12 Best Kajabi Alternatives for Health Coaches (2026 Guide)
The best Kajabi alternatives for health coaches are the ones that run the part Kajabi was never built for: daily habits, morning and evening check-ins, 1:1 sessions and multi-week programs that a client works through between calls. Kajabi sells courses, communities and funnels well. A health coach, though, mostly sells change in sleep, food, movement and stress, and that change happens on a Tuesday afternoon when nobody is watching. So the deciding question is simple: where will your client log their water, answer their evening check-in and see next week's goal, and how many tools does that take?
Our pick is Coachful, because it puts booking, payments, coaching agreements, programs with habits and check-ins, courses, community, a website with funnels and email into one login for you and one branded app for your client. We make Coachful, so weigh that, and read the eleven other entries below: several are the right choice for specific health coaches, especially if you need HIPAA coverage or mostly sell self-paced courses. Every price below is as listed in October 2026.
What do health coaches need from a Kajabi alternative?
Health coaches need a platform that carries a client from a first consultation through 8 to 12 weeks of daily behavior change, with accountability between sessions. Course hosting matters, but it is the supporting act, not the main product.
Look at how a typical health coaching engagement runs. A prospect books a discovery call and answers intake questions about goals, current habits and anything that might be outside your scope. They sign a coaching agreement, pay in full or on a payment plan, and start a program: perhaps a 12-week energy and sleep reset, a blood-sugar-friendly eating program built with their doctor's blessing, or a midlife strength and nutrition plan. Each week has a goal. Each day has small tasks: drink two liters of water, walk after lunch, lights out by 10:30. Mornings start with a short check-in on sleep and energy; evenings close with one on food and mood. Your session every one or two weeks reviews what the check-ins already told you.
Kajabi handles the sales page, the email list and a course library well. What our October 2026 data shows it does not do is the daily layer: there is no habit tracking and no daily client check-in, and coaching runs as products and communities rather than per-client plans. Its Basic plan, at $179 a month ($143 a month billed annually), caps you at 5 products and 2,500 contacts and includes 0 AI credits. If you take payments through a provider other than Kajabi Payments or PayPal, Kajabi adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro. Kajabi's Trustpilot score was 3.4 from 2,347 reviews when we checked in October 2026.
Four needs come up again and again for health coaches leaving Kajabi:
- Between-session delivery. Habits, daily tasks, check-ins and progress the client can see, so the program does not live in a PDF they forget about.
- Booking and intake that screen for scope. Intake questions on the booking form let you spot a client who needs a physician, registered dietitian or therapist before the first call.
- Nutrition and movement material. Meal plans, recipes and simple workouts, delivered inside the program rather than emailed as attachments.
- Group cohorts. Many health coaches run a 6-week reset for 10 to 30 people alongside 1:1 clients, so community and group calls should sit next to private programs.
A scope line every health coach should keep in view: health coaching supports behavior change; it is not diagnosis, treatment or medical nutrition therapy. Bodies such as the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching set professional standards for the field, and a coach works alongside a client's licensed clinicians, not in place of them. Refer a client to their physician, a registered dietitian or a mental health professional when you see signs of an eating disorder, unmanaged diabetes, medication questions, pregnancy complications or anything that sounds like a symptom rather than a habit. Your software should help you capture those flags at intake, not replace that judgment.
A note on privacy: HIPAA applies to covered entities (health plans, clearinghouses and health care providers who conduct certain transactions, such as insurance claims, electronically) and to their business associates. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services covered-entity guidance explains the test. Many independent health coaches who are paid directly by clients fall outside it, but if you work inside a clinic, take insurance or contract with a covered entity, check with an attorney and choose a tool that signs a business associate agreement. We flag those tools below.
If you coach outside health too, our broader Kajabi alternatives for coaches roundup covers every niche, and the Coachful for health coaches page shows the setup we recommend.
Which Kajabi alternatives fit health coaches best at a glance?
Coachful leads because it covers the full health coaching journey in one place; the next four suit coaches who mostly sell courses or community, and Practice Better is the pick for practitioners who need clinical-style records.
