Kajabi vs. Podia
Individuals and businesses use course creation software to create and market their courses online. With several strong course creation platforms in the market, however, it can be difficult to figure out which solution is best for you.
We’ve created this guide to simplify your purchase decision by helping you understand the differences between Kajabi and Podia. Below we discuss the key differences between the solutions – including pricing, features, and the types of course creators that are best for each platform.
All recommendations are based upon research, discussions with course creators, and dozens of hours spent hand-testing the leading course creation software platforms. The details of our research process can be found on our article covering the best online course platforms.
To better understand the market, you can read more of our course creation software comparisons.
Comparison Summary
We researched and heavily tested both Kajabi and Podia. Kajabi received a SoftwarePundit Analyst rating of 91, while Podia received a rating of 85.
Kajabi was rated higher than Podia because it offers more features and is the better tool for scaling up your course creation business. Podia received a lower rating because it is not as feature-rich and is best at supporting beginner course creators only.
Here's a breakdown of our review criteria and how Kajabi and Podia performed in each category:
| Criteria | Analyst Rating | Features | Usability | Pricing | Customer Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kajabi | 91 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Podia | 89 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
When it comes to pricing, Podia is significantly cheaper than Kajabi. In fact, Podia’s most expensive and advanced plan is priced at $79 per month, while Kajabi’s starting plan is priced at $149 per month. However, Kajabi’s platform is much more advanced and includes tools not found in Podia. This helps justify their pricing differences.
Both solutions include standard course creation features: course and site builders, quizzes, coupons, course bundles, affiliate management tools, and sales trackers. Both also include email marketing features, but Kajabi also offers advanced marketing tools like automations and pipelines. Considering these factors, we determined that Kajabi is best suited for experienced course creators who require advanced design capabilities and powerful features. and In contrast, Podia is best for beginners who need a basic, effective platform.
Overall, Kajabi is a true all-in-one solution that includes advanced marketing tools not found in competitors. It is a great platform for building your courses and scaling your course business. While Podia is not as robust in terms of features, it is a high-quality, basic platform that is much more approachable and affordable. Podia is an ideal choice for those who are just starting their course journeys.
Here’s a few key differences between the solutions to determine which is best for you:
- You want a single platform to manage your course building, marketing, and selling
- You want advanced marketing tools – automated campaigns, and pipelines
- You want a mobile app that your students can use
- You want a simpler, more affordable tool that is better for beginners
- You prefer use external software to market your courses – e.g. Aweber or Mailchimp
- You value an in-platform student messaging feature
Table of Contents
- Comparison Summary
- Kajabi & Podia Price Comparison
- Kajabi & Podia Feature Comparison
- Kajabi & Podia Top Feature Comparison
- Bottom Line
Kajabi & Podia Price Comparison
Overall, Podia is a much more affordable solution than Kajabi. Most Podia customers pay the platform’s $79 plan, while most Kajabi customers pay for the platform’s $299 plan. Kajabi and Podia both offer monthly and annual subscriptions, and up to a 20% discount for those who purchase annual subscriptions.
Kajabi Pricing Details
Kajabi’s pricing ranges from $149 to $399 a month. You can save 20% if you choose to pay the annual subscription upfront. Here’s an overview of Kajabi’s pricing plans:
| Basic |
|
| Growth |
|
| Pro |
|
Podia Pricing Details
Podia’s pricing ranges from $39 to $79 a month. You can save ~17% if you choose to pay the annual subscription upfront. Here’s an overview of Podia’s pricing plans:
| Mover |
|
| Shaker |
|
Kajabi & Podia Feature Comparison
Kajabi and Podia are two course creation solutions that offer many similar features. Both platforms include a course and site builder, quizzes, course bundles, affiliate management, a sales tracker, and an email marketing tool. However, as shown in the table below, each solution has features that are not available in the other.
