Kajabi or Thinkific, which is better? Which platform can help me with course creation? Well, if you are getting confused about which course creation/online course platform is best suitable for you? Then, this Kajabi Vs. Thinkific review is for you.
In this article, I have tried to cover all the major key features that make Kajabi and Thinkific an excellent choice among online course creators. In addition to that, I have also tried to clear out which tool is best suitable for you.
Talking about online platforms that offer to create your own online course can help create a better brand value and make you stand alone in the online coaching ecosystem. These platforms offer everything related to your business needs, including websites, domain, payment, coaching, podcasts, courses and much more.
You might have come across different platforms like Udemy that work as a marketplace for online coaching and learning, but having your own website or presentation over another booming platform can turn out to be a game-changer in your coaching journey.
Bottom Line: Both Kajabi and Thinkific offer some features and integration when it comes to online coaching; both of these platforms have been a hot topic as they have made themselves in terms of an all in one platform for almost everything related to creating an online course, including course creation, payment integrations, mobile apps, emails and much more.
Kajabi Vs. Thinkific: An Honest Comparison
I guess you have already got an overview of what these platforms are made for. But it's time to take a deeper dive into what are the key features offered by them and what makes them different from each other. Later in this article, I'll try to cover most of the features in terms of interface, course creation, pricing plans with a couple of other aspects.
So buckle up, and let's start this journey of finding the best platform for you. But, before getting deeper into the features and everything, let's take a look at what these platforms deliver so that you can get a clear view of them.
What is Kajabi?
I guess you might have got an overview of what these platforms are made for, but if talking specifically about Kajabi, it can be considered as a single all-in-one platform for all your business needs. You can get along with several different software to get along with almost everything. Kajabi lets you explore different aspects in terms of creating, managing and growing your business.
Let's take a quick look at the services offered by Kajabi around the sections that I mentioned above (creating, managing and growing businesses).
Also read: Kajabi Review 🚀Top Features, Pricing, & More (Is Kajabi Reliable?)
Services Offered by Kajabi – What is Kajabi used for?
1. Create – Kajabi Review
Kajabi offers different services in terms of creation as you get to create:
Courses: This is one of the major service/key features that enable you to create and monetize your knowledge. Kajabi offers different course types depending upon your need; you can get along with different categories in terms of coaching experience such as minicourse, online course, coaching program, evergreen training, membership, community and even the start from scratch option.
Coachings: Coach the right audience group and get along with the right way of coaching using Kajabi as a platform to do so.
Podcasts: Well, podcasts have recently been a booming thing; you can get along with podcast creation using Kajabi.
Memberships: You can also use membership to be considered an excellent way of creating and maintaining a loyal audience group.
Communities: Communities can be a great way of making things pretty easy for members joining them; this can be a great way of building a community of like-minded people.
2. Manage – Kajabi Review
The services/features mentioned below are meant for having better management of business:
#1. Payment
Since you are working on a creation module, as I have mentioned above, having your payment method can be termed as one of the major factors in making things pretty simple for you as a provider, Kajabi offers multiple payment methods to be integrated into your creative journey. Kajabi offers PayPal and Stripe as the payment methods that can be used to receive the charges as per the service you offer (coaching, courses, membership, etc.).
#2. People
Kajabi also offers their in-house CRM system that can be used in order to develop and strengthen the relationship between you and your customers. In addition to this, Kajabi CRM software also gives you the freedom to trigger emails, coupons, product access and much more.
#3. Analytics
Kajabi offers better analytics and real-time report that can help understand what your sales are, and your customers are getting what they came for; this, as a result, can help optimize your products and get better ROI.
3. Grow – Kajabi Review
This can be considered as a significant aspect in terms of business growth:
Websites: Kajabi offers a website builder that can be used to create an engaging website for your audience group.
Emails: You can get along with sending emails to your customers with just a single click.
Mobile App: Well, you might know that having a mobile app can be an excellent way for your customer base while building a more substantial audience group. Kajabi offers a ready-made mobile app with no development costs involved.
Pipeline: Having excellent sales funnel software can be termed as one of the major factors in making better conversions. You be well-known with how the people are interacting over your website when used alongside analytics can be an excellent feature in making your business journey a smooth one.
Pages: Kajabi also offers a page builder that can be used to make landing pages normal website pages that can be integrated with your website, making everything roll across.
As I have already mentioned earlier, Kajabi is an all-in-one platform for your business and can be used for various aspects like coaching, membership, payment, websites, pages, pipeline, CRM and much more. Well, I guess you might have thought that Kajabi was focused on coaching and similar aspects, whereas Kajabi is much more than that.
