Kajabi’s Fee Stack: The Surcharges That Sit Under ‘0% Transaction Fees’

Kajabi’s “0% transaction fees” headline is real, but it only covers the base case: a US buyer paying in full with a US card through Kajabi Payments. Switch to installments, sell overseas, or bring your own Stripe account and Kajabi layers a 1-3.5% surcharge on top of standard processor fees. On a $2,000 program sold in four installments to an EU buyer, those surcharges add roughly $102 to the platform’s take before Stripe even bills you.

What “0% transaction fees” covers on Kajabi, and what it does not

Kajabi’s pricing page, as of August 2026, promotes “0% transaction fees” across all plans starting at $149/month for the Kickstarter tier. That claim is accurate in a narrow sense: Kajabi itself does not take a cut of the sale price on top of your subscription. Compared to Gumroad’s 10% + $0.50 or Podia’s legacy fee tiers, that is a genuine advantage.

What the headline does not cover is the surcharge layer that sits between “0% platform fee” and “what actually hits your bank.” There are three of them, and Kajabi’s own help documentation confirms each one. They only trigger under specific conditions, but those conditions describe most real creator businesses: installment plans, international buyers, and creators who want to use their existing Stripe account instead of Kajabi Payments.

Separating the two layers matters. Platform fee is what the software company charges to run the store. Processor fee is what Stripe or PayPal charges to move money. Kajabi’s headline addresses only the first. The surcharges below are additions to the second, which means they compound with whatever Stripe already charges.

The three surcharges: payment plans, international cards, own processor

Here is what the Kajabi Payments help documentation, verified August 2026, actually specifies. These are additions on top of Stripe’s standard US rate of roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

Surcharge 1: Payment plans (installments)

When a customer buys a course or coaching program in installments rather than a single payment, Kajabi Payments adds a 1% fee per installment charge on top of processor costs. This applies whether you split a $2,000 offer into four monthly payments or a $497 course into three. Every charge in the plan carries the extra percent.

Surcharge 2: International cards

When a card is issued outside the United States, Kajabi Payments adds a 1.5% international card fee. This is separate from the standard Stripe international card surcharge (an additional 1.5% for non-US cards, plus 1% for currency conversion when applicable). The Kajabi fee stacks on top, not in place of it.

Surcharge 3: Bring your own Stripe or PayPal

Creators on Kajabi’s Growth and Pro plans can connect their own Stripe or PayPal account instead of using Kajabi Payments. Doing so triggers a 3.5% Kajabi platform fee on every sale. This is the surcharge that most contradicts the “0% transaction fees” headline, because it applies to base sales that would otherwise trigger no additional fee at all. The Kickstarter plan does not permit external processors, so this surcharge only kicks in for creators who explicitly opted into a higher-tier plan to gain that flexibility.

None of these fees are hidden. All three are documented. But they sit two clicks away from the pricing page headline, and most creators pricing their first program have never seen the math worked out end-to-end.

A $2,000 program sold in four installments to an overseas buyer

Take a realistic scenario. You sell a coaching program for $2,000, split into four monthly installments of $500. Your customer is based in Germany and pays with a German-issued Visa. You are on Kajabi’s Growth plan using Kajabi Payments (the default). Here is what happens per installment:

• Base charge: $500.00
• Stripe US processing: 2.9% + $0.30 = $14.80
• Stripe international card surcharge (non-US card): 1.5% = $7.50
• Stripe currency conversion: 1% = $5.00
• Kajabi payment plan fee: 1% = $5.00
• Kajabi international card fee: 1.5% = $7.50
• Net to creator per installment: $460.20

Across four installments, the creator receives $1,840.80 on a $2,000 sale. Total deductions: $159.20, or 7.96%. Of that, roughly $57 is Kajabi’s surcharge stack (the 1% payment plan fee and the 1.5% international card fee, applied to each of the four installments). The remaining $102 is Stripe. Kajabi’s “0% transaction fees” is technically correct at the sale level. But on this specific sale, the platform still extracts about $57 through the surcharge layer.

Now change one variable. Assume the same creator is on Kajabi’s Growth plan using their own Stripe account, not Kajabi Payments. The 3.5% own-processor surcharge kicks in on the full sale. Across the four installments, that adds $70 in platform fees before Stripe touches anything. The math gets worse the more you customize.

The same sale on three other platforms

Here is the same $2,000 sale, four installments, German customer, run through three other platforms. All figures verified against each vendor’s public pricing as of August 2026.

Teachable’s Pro plan at $119/month eliminates transaction fees, matching Zanfia and beating Kajabi’s surcharge stack on this specific sale profile. Gumroad’s 10% cut is the worst pure-fee outcome, though its $0 monthly minimum makes it defensible for low-volume creators. Kajabi’s two rows illustrate the trap: choosing your own processor costs more than accepting Kajabi Payments, which is the opposite of what most creators assume.

