Kajabi Pricing Plans 2026: What You Actually Pay (With Math)
Kajabi pricing starts at $69/month for Kickstarter and runs to $319/month for Growth, billed annually as of September 2026. The entry Kickstarter plan caps you at 250 contacts, 50 active customers, and 1 product, so most real creators land on Basic at $119/month or Growth at $199/month. Every plan charges 0% platform fees, but Kajabi is $828 to $3,828 more per year than the cheapest all-in-one alternatives.
Kajabi pricing at a glance: every plan, dated September 2026
Kajabi restructured its pricing in 2024 and refined it through 2025. Here is what you actually pay today, taken from the Kajabi pricing page on September 1, 2026. Numbers below are the annual rate expressed per month; month-to-month billing is roughly 20% higher on each plan.
| Plan | Annual (per month) | Monthly | Contacts | Active customers | Products | Admin users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kickstarter | $69 | $89 | 250 | 50 | 1 | 1 |
| Basic | $119 | $149 | 10,000 | 1,000 | 3 | 1 |
| Growth | $159 | $199 | 25,000 | 10,000 | 15 | 10 |
| Pro | $319 | $399 | 100,000 | 20,000 | 100 | 25 |
Every plan includes a 14-day free trial with no card required. Kajabi advertises "0% transaction fees" on all plans, which is true for the platform cut but leaves the payment processor untouched. Stripe and PayPal still take their standard 2.9% + $0.30 per US card charge on top.
What each plan actually unlocks (and what it locks out)
Kickstarter at $69/month: the demo tier
Kickstarter looks cheap until you read the limits. One product, 50 active customers, 250 contacts, one admin seat. There is no automation builder, no affiliate program, and no advanced reporting. If you sell a single $200 course to 50 buyers, you are already at the ceiling.
A support question we hear weekly at Zanfia goes something like this: "I upgraded from Kajabi Kickstarter to Basic in month three because I hit 50 customers." That is the point of Kickstarter. It exists to move you to Basic within your first quarter, not to be a real operating plan.
Basic at $119/month: where most creators start
Basic lifts you to 10,000 contacts, 1,000 active customers, and 3 products. You get email marketing, one website, and access to Kajabi's core funnel builder. Still one admin user, no team seats, no affiliate program, no advanced automations.
Basic is Kajabi's real entry price for a working creator. Annualized, it costs $1,428/year, or $1,788 if you pay monthly. That is your baseline for any honest cost comparison.
Growth at $159/month: the popular mid-tier
Growth adds the affiliate program, advanced automations, 24/7 chat support, the ability to remove Kajabi branding, and 10 admin seats. Contact limit jumps to 25,000 and product limit to 15. Kajabi labels this "most popular" on its pricing page, which tracks with what we see from creators comparing platforms.
At $1,908/year annually or $2,388 monthly, Growth is where you actually get the full Kajabi feature set. If you need affiliates or team access, Basic will not carry you.
Pro at $319/month: for scaled operators
Pro gives you 100,000 contacts, 20,000 active customers, 100 products, 25 admin seats, three websites, and a code editor for custom themes. Yearly cost is $3,828 annual, $4,788 monthly. This tier makes sense for creators past $500K in revenue or agencies running multiple brands.
The math: what you pay per year on Kajabi vs. alternatives
Platform fees are only half of what a creator pays. The other half is what the payment processor takes. Separating those two lines is the single most useful frame when comparing tools, because platforms have full control over their cut and zero control over Stripe's.
Here is what $10,000 in monthly course revenue actually nets on each option, assuming US card processing at 2.9% + $0.30 and an average order of $200:
| Platform | Plan cost/year | Platform fee on $10K | Processor fee on $10K | Net revenue/month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kajabi Basic | $1,428 | $0 | $305 | $9,576 |
| Kajabi Growth | $1,908 | $0 | $305 | $9,536 |
| Teachable Basic | $468 | $500 (5%) | $305 | $9,156 |
| Gumroad (direct) | $0 | $1,000 (10%) + $25 (50¢ x 50) | $305 | $8,670 |
| Zanfia Growth | $756 | $0 | $305 | $9,632 |
Kajabi Basic and Growth both nail the 0% platform cut, which is the right benchmark. What you pay for that is a $1,428 to $1,908 annual subscription. Teachable's Basic plan at $39/month is cheaper on subscription but adds a 5% transaction fee that dwarfs the savings on any real volume.
Gumroad looks free on the surface, but its 10% + $0.50 per direct sale (or up to 30% via its marketplace) eats over 10% of revenue at $200 average order. On $120K annual revenue, that is roughly $12,300 lost to platform fees where Kajabi and Zanfia take zero.
