Do you want to jump on the online course creation trend?
You should compare a few course platforms to decide which is for you.
One comparison to make is that of Thinkific vs. Kajabi.
Both platforms offer unique features, and neither is better for all creators.
However, you should read on to learn which course builder is better for you.
Thinkific vs Kajabi Overview
When comparing course platforms, it helps to start with an overview.
Selecting the right website to host your online course can make or break the program.
Here’s what you need to know before you decide where to upload your next single course or unlimited courses.
What Is Thinkific?
Thinkific is an affordable course platform where you can make money from your knowledge.
It lets you create live lessons, upload recordings, and set a drip schedule.
You can also create assignments for your students and award certificates.
This platform works with other apps to help you with email marketing, coupons, and promotional bundles.
You get access to analytics to track student progress, and Thinkific offers customer support all day and night if you ever need help.
What Is Kajabi?
Kajabi is an online course platform, but it also offers other features that are crucial to an online business.
You can host courses, coaching programs, and a membership site on the platform.
Set up a full website to attract people to your course business sales funnel.
Email marketing is built-in, and you can create landing pages to promote your courses.
It’s a great place to host different digital products, and students can interact easily with you.
The course templates can help you set up your course content and start making money.
Thinkific vs Kajabi Features
Understanding the features of both platforms can help you compare Kajabi vs Thinkific in more detail.
Then, you may decide that one online learning tool is best for you.
Consider the following aspects of both online course websites.
Thinkific Features
Thinkific offers plenty of features for its users, so consider if it suits your needs as a course creator.
Page Building Tools
Thinkific lets you choose from website themes and customize your pages.
This helps you make your website and course pages look better, which can help get sales.
You’ll use the Thinkific Site Builder to create your course site.
After you select a theme, you’ll be able to adjust your settings to match your branding.
Drag-and-drop editing is available to help you customize each page individually.
This works for your home page, landing pages, and custom pages.
Content Uploads
Under the Course Builder section, you’ll have the option to add media to your course.
Uploading content is similar to uploading to any other content platform.
You can drag and drop files or select them from your computer.
Courses can host videos, photos, and any other media files you want to use.
That makes it easy to customize your course to meet the needs of your students.
Another option is to upload media elsewhere, such as on YouTube.
Then, you can connect the media to your Thinkific course page.
Hosting media externally is great if you want to upload a lot of videos or other files, and you can keep them private so only students can view the video.
Multimedia Content
Thinkific is an excellent course platform for different types of media.
Whether you want to do a demonstration or show pictures, you can make that happen.
However, you can also write your course lessons.
Write the content in the platform or copy and paste from a document.
Combine written content with other media to help your students learn more.
Video Hosting
Thinkific offers hosting for your course videos, which is super useful.
There’s no storage cap, so you can upload as many videos as you need for your course.
If you want to teach live, you can do so with Thinkific and Zoom.
After the live lesson ends, you can add the recording to your course for students to watch at any time.
This is great for any course creator who wants the flexibility to teach how they choose.
Kinds of Courses
Of course, you can create a typical online course with Thinkific.
You can teach how you choose and help your students learn.
However, the platform also lets you create communities.
This is a great option if you want to interact more with your students.
If you want to make recurring revenue, Thinkific also hosts memberships.
You can charge members a monthly fee so that they can retain access to your course content.
Plus, you can host unlimited courses on your account.
Custom Domains
All paid Thinkific plans let you connect a custom domain to your course website.
This can help you stand out and keep consistent branding.
It also makes it easy for your students to find the site when they need to come back to your course.
Adding your domain will also remove Thinkific branding and make your course business look more professional.
While you can start for free, you’ll need to pay to design your site more.
Just be sure to budget for the cost of the domain as well as the paid plan.
Payments in Multiple Currencies
Thinkific doesn’t let you charge for courses in multiple currencies.
Fortunately, there are a couple of ways around this.
The easiest option is to connect to a payment gateway that lets you take payments in different currencies.
