Both host and sell courses. The difference is scope: Teachable is a course platform, Kajabi is a business platform that includes courses.
That framing decides it. Kajabi replaces your website, email tool, landing page builder and course platform. Teachable does courses and expects you to bring the rest. Whether Kajabi is expensive depends entirely on how many of those you currently pay for separately.
The Only Calculation That Matters
Do this before comparing anything else.
List what you currently pay for, monthly:
- Email marketing platform
- Website hosting and builder
- Landing page tool
- Course platform
- Membership or community tool
- Funnel or checkout tool
Total it. If that number is close to or above Kajabi’s plan price, Kajabi is not expensive — it is consolidation, and you also remove the integration work between all of those.
If you pay for almost none of them, Kajabi is expensive and Teachable is the sensible choice.
People argue about Kajabi’s price constantly without doing this arithmetic, and it settles the question in five minutes.
Where Kajabi Wins
It replaces your stack
Website, blog, landing pages, email marketing with automation, sales pipelines, checkout, courses, memberships, coaching and a community feature — one login, one bill, nothing to integrate.
For a creator running a business on courses, this is genuinely simpler than assembling five tools.
Marketing automation is built in
Real email sequences triggered by behaviour, pipelines that combine landing pages, emails and offers. Teachable’s email capability is far lighter and most Teachable users run a separate platform.
Sales pipelines
Pre-built funnel templates covering the whole flow from opt-in to offer to follow-up. Whether you like that style of marketing or not, it is capability Teachable does not have.
Community and coaching
Native community and one-to-one coaching products, so a membership business runs in the same place as the courses.
Where Teachable Wins
Price at the entry point
Substantially cheaper to start, with a free or low-cost tier that lets you build and launch before committing.
Simplicity
It does courses. If that is what you need, there is less to configure and less to ignore.
Tax handling
Teachable has historically acted as merchant of record on some plans, handling sales tax and VAT on digital course sales for you.
This matters more than it sounds. Digital course sales into the EU and UK attract VAT based on the customer’s location, frequently with no minimum threshold. Handling that yourself across many jurisdictions is genuinely unpleasant. Verify current terms, as this arrangement has changed over time and differs by plan.
Lower risk to test an idea
If you do not yet know whether your course will sell, spending less to find out is sensible.
Head to Head
| Kajabi | Teachable | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Full business platform | Course platform |
| Course building | Good | Good |
| Email marketing | Built in, capable | Basic |
| Website and blog | Included | Limited |
| Landing pages / funnels | Strong | Basic |
| Community | Native | Limited |
| Coaching products | Yes | Limited |
| Merchant of record | No | On some plans |
| Entry price | Higher | Lower |
| Transaction fees | Generally none | On lower tiers |
| Best fit | Established creators | First course, testing |
Both change pricing and plan structures regularly, and both have adjusted transaction fee and tax handling terms. Verify current pricing, fees and merchant-of-record status directly before deciding.
The VAT Question
Worth its own section because it catches people out and has real financial consequences.
If you sell a digital course to someone in the EU or UK, VAT is generally due based on where they are, often from the first sale with no threshold. The same applies to sales tax in some US states, and to GST in Australia and elsewhere.
If your platform acts as merchant of record, it is the seller of record and handles that obligation. If it is only a payment processor, the obligation is yours — meaning registration, collection and filing across jurisdictions.
This can be the single largest practical difference between two course platforms, and it appears in almost no comparison. Confirm which model each platform uses on the plan you are considering, and take advice for your situation.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Kajabi if: you already pay for several separate tools, courses are your main business rather than a side product, you want funnels and email automation without integration work, or you run memberships and coaching alongside courses.
Choose Teachable if: this is your first course, you want to test demand before committing, you already have an email platform and website you like, or you want the platform to handle sales tax and VAT for you.
Consider neither if: you have no audience. Neither platform brings students. If nobody knows you exist, the platform is not your problem — see our course platform guide for the marketplace option.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Comparing prices without totalling your current stack. Kajabi is consolidation or duplication depending entirely on this.
- Buying Kajabi and keeping your old tools. The maths only works if you cancel what it replaces.
- Ignoring merchant-of-record status. This determines whether international VAT is your problem.
- Building the whole course before testing demand. Sell the outline or run it live once first.
- Assuming a platform brings students. Neither does. That is what marketplaces are for.
- Overlooking transaction fees on lower tiers. They apply on top of payment processing.
- Not checking export. Confirm you can get your student list and content out before you depend on either.
- Forgetting student support. Every course generates questions. Decide who answers them before launch.
FAQs
Is Kajabi worth the price?
If it replaces your email platform, website, landing page tool and course platform, the combined cost is often comparable and you remove integration work. If you pay for none of those, it is expensive for what you would use.
Which is better for beginners?
Teachable — lower entry cost, less to configure, and merchant-of-record handling on some plans removes a tax headache you may not have anticipated.
Does Kajabi handle sales tax?
Kajabi has generally not acted as merchant of record, meaning international VAT and sales tax obligations sit with you. Teachable has offered this on some plans. Verify current terms for both, as arrangements change.
Can I move my course from Teachable to Kajabi?
Content and student lists can be exported and imported with effort. Sales history, email sequences and page designs do not transfer. Plan a rebuild rather than a migration.
Do either bring me students?
No. Both are platforms, not marketplaces. You bring the audience. If you have none, a marketplace like Udemy will reach people, at the cost of owning the relationship.
Are there cheaper alternatives?
Thinkific and Podia both cover courses at lower cost, and Podia bundles digital products and memberships. Systeme.io is cheaper again if budget is the constraint.
Key Takeaways
- Total your current tool spend first — that single calculation settles the price argument.
- Kajabi is consolidation only if you actually cancel what it replaces.
- Check merchant-of-record status; it determines whether international VAT is your obligation.
- Teachable is the lower-risk way to test whether a course sells at all.
- Neither brings you students. That is a separate problem.
Making the Call
Add up what you pay monthly for email, website, landing pages and course hosting. If the total approaches Kajabi’s price, consolidate. If it does not, start on Teachable and revisit when your revenue justifies the move.
For the wider field, see our guide to the best course platforms for small businesses, which covers marketplaces and the audience question in more depth.