12 Best Kajabi Alternatives for Business Coaches (2026 Guide)

The best Kajabi alternatives for business coaches are the platforms that run the whole client engagement, not just the course catalogue. A business coach sells strategy calls, 90-day programs, monthly retainers and masterminds to owners who expect follow-through between sessions. Kajabi is built to sell knowledge products, so the deciding question is simple: do you mainly sell courses to many buyers, or do you deliver outcomes to a smaller number of paying clients? Your answer decides which of the 12 tools below fits.

For most business coaches the pick is Coachful, because it puts booking, contracts, payments, programs with weekly goals and check-ins, courses, a community, a website, funnels and email under one login, with one branded app for clients. We make Coachful, so we have tried to be specific about where each other tool wins. Every entry below opens with the situation it suits and ends with when to pick it over Coachful. If you coach more than one kind of client, our parent guide to Kajabi alternatives for coaches covers the wider field.

What do business coaches need from a Kajabi alternative?

Business coaches need a platform that handles a sales process with a discovery call, a signed agreement, a retainer or payment plan, and weeks of accountability work afterwards. Course hosting is useful, but it is rarely the whole job.

Look at how a typical business coaching engagement runs. A founder downloads a lead magnet (a pricing worksheet, a hiring scorecard, a quarterly planning template), books a strategy call, answers intake questions about revenue and team size, and then buys a 90-day program or a monthly retainer. From there the work is weekly: a session, agreed actions, a check-in on whether the actions happened, and a running record of goals. Many coaches add a group layer later, such as a mastermind for owners at a similar stage, and some build a self-paced course once their method is stable.

That client journey creates five specific needs:

• Booking with intake. Strategy calls with availability rules, buffers and qualifying questions, synced to the calendar you already use.
• Agreements and billing for business buyers. A coaching agreement signed before the first call, plus subscriptions, payment plans and invoices a client's bookkeeper can file. Tax handling varies by country, so check with an accountant before you set rates and tax settings.
• Between-session delivery. Weekly goals, tasks and check-ins so the client's actions do not vanish between calls. This is the gap Kajabi leaves: it has no habit tracking or daily client check-ins, and coaching lives inside products and communities rather than per-client plans.
• Group delivery. Cohorts and masterminds with a feed, group calls and a shared curriculum.
• Marketing that feeds the calendar. Landing pages, application funnels and email sequences that end in a booked call, not a course checkout.

Scope matters too. Business coaching is not legal, tax or accounting advice. When a client's question is about entity structure, employment law or tax filings, refer them to an attorney or accountant, and say so in your coaching agreement. For pricing your own work, our guide to how much business coaches charge walks through retainers and program fees.

Why do business coaches look beyond Kajabi?

Most leave because of price relative to what they use, and because Kajabi does not track client actions between sessions. As listed in October 2026, Kajabi Basic is $179 a month ($143 a month billed annually) with 5 products, 2,500 contacts, one community and 0 AI credits. Growth is $249 a month ($199 annually) with 50 products and 25,000 contacts, and Pro is $499 a month ($399 annually). Kajabi's comparison table places the branded mobile app on Pro.

Payment fees add up for coaches who bill retainers. Kajabi Payments in the US charges 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro. If you use a processor other than Kajabi Payments or PayPal, Kajabi adds its own fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro on top of the provider's charges. Kajabi offers a 14-day trial per its help center and a 30-day money-back guarantee. On Trustpilot, Kajabi showed 3.4 from 2,347 reviews in October 2026.

None of that makes Kajabi a bad product. It is a strong course, community and email platform. It is simply shaped for creators selling to large audiences, while a business coach with 15 retainer clients needs client records, agreements and weekly accountability more than a fifth course slot. For a feature-by-feature view, see Coachful vs Kajabi.

Which Kajabi alternative should a business coach pick? Quick picks

Ranking criteria: one login for the whole client journey, between-session delivery, total monthly stack cost, and setup effort (including Coachful's free white-glove build service).

Prices are monthly list prices as published in October 2026 unless marked. Competitor fees and limits come from each vendor's pricing page.

How did we choose and rank these tools?

We ranked each tool on how much of a business coach's engagement it covers without extra software, using what vendors document on their pricing and help pages and what public reviewers report. We did not run paid accounts for this guide.