Since we have already come across all the key features offered by Kajabi, now it's time to take a look at what Thinkific is and what features it has to offer.
What is Thinkific?
As you have already got an idea of what makes Kajabi an excellent choice as an all-in-one platform for your business operations in managing, creating and growing, Thinkific is a bit different and does not include an all-in-one aspect as I have mentioned above for Kajabi. In contrast, Thinkific works more focused on other aspects like coaching, courses, etc.
It can be said that Thinkific is more of a cloud-based learning management system, whereas Kajabi offers an all-in-one shop for most of the online business needs.
Since you now have an idea of what Thinkific is, let's have a deeper dive into the key features offered by Thinkific and understand how you can leverage these features offered in order to make your operation better.
Since you have already got an overview of what Thinkific is, let's take a glance around what are the key features that make Thinkific a great choice in terms of offering courses, portals and payment methods; basically, a platform that offers you to get along with creating courses, offer coaching, etc.
Templates Offered by Thinkific – Is Thinkific Better than Kajabi?
Unlike Kajabi, which offers some different templates for course creation, Thinkific offers 4 templates for course creation which are categorized into:
Mini-Course: This template is suitable for those who are looking to create a minicourse that can be used for generating leads for the flagship course.
Flagship Course: This template can be an excellent way of making a full-fledged online course while using a robust curriculum outline comprising all your experience and knowledge. Making a flagship course can be an excellent way of earning better revenue while getting all the knowledge that your audience might be interested in.
Pre-Sell: Well, this can be considered as an excellent way of making things a bit interesting for your audience; the pre-sell template enables you to create a landing page helpful in creating a waitlist, which can be an excellent way of creating interest in your courses.
The Blank template, just in case you want to build a course starting from scratch.
Kajabi Vs. Thinkific: Review
As you have already come across all the major services that were worth mentioning in terms of exploring both of these platforms, but they have got more than that, I guess for you things won't be cleared by an overview of what these tools are?
But you cannot differentiate these two excellent platforms just on the basis of a quick overview, well, they have got more to offer, and we'll be discussing these different parameters in the following sections, so that you can make a better decision of choosing which platform is suitable for you.
So let's get started!!
1. Membership Offered
Well, it is worth mentioning that the Kajabi offers multi-level membership for its users, which is categorized into 3 different levels of membership under bronze, silver and gold membership, whereas Thinkific offers a different module in terms of membership, which is quite a new feature and wasn't included in the past.
2. Quizzes
Thinkfic offers more than just using .xlxs which is offered by Kajabi. Quizzes can be a great way of assessing your students and can be an excellent way of improving around topics they lack; Thinkific offers quiz templates that can be considered as a better and easier way of making quizzes. I guess you can totally relate to the hassle of creating a quiz from scratch and, on the other hand, getting a template ready to make quizzes.
In addition to this, Thinkific also offers a feature that enables you to get along with an option, whether you want to give your students the idea of answering the right or wrong while getting along with quiz, this, as a result, can be an excellent way for improving them over the course you offered.
3. Course Completion & Certification
It's pretty evident that most of the students/users might be looking for completion certificates after completing a certain course. Well, this feature which is one of the most important aspects in terms of course completion, can be missing in Kajabi, whereas Thinkific offers an automated system for course completion certificates (integrated with Accredible).
You can access this feature on Kajabi using the API (Zapier), which can be later integrated with Accredible; the only downfall you might face is that you have to pay for both of these third-party integrations (Zap and Accredible). So basically, Thinkific offers better features in terms of course completion and certification.
4. Content Format
(Both of them offer multiple media formats)
Kajabi | Thinkific |
.zip (Zip archive) | Video (almost all the file types) |
.doc (Word Document) | Multimedia (multiple formats) |
.xlxs (Excel sheet) | Text |
.pptx (Presentation) | Images (different formats) |
.pdf (PDF file) | |
.rtf (Rich text format) | Audio |
.txt (text file) | Assignments |
.gif (GIF file) | Presentation |
.png (PNG image format) | Live Streams and discussion |
.jpeg and jpg (JPEG & JPG image format) | Quiz |
All audio file types | Surveys |
All Video file types | Other additional formats |
It's worth noting that Thinkific does not support SCORM files like Kajabi does but supports some other file formats like HTML5, Adobe Captivate, and Articulate story files (balanced content formats between both of them).