How we ranked: one login for the whole client journey, between-session delivery (habits, check-ins, programs), total stack cost at real client counts, and setup effort, including whether someone builds it for you.
| Rank and tool | Best for | Entry price as listed | Main limit for health coaches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Health coaches running 1:1 and group programs with daily habits and check-ins | Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients | Not HIPAA-certified; no wearable sync |
| 2. Podia | Simple storefront for a few courses, downloads and paid sessions | $49/mo ($42/mo annual), 5% fee on Mover | No habits or check-ins; small email allowances |
| 3. Systeme.io | Coaches on a tight budget who need funnels and email first | Free plan; paid from $17/mo | No 1:1 client records, habits or check-ins |
| 4. Teachable | Self-paced nutrition or wellness courses | $39/mo ($29/mo annual), 7.5% fee on Starter | No native scheduling; no client plans |
| 5. Mighty Networks | Large wellness communities with courses and events | $95/mo ($79/mo annual) plus 2% fee | No 1:1 scheduling, invoicing or private plans |
| 6. Practice Better | Practitioners who need HIPAA-style records, journals and supplement protocols | Free Sprout plan (3 clients); Starter $35/mo ($25/mo annual) | Light marketing: no website builder or funnels in its plan list |
| 7. Thinkific | Course-first coaches with large student numbers | $109/mo ($82/mo annual) | No built-in 1:1 scheduling; branded app is an add-on |
| 8. LearnWorlds | Interactive video lessons and quizzes | $29/mo ($24/mo annual) plus $5 per paid enrollment | Active-learner caps; not built for 1:1 coaching |
| 9. Kartra | Marketing-heavy coaches who want email, SMS and calendars together | $59/mo ($52/mo annual), 5% fee on Essentials | 500 contacts on entry plan; no habits or check-ins |
| 10. Circle | Polished paid communities and cohort programs | $89/mo billed annually (monthly not listed) | No 1:1 back office; 2% fee on Professional |
| 11. GoHighLevel | Coaches running an agency-style marketing CRM, or needing a HIPAA add-on | $97/mo ($80.83/mo annual) plus metered usage | No habit or program engine; HIPAA costs $297/mo extra |
| 12. Stan Store | Selling a guide or paid call from a social media bio link | $29/mo ($25/mo annual) | No client records, contracts or programs |
How did we choose these 12 tools?
We started from the jobs a health coach does every week, then checked each vendor's own pricing page and documentation for October 2026. We did not run hands-on tests; where we cite what a tool does or lacks, it comes from what the vendor publishes or what public reviewers report.
Every tool had to replace at least one major part of Kajabi: course hosting, community, funnels and email, or paid sessions. We then scored them on the four criteria in the line above the table. A tool that only replaces Kajabi's course library (Teachable, Thinkific, LearnWorlds) can still be the right answer for a health coach who sells a self-paced gut-health course to thousands of people, so those stay in the list, but they rank below tools that also cover sessions and day-to-day client work. Direct practice-management tools such as Practice Better solve the opposite problem: strong 1:1 records, lighter marketing. We left out tools that only handle email (Kit, Flodesk) because they replace a slice of Kajabi, not the platform.
Prices are the vendor's listed USD monthly rate, with the annual-billing equivalent in brackets. Transaction fees are shown because, for a coach selling a high-ticket program, a 5% platform fee can cost more than the subscription.
1. Coachful: the full health coaching journey in one login
Coachful is a coaching platform built for coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions. One subscription covers booking, payments, coaching agreements, multi-week programs with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant called Michelle. You get one login; your client gets one app with your branding. For a health coach leaving Kajabi, the biggest change is that the daily layer, the part that actually moves sleep and nutrition, is built in rather than bolted on.
Programs that live in the client's day. You build multi-week programs with a weekly goal, daily tasks and habits, plus morning and evening check-ins. Clients see goals with progress bars and streaks, so "walk 20 minutes after lunch" becomes a habit they tick off and watch grow rather than a line in a welcome PDF. More than 40 ready-to-film program templates give you a starting structure.