Zanfia charges 0% platform commission and, as of August 2026, starts at $39/month, or $31/month billed annually, on Starter, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required. What sits behind that price is not just a cheaper storefront: Zanfia is positioned as an AI team that runs the creator business, with a checkout built to sell (order bumps, installments, upsells, and a test mode for buying your own product before launch) and 12 product types under one brand, so a $2,000 coaching program, a companion community, and a downloadable workbook all live on the same account. The creator dictates work to the assistant by chat or by voice instead of clicking through settings, and higher plans expose an MCP endpoint so outside AI agents can act on the workspace directly. Availability of the advanced AI stack and MCP depends on the plan, so check the current Zanfia pricing. Native email campaigns and broadcasts are rolling out to workspaces now, which will narrow the marketing-tool gap that has historically justified Kajabi’s price on the Growth and Pro tiers.

When Kajabi’s marketing stack still justifies the difference

The math above understates Kajabi’s real value proposition. Kajabi has spent years building an email marketing engine, funnel builder, and automation system that ships in the box. For a solo creator running a $10k/month coaching business who would otherwise pay for ConvertKit ($29/month), a landing page tool ($49/month), and a webinar platform ($99/month), Kajabi’s bundled cost is competitive. The surcharge stack matters less when the marketing tools inside are the ones you would have bought anyway.

The comparison sharpens when you actually price it out. A $10k/month creator on Kajabi Growth ($199/month) with the surcharge stack described above pays roughly $199 in subscription plus 2-3% in Kajabi-specific fees on installment or international sales. A creator on Zanfia Starter ($31/month billed annually) with 0% platform fees pays $31 plus whatever standalone marketing tools they choose, and can lean on the built-in AI assistant, dictated by voice, to handle a lot of the copy, page and automation work those separate tools would otherwise cover. If the leftover standalone tools cost less than $170/month, Zanfia comes out ahead on total cost, and the gap widens with sales volume.

Kajabi’s marketing stack still wins where you value one-invoice consolidation, mature automation workflows, and a support team that has seen your exact funnel a thousand times. It stops winning when you are willing to run a light stack of your own tools and want the surcharge layer gone.

What to do before your next launch

Before your next product launch, run the actual math on your last five sales. Note the payment plan structure, the buyer country, and the processor you used. Apply the surcharge rules above. Compare the take-home number to what a 0% platform (Teachable Pro, Zanfia, Podia at $89/month) would have netted you, factoring in the extra $70-150/month you might spend on separate email and page-builder tools.

If your business skews toward installments and international buyers, the Kajabi surcharge layer costs more than the headline suggests. If it skews toward US buyers paying in full, the surcharges are near zero and Kajabi’s headline is honest. The answer depends entirely on your sales mix, which is why comparing platforms on marketing pages alone will always mislead. Run your own numbers, dated to this month, and pick accordingly.

FAQ

Does Kajabi's 1% payment plan fee apply to every installment or only the first one?

Every installment. Kajabi Payments adds 1% to each charge in the plan, so splitting a $2,000 offer into four payments means the surcharge hits four times. The same rule applies whether it's a $497 course in three payments or a coaching program in twelve.

Do the Kajabi surcharges replace Stripe's international card fees or stack on top of them?

They stack. Stripe's standard 1.5% non-US card surcharge and 1% currency conversion still apply, and Kajabi's 1.5% international card fee is added on top. That is why the German-buyer example loses roughly 8% of the sale price rather than the 4-5% a US-only buyer would see.

Why does using my own Stripe account on Kajabi cost more than using Kajabi Payments?

Kajabi charges a 3.5% platform fee on every sale when you connect your own Stripe or PayPal account on the Growth or Pro plan. Kajabi Payments carries no equivalent base surcharge, so a creator who opts into external processing for flexibility ends up paying more per sale than the default setup. On the $2,000 four-installment example, that swap adds about $70 in platform fees before Stripe touches anything.

When does Kajabi's marketing stack actually justify the higher subscription and surcharge layer?

When you would otherwise be paying for a separate email tool, landing page builder, and webinar platform, Kajabi's bundle at $199/month on Growth is competitive against roughly $170+ in standalone tools. It stops making sense when you are willing to run a lighter stack of your own tools and want the surcharge layer removed. Compare your last five sales, apply the surcharge rules, and see which model actually nets more.

How can I tell whether Kajabi's surcharge layer is costing me meaningful money?

Run the math on your last five sales: note the payment plan structure, buyer country, and processor. Apply 1% per installment for payment plans, 1.5% for non-US cards, and 3.5% if you used your own Stripe on Growth or Pro. If your mix skews toward installments and international buyers, the surcharge stack is quietly taking 2-3% you didn't budget for; if it's mostly US buyers paying in full, Kajabi's 0% headline is close to honest.