Well, let's compare some other additional features that are worth comparing between Kajabi and Thinkific.
Kajabi Vs. Thinkific: Promotional Features
Since you have made your course, what's next? Now comes the next thing on the list, which is having strong promotional and marketing campaigns/strategies that make your course standalone among others available in the market, so what about that? Both of these platforms offer excellent features in terms of marketing and building better marketing strategies.
If talking about the marketing features offered by Thinkific, it offers some basic features that can help you in:
Well, Kajabi has taken this to another level, as it offers some excellent features that lets you explore different aspects like marketing emails, sales pipeline, payment options and much more. It is pretty obvious that the features offered by Kajabi are better in terms of promotion and marketing.
All this is a result of Kajabi being an all-in-one business platform, so it's pretty obvious that the features offered will be more as it works along with an in-built CRM software with multiple integrations. As a result, you can explore different parameters like autoresponders for emails with excellent customer relationship management capabilities.
Kajabi Vs. Thinkific: Community
Having a strong community can be a great thing when it comes to having more than what is included in the course. Having a strong community with like-minded people can result in better opportunities in terms of courses.
Well, I have come across a number of communities that are offered by these course providers; I remember the time when I joined a course myself, and the community that they offered has been a turning point in my career; having these communities can be a great thing as it opens a new gateway to a number of opportunities in terms of networking and getting along with new opportunities.
It is worth mentioning that both Kajabi and Thinkific offer a number of key factors that are worth mentioning:
- Both of these platforms offer an automatic entry and removal of students who have enrolled for the course; this, as a result, can be an excellent way of lessening the burden of the admin accounts that have to look after these communities.
- You can even customize your community's appearance by exploring different color palettes and can give your community a unique look.
- Your students can have access to certain communities where they belong, so, therefore, no more hassling around different parameters to deliver the best for your students.
- You can even get along with a discussion with your students as an admin, which can be an excellent way of making a better relationship with them.
- Upload images, posts, videos, and much more in the community so that your students can have a better network among themselves; well, this, as a result, can be an excellent way of making these discussions easygoing.
For Thinkific, all you need to do is get along with:
Support your Students> Community > + New Community (Make new community)
Whereas for Kajabi, you need to get along with:
Product> New Product> +Community (Make new community)
Well, one of the major factors that make Kajabi a winner in terms of community management is its all-in-one platform; Kajabi offers a mobile app, which is a missing thing when it comes to Thinkific. Having a mobile app can be an excellent way of connecting with your students and making everything (community) available on the go.
Another major thing that needs to be mentioned is community access; Thinkific offers single community access in its Thinkific Pro plan (single community), whereas if someone goes for a Pro plus plan, a student gets access to unlimited communities.
In addition to that, if you are looking for a platform that offers more than just push notifications (emails), Kajabi can be a better option to get along with. Kajabi offers a mobile app (so push notification), whereas Thinkific is a bit limited in that aspect, so it only offers to push notification emails.
Kajabi Vs. Thinkific: Customization
As I have already mentioned, both of these platforms offer more than just simple designs and templates, as you can get along with multiple things and templates (minicourse, flagship course, designs, other templates and much more). In addition to all this, you can also get along with different parameters such as:
- You can easily access the drag and drop option, so there is no hassle in building your course station over these platforms.
- Offer free SSL and free domain, so no extra money to be spent on these things.
- You can also remove the brandings by Thinkific and Kajabi on these platforms; well, it's kind of basic when you get along with a pro plan, as most of the platforms offer this when a user opts-in for a premium/pro plan.
In addition to all this, you can also get along with different stuff like website designing and everything. Kajabi offers a simple edition of 12 simple easy to use website designs and templates. All you need to do on Kajabi is Website> Design > Manage themes > Upload theme.
So get the favorite theme you want and just upload that.
Whereas, Thinkific offers a 4-way step for designing your website. It involves:
Design your site> Site Builder> Theme settings
As a result, Kajabi offers more than just what it has to offer, as you can get along with simple website management with it; in addition to that, you can also work along with different themes over Kajabi, making it a better choice compared to Thinkific.
Kajabi Vs. Thinkific: Pricing Plans
Both of these online course platforms offer quite a diverse set of plans that can be an excellent way of making things easy for you to get along with which plan is best suitable for you, depending upon your needs and everything.