Check-ins are configured as coaching flows: a welcome flow, a morning check-in, an evening check-in and longer journeys. A morning check-in for a sleep program might ask about hours slept, energy on a scale and one intention; the evening one asks about meals, stress and whether the walk happened. Here is a short walkthrough of how check-ins are set up and what the client answers:
Nutrition and movement content. The Fitness & Nutrition pack adds nutrition targets up to calories and macros, meal plans, recipes, food lookup and barcode scanning, private progress photos and measurements, weekly check-ins, and a workout builder with an illustrated exercise library and client workout logging. You attach your own demo videos; Coachful does not ship stock exercise videos. Courses (modules, lessons, drip, completion tracking), downloads, books and videos are delivered into the same branded client home, so your "Reading food labels" mini-course sits next to this week's habits.
Booking, intake and agreements. Booking pages handle availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time zones, with two-way Google, Apple and Outlook calendar sync and built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams links. Intake questions on the booking form are where you screen for scope. Coaching agreements with e-signature go out before the first call and are stored on the client record, which is a good home for your "coaching is not medical care" clause (see coaching contracts). Reminders go by email, plus SMS 24 hours and WhatsApp one hour before once messaging is enabled.
Seeing who is slipping. Each client record holds goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, tags, payments and sessions, with a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk. Michelle briefs you before each session from live practice data and can summarize recorded sessions, draft emails and build programs. Questions and planning with Michelle are included in your Coachful membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits. You can also configure an AI Coach, an AI version of you that selected clients can chat with between sessions.
Groups and selling. When a client enrolls in a group program, Coachful creates the cohort group automatically, with a community feed, group chat and video events for your monthly Q&A. Payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account: one-time, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, Apple Pay and Google Pay, with Stripe Tax and an invoice per transaction. Coachful has charged a 0% platform fee since August 2026, so you pay only Stripe or Razorpay processing. The website builder has 30 designed homepage templates, a blog, custom domain and SEO settings, plus booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels and multi-step email sequences with branching.
Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. On every plan, you can go to Create, choose "We'll build it for you · FREE", describe what you want, attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files such as your logo, photos and existing copy, and the Coachful team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. That covers a website, funnel, sales page, program, course outline and written material, email sequence, lead quiz and more. Nothing is invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices; gaps are left for you to fill. A menopause and midlife health coach starting from nothing recently got a five-page site in sage and cream with every button leading to a 20-minute consultation, and a somatic coach leaving Kajabi had their homepage and About page rebuilt and contact form connected. It does not include recording videos, logo design or ad management. Read the details in our guide to the white-glove service.
What Coachful does not do. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and does not sign a BAA, so it is not for clinical record-keeping or insurance billing. It does not sync with Garmin, Fitbit, Whoop or Oura, and Apple Health sync is not publicly available, so step counts are logged by the client rather than pulled from a watch. There is no PayPal and no permanent free plan. Your client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not under your own App Store account.
How to start. Start a free trial, connect Stripe or Razorpay, and request a white-glove build of your site or first program. Clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding. 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. Monthly plans cancel in one click. For a direct feature comparison, see Coachful vs Kajabi.
2. Podia: the simplest storefront switch
Podia is a simple storefront for courses, downloads, webinars, coaching sessions and community, which makes it the least disruptive move for a health coach whose Kajabi site mostly sells a starter course and a few paid calls. The editor is plain and the product list is generous for the price.
As listed in October 2026, Mover costs $49 a month ($42 annually) with 50 products, 500 videos, 25 community spaces and only 100 email subscribers included, and it charges a 5% Podia transaction fee. Shaker at $99 a month ($84 annually) removes that fee, raises email to 500 subscribers and adds an assistant. Earthquaker at $179 a month ($150 annually) unlocks unlimited products and spaces with 1,000 email subscribers. Stripe or PayPal processing applies on top. There is a 14-day trial with no card required.
For health coaching, the gaps show up after the sale. Podia has no client habits, check-ins or per-client plans, and our older profile notes no mobile app and no native video calls. A 12-week reset would run as a drip course plus calls booked elsewhere, with accountability handled by email or a community space. The email allowances are also tight: a health coach with a 2,000-person list from a free meal-plan download would outgrow Earthquaker's included 1,000 subscribers. Our Kajabi vs Podia comparison covers the course side in more depth.
