Selling online courses is a great way to jumpstart your online business and spread your expertise to an excited audience.
If you have ever thought about getting into the online course industry, then you are likely looking for a platform to build your website.
Luckily there are plenty of great online course platforms to choose from, all of which will help your business grow.
Kajabi and Thinkific are both online course platforms designed for creating, marketing, and selling online courses.
Both platforms have a lot of great features to offer for your online business, but also have some differences.
- All-in-one solution
- Excellent marketing tools
- 24/7 customer support
- More detailed information
- Great value for money
- Free training bundle
- Easy to get started
- More detailed information
Main Differences Between Kajabi and Thinkific
There are a lot of differences between Kajabi and Thinkific. First of all, Kajabi in an all-in-one platform that allows you to sell all types of products, while Thinkific is only suitable for online courses.
Thinkific has a free plan, while Kajabi starts at $119/mo with annual billing. Kajabi has more features, but is also more expensive.
| Name | Kajabi | Thinkific |
|---|---|---|
| Website | Kajabi.com | Thinkific.com |
| Starting Price | $119 | Free (Limited) |
| Free Trial | 28 Days Free Trial | None |
| Discount | 20% Discount | 20% Discount |
There are also a lot of comparison articles on Kajabi vs Thinkific, but many of them barely scratch the surface of what features each platform includes.
That’s why we put together this comprehensive in-depth review of the Kajabi platform and the Thinkific platform.
We will give a brief overview of each platform and then go in-depth and the different features each one offers.
Kajabi
Kajabi is an intuitive platform where users can create and sell their courses online.
It’s an all-in-one program that allows users to build, sell and market coaching programs, online courses, and membership sites.
With Kajabi, you don’t need coding experience to build your online courses.
Instead, it utilizes drag-and-drop features so you can build your learning platform quickly and without hassle. What’s more, you can access your community, products, and marketing on a comprehensive dashboard.
Thinkific
Thinkific is another platform that allows users to create an online course platform.
With this software, you can turn your expertise into a thriving business because you can sell and market your courses online.
Like Kajabi, you don’t need coding experience to create your site.
Thinkific offers over 100 customizable features so you can build a site that perfectly matches your niche.
In addition, the course-building platform gives you total control over your content, pricing, and data.
| Kajabi | Thinkific | |
|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Yes, 14 days. | Free Plan |
| Discounts | Annual 20% Discount | Annual 20% Discount |
| Pricing Range | Kajabi Basic Plan – $149 per month Kajabi Growth Plan – $199 per month Kajabi Pro Plan – $399 per month | Thinkific Free $0 Thinkific Basic – $49 per month Thinkific Pro – $99 per month Thinkific Premier – $499 per month |
| Best For | Course creators and those who want to create tutorials online, remote schools, membership sites | Teachers, online universities, businesses who want to create training content |
| User Interface Features | Drag and drop tools Custom domains Customizable themes No coding necessary | Full access to HTML and CSS Drag and drop technology Customizable themes Use your own domain |
| Online Courses | Create assignments Unlimited video hosting Drip content Create quizzes | Unlimited courses and students Create private and hidden courses Create multimedia courses and quizzes |
| Monetization Options | Blogging platform Affiliate marketing Selling Courses Selling Memberships Digital Product Sales Course bundles and upsells | Single price points Free trials Coupons Subscriptions |
| Marketing Options | E-mail marketing SEO utilization Upsells & downsells Sales funnels Automation | E-mail marketing Automation |
Kajabi vs. Thinkific: A Comparison of Features and Tools
Although Kajabi and Thinkific are both course-building platforms, how do you know which one will work best for you? The only way to find out is to compare the two programs based on the features, tools, and pricing they offer. In this section, you’ll learn about the affordability, customization, and ease of use of Kajabi and Thinkific.
Online Courses
Kajabi allows you to create various types of courses such as certification, introductory and transformative courses.
Use the Product Generator to create online courses without the need for coding. Kajabi also offers Product Blueprints to create polished courses that are easy to market.
With Thinkific, you can create your courses to perfectly match your brand thanks to the customization features it offers. In addition, it has drag-and-drop tools to build your platform quickly and easily.
Which Platform Offers the Better Solution for Hosting Online Courses?
Thinkific and Kajabi are on par with their online course creations. Neither platform requires coding. However, Kajabi is great for selling big-ticket courses.
Sales & Marketing Features
Thinkific offers basic and advanced marketing and e-mail integration with a built-in analytics tool. Integrate Mailchimp, Google Analytics, or Mixpanel to keep track of your marketing goals.
Additionally, you can create coupons and promotions to increase your sales.
Kajabi allows you to automate your marketing. For example, you can develop e-mail lists and send a broadcast message to your clients. There are also marketing pipeline blueprints to help you increase sales.
