Kajabi and Passion.io both let you build courses, communities, and other digital products. However, Kajabi is browser-based, while Passion.io is app based. Let’s see how they compare.
- Kajabi is rated 9.8 and is the best overall platform on SupplyGem
- Plans cost from $149/month
- Kajabi has a rating of 4.6 on Trustpilot
- Kajabi is the overall winner of this comparison
- Passion.io is not currently in the top 10 on SupplyGem
- Plans cost from $97/month
- Passion.io has a rating of 4.7 on Trustpilot
- Passion.io is the platform to choose if you want to build an app
Key Takeaways:
- Kajabi is our top-rated platform for course-building, marketing, and sales
- Passion.io is the best platform for building an app
| Feature | Kajabi | Passion.io |
|---|---|---|
| Current Promotion | 30-day free trial | 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Course Builder | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mobile App Builder | ❌ | ✅ |
| Members/Customer App | ✅ | ✅ |
| Communities | ✅ | ✅ |
| Coaching | ✅ | ✅ |
| Websites and Landing Pages | ✅ | ❌ |
| Sales Funnels | ✅ | ❌ |
| Email Marketing | ✅ | ❌ |
| Live Streaming | ✅ | ✅ |
| File Uploads | ✅ | ✅ |
| Video Uploads | ✅ | ✅ |
| Automation | ✅ | ✅ |
| CRM | ✅ | ❌ |
| Integrations | ✅ | ✅ |
| Native Payment Processing | ✅ | ✅ |
| Offer and Promotion Tools | ✅ | ✅ |
What Is Kajabi?
Kajabi is a platform with advanced tools for building courses, communities, coaching, and other digital products.
Additionally, Kajabi also provides a comprehensive range of marketing and sales features such as funnel and website builders, email marketing, automation, and more.
What Is Passion.io?
Passion.io is an app-building platform that lets you create an app for courses, coaching, podcasts, communities, and more. Apps can be built using a simple drag-and-drop tool, and no coding knowledge is required.
Once the app is complete, it can be monetized by taking payments via Passion.io’s integrated payment processor.
Key Differences Between Kajabi and Passion.io
While both Kajabi and Passion.io allow you to create very similar products (courses, communities, coaching, etc.), they each have very different platforms.
Kajabi operates via a web browser such as Chrome or Safari. You build your digital products by creating web pages for them. Kajabi also has an app available that allows customers to access their content via their mobile devices. However, the functionality isn’t as comprehensive as when accessed via a browser.
On the other hand, Passion.io only lets you create an entirely mobile app-based product. You log into the Passion.io platform via a web browser and create your products. The end result is a mobile app that customers can find in the app store to purchase and download. All content is accessed via the app only.
Another big difference is that Kajabi comes with an entire marketing suite and enables you to create full campaigns to help you sell your digital products. Passion.io, unfortunately, lacks any kind of marketing tools, so promoting the app would need to be done via a different platform.
Kajabi vs Passion.io Affordability
Both platforms have three plans available that can be paid for on a monthly or annual basis:
- Kajabi: Costs from $149/month – $399/month.
- Passion.io: Costs from $97/month – $297/month plus a plan with bespoke pricing.
| Price | Kajabi | Passion.io |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | From $149/month | From $97/month |
| Annually | From $119/month ($1,428 total) | $79/month ($948 total) |
| Discount for Paying Annually | 20% | 20% |
| Standard Free Trial | 14 days | None |
| Money-Back Guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
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Winner Is Kajabi
It’s true that Passion.io’s lowest-priced plan is cheaper than Kajabi’s. However, many of the features are unavailable. With Kajabi, you pay more upfront, but you get access to more features.
Additionally, Kajabi’s middle-tier plan is much cheaper than Passion.io’s. Therefore, if you balance features with cost, Kajabi comes out as the best value overall.
Kajabi vs Passion.io: Mobile App
Kajabi: Mobile App
Kajabi actually has three different mobile apps available:
- Kajabi Mobile App: Lets customers log in and access and use their course material.
- Kajabi Communities: Lets community members log in and engage with their community.
- Kajabi Creator: This is to allow course creators to manage their Kajabi products on the go.
The problem with the Kajabi apps is that they are all branded as Kajabi, and it is currently not possible for you to create a branded app specifically for your products.
No matter the customer and no matter the product, each customer that wants to access their content on the go will have to download and use the same app.
Furthermore, live content is only available via the communities app, and communities are not suitable for private coaching products. Therefore, if you plan to run live coaching sessions, your clients will have to access them via a browser.
Passion.io: Mobile App
Passion.io is an app creator and lets you build a branded app upon which to host your product. Apps can be free or paid, depending on your needs.