Pick it over Coachful if your business is mostly selling a handful of self-paced courses and downloads, you rarely run 1:1 programs, and you want the simplest possible storefront.
3. Systeme.io: cheapest way to keep funnels and email
Systeme.io is a low-cost marketing suite with funnels, email, courses, community, a blog and an affiliate program. For a new health coach whose Kajabi bill was mainly paying for a lead magnet funnel and a nurture sequence, it covers that job for very little.
The Free plan, as listed in October 2026, includes 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course, 500 students, a blog and one custom domain, with one automation rule and one email campaign. Startup costs $17 a month (5,000 contacts, 10 funnels, 5 courses), Webinar $47 (10,000 contacts, 50 funnels, 20 courses) and Unlimited $97. Systeme.io takes 0% transaction fees on every plan, including Free, and no card is required to sign up. Its Trustpilot score was 4.9 from 8,696 reviews when checked.
The trade-off is the coaching itself. Our older profile notes no native 1:1 scheduling with client records, no habits or check-ins, basic community and course features, and no branded mobile app. A health coach would pair it with a separate booking tool and handle daily accountability by email or messaging, which brings back the patchwork many coaches left Kajabi to escape. It works well as a top-of-funnel engine: a "7-day sugar reset" email challenge feeding a sales page.
Pick it over Coachful if you are pre-revenue, mainly need a no-cost funnel and email list today, and are comfortable running sessions and client accountability in other tools until you have paying clients.
4. Teachable: for the self-paced wellness course
Teachable is a course and digital-product platform with student mobile apps. Health coaches who package their method into a self-paced course, say an anti-inflammatory cooking course or a sleep fundamentals program, find it a cleaner, cheaper course host than Kajabi.
Plans as listed in October 2026: Starter at $39 a month ($29 annually) with 5 products and a 7.5% platform fee; Builder at $89 ($69 annually) with 10 products and 0% platform fee; Growth at $189 ($139 annually) with 50 products and 5 admins. Teachable Payments processing for US cards is 2.9% + 30¢. Plan cards show a 7-day free trial plus a 30-day guarantee.
The limit is the same one Kajabi has for health coaches, plus a few more. There is no native scheduling or calendar sync (our older profile notes coaching calls rely on Calendly or Zoom), and there are no client habits, daily check-ins or per-client plans. If a student in your course wants to upgrade to 1:1 support, that relationship moves to other tools. The Starter fee also matters: at 7.5%, a coach selling $8,000 of course sales in a month (an example figure) would pay $600 in platform fees, more than six months of Builder. See our Teachable alternatives for coaches for how coaches combine it with other tools.
Pick it over Coachful if your income comes from a self-paced course sold at volume, live coaching is a small add-on, and you want a dedicated student app for course content.
5. Mighty Networks: when the community is the product
Mighty Networks combines community, courses and events, with Mighty-branded member apps. For a health coach running a large membership, such as a year-round women's wellness circle with monthly challenges, it is a strong replacement for Kajabi's community product.
As listed in October 2026, Launch costs $95 a month ($79 annually) with 3 hosts, 200 GB storage and 20 hours a month of livestreaming for up to 100 attendees. Scale is $215 ($179 annually) with 30 livestream hours and 200 attendees, and Growth is $354 a month billed annually. Mighty also takes a platform fee on sales: 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale and 0.5% on Growth, plus Stripe processing. The 14-day trial needs no card and includes Growth features.
What it does not do is the private side of health coaching. There is no 1:1 scheduling, invoicing or contracts, and no per-client habits, check-ins or private plans. Members can share wins in a feed, but you cannot see that one client has missed four evening check-ins and is drifting. Your own branded app is only on custom-priced Mighty Pro. Our guide to coaching communities for health coaches compares it with other community tools.
Pick it over Coachful if you run a membership of hundreds of people where the group conversation, livestreams and events are the main value and 1:1 work is rare.
