Kajabi vs Thinkific 2024: The Best Online Course Platform for Solopreneurs

Reading Time: 20 minutes

You already know that Kajabi and Thinkific are both popular online course platforms that offer almost all the tools you will need for course creation. However, they have significant differences.

Thinkific is perfect for beginners looking for an all-in-one online course platform to create a professional course website.

Unlike Thinkific which has limited marketing capabilities, Kajabi caters to those who need rich marketing features to promote their online school or training site.

But which one is the best online course platform for lifestyle entrepreneurs and solopreneurs to create and sell a six figure online course?

Let’s find out in this Kajabi vs Thinkific review.

Thinkific vs Kajabi TL;DR

Pros of Kajabi

• Offers a 14-day trial but no free plan.
• Does not charge transaction fees.
• Offers advanced email marketing tools and multiple automation features.
• Offers a landing page builder to create landing pages, course pages, and sales pages.
• Offers a drag-and-drop website builder with excellent customizable themes to build powerful membership sites.
• Allows unlimited video hosting.
• Allows content dripping locking features.
• Allows adding a custom domain across all pricing plans.
• Provides SSL and secure cloud hosting.
• Offers a marketplace similar to Udemy and Skillshare.
• Offers mobile apps for both iOS and Android users.

Pros of Thinkific

• Offers a forever-free plan.
• Does not charge transaction fees.
• Offers advanced marketing options with pixel retargeting, but lacks powerful email marketing tools like Kajabi.
• Offers more advanced reporting and analytics features than Kajabi.
• Offers more advanced quizzing and assignment modules compared to Kajabi.
• Provides native Accredible integration for course completion certificates.
• Similar to Kajabi, it offers content dripping and content locking features.
• Provides excellent membership features.
• Offers an app store that allows installing third-party software on Thinkific sites.
• Provides SSL and secure cloud hosting like Kajabi.
• It also offers unlimited video hosting.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Detailed Comparison

Kajabi vs Thinkific comparison breakdown by features:

• Ease of use
• Themes & templates
• Course builder experience
• Quizzes and assignments
• Course player
• Content drip
• Course completion certificates
• Community features
• Student experience
• Membership creation
• Sales and marketing tools
• Payment management
• Reporting & analytics
• Customer support
• Pricing

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Ease of use

It is vital for online course creators to select an online course platform that is easy to use. If the platform is complicated, managing the online business will become difficult.

Both Kajabi and Thinkific have low learning curves but who wins? Let’s find out.

Kajabi

Kajabi has a slightly steeper learning curve than Thinkific because it has more features.

All features are arranged into distinct categories on the left navigation panel, but the menus are deeply nested.

It offers a beautiful drag-and-drop feature that makes course creation, membership site building, and building sales pages and landing pages easy.

Kajabi integrates all areas of online course creation and delivery, including course builder, blogging, sales tools, and email marketing tools.

It is one of the few SaaS platforms that offer an all-in-one online platform with an excellent set of core features that eliminates the need for third-party integrations.

Although Kajabi takes a bit more of your time and effort to get used to it, it quickly makes it up with the smart organization, well-connected tools, and the Kajabi Assistant.

Thinkific

Thinkific is simple to set up and gives you complete control over your content and audience information. Like Kajabi, all features of Thinkific are arranged into distinct categories on the left navigation panel.

Thinkific too offers a drag-and-drop builder that you can use for building membership sites, landing pages, and sales pages. No coding skills are required!

Like other online course platforms, Thinkific also offers marketing tools that you can easily access from the left navigation panel.

In fact, Thinkific’s UI is less complex than Kajabi, making it a perfect option for people new to online course platforms.

Winner: Thinkific has simpler navigation and an easier learning curve.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Themes & Templates

Pre-designed templates allow for a faster course-building experience. They also make it easy to design and build landing pages, membership sites, etc., especially for those without coding knowledge.

Kajabi

Kajabi once offered 12 different themes, however these are now in the ‘Legacy Themes’ archive except the Premier Theme.

You can still use the legacy themes to build membership sites, but you need to be aware that they no longer receive updates.