Four questions shaped the order:

1. Does one login cover the client journey? Lead magnet, strategy call, agreement, payment, delivery and renewal. Each missing step usually means another subscription and another place for data to drift.
2. Can clients be held to their actions between sessions? Weekly goals, tasks, check-ins and progress the coach can see. For business coaching this is where results come from.
3. What does the full stack cost each month? Including transaction fees, contact caps and the second or third tool you would need.
4. How much setup does it take? Migration help, templates and whether someone will build the first version for you.

Tools that sell mainly to large audiences (course platforms, community apps, link-in-bio stores) rank lower here not because they are weak, but because they cover a smaller share of what a business coach does each week. Our buying guide to coaching software for business coaches goes deeper on the evaluation process.

1. Coachful: the best Kajabi alternative for business coaches overall

Choose Coachful when you deliver programs and retainers to a defined group of clients and want marketing, sales, delivery and billing in one account. It is a coaching platform built for coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions, for solo coaches growing into a small team, and for coaches replacing four to six tools.

What a business coach runs inside it

Start with the sale. Booking pages handle availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection, with two-way sync to Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook calendars. Strategy calls can ask intake questions on booking (revenue range, team size, the problem they want solved), and sessions run on built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Google Meet or Teams links. Reminders go out by email, plus SMS 24 hours before and WhatsApp one hour before once messaging is enabled.

Next comes the agreement and the money. Coaching agreements with e-signature go out before the first call and are stored on the client record (see coaching contracts). Payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account: one-time fees, subscriptions for retainers, payment plans for a 90-day program, order bumps, coupons, refunds, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and Stripe Tax. Every transaction produces an invoice, and you can send manual invoices for custom engagements. Since August 2026 Coachful charges a 0% platform fee, so only Stripe or Razorpay processing applies.

Then the part Kajabi does not cover: delivery between calls. Multi-week programs carry weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars and streaks. Each client record holds goals, check-ins, notes, intake answers, tags, payments and sessions, and labels the client thriving, active, quiet or at risk, so a founder who has gone silent shows up before the renewal conversation.

The group and marketing layers sit in the same account. Cohort groups are created automatically when clients enroll in a program, with a community feed, group chat, direct messages, video events, group calls and webinars, which suits a mastermind (see group coaching software). Courses support modules, lessons, drip and completion tracking. The section-based website builder has a blog, custom domain, SEO settings and 30 designed homepage templates, and funnels cover booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout flows with pixels and UTM tracking. Email lists, broadcasts and multi-step sequences support triggers, delays, branching and A/B splits.

Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, works from your live practice data: it builds programs, drafts emails and content, summarizes recorded sessions and briefs you before each call. Questions and planning are included in your Coachful membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits. If you are working toward an ICF credential, ICF hour tracking counts coaching hours and distinct clients against ACC, PCC and MCC thresholds and exports a client coaching log. Coaches with associates can move to team plans (Studio and Agency) that add coach seats, per-coach availability, staff permissions and round-robin or least-busy assignment for shared session types.

Here is a short walkthrough of how programs are built and delivered:

Pricing and what it replaces

Coachful uses flat monthly plans. Lower plans cap the number of clients, Pro is unlimited, team plans add seats, and monthly plans cancel in one click (current plans: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients). A free trial is available. For a business coach, one plan typically replaces a booking tool, an e-signature tool, a course host, a community app, a website builder and an email platform. Clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding, and you can export all client data as a ZIP at any time.

Where it falls short

Coachful is not a sales CRM for large teams: there is no multi-stage deal board for big sales teams and no Salesforce or HubSpot integration. It does not support PayPal, has no permanent free plan, and has no routing forms that pick a host from form answers. It is not a course marketplace or a general website builder for non-coaching businesses, and there are no third-party plugins. The affiliate program tracks links, clicks, conversions and revenue, but payouts are recorded manually. The client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not under your own App Store account. It is not HIPAA-certified, which rarely matters for business coaching but is worth knowing.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. From Create, choose "We'll build it for you · FREE", describe what you need (a website, an application funnel, a sales page for a 90-day program, an email sequence, a lead quiz, a course outline), attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files, and the Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. Nothing gets invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices, and gaps are left for you to fill. One recent build was for a business mentor for beauty professionals, who got a 12-week mentorship sales page, a free start-up-guide funnel and rewritten follow-up emails. Another went to a leadership coach with a Squarespace renewal days away, who got one clean homepage with a repeated "talk with me" button. The service does not include recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing. Read more about the white-glove build service.