Let's have a look at what are the features offered by Thinkific:
Thinkific Pricing Plans
Thinkific offers affordable pricing plans that easily scale with your business. Following are the 4 major plans offered by Thinkific:
- Free Plan: $0/mo
- Start Plan: $99/mo & $74/mo (Annually)
- Grow Plan: $199/mo & $149/mo (Annually)
- Expand Plan: $499/mo & $374/mo (Annually)
Let's have a quick look around Kajabi pricing plans:
Kajabi Pricing Plans
Well, both of these plans offer an excellent blend/variation of plans which can be a plus point in getting multiple plans (basic plan, pro plan, growth plan, etc.) as per your need. Just as a friendly reminder, opt-in for an annual plan so that you can save some money while going for any plan.
- Basic Plan: $149/mo & $114/mo (Billed Annually)
- Growth Plan: $199/mo & $159/mo (Billed Annually)
- Pro Plan: $499/mo & $319/mo (Billed Annually)
Kajabi Vs. Thinkific: Payment Options
Well, the tools and features offered by both of these platforms are pretty excellent, but what about the payment options? You, as a course creator, might need to get along with trusted payment options so that you don't come across any issues later on.
Where Kajabi offers only two payment gateways (PayPal & Stripe), Thinkific offers more than that, as you can have access to different payment methods like Paypal, Stripe, Stunning and even Shopify.
Just in case you are looking forward to more payment integrations, all you need to do is get along with Zap integration (API) and congratulations; you are done with that. Well, just in case you opt-in to get along with Thinkific, you can get access to Stunning, which can later be used to recover failed payments by students; you can also send your students a time-sensitive discount, which can help you in getting better conversions.
Overall, Thinkific can be an excellent platform just in case you are seeking leverage in terms of payment.
Top FAQs on Kajabi Vs. Thinkific
What is the difference between Kajabi and Thinkific?
When comparing Kajabi and Thinkific, it's clear that, while both are technically all-in-one online course systems, the biggest difference is in their marketing capabilities. While Thinkific has a good selection of course templates, Kajabi exceeds in terms of functionality and course delivery. Kajabi also has a mobile app that allows you to connect with community members from anywhere. Thinkific provides a free plan. However, Kajabi only provides a 14-day free trial. Thinkific is a more focused course builder, whereas Kajabi is a full-fledged marketing platform. Kajabi does not provide certifications, whereas Thinkific does.
How many websites can you have on Kajabi?
The Pro Plan allows you to have up to 3 different websites under your account. For more information, go to kajabi.com/pricing. Kajabi Access allows for one more site under your account.
Is Thinkific integrated with Salesforce?
Thinkific Plus allows you to connect to Salesforce and view Thinkific course enrollments, student progress, and completion statistics directly from Salesforce. This unifies your customer education data into a single location for your customer success and marketing teams.
How many courses can I have on Kajabi?
You can create as many courses as you like on your Thinkific site if you have our Basic Plan or higher. (On the Free Plan, you can only take one course.)
1. Growth: $199 per month
2. Pro: $399 per month
3. Basic: $149 per month
What are the benefits of Thinkific?
Thinkific has the following benefits:
1. Free plan
2. Easy to use in general
3. Good support
4. Sales & marketing features
5. Supports multimedia lessons
6. Lots of integrations & apps
7. Drag & drop website builder
8. Easy online course creation
How much money can I earn from online courses?
The online course could earn anywhere from $0 – $50k+ per month. Many course creators earn between $1 – 5k/month, and there are numerous examples of online course teachers earning $10k – $50k per month. There are numerous elements that will influence how much money you may make by offering online courses.
Conclusion: Kajabi Vs. Thinkific – Which One to Choose, Kajabi or Thinkific?
Since we have already discussed almost everything in terms of features, payment gateways, customization and everything else, now, the question arises which one is going to be the best choice as per your needs. Talking about the easy-to-use options offered, Kajabi and Thinkific both offer easy-to-customize options, so it doesn't matter that if you are a pro or a beginner, you'll find your way around these platforms without any hassle.
In conclusion, after considering all the features offered by Kajabi and Thinkific, it's pretty evident that if you are in search of a platform that can help you with only course creation and other related aspects, Thinkific is your platform. But just in case if you are looking forward to making more than just a course creation platform (more of an all-in-one business platform), Thinkific is the right platform for you.
So, you can explore all the features that I have mentioned above with the one offer in terms of those features; all you need to do is get along with the features you are looking for, and you are done. Well, in my opinion, if you are looking for a simple yet powerful tool for course creation, Thinkific can be your option, whereas if you are interested in making more than just a platform that can offer you more, maybe Kajabi is the right fit.
Hopefully, this article has cleared some confusion that you were having between these excellent platforms.