Which Platform Offers Better Sales & Marketing Solutions?
Kajabi is the better option for sales and marketing. It offers better automations and funnels. Thinkific, however provides better marketing analytics.
Student Experience Features
Kajabi allows you to create multimedia courses to cater to different learning styles. You can also attach assignments to each course so students can put your teaching to practice.
Thinkific allows students to create a personal account which also includes a student dashboard. In addition, course creators can develop quizzes on their videos to help students retain information.
Which Platform Offers a Better Student Experience?
Both Thinkific and Kajabi allow you to optimize the student experience. The two platforms are great for creating assignments and communicating with students to help them through their learning experiences.
Analytics Features
Both Thinkific and Kajabi have third-party app integration for analytics. Integrate Google Analytics on either platform to keep track of your site’s traffic. In addition, Thinkific has built-in analytics to provide insightful information on sales.
Which Platform Offers Better Analytics Features?
Thinkific and Kajabi allow similar analytics integrations. You can also use SEO to optimize your site and increase visits on both platforms.
Customization & Site Building Features
Although Kajabi has preset sections, you can fully customize each section of your site. The platform also comes with a Theme Store where you can pick a theme and customize it.
Thinkific offers three professional, customizable themes. Then, depending on which plan you’ve chosen, you can add your branding to your site.
Which Platform Offers Better Customization & Site Building Features?
Kajabi offers the best customization and site-building features because it has more themes to choose from. It also provides more flexibility with layouts and placements.
Support & Resources Features
Both Kajabi and Thinkific have live chat and e-mail support. However, Thinkific doesn’t offer 24/7 support on all plans. For example, you will only get 24/7 support if you choose Thinkific’s Growth plan.
On the other hand, Kajabi offers resources and video courses on using the platform through Kajabi University.
Which Platform Offers Better Support and Resources?
Kajabi wins this round because it offers 24/7 support, with plenty of resources that you can follow through Kajabi University.
Discounts & Trials
Both Kajabi and Thinkific offer discounts for paying users. They can sign up for annual billing that cuts 20% off their yearly subscription cost.
Thinkific doesn’t offer any free trials, but it has a free tier which you can switch to at any time. Kajabi offers a 14-day free trial that gives you full access to features so you can see how the platform works before opting for one of its paid plans.
Which Platform Offers Better Deals?
Kajabi wins this round because it provides a free trial and promotional Hero challenge. Unfortunately, Thinkific’s free-tier plan is limited and won’t offer you much to get started.
| Winner | |
|---|---|
| Overall Features | Kajabi |
| Number of Courses & Students | Thinkific |
| Website Building Tools | Kajabi |
| Marketing & Sales Tools | Kajabi |
| Third-Party Integrations | Tie |
| Student Engagement Tools | Thinkific |
| Discounts & Trials | Kajabi |
| Support & Training | Kajabi |
Kajabi Pros & Cons
Pros
- Extremely powerful web building and marketing tools
- Pipeline builder is one of the best we have ever seen
- Unlimted landing pages
- Email automations are diverse
- Lots of integrations available
- Intuitive online course creator
- Great video hosting with Wistia
- 14-day free trial and annual billing discount available
- Highly customizable themes and templates
- Library of quality business resources and educational materials
- Can be used for selling things other than courses
- Offers safe and secure payments
- Unlimited hosting
- Automated marketing features
- Has a Theme store
- Unlimited landing pages
Cons
- Relatively limited course and student roster
- No free-tier option
- Student assessment tools are somewhat lacking
- Might take more time to get used to and figure out
- More expensive than other platforms
- Can’t create certificates
- You may need coding skills to edit site photos
Thinkific Pros & Cons
Pros
- Simple and intuitive online course creator
- Unlimited products and unlimited students
- Free-tier plan available
- Great student assessment tools
- Affordable
- Flexible pricing options
- Boost course sales with promotions and coupons
- Unlimited products and students
- Offers a free tier plan
- Charge in 100+ currencies
- Accept all types of credit cards
Cons
- Free plan is greatly limited
- Web building tools are not that powerful
- Fewer course customization options
- Rudimentary email marketing tools
- No pipeline builder
- Less comprehensive resources and customer support
- Fewer landing pages options
Kajabi vs Thinkific: Which Platform Is Better?
When it comes to Kajbi vs Thinkific, we judge Kajabi to be the superior course platform.
Kajabi ultimately wins out because it has a greater number of features, extremely impressive email marketing tools, a simple course builder, a large library of user resources, the handy pipeline builder, and streamlined sales pages and payment processing.
Everything you need is in one place with Kajabi (here’s a demo overview).
Thinkific is a good platform no doubt, but it is ultimately too limited for your online business to achieve the kind of growth they could using Kajabi. In our opinion, Kajabi is one of the best online course platforms currently in the industry.