Another thing you can do is create a Thinkific site for each currency you want to sell in.
Doing this is great if you want to customize the content and copy for different countries.
Thinkific can help you copy your courses between sites.
If you only keep one site, be sure to choose your payment gateway wisely.
That way, you can secure your account and payments.
Secure Payment Processing
Thinkific uses a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate to encrypt payments when you use the built-in payment gateway.
That helps protect customer data, so your students won’t be as vulnerable to hackers.
Once a student pays, you will receive the money immediately.
You also don’t have to worry about transaction fees, even on the free plan.
Integrations
To run your online course business, it helps to integrate your course platform with other tools.
If you use Thinkific, you’ll have access to multiple options.
The Thinkific App Store offers over 70 apps that you can use to connect to external tools.
Some tools you can integrate include Typeform, Facebook Pixel, Zapier, and Shopify.
That makes it easy to track potential customers and increase sales.
You can install as many apps as you want, so you don’t have to spend time connecting customer information between websites.
Kajabi Features
Before you decide if Thinkific is the best online course platform, consider what Kajabi has to offer.
Here are some of the features you should know.
Websites, Courses, Memberships, Landing Pages
Not only can you use Kajabi for online courses, but you can run your entire business with it.
The tool, of course, lets you upload and organize course content.
However, you can create a website using the Kajabi website builder, which is easy to use.
It’s also a great place to build a membership program with monthly payments.
And if you need a way to sell your digital offers, the landing page feature is what you need.
You can use Kajabi to build beautiful landing pages that can help convert visitors into buyers.
Customizable Themes
To help make your course website stand out, Kajabi offers a variety of website themes.
You can choose one that fits your branding, and you can customize it further.
Add your online course colors to help people recognize your site.
If you don’t like the themes Kajabi has, you can purchase a theme externally.
Kajabi makes it easy to upload a new theme to use for your website.
Then, you can make sure your business site looks exactly how you want it to.
Custom Domains
Like Thinkific, Kajabi lets you connect a custom domain to your site.
You can connect your domain regardless of the plan you select, which is great if you ever need to upgrade or downgrade.
However, you don’t need a domain to set up a Kajabi site.
You’ll get access to a subdomain from mykajabi.com to host your course content and other business pages.
Blog
The Kajabi blog is an excellent place to learn more about running a small business online.
You can read inspiring stories and educational articles.
There’s also Kajabi University, which comes with every plan to help you learn even more.
Kajabi has a ton of content to help a new or experienced course creator.
Be sure to bookmark the blog to refer back to when you have questions.
You can also create your own blog on your site using a custom page.
That way, you can write posts on different topics around your course to attract potential students.
Analytics
If you want to make your online course business successful, you need analytics.
Luckily, Kajabi provides plenty of data that you can use to help grow your business.
You can view your revenue, subscription metrics, and offers that you’ve sold.
The data can help you improve your sales pages to increase conversions.
You don’t have to worry about making decisions that could ruin your business.
Video
Like any good online course tool, Kajabi lets you upload and host videos.
The platform doesn’t limit the amount of videos you can upload.
So as you create more courses or add more lessons to existing courses, you don’t have to worry about maxing out on storage.
That makes it easy to create and update courses the way that makes the most sense.
Hosting
Another benefit of Kajabi is that your plan comes with unlimited hosting.
This allows you to store video and other media files without paying extra.
If you don’t want to deal with a third-party host or to put your website on another platform, Kajabi is an excellent choice.
You get a lot of features, and the hosting is secure and easy for you to use.
Downloads
Some of the best courses have downloadable files to help students learn more.
If you want to attach a PDF, such as a workbook, you can do so in Kajabi.
You’ll need to add a downloadable file to a product post.
Students will be able to access the file and download it to use whenever they want.
Another option is to create a Google Doc and link to that in the description of a lesson, but you can add the file directly to the lesson.
Events
Building hype before a launch date or another event can be an easy way to get more interest in your courses.
If you use Kajabi, you can create events.