6. Practice Better: for HIPAA-minded practitioners
Practice Better is practice management software built for health practitioners: dietitians, nutritionists, functional medicine practitioners and health coaches. It is the most clinical tool on this list and the clearest choice when your work sits close to healthcare.
We checked its pricing page on October 25, 2026. The free Sprout plan supports 3 clients. Starter costs $35 a month ($25 annually) for 10 clients with scheduling, telehealth video chat, integrated billing, secure messaging, a client portal and note templates. Professional is $69 ($59 annually) for 300 clients and adds group scheduling, group messaging and fixed-date programs. Plus is $99 ($89 annually) for unlimited clients, 3 admin licenses, evergreen and self-paced programs, portal branding and 750 SMS reminders a month. Team is $155 ($145 annually) with 2 practitioner licenses and $50 per extra practitioner. Paid plans have a 14-day trial (30 days on Team). The page lists HIPAA, PIPEDA and GDPR compliance, daily food and lifestyle journals, nutrient, water and weight goal tracking, and integrations with Fullscript, WholeScripts and That Clean Life for supplement protocols and meal plans.
The gap is marketing. Its plan list does not include a website builder, sales funnels or multi-step email sequences, so a health coach leaving Kajabi would keep a separate site and email tool. Add-ons such as the AI Charting Assistant (from $10 a month) and the Connector Hub ($49 a month) add up. Its structure also leans toward charting and protocols, which suits licensed practitioners more than coaches who stay strictly in a behavior-change lane. Our Practice Better alternatives article covers the trade-offs in detail.
Pick it over Coachful if you are a licensed practitioner or work with a clinic, need HIPAA-grade handling of health information, or recommend supplements through Fullscript as part of your protocols.
7. Thinkific: course scale with a community attached
Thinkific is a course platform with communities, memberships and webinar products. Its pricing assumes you will have many students, which fits a health coach selling a certification-style course or a corporate wellness curriculum.
As listed in October 2026, Start costs $109 a month ($82 annually) for up to 10,000 current students, 2 admins and one community; Grow is $219 ($164 annually) with 3 communities; Expand is $499 ($374 annually). Prices rose about 10% on August 13, 2026. Thinkific charges no transaction fee with Thinkific Payments, which it describes as in line with other processors at 2.9%, but third-party gateways carry an extra per-plan fee. There is a 30-day trial on every self-serve plan.
For day-to-day health coaching it is thin. Our older profile notes there is no built-in 1:1 scheduling, so calls run through external booking links, and there are no client habits, daily check-ins or per-client plans. A branded mobile app is a $199-a-month add-on. Its Trustpilot score was 1.8 from 868 reviews when checked, which is worth reading through before you commit. More context is in our Thinkific alternatives for coaches guide.
Pick it over Coachful if you teach a large course audience, perhaps a wellness curriculum sold to employers, and need thousands of student seats more than private client programs.
8. LearnWorlds: interactive lessons and quizzes
LearnWorlds is a learning platform with a website builder, funnels, SCORM support and interactive video. Health coaches who teach detailed material, such as how to read a lab report summary with your doctor or how macronutrients work, can use its interactive video and quizzes to check understanding.
Plans as listed in October 2026 (its pricing page displays euros in our screenshot; these are the USD figures): Starter is $29 a month ($24 annually) with 1,000 active learners a month and a $5 fee per paid enrollment. Pro Trainer is $99 ($79 annually) with no LearnWorlds fee, 2,000 active learners, 15 page funnels and 2,000 mass emails a month. Learning Center is $299 ($249 annually). Stripe or PayPal gateway fees apply. A 30-day trial is available, and LearnWorlds says no card is required.
It is not built for 1:1 client management, habits or check-ins, and its branded mobile app is priced separately. The per-enrollment fee on Starter adds up quickly: 30 paid enrollments in a month (an example) costs $150 in fees on top of the plan. Its Trustpilot score was 4.8 from 423 reviews when checked, so learners and course creators tend to rate it well.
Pick it over Coachful if you mainly teach structured health education online and want interactive video, quizzes and SCORM packages rather than coaching programs.
