-in-one creator stack in 2026: courses, coaching, communities, emails, funnels, and checkout in one account, with a 14-day free trial and 30-day money-back guarantee to test it.
Growth at $199/month annual is the sweet spot for operators scaling past the first $10k tier — 25,000 contacts, 50 products, advanced automations, webhooks, the affiliate program, and 500 AI credits per month. Pro at $399/month annual is for $200k+ businesses that need the branded mobile app in the App Store, API access, and unlimited products.
The two caveats: the payment-fee math is the highest in the category on Basic (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction or 2.0% platform fee if you bring your own processor), and API access is gated to Pro only. If your business runs on tight margins or needs deep integrations at SMB pricing, look at Podia, Teachable, or Thinkific first.
If you want one stack that does everything from course hosting and community to email and checkout, the platform is the most complete option in 2026.
FAQ
How much does Kajabi cost in 2026?
It has three plans: Basic at $143/month billed annually ($179 monthly), Growth at $199/month billed annually ($249 monthly), and Pro at $399/month billed annually ($499 monthly). Annual billing saves 20%. All published in USD (kajabi.com/pricing).
Does Kajabi have a free plan or trial?
Kajabi does not have a permanent free plan. Every plan ships a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. The trial converts into a paid plan when it ends, and the guarantee then applies to that first paid period rather than to the trial itself.
What payment fees does Kajabi charge?
Kajabi Payments charges tiered card-processing fees: 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth, and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro (US entities). If you use a third-party processor instead, the platform charges a fee on top: 2.0% on Basic, 1.0% on Growth, and 0.5% on Pro. PayPal is excluded from that fee.
Does Kajabi take a cut of sales?
No revenue share beyond the payment processing and platform fees above. The platform does not take a percentage of gross sales like some marketplaces do.
What does Pro include that Growth does not?
Pro adds a branded mobile app in the App Store under your own name, unlimited products (Growth is capped at 50), 3 websites and 3 communities (Growth is 1 each), 26 team seats (Growth is 11), API access, the ability to edit the underlying website code, the deepest Kajabi Payments discount, and 1,000 AI credits per month (Growth is 500).
Do AI credits roll over month to month?
The monthly allowance resets every cycle. A top-up costs $15/month for an additional 500 credits on any plan, described on the page as a one-time purchase at the end of a cycle. Whether an unused top-up carries into the next month is not stated.
Can I bring my own domain?
Yes. Custom domain support is included on every Kajabi plan.
Is there a refund window?
Yes. A 30-day money-back guarantee ships on every plan, on top of the 14-day free trial. If you pay for a month and decide the platform is wrong, you have 30 days to request a refund.
How we put this together: the three plan cards and their monthly and annual rates, the contact caps, the seat and product limits, the AI credit allowances, the card rates on both payment paths, the UK card categories, the top-up prices and the comparison rows come from kajabi.com/pricing and the vendor help center, quoted as displayed. We have not run a paid Kajabi account.
Figures that depend on a real workload, a real target or a real integration are flagged where they appear in the text rather than being estimated.
Disclosure: this article contains affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Commission never changes our scoring or the order of a ranking.