This flexible feature lets you add course content, a community, and in-app chat, plus interactive exercises and goal tracking. The app also supports live streaming making this platform suitable for coaches that want live mobile streaming capabilities.
Each app you create can have a mix of features allowing a high level of customization. And you can create a different app for each product that you want to create and sell.
When customers download your app, they will have no indication that it is a Passion.io product since you can fully brand it with your name, logo, and images.
Winner Is Passion.io
Passion.io has a unique offering and has paved the way toward making app creation accessible to all. Its versatile app-building tool lets you dream up a unique app that can serve your customers without them needing to be anywhere near a desktop computer.
Kajabi’s app is okay, but having three separate apps is confusing, and since you can’t brand them, this makes them less appealing.
Kajabi vs Passion.io: Content Creation Features
Kajabi: Content Creation Features
Kajabi was built for content creation and has a diverse set of tools that allow you to build unique digital offers for just about any purpose. Here’s an overview of what Kajabi can do:
- Course Builder: Create lessons and modules with text, images, video, audio, files, and more. Provide free or paid on-demand courses, or create a membership site and provide course content on a gradual basis.
- Community Builder: Create thriving communities to drive engagement in real time. Run live sessions and challenges, and connect your community to your courses and other products.
- Coaching Products: Set up and run a coaching business and build coaching packages. Run live sessions and use the Kajabi Scheduler to automate the booking process.
- Membership Sites: Create subscription-based membership areas for recurring revenue. Add course content, communities, and coaching sessions all in one place.
- Podcasts: Create and run a podcast directly from the Kajabi platform.
Passion.io: Content Creation Features
Passion.io also provides a large number of content creation features that enable you to create a fully customized and unique app:
- On-demand Content: Create content available at any time. Include lessons, videos, images, audio, text, files, and more.
- Interactive Content: Provide interactive content to help customers learn in a more dynamic way.
- Communities: Add a community area to facilitate in-app chat and provide an area for customers to have their questions answered.
- Live Streaming: customers can use the in-app scheduler to book a live session. Use the live streaming feature for coaching, demos, group sessions, etc.
- Audio Content: Use audio to allow your customers to engage while performing other tasks, such as driving.
Winner Is Kajabi
Passion.io serves its purpose just fine, but overall we feel that being restricted to app-based content only has its limitations. Kajabi’s features are more sophisticated and provide more versatility, allowing you to do more with the platform.
Kajabi vs Passion.io: Monetization Features
Kajabi: Monetization Features
All your Kajabi products can be monetized in a number of ways. The way it works is that you create “offers.” These can be standalone Kajabi products – a course for example – or a variety of products bundled together.
Kajabi has also provided revenue increasing aids including order bumps, upsells, downsells, coupons, and more. You can include these on any web pages you create or during the checkout stage.
The platform also has its own payment gateway (or you can use PayPal or Stripe) and enables you to take one off payments, recurring payments, and subscription fees.
Passion.io: Monetization Features
Passion.io lets you monetize your app by providing the ability to charge for it on a one-time or subscription basis. It also has a “freemium” option. This is where users download the app for free but certain content is locked behind a paywall.
App features can be bundled and offered to customers for a set price and you can introduce new features or content and advertise to your current audience by using the push notifications.
Like Kajabi, Passion.io has its own payment gateway, but you can also connect with Apple and Google Pay, Stripe, and PayPal.
Winner Is: It’s a Draw
Kajabi has loads of great sales tools like the order bumps and upsells, etc. and gives you plenty of choice when deciding how to monetize your content. Passion.io also provides you with lots of ways to increase in-app revenue and we particularly like the freemium options.
Additionally, both platforms have their own payment gateway, making the whole payment process smoother and cheaper overall.
Kajabi vs Passion.io: Sales and Marketing Features
Kajabi: Sales and Marketing Features
Aside from course creation, sales and marketing are also one of Kajabi’s flagship features. As such, the platform boasts sophisticated tools that enable you to develop multi-channel marketing campaigns to promote your product.
First, you can build full websites or simple landing pages using the drag-and-drop editing tool. You can also launch funnels with as few or as many steps as you need. We particularly like how easy Kajabi makes this (especially if you’re a beginner) thanks to the detailed and great-looking templates that are available.
Kajabi also has an email campaign builder allowing you to send out unlimited emails for your campaign.
Best of all, most marketing tasks can be automated by using the workflow tool. This visual interface allows you to map out the entire customer journey and set it all on autopilot.
Whether you’re using a landing page, a funnel, emails, or a mixture of methods, you can add it all into the workflow to create one seamless process.
Passion.io: Sales and Marketing Features
This is where we feel that Passion.io lets itself down. The platform doesn’t actually provide any tools to help you market and sell your app. Instead, you must use Zapier and connect with third-party marketing apps to do so.