9. Kartra: marketing-first with calendars
Kartra is an all-in-one marketing suite: pages, funnels, email and SMS, memberships, calendars and a helpdesk. It suits a health coach whose growth comes from paid ads, webinars and launch campaigns.
As listed in October 2026, Essentials costs $59 a month ($52 annually) with 500 contacts, 5 pages, one product and a 5% transaction fee. Starter at $119 ($99 annually) gives 2,500 contacts, unlimited pages, products and memberships, unlimited email and SMS, and 0% fees. Growth is $229 ($189 annually) with 12,500 contacts, and Professional is $549 ($429 annually). There is a 14-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Kartra has no client habits, check-ins or per-client coaching plans, and our older profile notes no mobile app for students or admins. Funnels and memberships are also not portable to other platforms, so leaving later means rebuilding. For a health coach, that makes Kartra strong at filling a webinar for a "beat the afternoon slump" masterclass and weak at supporting the people who join the program afterwards.
Pick it over Coachful if your business runs on ad-driven launches and SMS marketing at volume, and you are happy to deliver coaching in a separate tool.
10. Circle: polished paid communities
Circle is a community platform with courses, events, livestreams and paid memberships. Health coaches use it for cohort programs where peer support matters, like a group walking challenge or a menopause support circle.
As listed in October 2026, Professional is $89 a month billed annually with 3 admins; Business is $199 billed annually; Scale is $419 billed annually. Monthly-billing prices were not shown in our data, so we cannot verify them. Circle takes a payment fee of 2% on Professional, 1% on Business and Scale, and 0.5% on Circle Plus, plus Stripe processing. The 14-day trial needs no card.
Circle has no 1:1 scheduling or client management back office, and no per-client habits, check-ins or private coaching plans. Branded mobile apps are only on custom-priced Circle Plus. A health coach would likely run Circle alongside a booking and client tool, which means two logins for the client. Its Trustpilot score was 4.1 from 129 reviews when checked.
Pick it over Coachful if a premium, discussion-heavy community is the heart of your offer and you already have separate tools you like for sessions and payments.
11. GoHighLevel: agency CRM with a HIPAA option
GoHighLevel (HighLevel) is an agency-first marketing CRM covering funnels, websites, calendars, SMS and email, invoicing, contracts, courses and communities, organized into sub-accounts. A health coach with a team, or one who also runs marketing for a clinic, may find its breadth useful.
As listed in October 2026, Starter costs $97 a month ($80.83 annually) with 3 sub-accounts and unlimited users and contacts; Unlimited is $297 ($247.50 annually); Agency Pro is $497 ($414.17 annually). SMS, email, phone and AI usage are metered and billed on top. HighLevel takes no platform fee on sales. HIPAA support is a $297-a-month add-on, not included on Starter, Unlimited or Agency Pro. There is a 14-day trial, and billing starts automatically when it ends.
There is no habit tracking, no client check-ins and no structured coaching program or task engine, so you would simulate them with workflows and forms. There are no built-in video rooms either, only Zoom and Google Meet links. The learning curve is steep for a solo coach. Our GoHighLevel alternatives for coaches article covers who it suits.
Pick it over Coachful if you run a marketing agency or a multi-location wellness business, need sub-accounts and heavy SMS automation, or must have HIPAA coverage and accept the add-on cost.
12. Stan Store: selling from your bio link
Stan Store is a link-in-bio storefront for digital products, courses, memberships and paid calls. Health coaches who grow on Instagram or TikTok use it to sell a meal-prep guide or a 30-minute strategy call straight from their profile.
As listed in October 2026, Creator costs $29 a month ($25 annually) with unlimited products and customers in one store. Creator Pro at $99 ($79 annually) adds email marketing, upsells, discount codes and affiliates. Stan takes no fee on sales; Stripe or PayPal processing applies. There is a 14-day trial, and the first month is charged when it ends.
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 someone buys your 1:1 package, everything that makes health coaching work happens elsewhere. It is a good front door, not a house. Its Trustpilot score was 4.7 from 2,205 reviews when checked.
Pick it over Coachful if you sell low-priced digital products to a social audience and do not yet run structured client programs.