The Premier Theme is their main theme, with multiple design presets that you can use out of the box to create your membership site.

The templates are editable, which will allow you to design a website that matches your brand. If you know how to code, you can edit the theme(s).

Additionally, Kajabi has a drag-and-drop builder perfect for building different web pages such as landing pages, sales pages, and thank you pages without coding knowledge.

In fact, Kajabi offers different pre-built page sections that you can drag and drop anywhere on the page you are designing.

Editing page elements is also simple with flexible customization options. It even allows you to control which elements will show on desktop and mobile devices.

You can even create two, three, or four-column layouts depending on your business needs. The best part is that you can combine the page builder with the website theme of your choice.

If you need a separate blog, Kajabi offers a decent blogging capability with various features like a text editor, tag-based blog post organization, customizable sidebar, opt-in form, SEO settings, and more.

Thinkific

Thinkific offers three pre-made themes that you can use to build your membership sites. Each of these themes comes with multiple preset designs. Plus, you can also edit the themes if you have the necessary coding skills.

You also get a drag-and-drop page builder with Thinkific that you can use to build landing pages, pricing pages, sales pages, etc. Like Kajabi, you can use the page builder together with the website theme.

But unlike Kajabi, Thinkific will not allow extreme customization of the page elements. You can’t even create different layouts by selecting the number of columns you want.

Finally, Thinkific doesn’t have any blogging capabilities. Blog posts are often useful for content marketing and link building.

If you need a blog for your online course membership site, you must use other platforms like Squarespace or WordPress.

Winner: Kajabi stands out with excellent customization ability and decent blogging features for membership sites.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Course builder experience

Both Kajabi and Thinkific offer powerful course creation features that you can use to set up a professional online school. But which is better?

Kajabi

Unlike Thinkific, Kajabi’s builder is a tad more complex, but with a little tweaking and experimenting with the templates in the theme store, you can build your website complete with 404, biography, sales, and thank you pages.

Because of too many features, the drag-and-drop builder may feel overwhelming to beginners, but it offers excellent customization options.

You can change practically everything in the main window and watch them applied in real-time.

If you don’t need all the features, you can stick with the templates and only edit the text and replace the images.

Kajabi offers product blueprints (predesigned templates) that you can use to design your course. They have a blank blueprint that you can use to start building your course from scratch.

With Kajabi’s drag-and-drop course builder you can add posts (lessons) and modules (categories) to your product (online course).

You can also add subcategories for better organization of your courses. Of course, you need to provide the course content!

You can add a variety of content including video, audio, text, PDF, downloads, and more.

You can even upload files from online storage solutions like Google Drive and Dropbox, or upload directly from your computer.

Thinkific

Course creation with Thinkific is easy, too! This platform also offers ready-to-use templates that you can use to build online courses quickly. But if you want, you can use the blank canvas and start from scratch.

Thinkific will allow you to create lessons and categories, but unlike Kajabi, you cannot add subcategories.

However, adding lessons and modules is easy because of the drag-and-drop feature and you can even rearrange everything as needed.

Uploading course content is simple. Bulk upload is available and there is a video library where you can upload and store all videos and use them for different courses and lessons.

Importing from cloud storage is not possible except for videos, but the bulk upload option will be missing.

One of the core features that you may like is the ability to create private and hidden courses. You can understand the use-case scenarios for the private and hidden courses from this support article.

Winner: The Kajabi course builder is more powerful than Thinkific.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Quizzes and Assignments

Any online course business must have a student engagement and evaluation mechanism. Quizzes and assignments are best for this purpose.

Kajabi

Kajabi offers the ‘Assessments’ feature which will allow you to create quizzes, surveys, and assignments.

When you create an assessment, Kajabi will allow you to create multiple-choice questions, paragraph-style questions, and add illustrations, images, etc.

There is a file-upload question type, too, that will require a student to upload completed assignments.

Kajabi can also perform automatic grading if you add a passing score.

You can even create marketing quizzes using Kajabi Assessments that you can use for visitor segmentation, lead generation, etc.