Coachful holds a Trustpilot score of 4.5 from 21 reviews and is based in Tallinn, Estonia. Business coaches can see the niche setup on the Coachful for business coaches page.

2. GoHighLevel: for business coaches who also sell marketing services

GoHighLevel wins when your coaching sits alongside done-for-you marketing, for example when you coach agency owners or set up funnels and follow-up for the businesses you advise. Its structure is built around sub-accounts, so each client business can get its own workspace with pages, calendars, pipelines and automations.

As listed in October 2026, Starter costs $97 a month ($80.83 billed annually) for 3 sub-accounts with unlimited users and contacts. Unlimited is $297 a month ($247.50 annually) for unlimited sub-accounts, and Agency Pro is $497 a month ($414.17 annually). There is a 14-day trial on any plan, and billing starts automatically when it ends unless you cancel. HighLevel shows no platform fee on sales, but SMS, email, phone numbers and AI are metered and billed separately on usage, with rates published on separate pricing guides rather than the pricing page.

For a business coach, the useful parts are funnels, websites, calendars, two-way SMS and email, invoicing, contracts, courses and communities, all in one CRM. On Trustpilot it showed 4.9 from 15,250 reviews in October 2026, which is the largest review base in this list.

The limits are on the delivery side. There is no habit tracking, no client check-ins and no structured coaching program or task engine; you would have to imitate one with workflows and forms. There are no built-in video rooms, only Zoom and Google Meet links. The setup work is also real: HighLevel is a toolkit, so expect to build pipelines and automations yourself before the first client sees anything. If you are weighing it, our guide to GoHighLevel alternatives for coaches covers the trade-offs in depth.

Compared with Kajabi, GoHighLevel gives you far more marketing automation per dollar, with unlimited contacts even on Starter. Compared with Coachful, it is stronger as a marketing machine and weaker as a coaching delivery tool.

Pick it over Coachful if you resell marketing software or services to your coaching clients through sub-accounts, or your business depends on SMS and phone pipelines more than on program delivery.

3. Kartra: the closest match to Kajabi's marketing shape

If what you like about Kajabi is the marketing suite (pages, email, memberships and checkout in one place) and you mainly want a lower bill, Kartra is the most direct swap. It adds calendars and a helpdesk, which a business coach answering client support questions may actually use.

As listed in October 2026, Essentials costs $59 a month ($52 annually) with 500 contacts, 5 pages, 1 product, 1 membership, 10,000 emails a month and a 5% transaction fee. Starter is $119 a month ($99 annually) with 2,500 contacts, unlimited pages, products and memberships, unlimited email and SMS, 5 team members and 0% transaction fees. Growth is $229 a month ($189 annually) with 12,500 contacts, and Professional is $549 a month ($429 annually) with 25,000 contacts. Kartra offers a 14-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

The useful comparison: Kajabi Basic and Kartra Starter both cap contacts at 2,500, but Kartra Starter lists unlimited products and memberships where Kajabi Basic allows 5 products, at $60 less per month. For a coach who sells a lead magnet, a workshop, a membership and a flagship program, that product cap matters.

Kartra stays a marketing platform, though. There are no client habits, check-ins or per-client coaching plans, and an older profile notes no mobile app for students or admins and funnels that are not portable to other platforms. Trustpilot showed 3.2 from 129 reviews in October 2026. Expect to pair Kartra with a separate tool if you want weekly accountability for retainer clients, or to run that accountability by email and spreadsheets.

The Essentials plan is mostly a trial run: 500 contacts and one product are tight for any coach with a lead magnet, and the 5% fee on a high-ticket program is expensive. Most business coaches would start on Starter.

Pick it over Coachful if you want a marketing suite that mirrors Kajabi's model with a built-in helpdesk, and you already deliver coaching in another tool you plan to keep.