How do the features compare for health coaching?
Only Coachful combines booking, habits and daily check-ins, courses, community and funnels in one place; Practice Better comes closest on client work but not on marketing. Kajabi is included as a reference row.
| Tool | 1:1 booking | Habits and daily check-ins | Courses | Community | Funnels and email | Client app | Platform fee on entry plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Yes, with 2-way calendar sync | Yes | Yes | Yes, plus auto cohorts | Yes | Your branding inside the Coachful app | 0% |
| Kajabi (reference) | Not listed | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Branded app on Pro | 0% extra with Kajabi Payments; 2% with other providers on Basic |
| Podia | Sells sessions; no native video calls | No | Yes | Yes | Yes, small email caps | No mobile app | 5% on Mover |
| Systeme.io | No native 1:1 booking | No | Yes, basic | Yes, basic | Yes | No branded app | 0% |
| Teachable | No native scheduling | No | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Student apps | 7.5% on Starter |
| Mighty Networks | No | No | Yes | Yes | Not listed | Mighty-branded; own app on Mighty Pro | 2% on Launch |
| Practice Better | Yes, with telehealth | Food and lifestyle journals, goal tracking | Programs and courses | Group messaging (Professional and up) | Broadcasts on Plus; no funnels listed | Web portal and mobile app | Not listed |
| Thinkific | No built-in 1:1 scheduling | No | Yes | Yes | Not listed | $199/mo add-on | 0% with Thinkific Payments |
| LearnWorlds | No | No | Yes, interactive | Not listed | Funnels and mass email on Pro Trainer | Paid add-on | $5 per paid enrollment on Starter |
| Kartra | Calendars | No | Memberships | Not listed | Yes, plus SMS | No mobile app | 5% on Essentials |
| Circle | No | No | Yes | Yes | Not listed | Branded on Circle Plus only | 2% on Professional |
| GoHighLevel | Calendars, Zoom or Meet links | No (workflows only) | Yes | Yes | Yes, metered | Not listed | None; usage metered |
| Stan Store | Paid calls | No | Yes | Not listed | Email on Creator Pro | Not listed | 0% |
"Not listed" means the item was not in the vendor data we verified for October 2026, not that the feature definitely does not exist. Check the vendor's own documentation before deciding on that point.
What does each option cost at 5, 15 and 40 clients?
For most course and community tools, client count barely changes the bill; what changes is how many other tools you must add for booking and daily accountability. Coachful's lower plans cap clients, so its price is shown for each count.
| Tool | 5 clients | 15 clients | 40 clients | What you still need to add |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients | Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients | Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients | Nothing for the core journey; only Stripe or Razorpay processing |
| Kajabi Basic | $179/mo | $179/mo | $179/mo | Habit and check-in tool; 2% extra on non-Kajabi processors |
| Podia Shaker | $99/mo | $99/mo | $99/mo | Booking, video calls, habit tracking |
| Systeme.io Startup | $17/mo (or Free) | $17/mo | $17/mo | Booking, client records, habit tracking |
| Teachable Builder | $89/mo | $89/mo | $89/mo | Scheduling, client plans, check-ins |
| Mighty Networks Launch | $95/mo + 2% | $95/mo + 2% | $95/mo + 2% | Booking, invoicing, private plans |
| Practice Better | $35/mo (Starter) | $69/mo (Professional) | $69/mo (Professional) | Website, funnels, email sequences |
| Thinkific Start | $109/mo | $109/mo | $109/mo | Scheduling, check-ins, app add-on if wanted |
| LearnWorlds Pro Trainer | $99/mo | $99/mo | $99/mo | Booking, client management, check-ins |
| Kartra Starter | $119/mo | $119/mo | $119/mo | Habit tracking, client programs |
| Circle Professional | $89/mo billed annually + 2% | $89/mo billed annually + 2% | $89/mo billed annually + 2% | Booking, client records, check-ins |
| GoHighLevel Starter | $97/mo + usage | $97/mo + usage | $97/mo + usage | Program and habit engine; $297/mo for HIPAA |
| Stan Store Creator Pro | $99/mo | $99/mo | $99/mo | Client records, contracts, programs |
Monthly-billing prices as listed in October 2026, before payment processing. The "still need to add" column is the honest cost: a separate scheduling app, a habit tracker and a messaging tool each carry their own subscription and their own login for your client.