Thinkific

With the Thinkific online course platform, you will find separate elements for surveys, assignments, and quizzes.

The quizzing feature of Thinkific is extremely powerful with advanced features like question import, explanation addition, a randomized question bank, etc. Kajabi lacks those advanced features.

Also, Thinkific natively integrates with Brillium, which will allow you to create an exam-like environment within your online courses.

The assignment element will work only when you use the assignment lesson type to create online courses.

You can reject assignment submissions if you are not satisfied with the result, thereby forcing a student to resubmit the assignment.

Since Kajabi lacks this feature, you cannot stop a student’s progress even when he fails to complete the assignment.

Winner: Thinkific is my favorite here, as it has more advanced quizzing and assignment features.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Course Player (Content Delivery)

When you sell online courses, you must ensure your course player is distraction-free and offers easy navigation.

Kajabi

Kajabi offers 10+ course player themes, which will allow you to select one that best represents your brand.

So, if you have an online coaching program, an online course, or even a membership site, you will find a theme that meets your content delivery needs.

If you need a modern and professional design for the course player, you can opt for the Premier Theme, but if you need a more traditional design with left-sidebar navigation, there is a theme called Momentum that will do the trick.

The best part; you can customize the player themes without any coding!

Thinkific

Thinkific offers a single course player theme, which is more suited to stand-alone online courses rather than coaching programs or a membership site.

Customization options are very limited, only being able to change the font and colors, and add your logo.

Winner: Kajabi is the better option here because you can improve the user experience by improving your content delivery.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Content Drip

One of the key features of both Kajabi and Thinkific is that they allow the content drip facility, but they work differently.

Kajabi

Kajabi will not only allow you to sell online courses but also allow content dripping either by the start date of the course or based on student enrolment.

With Kajabi you can send automated drip emails that you can use for new course module announcements.

Kajabi will allow you to mark a certain lesson as a prerequisite for accessing the next module, which is locked. However, students can always access all other modules as per your settings.

If the lesson marked as a prerequisite has an assessment, the student must score the passing marks before accessing the locked module.

Thinkific

Thinkific also allows content dripping, however, the only difference with Kajabi is that this online course platform cannot send automated drip emails.

Students can only see a popup notification within the content player when they try to access content that is yet to be released.

You can also lock your online courses with Thinkific by marking certain lessons as a prerequisite but unlike Kajabi all subsequent modules will get locked.

Winner: Kajabi has a more advanced automated drip email feature.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Course Completion Certificates

Course completion certificates are a great way to motivate and reward students. They also act as proof of course completion.

Kajabi

Kajabi does not offer course completion certificates natively. You can always use Google slides or Accredible, but you must pay separately for using Accredible.

Also, you’ll need to integrate Zapier with Kajabi to automate the process of certificate issuance.

Thinkific

Thinkific also doesn’t have its own solution, but it offers native Accredible integration for issuing certificates.

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When a student completes an online course, the option to download the completion certificate in PDF will appear.

Unfortunately, this feature is available only for the Pro and the Premier plans.

Winner: Thinkific wins because it offers native integration of Accredible.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Community Features

Every online course platform must have community features for peer-to-peer and peer-to-teacher discussions and both platforms offer this feature.

Kajabi

Kajabi offers two options – commenting and forum.

You can enable a comments segment right underneath the course player and allow students to discuss lessons and ask questions.

This feature is perfect for any evergreen online course.

However, Kajabi also has a separate ‘Community’ feature. It is a forum that students can access from their dashboard and participate in existing threads or open new threads.

It is a great alternative to Facebook groups and offers complete control within your course website.

Thinkific

There is a community feature similar to Kajabi, but it is in its early stages and lacks the ability to organize discussions by creating topics.

It also allows enabling in-lesson discussions but it is not very user-friendly.

Students must enable discussions in the course player by clicking a button and only then can they leave a comment.

Winner: Kajabi stands out because of the robust community and commenting features.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Student experience

Great course content cannot retain customers if the online course platform fails to deliver a great student experience. Both Kajabi and Thinkific do a great job, but which is better?

