Kajabi Pricing: What It Actually Costs

What Does Kajabi Actually Cost Beyond the Sticker Price?

Kajabi markets itself as the all-in-one platform — email marketing, sales funnels, landing pages, and courses all in one dashboard. That's a genuine value proposition if you'd otherwise be paying for ConvertKit ($29-59/mo), ClickFunnels ($97-297/mo), and a course platform separately.

But most course creators don't need all of those tools, especially when starting out. And the feature-gating is more aggressive than the clean pricing page suggests.

What the Basic Plan ($179/mo) Locks You Out Of

Kajabi's Basic plan looks reasonable at $143/month (annual billing). But eight features that many course creators need are locked behind the Growth plan at $249/month:

• Affiliate program — one of the best ways to grow course sales, unavailable on Basic
• Advanced automations — beyond basic email sequences
• Cohort courses — time-released, group-based programs
• Video transcription & translation — previously included, now tier-gated
• Remove Kajabi branding — your pages show Kajabi's logo on Basic
• Universal inbox — centralized customer communication
• Webhooks — needed for custom integrations
• Comment-to-DM — social-style engagement

That's a $70/month upgrade (or $106/month at monthly billing) to unlock features that many competitors include on their base plans. On Ruzuku, drip/cohort-style content scheduling is available on all paid plans at $99/month.

The Pro-Only Features: $499/Month Territory

Three features are exclusively available on Kajabi's Pro plan at $499/month ($399/month annual): a branded mobile app (listed as a "$199/mo value"), API access (listed as a "$25/mo value"), and the custom code editor. If you need any of these, your minimum spend is $399/month — four times what many course-focused platforms charge.

Payment Processing: Standard Rates, But Watch the Surcharge

Kajabi Payments charges standard Stripe-level rates: 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, dropping slightly to 2.8% on Growth and 2.7% on Pro. These rates are competitive and similar to what you'd pay on any platform using Stripe.

The catch: if you want to use your own Stripe account instead of Kajabi Payments, there's an additional surcharge — 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth, 0.5% on Pro. On the Basic plan, that means you'd pay your Stripe rate (2.9%) plus Kajabi's 2% surcharge = 4.9% total processing cost. On Ruzuku, you connect your own Stripe account with zero surcharge.

The 2025 Price Restructuring

In 2025, Kajabi eliminated the entry-level Kickstarter plan ($89/month) and raised prices across the board. Basic went from $149 to $179/month. Growth went from $199 to $249/month. Pro went from $399 to $499/month. Contact limits on the Basic plan were also cut from 10,000 to 2,500 — while product limits increased from 3 to 5.

The net effect: Kajabi's cheapest option is now $143/month (annual billing), making it the most expensive entry point in the course platform market. Users on r/CourseCreation describe feeling locked in after building extensive email automations and funnels on the platform — making the switching cost significant even when the price climbs.

Product Limits: 5 Sounds Generous Until You Count

Kajabi's "products" include courses, coaching programs, digital downloads, podcasts, and memberships. The Basic plan's 5-product limit means you could hit the cap with three courses, one coaching program, and one downloadable resource. That pushes you to Growth at $249/month — a 44% price increase from Basic.

What Real Kajabi Users Say

What Users Appreciate

"It genuinely works as an all-in-one business platform. I honestly don't see the value in paying for 10-20 separate tools."

That consolidation benefit is the most consistently cited positive across reviews. Users on r/OnlineBusiness frequently note that the integrated analytics — seeing how email campaigns connect to course enrollments — provides insights they couldn't easily get with separate tools.

Common Complaints

"My plan when I started was around $149, now they want $249+ per month."

The 2025 price restructuring generated widespread backlash. Basic went from $149 to $179/month while contact limits were cut from 10,000 to 2,500. Users on r/CourseCreation describe feeling locked in after building extensive email automations and funnels on the platform, making the switching cost significant even when the price climbs.

"They removed the option to add subtitles manually just to force you to use their AI feature."

This pattern — removing existing features to push paid add-ons — frustrated long-time users. The AI transcription add-on costs $90/month on top of the plan fee.

Course features also draw pointed criticism. Multiple G2 reviewers note that course tools feel limited compared to dedicated learning platforms — one described the course functionality as "incredibly limited" relative to everything else Kajabi offers. A Trustpilot reviewer in February 2026 described spending nearly three hours troubleshooting broken products and pages during a launch, with support unable to resolve the issue quickly.

The Migration Question

Who Should Use Kajabi (And Who Shouldn't)

Kajabi Is a Strong Choice If You:

• Want a true all-in-one platform — email marketing, sales funnels, landing pages, courses, and payments in one dashboard
• Would otherwise pay for 3-4 separate tools (ConvertKit + ClickFunnels + course platform) — Kajabi consolidates the cost
• Need professional page templates that look polished out of the box without a designer
• Run a marketing-heavy business where email sequences and funnels drive most of your revenue
• Are comfortable paying $143-$399/month for the convenience of everything in one place

Kajabi Is Not Ideal If You:

• Primarily need course hosting and already use tools like ConvertKit or Mailchimp for email — you'd pay $143+/month for features you don't use
• Want unlimited courses and students without product caps or contact limits — Kajabi caps at 5 products / 2,500 contacts on Basic
• Need cohort courses, affiliates, or advanced automations on a budget — these require the $199/month Growth plan
• Want to use your own Stripe account without a 0.5-2% surcharge
• Need native Zoom integration for live teaching — Kajabi doesn't offer this
• Want student tech support handled for you — Kajabi supports you, not your students

The Migration Question

Leaving Kajabi requires migrating your course content (re-uploading videos), exporting your email list (possible as CSV), and rebuilding your funnels and automations on separate tools. If you've invested heavily in Kajabi's page builder, those designs don't transfer. Reddit users who've made the switch estimate 2-6 weeks for a complete migration, depending on complexity.

For a full feature-by-feature breakdown beyond pricing, see our complete Kajabi vs Ruzuku comparison and honest Kajabi review. You can also view Kajabi's official pricing page to verify current numbers.