4. ClickFunnels: when launches drive your revenue

The scenario here is a business coach who fills a high-ticket program through webinars, challenges or application funnels, and treats the funnel as the core asset. ClickFunnels is built around that: funnel and sales-page building with email, courses, community, a store and an appointments app attached.

As listed in October 2026, Launch costs $97 a month ($81 annually) with 10,000 contacts, 50,000 emails a month, 2 team members, 5 domains, 3 courses and 3 communities. Scale is $197 a month ($164 annually) with 75,000 contacts and 5 team members. Optimize is $297 a month ($248 annually) with 150,000 contacts, and Dominate is $499.75 a month billed annually. ClickFunnels takes 0% commission on sales, offers a 14-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Trustpilot showed 4.7 from 2,512 reviews in October 2026.

For a business coach, the appeal is speed of launching: an opt-in page, a webinar registration flow, an order form with an upsell and a follow-up sequence, all from templates. The contact allowance on Launch (10,000) is also four times Kajabi Basic's.

The weak spot is what happens after the sale. ClickFunnels has no client habits, check-ins or structured 1:1 coaching programs, so the 90-day engagement you just sold has to live somewhere else. The entry plan caps courses at 3, and an older profile notes funnels are proprietary and not portable. If you are already weighing funnel builders, our comparison of ClickFunnels alternatives for coaches and our look at funnels and email in Coachful vs Kajabi show where each one stops.

Think of ClickFunnels as the top of your stack rather than the whole of it. It works best when a separate delivery tool, or a very simple program, handles the rest.

Pick it over Coachful if split-tested launch funnels are the main job and you are content to deliver the coaching itself in a second platform.

5. Podia: for coaches who sell toolkits and a few sessions

Podia fits a business coach whose catalogue is a handful of digital products (an SOP template pack, a pricing calculator, a recorded workshop) plus some paid coaching sessions, sold from one simple storefront. It is easier to learn than Kajabi and costs less.

As listed in October 2026, Mover costs $49 a month ($42 annually) with 50 products, 25 community spaces, 100 email subscribers and a 5% Podia transaction fee. Shaker is $99 a month ($84 annually) with 150 products, 500 email subscribers, one assistant and 0% fees. Earthquaker is $179 a month ($150 annually) with unlimited products and 1,000 email subscribers. Stripe or PayPal processing applies on top. There is a 14-day trial with full access and no card required. Trustpilot showed 4.1 from 153 reviews in October 2026.

The email allowances are the main limit for a business coach building a list. Even the top plan includes 1,000 subscribers, so a lead magnet that works well will push you into extra cost or a separate email tool. An older profile also notes no mobile app and no native video calls, so sessions run through an external video tool. Podia has no client habits, check-ins or per-client plans.

Where Podia does well is simplicity. You can set up a storefront, a product and a checkout in an afternoon, which is why many coaches compare it directly with Kajabi; see Kajabi vs Podia for that comparison.

If you are on Mover and sell a high-ticket program, the 5% fee on each sale will quickly cost more than the upgrade to Shaker, so do that math before you choose a plan.

Pick it over Coachful if your business is mostly low-priced digital products with occasional sessions, and you do not need weekly client accountability or a large email list.

6. Paperbell: the admin-only option for solo 1:1 coaches

Paperbell suits a solo business coach who sells session packages and wants the paperwork handled: booking, payment, contract and a client portal, with nothing else to learn. It is a direct coaching-admin tool rather than a marketing suite.

As listed in October 2026, Paperbell has one plan at $97 a month, or $970 a year (about $80.83 a month). It covers unlimited clients, sessions, files and packages, and the pricing page lists a coaching website, scheduling, payments and packages, a client portal, contracts, email workflows, forms, group coaching, video call integration, notes, digital downloads, online classes and custom branding. Paperbell advertises no additional transaction fees, and Stripe or PayPal processing applies per an older profile. There is a "Try For Free" option and a 30-day money-back guarantee; an older help-center profile described a 7-day trial. Trustpilot showed 3.5 from 14 reviews in October 2026.

For a business coach, the flat price with unlimited clients is easy to plan around, and PayPal support may matter if some clients prefer it. Contracts and package billing are covered.