You can add a countdown to a launch or automate emails to go out at a specific time.
It’s also a great way to schedule online or in-person events for your students.
That way, you can charge for events and connect with people you have yet to meet.
Thinkific vs Kajabi Course Creation Ease
When choosing where to create your course, you need to know which platform is the easiest to use.
That way, you won’t have to struggle to get your course up and running.
Here’s how course creation compares when using Thinkific vs. Kajabi.
Thinkific Course Creation Process
The Thinkific platform makes it easy to create your first or hundredth course.
You don’t need any technical experience or design knowledge.
A variety of themes can help you set up a website, plus you can choose a course template to design your product.
There isn’t a huge learning curve, which is great if you don’t have much time to build your course.
Adding lessons only takes a few button clicks, and you can add text and other media to build out your course content.
If you want to add assignments, that feature is available on any plan.
You can also set up prerequisite lessons so that students have to go in a certain order.
Thinkific allows you to set up live lessons through Zoom, but that’s an advanced feature that requires a higher tier.
Kajabi Course Creation Process
Kajabi lets you create a mini course, regular course, or evergreen training.
The platform provides blueprints for each type of product, so you can create and sell what you want.
No matter what you choose to create, you don’t need technical training.
You also don’t need to be a designer, so anyone can set up a course website.
The platform lets you add lessons and downloadable materials to help your students.
Unfortunately, you can’t connect to live Zoom lessons.
However, you can use Zoom to teach live, and you can use email marketing to inform students of upcoming meetings.
That allows you to teach over video to get your course going.
After your course is ready, you can download the Kajabi app.
That way, you can connect with your students when you’re on the go, so you can answer questions quickly and easily.
Thinkific vs Kajabi Student Experience
While being able to create courses is important, your experience isn’t the only one that matters.
Even if you have no problem creating, you don’t want your students to struggle to access or view your course content.
Here’s how the student experience for Thinkific and Kajabi compare.
Thinkific Student Experience
For students, Thinkific courses are easy to navigate.
That can help students find what they need quicker, which is great for people who are busy.
The platform and course player also work well on all devices, even though there isn’t a mobile app.
As the course creator, you can set up learning communities and discussion spaces.
Direct messages, mentions, and threaded replies are also available.
That way, you can answer student questions, or students can help each other.
Students have access to member profiles, which can help you track everyone.
Plus, there’s no cap on the number of students that can enroll in your courses.
That may not seem great now, but you never know when your business may take off.
Finally, students can receive course completion certificates after going through your courses.
You can use those certificates to motivate people to learn the material.
Kajabi Student Experience
If you use Kajabi, your students can have a similar experience.
Courses are easy to navigate, and you can set up different modules to organize lessons in larger programs.
Thanks to the Kajabi app, students can learn on any device.
You can set up 100 learning communities.
As with Thinkific, Kajabi offers discussion spaces, mentions, threaded replies, and more.
The tool allows for direct messages, but member profiles aren’t available.
Sadly, students won’t get completion certificates.
But you could create certificates yourself outside of Kajabi if you want to offer them.
Also, you can’t enroll more than 20,000 students in one Kajabi account.
Most course creators shouldn’t worry about this.
However, it’s worth noting in case your business expands to the point where you want to have unlimited students.
Thinkific vs Kajabi Marketing
Of course, the student experience won’t matter if you can’t get anyone to take your course.
Here are a few things you should know about marketing with each course site.
Thinkific Marketing
Thinkific offers a couple of tools that you can use for marketing.
First, you can use search engine optimization (SEO) right in the platform.
That can help you show up in search results for people who are looking to learn what you teach.
The Thinkific App Store also has about 70 apps, and some of those can help you market your business.
You can connect to Facebook and other websites to help promote your course.
While you can’t use native email marketing tools, you can use a third-party email marketing tool.
If you use something like InfusionSoft, there’s a Thinkific app for that.
All of these marketing options are great for getting students to learn about your courses and sign up.
Kajabi Marketing
Unlike Thinkific, Kajabi doesn’t have a feature that helps with SEO.