Kajabi

Kajabi allows adding a variety of content formats including videos, audios, multimedia, text, downloads, etc. On top of that, you can use editable Kajabi themes to customize your courses to improve the learning experience.

In addition, Kajabi has something called a ‘magic link’ that will allow your students to access courses without inputting a password.

The course platform can save a student’s progress and allow them to access it from where they left the course earlier.

Once a student purchases a course, they will see the neatly arranged curriculum page.

Once a course starts, the course progression modules show up on the left, giving a clear view of what’s next. However, you can change the layout of the course player by selecting a different course player theme.

Thinkific

Thinkific also offers a very similar experience with the ability to add various content formats such as videos, audio, text, PDFs, quizzes, live streams, images, and more.

Like Kajabi, the course progression shows on the left. There is a lesson-wide breakdown that a student can expand or collapse as required.

This means, the content stays in focus, giving students a distraction-free experience.

Winner: Both platforms offer an excellent student experience.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Membership Creation

You can sell your online course content as a stand alone program, or you can collate your lessons into a membership site and sell subscription plans and course bundles to generate a steady revenue stream.

Both Kajabi and Thinkific have membership options. Let’s learn more.

Kajabi

The Kajabi online course platform will allow you to build a complete membership site or a simple membership page using predesigned templates.

Membership templates are available under Products (and then New Products). The templates offer different tiers of membership, and you can even offer discounts at different levels or run special offers.

Various options you can use include one-click upsells, trial payment plans, one-time plans, recurring subscriptions, and much more. You can even add several membership levels such as Bronze, Silver, Gold, or anything you wish.

Thinkific

Thinkific, too, allows creating subscriptions or membership tiers as per your strategy. You can even bundle your online courses and sell them as packages.

The course bundling option is available under the ‘Manage Learning Content’ menu option.

The various membership options you can use include freemium, one-time plans, monthly payments for a course bundle, annual or monthly subscription plans, custom pricing, etc.

However, to access the membership features, you must use the Thinkific Pro or Premier plan.

Winner: Both platforms offer equally powerful membership features.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Sales and Marketing tools

Course creation isn’t everything. You must market your course website to attract buyers and generate a revenue stream. Both online course platforms offer excellent sales platforms and marketing tools.

Kajabi

Kajabi’s true power comes from its marketing tools that can’t be matched by many other course platforms.

With Kajabi, you can build sales funnels, email campaigns, events, automation, and forms that can help you effectively market your online course business.

There are ready-to-use templates for activities like lead generation, webinar launch, product launch, etc. Every pipeline blueprint (template) is designed to direct your audience and students on the right path.

The best part is the powerful email marketing suite that comes complete with premade templates for everything like product showcases and event announcements.

You can use its email marketing features for automated email sequences or one-time broadcast emails.

Kajabi will also allow the personalization of email campaigns and you can add elements like videos, audios, countdown timers, and more. It also offers a one-click upselling feature.

Kajabi also comes with an integrated CRM platform that you can use for triggering coupons, special offers, product access, and emails. Of course, you must define the automation rules.

Thinkific

Thinkific’s sales and marketing features are not as robust as Kajabi’s but you can offer free trials, sell subscriptions and memberships, and run promos.

One great feature is the ability to embed a customizable sales widget on other blogs and sites to maximize your sales from other channels.

Unfortunately, email marketing is almost non-existent and you will need to use (or integrate) a third-party email marketing software such as Convertkit or Mailchimp.

However, Thinkific will allow you to send basic broadcast emails, but there is no support for autoresponders.

You will also receive pixel retargeting support, javascript tracking, product bundling, upselling features, etc., but none of them can truly compete with Kajabi’s marketing features.

Interestingly, there are 1,000+ third-party integrations available, but you must pay for them separately.

Winner: With powerful email marketing tools and other marketing features such as automation, sales funnel builder, and CRM, Kajabi is the stand out platform here.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Payment management

Having a variety of payment options is necessary for any platform, and both offer multiple channels.