The gaps show up as the practice grows. An older profile notes no courses or LMS in the Kajabi sense, no community, and no goal or habit tracking, and no native mobile app. A business coach who wants a mastermind, a lead-magnet funnel and email sequences would add a community tool and an email platform, and the monthly bill climbs. Our Paperbell alternatives guide covers that growth path.

Paperbell also prices per coach, so a practice with associate coaches pays for each one.

Pick it over Coachful if you only coach 1:1, need PayPal, and want the smallest possible tool for packages and contracts.

7. Thinkific: when the academy is the product

Some business coaches turn their method into a self-paced program sold to hundreds or thousands of students, such as a "start your consultancy" course. Thinkific wins that scenario: it is a dedicated course platform with communities, memberships and webinar products, and large student allowances.

As listed in October 2026, Start costs $109 a month ($82 annually) with 10,000 current students, 2 admins and one community. Grow is $219 a month ($164 annually) with 6 admins and 3 communities, and Expand is $499 a month ($374 annually) with 15 admins and 10 communities. Prices rose about 10% on August 13, 2026. There is a 30-day trial on self-serve plans. Thinkific charges 0% transaction fees with Thinkific Payments, while third-party Stripe or PayPal gateways carry an extra per-plan fee whose amounts the page does not list. A branded mobile app is a $199-a-month add-on.

The student cap on Start (10,000 current students) compares well with Kajabi Basic's 2,500 contacts for a coach selling a course at scale.

The coaching side is thin. An older profile notes no built-in 1:1 scheduling, so calls rely on external booking links, and there are no client habits, check-ins or per-client plans. Public reviewer sentiment is weak: Trustpilot showed 1.8 from 868 reviews in October 2026. If you sell 1:1 or small-group engagements alongside the course, you would need a second tool for that work. See our Thinkific alternatives for coaches for the options.

The price rise in August 2026 also narrowed the gap with Kajabi Basic to $70 a month on monthly billing.

Pick it over Coachful if a high-volume self-paced course is your main revenue, and 1:1 coaching is a small add-on you are happy to run elsewhere.

8. Circle: built for a paid mastermind or founder community

Circle is the pick when the community is the offer: a paid mastermind or membership where founders post wins, ask peers for help and join live sessions. It combines community spaces with courses, events, live streams and paid memberships.

As listed in October 2026, Professional costs $89 a month billed annually with 3 admins and 10 moderators. Business is $199 a month billed annually with 5 admins, and Scale is $419 a month billed annually with 10 admins. Circle Plus is custom-priced. Monthly prices were not shown in the data we checked. A 14-day trial runs on Professional, Business and Scale with no card required. Circle takes a fee on payments of 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale, and 0.5% on Circle Plus, plus Stripe processing. Trustpilot showed 4.1 from 129 reviews in October 2026.

For a mastermind, Circle's spaces and events are well suited to organized discussion by topic (hiring, pricing, operations) and to recurring hot-seat calls. The 2% fee on Professional is worth noting, though: on a high-ticket annual mastermind it can add up to more than a plan upgrade.

Circle has no 1:1 scheduling and no client-management back office, and no per-client habits, check-ins or coaching plans. Branded mobile apps are only on Circle Plus. A business coach who sells private coaching alongside the mastermind would need a second system. Our roundup of coaching communities for business coaches covers communities to join rather than platforms to run, which is useful context if you are designing your own.

Pick it over Coachful if the community itself is the product and you want a dedicated community platform with deep moderation and space structure, with no 1:1 work involved.

9. Systeme.io: testing an offer on a near-zero budget

New business coaches who have not yet signed their first paying client often need one thing: a funnel, an email list and a small course, without a monthly bill. Systeme.io is the lowest-cost route to that in this list.

As listed in October 2026, the Free plan includes 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course, 500 students, a blog, an affiliate program, one custom domain, one automation rule and one email campaign, with no card required. Startup is $17 a month (5,000 contacts, 10 funnels, 5 courses), Webinar is $47 a month (10,000 contacts, 50 funnels, 20 courses) and Unlimited is $97 a month. Systeme.io charges 0% transaction fees on every plan, including Free. Trustpilot showed 4.9 from 8,696 reviews in October 2026.