That means you’ll have to rely more on social media and email to get people to learn about your course.
However, you can use SEO on your website if you use an external site.
Then, you can link to your Kajabi enrollment page to attract students.
If you only use Kajabi, though, email marketing is easy since it’s part of the platform.
You can connect to a few different apps to integrate Kajabi with other tools.
While it’s not as many options as Thinkific, it’s a good start.
The apps you can use cover email marketing, analytics, sales, and more.
Thinkific vs Kajabi Pricing
If your course creation business is new, you may have a small business budget.
That means you should look for tools that will make the most of your finances.
Compare the pricing plans available from each course platform.
Thinkific Pricing
Thinkific is by far the more affordable choice when compared to Kajabi.
For one, you can start with a free plan, so you don’t need to pay money until you make money.
Now, this plan does have limitations, such as no custom domain, no coupons, and no drip content.
You can upgrade to a premium plan starting at $39 if you pay annually.
This gets you some features that the free basic account doesn’t offer.
You’ll get live chat support and student emails.
If you pay monthly, this plan costs $49.
Thinkific Pro is the next tier, and it offers features like priority support, private courses, and an extra site admin.
You’ll need this plan if you want to offer live lessons and offer completion certificates.
This plan costs $99 per month or $79 per month when you pay yearly.
When you’re ready to scale your online course business, you may want to upgrade to the Premier plan.
It comes with five site admins, an onboarding package, and white labeling.
You also get access to the API and 15 group analysts.
But it will cost you $399 to $499 per month depending on when you pay.
Kajabi Pricing
While Kajabi offers a lot of amazing features, its pricing is far from budget-friendly, though you do get a 14-day free trial.
The Basic plan only comes with three products and three pipelines.
Only one website and one admin user come with it, but it will cost $119 to $149 per month if you pay annually or monthly, respectively.
You’ll need the Growth plan if you want to remove Kajabi branding from your site.
The plan also offers an affiliate marketing program for your courses, and you can add up to 15 products.
But you can still only enroll up to 10,000 active users.
If you pay per year, you’ll owe $159 per month.
A monthly payment will cost you $199.
The Pro plan lets you create up to three websites and 100 products.
You can also enroll up to 20,000 students at a time.
This plan also grants you access to a code editor to customize the look of your Kajabi site.
But it will cost you $319 a month if you pay for a full year or $399 if you pay for one month at a time.
Thinkific vs Kajabi: Use Cases
You should also consider the different types of people who should use one platform or the other.
Then, you can determine if one website will meet your needs better.
Who Is Thinkific Designed For?
Thinkific is designed for people who want an easy platform for course creation.
It’s also great for anyone on a budget, so it’s perfect for new business owners.
On the other hand, the lack of an enrollment cap makes it great for businesses looking to scale.
However, it’s not the best tool for someone who wants to run their entire business in one place.
You’ll need to use third-party services for a blog, email marketing, and other services.
But if you want to teach live lessons, Thinkific is the platform for you.
Who Is Kajabi Designed For?
Kajabi is designed for people who want an all-in-one solution for their online course business.
You can set up a full website with the platform, and you can use it for email marketing.
But it will cost you to combine all of those services.
That means it’s not the best for someone setting up a new business.
If you don’t have much money, you may find that even the cheapest plan is out of reach.
And you might find Kajabi limits you once you get thousands of students.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you still have questions about choosing where to host your courses, here’s what you may want to know.
Does Thinkific Have a Community?
Thinkific offers a community for educators through the Thinkific Academy.
This is open to all paying members.
But any course creator with the Pro or Premier plan can set up communities for their own students.
Wrapping Up
Comparing Thinkific vs. Kajabi is crucial if you want to set up an online course business.
You don’t want to have to migrate your course, so choosing the right platform now will save you a lot of headaches.
Be sure to consider the features, costs, and other benefits of Thinkific and Kajabi.
Then, you can select the learning management system that will meet the needs of your specific business.