Getting the platform bill right is only step one. The pricing you set on top of it decides whether the subscription pays for itself in the first place. Our guide to 10 proven subscription pricing strategies to scale walks through the models that actually hold up when you run them against a real fee stack.
Where Kajabi is worth the money (and where it is not)
Kajabi is worth $119 to $199 per month if you actually use its full stack: email marketing, funnels, communities, coaching sessions, and its automation engine. Creators running $30K+ months with a real email list and multiple product lines get proportional value. Its email marketing is genuinely mature; Kajabi built the feature for years and it shows in deliverability, segmentation, and template quality.
Kajabi is not worth the money if you are on Basic, using it as a course host with a small list. At that stage you are paying for capacity you do not need. A creator with 300 email subscribers and one $97 course pays the same $119/month as one with 8,000 subscribers and 12 products.
Who should pick Kajabi
Established creators with $500K+ in annual revenue, a large email list they want to keep in one system, and a team of 5 to 25 that needs seat access. Kajabi's Growth plan is a legitimate operating environment for this profile. Its limitation: you are locked into Kajabi's ecosystem, and moving out is a 3 to 6 month project.
Who should not pick Kajabi
Creators under $100K/year, anyone building their first product, and anyone who values AI-native workflows. Kajabi predates the current AI wave and its automation is rule-based rather than agent-based. For a smaller operator, $119/month is $1,428 you could put into ads, contractors, or a cheaper platform.
Kajabi alternatives that cost less for the same job
The pricing gap between Kajabi and its peers is the story of this comparison. Here is where each alternative genuinely fits:
Teachable
Who it's for: Course-only creators who want a low subscription and do not need community, email marketing, or coaching bookings in one tool. Honest limitation: Basic plan at $39/month adds a 5% transaction fee, and the free plan takes $1 + 10% per sale. Read our full Kajabi vs Teachable comparison for the trade-offs.
Gumroad
Who it's for: Creators selling one-off digital products (templates, PDFs, presets) with low volume where 10% is acceptable. Honest limitation: 10% + $0.50 per direct sale, up to 30% via the marketplace. On $100K/year that is $10,000+ in platform fees you would not pay elsewhere. If templates are your core product, see our playbook on selling Notion templates in 2026 for pricing, distribution, and recurring revenue.
Podia
Who it's for: Creators wanting an all-in-one at a lower price point than Kajabi, with similar breadth. Honest limitation: No native mobile app for members, weaker automation than Kajabi Growth.
Skool
Who it's for: Community-first operators where the course is secondary to the group experience. Honest limitation: Weaker checkout options, no native email marketing, single-tier pricing at $99/month.
Zanfia
Who it's for: Creators who want all-in-one breadth (courses, communities, newsletters, digital products) with 0% platform fees and an AI team that runs the business day to day. Instead of configuring automations by hand, you tell the assistant what to do by chat or voice, and it performs any action available in the interface. Honest limitation: Communities inside the mobile app are rolling out per workspace and are not yet generally available. Email campaigns are shipping in stages rather than open to every account. If you need mature community-in-app or a fully open email module today, check the pricing page or your dashboard before switching.
Zanfia starts at $31/month billed annually (Starter) or $39 monthly, with Growth at $63 annually and Pro at $119 annually. Compared to Kajabi Basic at $119/month, that is $1,056 saved per year on the entry tier alone. Advanced capabilities including the MCP endpoint for AI agents, full Assistant, and API access unlock on higher plans; see the current Zanfia pricing.
Turning platform savings into revenue
Cutting a $1,000 line from your platform bill only matters if you route it into something that compounds. The fastest lever is your own pricing. Most creators leave 20% to 40% on the table because their ladder was set once and never revisited. Our breakdown of 10 powerful pricing psychology strategies covers anchor pricing, decoy tiers, and payment framing that move conversion without changing the product.
The second lever is what you sell alongside the flagship course. A $47 ebook, a $997 group coaching cohort, and a $5K retainer each answer a different customer at a different stage. If you are pricing any of those from scratch, the depth guides are ebook pricing strategy for 2026, group coaching pricing tiers, and consulting retainer pricing at $2K, $5K, or $15K/month.
Hidden costs Kajabi does not advertise
The sticker price is not the total price. On any Kajabi plan you are still on the hook for:
- Payment processor fees: 2.9% + $0.30 per US card charge via Stripe or PayPal. On $10K/month that is $305.
- Custom domain: $10 to $20/year through your registrar, not included.
- Email deliverability tools: If you send heavy volume, Kajabi's built-in email marketing may need supplementary tools for advanced segmentation.