For a business coach validating a niche, that is enough to publish a lead magnet, run a short email sequence and sell a starter workshop. The included affiliate program is a nice extra if past clients refer others.

The ceiling arrives with your first retainer clients. An older profile notes no native 1:1 scheduling with client records, habits or check-ins, and basic community and course features without a branded mobile app. You would book calls with a separate scheduler and keep client notes elsewhere, which is manageable at three clients and messy at fifteen.

Systeme.io is a sensible place to start, but plan the move before your client list grows, so you are not migrating funnels and contacts in your busiest quarter.

Pick it over Coachful if you have no budget yet and need a zero-cost funnel, list and course while you test whether your offer sells.

10. Teachable: a mid-priced course with student apps

Teachable suits a business coach who sells one or two mid-priced courses and some downloads, and wants students to have mobile apps without paying Kajabi Pro prices. It is a long-established course and digital-product platform.

As listed in October 2026, Starter costs $39 a month ($29 annually) with 5 products and 1 admin, and carries a 7.5% platform fee. Builder is $89 a month ($69 annually) with 10 products and 0% platform fee, and Growth is $189 a month ($139 annually) with 50 products and 5 admins. Teachable Payments processing is 2.9% + 30¢ on US cards and 3.9% + 30¢ on international cards, with a $15 chargeback fee. The plan cards show a 7-day trial and a 30-day guarantee. Trustpilot showed 3.3 from 1,110 reviews in October 2026.

Student mobile apps are included, which is the main contrast with Kajabi, where the branded app sits on the $499 Pro plan. For a business coach selling a course to clients across time zones, that matters.

Coaching delivery is not covered. An older profile notes no native scheduling or calendar sync, so calls rely on Calendly or Zoom, and there are no client habits, check-ins or per-client plans. The 7.5% fee on Starter makes it a poor fit for anything high-ticket. Our Kajabi vs Teachable guide and Teachable alternatives for coaches cover the details.

Builder is the realistic starting plan for most coaches, since it removes the platform fee.

Pick it over Coachful if a course is your only product and you want student apps at a low price, with coaching calls handled through separate tools.

11. Skool: a gamified community for a group program

Skool is the right call when engagement inside a group is what you sell, for example a business-building challenge where members earn points and levels for showing up. It combines a community, a classroom and a calendar in one group.

As listed in October 2026, Hobby costs $9 a month ($7.50 annually) and Pro costs $99 a month ($82.50 annually), both with unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls. Payments run only through Skool Payments. Hobby takes 10% + 30¢ per transaction. Pro takes 2.9% + 30¢ on payments up to $899 and 3.9% + 30¢ above $900, and fees are non-refundable. The trial length was not stated on the pricing page. Trustpilot showed 1.6 from 54 reviews in October 2026.

That fee structure deserves attention from business coaches, because masterminds and annual programs are often priced above $900. On Pro, those sales fall into the higher 3.9% bracket.

Skool has no custom-domain website, no funnels, no email automation and no public API. It has no 1:1 client records, intake forms, habits or check-ins. A coach using Skool typically pairs it with a separate site, email tool and booking tool. The gamified leaderboard is the distinctive part.

The simplicity is real: one price, one group, members join and start posting. For a coach running a single group program with low admin needs, that may be enough.

Pick it over Coachful if you run one community-led group program, want gamification at its center, and do not need a website, funnels or 1:1 delivery in the same place.

12. Stan Store: selling calls and audits from your profile

Stan Store fits a business coach who sells mostly from LinkedIn or Instagram: a paid strategy call, a business audit, a template pack, linked from a profile bio. It is a link-in-bio storefront for digital products, courses, memberships and paid calls.

As listed in October 2026, Creator costs $29 a month ($25 annually) and Creator Pro costs $99 a month ($79 annually), both with unlimited products and customers. Stan takes 0% of sales; Stripe or PayPal processing applies. Email marketing, upsells, discount codes and affiliates are only on Creator Pro. A 14-day trial runs on either plan, and the first month is charged when it ends. Trustpilot showed 4.7 from 2,205 reviews in October 2026.

The appeal is speed: you can sell a paid audit from your profile the same day. For a coach whose audience lives on social media, that removes the step of building a full website first.