In most cases, marketing apps are not free, so this is ultimately going to increase the costs for you.
The platform does have an in-app marketing tool in the form of push notifications. So if you create a special offer inside the app or a new course or upsell, you can use the push notifications to let your subscribers know that something is available.
Winner Is Kajabi
There’s no competition here. Kajabi’s comprehensive marketing tools are excellent and give you everything you need to build and automate engaging campaigns.
Kajabi vs Passion.io: User Experience
Kajabi: User Experience
Kajabi has put a lot of effort into ensuring its interface is as user-friendly as possible. A platform with that many tools and features can quickly get overwhelming and complicated, but Kajabi has done a great job of making everything intuitive and quick to grasp.
Its workflow feature is probably the most complex tool to use, but there are plenty of walkthroughs and helpful prompts to guide you through it.
The building tools use “drag-and-drop” making it fast to create and customize all your products and marketing campaigns. No code or technical knowledge is really required.
Passion.io: User Experience
Passion.io utilizes a drag-and-drop tool for app building. When the platform launched, this was unique, as previously you could only develop an app by understanding coding or by paying someone to do it for you.
Now you can create your app step by step on the Passion.io platform with little to no technical knowledge.
The tools appear intuitive and simple to grasp. Handily, you are provided with a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) interface. This allows you to see what your app will look like in real-time as you make changes and customize it.
Winner Is: It’s a Draw
Both platforms have taken a similar approach to ensure everything is as user friendly as possible. Supported with plenty of walkthrough guides, prompts, and tutorials, just about anyone can get set up and use either platform within the space of a day.
Each platform’s interface looks great, sleek, and modern and works seamlessly no matter which feature you are using.
Kajabi vs Passion.io: Customer Service and Support
Kajabi: Customer Service and Support
Kajabi provides live chat support for all plans. However, if you are on the basic plan the live chat is limited to 6 AM – 5 PM Pacific Time. If you are on the Growth or Pro plans, you get to enjoy live chat support 24/7.
A 24/7 email ticketing service is available to all subscribers regardless of plan, and all new subscribers are treated to a free 30-minute onboarding call with a member of the Kajabi team.
Kajabi’s help center is second to none. It’s very well laid out and all the material is kept up to date. All help articles contain walkthrough guides with video and GIFs to support the material. We can’t fault this and feel it’s one of the best resource centers out there.
Passion.io: Customer Service and Support
All subscribers get the Passion Academy coaching & community app. However, the material you can access depends on your chosen plan. There’s also a comprehensive help center with walkthroughs and guides supported by video and screenshots.
All subscribers regardless of plan can enjoy live chat and email support. Plus, when you initially subscribe, you get a live onboarding call to help you set things up.
Our biggest issue with Passion.io is that there is no readily available free trial. We feel these are essential for understanding whether or not a platform is for you before committing financially. You do get a 30-day money-back guarantee, but this feels like a complicated way to go about testing something out.
Winner Is Kajabi
Both platforms offer very similar support and have high quality learning resources available.
However, we feel that Kajabi has the edge thanks to its readily available free trial. This allows you to fully try out the platform before deciding to commit financially.
Kajabi vs Passion.io: Final Verdict
It’s going to take some serious clout to beat Kajabi. The platform really is at the top of the league for digital content creation, sales, and marketing. This is why it remains our top recommendation.
However, Passion.io is perfect for those who want a more streamlined, app-based approach. The platform has opened up app-building to everyone and has provided a good alternative to browser-based digital product creation.
- Choose Kajabi if you want more versatility for your courses and digital products along with all the tools to market them.
- Choose Passion.io if you want to create an awesome app for your content.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kajabi or Passion.io Better?
Kajabi is our preferred platform because it is more versatile and includes all the necessary sales and marketing tools. Passion.io is great for app building but that is about it, plus you don’t get any out-of-app marketing tools.
What Is the Difference Between Kajabi and Passion.io?
Kajabi is a platform that lets you create digital content, products, and marketing campaigns primarily using web pages. Passion.io only lets you create an app and does not include marketing features.
Is Kajabi or Passion.io More Affordable?
Passion.io has the cheaper low-tier plan, but its features are limited. Kajabi’s lower-tier plan costs more but gives you more functionality, and Kajabi’s higher-tier plan is much more affordable than Passion.io’s.
Is Kajabi or Passion.io Better for Course Building?
Kajabi is better for course building because you are not limited to creating everything inside an app. Customers can access their Kajabi content either through a web browser or by using the Kajabi app.
Is Kajabi or Passion.io Better for Mobile Apps?
Passion.io is a platform designed specifically for designing apps and therefore has the better features for this purpose. Kajabi also has an app that customers can use, but it is less sophisticated than Passion.io’s offering.