- Video overage: Kajabi includes generous video hosting, but heavy video creators can hit encoding delays during peak upload periods.
- Team seat expansion: Basic gives you 1 admin. Adding a VA or contractor means jumping to Growth at $199/month.
Kajabi's real annual cost for a working Basic creator with one team member and modest volume is closer to $2,200 when you add processor fees, domain, and the plan itself.
How to decide: a 3-question test
Skip the feature-list overwhelm. Answer these three questions:
- Are you doing $20K+ per month in revenue? If yes, Kajabi Growth at $199/month is defensible. If no, you are overpaying.
- Do you need a team of 5+ working in the platform? Kajabi Growth gives you 10 admin seats. Basic gives you 1. If team access matters, Growth is the honest floor, not Basic.
- Is your email list your primary asset? If yes, Kajabi's mature email tool earns its keep. If your business runs on communities or one-off products, cheaper all-in-one options do the same job.
If you answered "no" to all three, you are the classic Kajabi customer who would net more by switching. A creator at $8K/month with a 2,000-person list saves $1,000+ per year moving to a $63/month all-in-one, with no functional loss on the core course delivery job.
The bottom line on Kajabi pricing in 2026
Kajabi is a legitimate premium platform priced for creators who can absorb $119 to $199 per month as a small fraction of revenue. Its 0% platform fee is real and matches the market standard for premium tools. What Kajabi does not do is compete on price for smaller operators, and its pricing structure is designed to move you up tiers rather than let you settle at Kickstarter.
The clearest test is annual math. Kajabi Basic at $1,428/year plus processor fees vs. an equivalent all-in-one at $756/year with the same 0% platform cut is a $672 annual gap for identical revenue outcomes. Multiply that by three to five years of operation and the platform choice becomes one of the larger cost decisions a solo creator makes. For a deeper look at the total cost of running a creator business, see our breakdown of the creator's $1M year stack.
Pick Kajabi if you are past $500K/year and need its mature email and funnel stack. If you are earlier in the journey, an AI-first all-in-one at a fraction of the subscription does the same core job, and the savings compound.
Frequently asked questions
Does Kajabi have a free plan?
No. Kajabi offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, but there is no permanent free tier. After the trial, you must select one of the four paid plans starting at $69/month for Kickstarter (billed annually).
What is the cheapest way to use Kajabi?
Kickstarter at $69/month billed annually is technically the cheapest, but its limits (50 active customers, 1 product, no automations) make it impractical for most creators past a first launch. Basic at $119/month annually is the real minimum for an operating business.
Does Kajabi charge transaction fees?
Kajabi charges 0% platform transaction fees on all plans. However, your payment processor (Stripe or PayPal) still takes its standard cut, which is roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per US card charge. That processor fee is unavoidable on any platform.
How much does Kajabi actually cost per year?
Basic runs $1,428/year annually or $1,788 monthly. Growth is $1,908 annual or $2,388 monthly. Pro is $3,828 annual or $4,788 monthly. Add roughly $305/month in processor fees per $10K in revenue, plus a custom domain at $10 to $20/year.
Is Kajabi worth it compared to Teachable or Podia?
Kajabi is worth the premium if you need its mature email marketing and funnel builder and are doing $20K+ per month. For smaller creators, Teachable Basic at $39/month or an all-in-one alternative at $31 to $63/month delivers the same core course and community jobs at a fraction of the cost.
FAQ
Does Kajabi have a free plan?
No. Kajabi offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, but there is no permanent free tier. After the trial, you must select one of the four paid plans starting at $69/month for Kickstarter billed annually.
What is the cheapest way to use Kajabi?
Kickstarter at $69/month billed annually is technically the cheapest, but its limits of 50 active customers, 1 product, and no automations make it impractical for most creators past a first launch. Basic at $119/month annually is the real minimum for an operating business.
Does Kajabi charge transaction fees?
Kajabi charges 0% platform transaction fees on all plans. However, your payment processor Stripe or PayPal still takes its standard cut, which is roughly 2.9% plus $0.30 per US card charge. That processor fee is unavoidable on any platform.
How much does Kajabi actually cost per year?
Basic runs $1,428 annually or $1,788 monthly. Growth is $1,908 annual or $2,388 monthly. Pro is $3,828 annual or $4,788 monthly. Add roughly $305 per month in processor fees per $10K in revenue, plus a custom domain at $10 to $20 per year.
Is Kajabi worth it compared to Teachable or Podia?
Kajabi is worth the premium if you need its mature email marketing and funnel builder and are doing $20K or more per month. For smaller creators, Teachable Basic at $39/month or an all-in-one alternative at $31 to $63/month delivers the same core course and community jobs at a fraction of the cost.