For a business coaching practice, the limits arrive fast. Stan has no contracts, invoices or client records and is not a CRM. There are no programs with client tasks, habits or check-ins, and no team seats are advertised. Once a call converts into a 90-day engagement, the agreement, the billing and the weekly work all happen elsewhere.

Stan can stay as a front door after you move delivery to another platform, as long as you accept running two systems.

Pick it over Coachful if nearly all your sales start on social media and you only need a quick storefront for calls and small products.

How do the features compare side by side?

Coachful is the only tool in this list that covers booking, agreements, between-session delivery, courses, community and marketing in one account. The matrix below summarizes what each vendor documents; "Not listed" means we found no mention on the pages we checked.

What does a business coaching stack cost each month?

A single Coachful plan usually costs less than a Kajabi plan plus the booking and contracts tool you would add to it. The three example stacks below use list prices as published in October 2026; they are illustrations, not quotes, and exclude payment processing.

Stack A: a solo coach with about 5 retainer clients. You sell strategy calls and a monthly retainer, with a lead magnet feeding a small list.

Stack B: a coach with about 15 clients across a 90-day program and a mastermind. You need group delivery, a course module and an email sequence.

Stack C: a practice with about 40 clients and two or three coaches. You need per-coach calendars, shared session types and staff permissions.

Two things these numbers leave out. First, transaction fees: Kajabi's 0.5% to 2% surcharge on third-party processors, Circle's 0.5% to 2% and Kartra's 5% on Essentials all scale with revenue, which matters for retainers and masterminds. Second, time: every extra tool is another login for clients, another place to update a price and another export when you move. None of the multi-tool stacks above include between-session habits and check-ins, which only the Coachful row covers.

How does a business coach set this up in Coachful?

A business coach can move from Kajabi to a working Coachful setup in a few focused sessions, or hand most of it to the white-glove team. Here is one example path for a coach selling a strategy call, a 90-day program and a monthly retainer.

1. Request the first build. From Create, choose "We'll build it for you · FREE" and ask for your website, an application funnel and a sales page for the 90-day program. Attach your current Kajabi page links and brand files. Your Kajabi contacts, members and sales can be exported as CSV files, and course content is downloaded per asset, so collect those before your Kajabi plan ends (an older profile notes Kajabi removes data 90 days after cancellation).
2. Connect your calendar and payments. Link Google, Apple/iCloud or Outlook for two-way sync, connect your Stripe or Razorpay account, and turn on Stripe Tax if it applies to you. Check tax treatment of coaching services with an accountant.
3. Create the strategy call. Set availability, buffers and minimum notice, and add intake questions such as current revenue, team size and the one problem they want solved in 90 days.
4. Write the agreement. Add your coaching agreement with scope, cancellation terms and a line stating that coaching is not legal, tax or accounting advice. It goes out for e-signature before the first call.
5. Build the 90-day program. Start from one of the more than 40 program templates or ask Michelle to draft one. Set weekly goals (for example, week 3: finalize pricing; week 6: hire first contractor), weekly check-ins and a few daily habits such as a 15-minute pipeline review.
6. Price the offers. Create the 90-day program as a one-time payment and a payment plan, and the retainer as a subscription. Add an order bump for a recorded workshop if you have one.
7. Set up the mastermind. Enrolling clients in the program creates the cohort group automatically, with a feed, group chat and scheduled group calls.
8. Turn on email. Build a lead-magnet funnel for your planning template and a multi-step sequence that ends with an invitation to book the strategy call.
9. Watch the client list weekly. Clients marked quiet or at risk are your renewal priorities; Michelle can brief you before each session.

This short walkthrough shows how funnels are built:

For more on running recurring offers after the move, see running coaching memberships without Kajabi and the Kajabi alternative overview.

What mistakes should business coaches avoid when leaving Kajabi?

