Kajabi vs. Thinkific
Individuals and businesses use course creation software to build and market their courses online. In a market filled with many strong course creation solutions, it can be difficult to determine which is best for you.
We’ve written this guide to help you understand the differences between Kajabi and Thinkific and simplify your purchase decision. Below we discuss the key differences between each platform – including pricing, features, and the types of course creators that are best for each tool.
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 Thinkific. Kajabi received a SoftwarePundit Analyst rating of 91, while Thinkific received a rating of 90.
Kajabi was rated higher than Thinkific because it is overall more advanced and feature-rich. Thinkific was given a lower rating because technically its platform is more limiting and does not offer certain features that are found in Kajabi – including advanced marketing tools.
Here's a breakdown of our review criteria and how Kajabi and Thinkific ranked in each category:
| Criteria | Analyst Rating | Features | Usability | Pricing | Customer Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kajabi | 91 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Thinkific | 89 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
In terms of pricing, Thinkific is cheaper than Kajabi. Thinkific’s most popular plan is priced at $99 per month, while Kajabi’s starting plan is priced at $149 per month. However, Kajabi is more advanced and offers features not found in Thinkific. This helps justify their pricing differences.
Both solutions offer standard course creation features: course and site builders, coupons, course bundles, affiliate management tools, and sales trackers. However, Kajabi’s features are more advanced and the platform offers tools that maximize your ability to market your courses – including automations, pipelines, and email broadcasts and campaigns. With these considerations, we determined that Kajabi is best for experienced course creators who need advanced design capabilities and powerful, robust features. By comparison, Thinkific is approachable for beginners, and also has the tools to support established course creators.
Overall, Kajabi is a true all-in-one solution that includes advanced marketing tools not found in competitors. It is great for creating your courses and scaling your course business. While Thinkific’s features are not as robust, it is a user-friendly, mid-tier solution that lets course creators build effective courses.
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 basic, free plan simply to host your content online
- You want to use integrations like Mailchimp, WordPress, and Squarespace
- You want course templates that make it easier and faster to make courses
Table of Contents
- Comparison Summary
- Kajabi & Thinkific Price Comparison
- Kajabi & Thinkific Feature Comparison
- Kajabi & Thinkific Top Feature Comparison
- Bottom Line
Kajabi & Thinkific Price Comparison
Overall, Thinkific is a much more affordable solution than Kajabi. Most Thinkific customers purchase the platform’s $99 plan, while most Kajabi customers purchase its $299 plan. Kajabi and Thinkific 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 |
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| Growth |
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| Pro |
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Thinkific Pricing Details
Thinkific’s pricing ranges from free to $499 a month. You can save ~20% if you choose to pay the annual subscription upfront. Here’s an overview of Thinkific’s pricing plans:
| Free |
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| Basic |
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| Pro |
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| Premier |
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Kajabi & Thinkific Feature Comparison
Kajabi and Thinkific are two course creation platforms that offer many similar features. Both include a course & site builder, coupons, course bundles, affiliate management, and a sales tracker. However, as shown in the table below, each solution offers features not found in the other.
For a full analysis of each solution’s features, read our Kajabi review and Thinkific review.
| Feature | Kajabi | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile App | Yes | No |
| Marketing Automation | Yes | No |
| Gamification | No | Yes |
| Student Feedback | No | Yes |
| Assignments | Yes | 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 |
| Student Messaging | No | No |
Kajabi & Thinkific Top Feature Comparison
Below we provide our in-depth comparison of the four key features that are included in Kajabi and Thinkific – a course builder, website builder, sales tracker, and marketing tools. These features in Kajabi are more feature-rich and customizable, but come at an expensive price and with a steeper learning curve.
Course Builder
Kajabi and Thinkific offer course builders that let you upload different types of multimedia – including audio, video, PDF, and text. Kajabi’s course builder includes more visual design customizations, but is less user-friendly. However, if you value personalizing your course player aesthetic, then we recommend Kajabi.
In Kajabi, you can choose “themes” that differentiate how elements are visually organized on screen. Kajabi also lets you control the placement of text and images on screen, wrap text around images, and edit image sizes.
Thinkific’s course builder is more intuitive, but limited in terms of visual design. It automatically centers and layers course elements top to bottom. Thinkific also offers more features for creating lessons like student feedback, and presentations.
Website Builder
Kajabi and Thinkific let you use their website builders to create your sites from scratch. Compared to other solutions in the market, Kajabi and Thinkific both offer more visual design flexibility for your website.
Compared to Thinkific though, Kajabi’s builder is more advanced and is better for designing a professional looking website. Similar to what we recommended above, if you place priority on your website’s design, then Kajabi is best for you. However, Kajabi’s builder has a steeper learning curve.
Kajabi lets you use pre-built themes, or your own uploaded themes for your website design. Kajabi also includes templates of different pages – including 404, biography, and thank you pages. You can also link your social media profiles, add animation to site elements, and preview a mobile and desktop version of your site.
Thinkific’s website builder is easier to use than Kajabi’s. It comes with three design themes for you to choose from. While site elements must be placed on either the left, right, or center of the screen, Thinkific does let you customize your color scheme. Thinkific also lets you link your social media profiles to your website.
Sales Tracker
Kajabi and Thinkific let you track the sales and revenue that your courses have generated. Kajabi’s sales tracker is more advanced than Thinkific’s and offers more data points for you to analyze.
Kajabi’s sales tracker displays your net revenue, and the revenue your top performing coupons and course bundles have generated. An advantage of Kajabi’s sales tracker is that it displays graphical representations of your revenue and refund data. Kajabi also includes a separate affiliate marketing report, but this data is not graphically visualized.
Even though Thinkific’s sales tracker is not as robust as Kajabi’s, it is complete and informative. It shows you:
- Payment statuses
- Your total revenue
- Whether an order is a one time, subscription, or a payment plan purchase
- Refund data
- The payment method used
- The name of the affiliate who referred the student who made the order
Marketing Tools
Kajabi and Thinkific offer tools that help market your courses. Unlike Thinkific, Kajabi offers advanced marketing tools including automated campaigns, pipelines, email campaigns, and broadcasts. If you have the budget and place priority on marketing your courses, then we recommend Kajabi.
One of Kajabi’s marketing tools is automations, which are pathways based on “when” and “then”. For example, when a student finishes your course, you can then send them to a congratulatory page. Kajabi also offers pipelines, which are an 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 promotions page that displays courses most relevant to them, and then follows up with a coupon that finalizes the sale.
Thinkific offers standard marketing features like course bundling, coupons, affiliate marketing management, and integrations with marketing software like Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign. One unique marketing feature of Thinkific is sales widgets. You can place these anywhere online to promote your courses and bring prospective students straight to your website.
Bottom Line
Overall, Kajabi is a true all-in-one solution that includes advanced marketing tools not found in alternative solutions. It is best for creating your courses and scaling your course business. While Thinkific’s features are not as robust, it is a user-friendly, mid-tier solution that lets course creators build effective courses.
If you’re interested, visit Kajabi or Thinkific today to get started.