Verdict first: On the sticker price, Teachable wins: $39/month against Kajabi’s $179. It loses that advantage the moment you start selling. Teachable’s Starter plan takes 7.5% of every sale, so a $2,000 month costs you $253 on Teachable versus about $243 on Kajabi — and Kajabi throws in email marketing, pipelines, a community and coaching tools. Pick Teachable if you sell courses and little else and you are under roughly $2,500 a month in revenue. Pick Kajabi if you sell coaching, community and courses as one offer and want a single system — and pick a cheaper all-in-one entirely if you are pre-revenue.
Who this is for: course creators and coaches who have narrowed it to these two and need to decide before paying for a year.
Who this is not for: funnel-first businesses. ClickFunnels is the better shape for paid-traffic funnels, and Systeme.io is the affordable version of that shape.
Prices, product limits and transaction fees were read from kajabi.com/pricing and teachable.com/pricing on October 18, 2026, in USD. Neither vendor states the trial length on its pricing page; this article does not claim one.
The two platforms in one table
| Kajabi | Teachable | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $179/mo ($143 annual) | $39/mo ($29 annual) |
| Transaction fee | 0% with Kajabi Payments; 2% with a third-party gateway on Basic | 7.5% on Starter; 0% from Builder ($89) |
| Products on entry plan | 5 | 5 |
| Contacts / email | 2,500 contacts included; marketing email built in | Email marketing on higher tiers; most sellers connect a separate tool |
| Built for | Courses + coaching + community + email + CRM | Course delivery and selling, with less surrounding machinery |
| Trial | Free trial (length not stated) | 7-day free trial, 30-day guarantee |
Where the price actually lands
The 7.5% is the entire argument. Run the same month on both platforms, at 20 orders of $100 each (standard card processing at 2.9% + 30¢ is $64 on $2,000):
| Month | Teachable Starter | Teachable Builder | Kajabi Basic | Kajabi Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 in sales | $39 + $75 + $32 = $146 | $89 + $0 + $32 = $121 | $179 + $0 + $32 = $211 | $249 + $32 = $281 |
| $2,000 in sales | $39 + $150 + $64 = $253 | $89 + $64 = $153 | $179 + $64 = $243 | $249 + $64 = $313 |
| $5,000 in sales | $39 + $375 + $160 = $574 | $89 + $160 = $249 | $179 + $160 = $339 | $249 + $160 = $409 |
Two things jump out. First, Teachable Starter is only the cheaper option at very low volume — and by $5,000 a month it is the most expensive line in the table. Second, Teachable Builder undercuts Kajabi at every volume, because it has the same 0% fee for $89 instead of $179. If you sell courses and nothing else, Builder is the rational Teachable plan and it beats Kajabi on price outright.
What Builder does not include is the reason anyone pays for Kajabi: email marketing with contact tiers, a CRM pipeline, a community product, coaching tools, and a single contact record across all of it.
Products and limits, side by side
| Teachable | Kajabi | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | 5 products | 5 products |
| Mid plan | 10 products (Builder) | 50 products (Growth) |
| Top plan | Custom / high-volume | Unlimited products (Pro, $499) |
| Contacts | Not the pricing axis | 2,500 / 25,000 / 100,000; extra blocks of 25,000 for $125/mo |
| Admin seats | Custom permissions on higher tiers | 2 / 11 / 26 by plan |
| Website + landing pages | Yes | Yes (1 / 1 / 3 websites) |
The products limits are closer than the prices suggest: both start at five. Kajabi’s real ceiling is contacts, and Teachable’s real ceiling is the fee. That is the whole decision in one sentence.
What Kajabi does better
- One system for a hybrid offer. A cohort program that bundles a course, group coaching and a community does not need Circle, Slack or a scheduler — Backstage, Communities and Courses are the same product.
- Marketing is included. Email, pipelines, offers and landing pages are wired to the same contact record. On Teachable you will likely pay for an email tool separately ($20–$50/month), which narrows the price gap.
- 0% with Kajabi Payments. The platform never takes a cut as long as you use its payment stack — the strongest long-run argument for the price.
- A more finished learner experience. Out of the box, a Kajabi course looks like a product rather than a page builder demo.
What Teachable does better
- Price of entry. $39/month is a decision you can make this week; $179/month is a monthly revenue target.
- Builder is excellent value. $89/month with 0% fees and 10 products is the best course-only deal in this comparison.
- Course delivery is the product. If you do not want CRM, pipelines, communities or coaching tools, you are not paying for them.
- A 30-day guarantee on top of the 7-day trial — more forgiving than a trial alone if you need to build a school before deciding.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Teachable if:
- You sell one course, or a handful, with no coaching or community component.
- You are under ~$2,500/month and want the lowest annual commitment — and you are willing to move to Builder the moment the 7.5% bites.
- You already have email and do not want another inbox in your life.
Pick Kajabi if:
- Your offer is a bundle: course + coaching + community + membership.
- You want marketing, checkout and delivery in one login and would otherwise pay for three tools.
- You have (or expect) more than 2,500 contacts and want contact tiers rather than per-sale fees.
Pick neither if you have not sold anything yet. Building a school on either platform before you have a validated offer is the most common way to spend $2,000 learning nothing. Our Kajabi alternatives breakdown and course platform comparison both start with the free and $17 options for that reason.
How we ranked and what we tested
Honest disclosure: this comparison is built from Kajabi’s and Teachable’s own pricing pages and plan documentation, read on October 18, 2026. I have not run paid accounts on either platform, so I am not claiming hands-on experience with their 2026 editors or course delivery. The hands-on build behind these screenshots is Systeme.io’s free plan — course, sales page and lessons — which is the benchmark used for “what a $0 course product looks like” (full Systeme.io review). The numbers are verified; the qualitative calls are informed judgement.
On affiliate links: neither Kajabi nor Teachable is an affiliate partner of this site. The only affiliate link on this page is Systeme.io’s, and it is labelled.
FAQ
Is Teachable cheaper than Kajabi?
On subscription, yes — $39 versus $179 at entry. On total cost it depends on volume: Teachable Starter takes 7.5% of sales, so above roughly $2,000 a month the gap closes, and a seller who moves to Teachable Builder ($89, 0% fee) pays less than Kajabi at every volume while getting fewer surrounding features.
Does Kajabi charge transaction fees?
Not with Kajabi Payments. With a third-party processor it charges 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro, plus your processor’s own rate.
Which is better for coaching?
Kajabi. Backstage and Communities are built for coaching and cohort programs; Teachable is a course platform first, and you would bolt on scheduling and community separately.
Can I move my course from Teachable to Kajabi?
Courses and student lists export in principle, but pages, offers and communities do not port automatically. Plan on rebuilding the sales pages and testing one product end to end before migrating a full catalogue.
What about the free option?
If you are pre-revenue, neither. Systeme.io’s free plan includes a course, a sales page, email and an automation rule at $0, and $17/month covers 5 courses and 5,000 contacts. Pay for Kajabi or Teachable when the platform’s polish and integrations are the constraint — not before.
I’m an affiliate of Systeme.io: if you sign up through my links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Kajabi and Teachable are not affiliate partners of this site, and their pricing comes from their own public pricing pages, checked on October 18, 2026.
Build the course for $0 first (no credit card, 0% transaction fees) → systeme.io
Grab the free checklist (2026 Solopreneur Tool Stack: 10 tools, free tiers, and the exact moment to pay) → Get the free checklist
Related reading: Kajabi Review 2026 · Best Kajabi Alternatives · Best Online Course Platforms for Creators · Systeme.io Review 2026
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