Kajabi

Students can pay using a debit card or credit card via Stripe. The PayPal option is also available. However, recurring payments are available only for Stripe users. It supports foreign sales in which students abroad can pay for the same course in different currencies.

Thinkific

Here too, debit and credit card payments are possible through Stripe.

Direct PayPal payment is also available.

But like Kajabi, recurring payments can be made only with cards. Thinkific, too, supports multiple currencies for international students.

Winner: Both platforms offer adequate payment options.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Reporting & Analytics

The best online course platforms must offer thorough reporting and analytics features so that you can make informed decisions to grow your online course business.

Kajabi

Kajabi will display data from various touchpoints and help you track and measure metrics such as opt-ins, offers sold, net revenue, subscription rates, page views, etc.

You can even monitor student progress and subscription churn rate, and identify areas that require improvements. You can also integrate Kajabi with Google Analytics to monitor traffic and conversion rates.

Thinkific

Thinkific also offers advanced reporting for measuring and tracking metrics like orders, revenue, enrolment, student engagement, and more.

You can filter data using parameters like payment provider, time, product type, affiliate source, name, and more.

You can also get student progress reports and use the CSV export feature. Additionally, Thinkific can integrate with Google Analytics, Google Ads (previously Adwords), and Facebook for additional analytics data, retargeting campaigns, ad tracking, etc.

Thinkific also has cohort and group reporting features.

Winner: Thinkific has more advanced reporting features.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Customer support

Best online course platforms must offer stellar customer support to ensure that your online business runs without hiccups. So, who offers better customer support?

Kajabi

Kajabi’s customer support is exceptionally good. They have 24×7 chat help to ensure that you have immediate access to help irrespective of whether it is a weekend or you are in a different time zone.

You can also access their FAQ section with an integrated search that answers common questions.

They also provide email support along with onboarding calls across all pricing plans. The platform also offers Kajabi University for all plans where you can access courses and training material covering all aspects of the platform.

Kajabi occasionally broadcasts helpful live events and webinars, too.

Thinkific

Thinkific also offers exceptional support, but it has some flaws.

You can access their support team by live chat, email, and phone but that is limited from Monday to Friday between 6 AM and 5 PM PST.

So, if you are in a different time zone or if it is a weekend, finding help will be difficult. Live chat is available only to paid members

However, you do have video tutorials and exceptionally well-written support articles that can provide step-by-step guidance.

They also have Thinkific Academy (similar to Kajabi University) which is available only to paid members.

Winner: Kajabi wins because of their 24×7 live chat support that provides immediate help.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Pricing

For any course creator, the pricing of the course platform is an important factor to consider. Both Thinkific and Kajabi offer different pricing tiers, but which is more cost effective?

Kajabi Pricing

Kajabi is one of the most expensive platforms in the online course industry. There is no free plan available. They have three pricing tiers which are:

Basic Plan: $149 a month

• 3 products and 3 pipelines
• 10,000 contacts
• 1 website
• No affiliate program
• Webinars & Events
• Limited automation

Growth Plan: $199 a month

• 15 products and 15 pipelines
• 25,000 contacts
• 1 website
• Affiliate program
• Webinars & Events
• Advanced automation

Pro Plan: $399 a month

• 100 products and 100 pipelines
• 100,000 contacts
• 3 websites
• Affiliate program
• Webinars & Events
• Advanced automation

You do not get unlimited courses or unlimited students with Kajabi. That can be quite stifling. But it makes up for that with exceptionally powerful email marketing tools that are second to none in its class.

Thinkific Pricing

Thinkific is a far cheaper online course platform. Not only does it offer a free plan, but its ‘basic’ plan costs $100 less than Kajabi’s basic plan.