For a full analysis of each solution’s features, read our Kajabi review and Podia review.
| Feature | Kajabi | Podia |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile App | Yes | No |
| Marketing Automation | Yes | No |
| Assignments | Yes | No |
| Student Feedback | Yes | No |
| Student Messaging | No | Yes |
| Site Builder | Yes | Yes |
| Sales Tracker | Yes | Yes |
| Affiliate Management | Yes | Yes |
| Multimedia Uploads | Yes | Yes |
| Quizzes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom Branding | Yes | Yes |
| Accessibility | Yes | Yes |
| Drip Scheduling | Yes | Yes |
| Live Classes / Webinars | Yes | Yes |
| Student Discussions | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple Languages | Yes | Yes |
| Robust Integrations | Yes | Yes |
| Robust Website Compatibilities | Yes | Yes |
| Connecting Social Media | Yes | Yes |
| Coupons | Yes | Yes |
| Course Bundles | Yes | Yes |
| Gamification | No | No |
Kajabi & Podia Top Feature Comparison
Below we provide our in-depth comparison of the four key features that are included in Kajabi and Podia – course builder, website builder, sales tracker, and marketing tools. These features in Kajabi are comprehensive and of higher quality, but come at an expensive price and steeper learning curve.
Course Builder
Kajabi and Podia include course builders that let you upload multimedia – including video, PDF, audio, and text. Kajabi’s course builder offers more in terms of visual design customizations, but is less user-friendly. If you place priority on personalizing your course player aesthetic though, then we recommend Kajabi.
Kajabi includes “themes”, which let you differentiate how elements are visually organized on screen. Kajabi also lets you edit image sizes, wrap text around images, and align how text and images appear on screen.
Podia automatically centers and layers course elements top to bottom. Podia also does not let you align your text to the center or to the right of the screen.
Website Builder
Kajabi and Podia let you use their website builders to create your sites from scratch. Kajabi’s builder is more advanced and more capable of helping you design a more professional looking site. Similar to what we recommended above, if you prioritize your site’s design, then Kajabi is best for you. However, Kajabi’s builder is harder to navigate than Podia’s.
Kajabi lets you use pre-built or your own uploaded themes to base your website design. Kajabi also offers templates of several pages – including biography, thank you, and 404 pages. Kajabi also lets you view a desktop or mobile version of your site, add animation and time reveal to site elements, and link your social media profiles.
Podia’s website builder offers a wide range of content section types that you can add to design your site. This includes biography, FAQ, testimonial, text, and image sections. Podia also lets you customize your site’s color scheme, align images to the left, center, or right on screen, and link your social media profiles.
Sales Tracker
Kajabi and Podia let you track the sales and revenue that your courses have generated. Kajabi’s sales tracker is more advanced than Podia’s and offers more datapoints.
Kajabi’s sales tracker shows you your net revenue, and the revenue your top performing coupons and course bundles have generated. One advantage of Kajabi’s sales tracker is that it provides graphical representations of your revenue and refund data. Kajabi also offers a separate report for the affiliate marketing channel, but this data is not graphically visualized.
Podia’s sales tracker shows you your total sales, monthly recurring revenue, overall revenue, and pending revenue. Podia also lets you view monthly revenue, total revenue, and pending revenue for individual students.
Marketing Tools
Kajabi and Podia offer tools that help market your courses. Kajabi offers advanced marketing tools like automated campaigns, pipelines, email campaigns, and broadcasts. If you have the budget and prioritize marketing your courses, then Kajabi is best for you.
Kajabi offers automations, which are pathways based on “when” and “then”. For example, when a student finishes your course, you can create an automation that automatically sends them to a congratulatory page. Kajabi also offers pipelines, which is a more advanced version of automations.
Pipelines are an automated series of actions that guide students and potential customers through your marketing funnel. For example, you can send an email sequence that leads someone to a page that promotes courses most relevant to them, and then follows up with a coupon to finalize the sale.
Podia’s email marketing tool comes with standard features found in email marketing software – lead capture forms, a text email editor, newsletters, segmentation, and email analytics. An advantage Podia has over Kajabi is that it allows you to integrate your existing email marketing system, like Aweber and Mailchimp, with Podia’s platform. This way you have the option to manage your email marketing externally.
Bottom Line
Overall, Kajabi is a true all-in-one solution that includes advanced marketing tools not found in competitors. It is a great platform for building your courses and scaling your course business. While Podia is not as robust in terms of features, it is a high-quality, basic platform that is much more approachable and affordable. Podia is an ideal choice for those who are just starting their course journeys.
If you’re interested, visit Kajabi or Podia today to get started.