The most common mistake is replacing Kajabi with a similar course platform and still running client delivery by email and spreadsheets. Other mistakes to avoid:

• Comparing plan prices but not fees. A 5% to 10% platform fee on a high-ticket mastermind can cost more each month than the plan itself. Check the fee on the plan you would actually use.
• Ignoring contact caps. Kajabi Basic caps at 2,500 contacts, Kartra Essentials at 500 and Podia's included email subscribers top out at 1,000. A good lead magnet fills those quickly.
• Leaving exports to the last week. Download contacts, sales and course assets while your Kajabi account is active, and keep a copy of every sales page you want to recreate.
• Moving everything at once. Move new clients first, then existing ones at their next renewal, so nobody's program breaks mid-quarter.
• Skipping the agreement. Retainers without signed scope invite disputes about what is included. Put the scope, the notice period and the referral line for legal and tax questions in writing.
• Choosing for the audience you hope to have. A coach with 12 clients does not need a platform built for 25,000 contacts. Pick for the next 18 months, and check the export options so you can move later.

Which Kajabi alternative is best for business coaches? Our verdict

Coachful is the best Kajabi alternative for most business coaches, because it covers the whole engagement in one login: strategy call, agreement, payment plan, weekly goals and check-ins, mastermind and marketing, with no platform fee on sales and a free white-glove build to get started. The others win in narrower situations.

• Choose GoHighLevel if you also sell marketing services and want sub-accounts for client businesses.
• Choose Kartra or ClickFunnels if marketing and launches are the main job and coaching delivery lives elsewhere.
• Choose Paperbell if you only coach 1:1 and need PayPal.
• Choose Thinkific or Teachable if a course is the product.
• Choose Circle or Skool if the community is the product.
• Choose Systeme.io, Podia or Stan Store if you are early and need to sell something this week on a small budget.

Coachful in short: a coaching platform for coaches who deliver programs and retainers, solo or with a small team. It is not a sales CRM for large teams, does not take PayPal and has no permanent free plan. To start, open a free trial and request the free white-glove build. You can also compare other options on our comparison hub.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Kajabi alternative for business coaches?

For most business coaches, Coachful, because it combines booking, agreements, payments, programs with check-ins, courses, a community, a website, funnels and email in one login. If you only sell courses, Thinkific or Teachable may fit better, and if you also run marketing for clients, GoHighLevel is worth a look.

Is Coachful cheaper than Kajabi?

Kajabi Basic is listed at $179 a month in October 2026, and most business coaches add a separate booking and contracts tool on top. Coachful's flat plans (Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients) include booking, contracts and programs in your Coachful membership, with a 0% platform fee on sales. Compare the full stack, not just the plan line.

What is Coachful's free white-glove service?

It is a build service included on every plan. You describe what you need, such as a website, a funnel, a sales page, a program outline or an email sequence, attach references and files, and the Coachful team builds it in your account, usually within about 24 hours. It does not include video recording, logo design, ads or ongoing marketing.

Can I move my Kajabi contacts and courses?

Kajabi provides CSV exports for contacts, subscriptions, sales and members, emailed to you, while course content is downloaded manually per asset. Coachful imports your clients, programs and content for you during onboarding. Export everything before you cancel Kajabi.

Do business coaches need a CRM like GoHighLevel?

Only if you run high-volume sales pipelines or sell marketing services to clients. Most business coaches need a lead list, a booking flow and a client record, which Coachful's prospects, intakes and client records cover. GoHighLevel suits coaches who need SMS and phone pipelines at scale.

Which platform is best for a business mastermind?

If the mastermind sits alongside private coaching, Coachful creates cohort groups automatically on program enrollment, with a feed, group chat and group calls. If the community is the entire product, Circle or Skool are dedicated options, though both take a fee on payments.

Can I sell retainers and payment plans without Kajabi?

Yes. Coachful supports subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps and coupons through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, with an invoice for every transaction. PayPal is not supported, so if your clients insist on PayPal, Paperbell or Kajabi accept it.

Can associate coaches work in the same account?

Yes, on team plans. Studio and Agency add coach seats with per-coach availability and staff permissions, and shared session types can assign bookings by round-robin or to the least-busy coach. See Coachful for teams.

Does Coachful replace Zoom for client calls?

It can. Sessions run on built-in video, or Coachful creates Zoom, Google Meet or Teams links automatically when a client books. Our guide to Zoom alternatives for coaches compares the options.

Does Coachful handle sales tax on coaching fees?

Coachful supports Stripe Tax and produces an invoice per transaction, plus manual invoices for custom engagements. Whether and how tax applies to coaching depends on where you and your clients are based, so check with an accountant before you turn it on.