Interestingly, it also allows unlimited students across all plans, including the free plan. Here is a glimpse of Thinkific pricing tiers:

Free Plan: $0 (forever free)

• Limited courses
• Drag-and-drop course builder
• Full e-commerce functionalities
• Website templates
• Email and phone support
• No transaction fees

Basic Plan: $49 a month

• Unlimited courses and students
• Drag-and-drop course builder
• Full e-commerce functionalities
• Website templates
• Email and phone support
• No transaction fees
• Custom domain
• Drip content
• Live chat support
• Thinkific Academy basic courses

Pro Plan: $99 a month

• Unlimited courses and students
• Drag-and-drop course builder
• Full e-commerce functionalities
• Website templates
• Email and phone support
• Private & hidden courses
• Completion certificates
• No transaction fees
• Custom domain
• Drip content
• Live chat support
• Thinkific Academy pro courses

Premier Plan: $499 a month

• Unlimited courses and students
• Drag-and-drop course builder
• Full e-commerce functionalities
• Website templates
• Email and phone support
• Private & hidden courses
• Completion certificates
• No transaction fees
• Custom domain
• Drip content
• Live chat support
• Thinkific Academy pro courses
• White labeling
• Brillium integration
• API access

Thinkific also offers a Growth package that you can purchase with the Pro plan. This Growth package or add-on, unlocks some of the advanced features available in the Premier plan. If you pay yearly, you can enjoy a 20% discount for all tiers.

Winner: Thinkific is far more affordable than Kajabi

Kajabi vs Thinkific: Summary

Kajabi and Thinkific are both great platforms, but as a course creator, you likely have unique needs.

For instance, if you want to focus more on email marketing and automation, Kajabi is undisputed and you also get all the tools necessary for building professional courses and a membership site with your own affiliate program. But all these marketing features come with a high price tag.

The Thinkific online course builder is geared more towards those who want to focus on course creation and student experience and also want unlimited students and courses. The lack of powerful marketing features can be compensated by integrating third-party tools.

If you don’t have budgetary constraints, Kajabi’s all-in-one platform is a great choice. But if you want something cheaper with all the necessary core features for course creation, Thinkific will be a better choice for your online business.

Kajabi vs Thinkific: FAQ

What criteria should I look at when choosing an online course platform?

It depends on your needs. However, you should consider ease of use, course creation & content delivery options, marketing features, reporting & analytics, and customer support. These are the key features that will make or break your online course website business.

Is Thinkific’s free plan just temporary?

No, it is a forever-free plan. Though you can use it to run your online learning school, you cannot scale because many of the core features are missing. Important features like coupons & promotions, drip content, bundles & memberships are not present. The absence of such sales tools may stifle your business growth.

Do Kajabi and Thinkific offer a money-back guarantee?

Both Thinkific and Kajabi offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you want a refund, you must ask for it within 30 days from the date of purchase.

What is the difference between Kajabi and Thinkific?

The main differences between Kajabi and Thinkific lie in their features and focus. While both are considered among the best online course platforms, Kajabi is known for its robust marketing tools, making it a comprehensive choice for online business and course creation. On the other hand, Thinkific excels in simplicity and ease of use, making it an ideal option for those focusing primarily on course creation and monetization. For a detailed breakdown, refer to our comprehensive Kajabi vs Thinkific comparison.

Is Kajabi only for courses?

No, Kajabi is not limited to courses only. It offers a holistic platform for online businesses, providing tools for course creation, digital product sales, content creation, and marketing. It goes beyond being just a course builder; Kajabi is a versatile solution for entrepreneurs looking to monetize courses, sell digital products, and establish a robust online presence for their solo business.

What is the difference between Kajabi and Teachable?

While both Kajabi and Teachable are powerful course builders, they cater to different business options. Kajabi is known for its all-in-one platform, encompassing course creation tools, marketing features, and business options beyond courses. On the other hand, Teachable focuses primarily on online course hosting and monetization. For a detailed comparison, explore our in-depth Kajabi vs Teachable analysis.

What is Kajabi known for?

Kajabi is renowned for being one of the best online course platforms, offering a comprehensive suite of features for course creation, monetization, and online business. Its strengths lie in advanced course builders, robust marketing tools, and versatile options for digital products. Kajabi is an excellent choice for solo entrepreneurs looking to monetize courses, create digital products, and establish a successful e-learning venture. Check out our Kajabi features guide for more insights.