How would a health coach set this up in Coachful, step by step?
Here is an example setup for a health coach moving a 12-week "Energy and Sleep Reset" program off Kajabi, with 1:1 clients and a quarterly group cohort. The program name and structure are illustrative; adapt them to your method.
- Export from Kajabi before you cancel. Kajabi provides CSV exports for contacts, subscriptions, sales and members by email, while course content is downloaded manually per asset. Our older profile notes data is removed 90 days after cancellation, so export first. Coachful imports your clients, programs and content for you during onboarding.
- Request the website and funnel. From Create, choose the white-glove build and describe your site: a calm homepage, an About page with your credentials as they really are, a "Work with me" page and a lead magnet such as a sleep wind-down checklist. Attach your logo, photos and current copy. A wellness template like Sanctuary is a good reference.
- Connect payments. Link your Stripe Connect or Razorpay account and create the offer: pay in full, or a three-part payment plan, with an optional order bump for a recipe guide.
- Set up the discovery call. Create a booking page with buffers and minimum notice, sync your calendar, and add intake questions that screen for scope: current diagnoses, medications, whether their doctor knows they are making changes, and any history of disordered eating. A yes to some of these means a referral conversation, not a sale.
- Send the agreement. Add a coaching agreement with e-signature that states coaching is not medical advice or treatment, what you will and will not do, and when you will refer. It goes out before the first call and is stored on the client record.
- Build the 12 weeks. Give each week a goal (week 1: consistent wake time; week 4: protein at breakfast; week 8: a wind-down routine), daily tasks and three or four habits. Michelle can draft the structure for you to edit.
- Add check-ins. A morning check-in for sleep hours and energy, an evening one for meals, stress and movement, and a weekly reflection. Answers land on the client record, which also shows whether each client is thriving, active, quiet or at risk.
- Attach nutrition content. With the Fitness & Nutrition pack, add meal plans and recipes for the protein weeks, and let clients use food lookup or barcode scanning if you set nutrition targets. Keep targets general and within your scope; calorie prescriptions for medical conditions belong with a dietitian.
- Open the cohort. Enroll group clients in the program and Coachful creates the cohort group automatically. Schedule a fortnightly group call and post a weekly prompt in the community feed.
- Write the follow-up emails. Build a sequence for people who download the lead magnet but have not booked, with a branch for those who opened the sleep tips email.
- Review weekly. Before each session, read Michelle's briefing on the client's check-ins and habits, then use the call for the hard conversations rather than collecting data.
For more on what the client sees between sessions, read client accountability portals for health coaches and scheduling software for health coaches.
What mistakes should health coaches avoid when leaving Kajabi?
The costly mistakes are rebuilding the same course-first setup somewhere cheaper, and ignoring scope and privacy while you move.
- Moving the course and forgetting the client. If your clients struggled to stay consistent on Kajabi, a cheaper course host will not fix that. Choose a tool with habits and check-ins, or plan exactly where daily accountability will live.
- Cancelling before exporting. Pull every CSV and download your course videos first; Kajabi course content comes out asset by asset.
- Underestimating transaction fees. A 5% to 7.5% platform fee on an entry plan can cost more than a higher tier on a few high-ticket program sales. Do the maths on your real monthly revenue.
- Guessing about HIPAA. Do not assume you need it, and do not assume you do not. Check whether you are a covered entity or business associate, and ask an attorney if you are unsure. If you do need it, pick a tool that signs a BAA.
- Storing clinical notes in a coaching tool. Keep session notes about habits, goals and progress. Lab results and diagnoses belong with the client's clinician.
- Prescribing instead of coaching. Meal plans and nutrition targets are useful structure; specific therapeutic diets for medical conditions are outside a health coach's scope in most places. See our list of mistakes new health coaches make.
- Giving clients three logins. Every extra app (course host, booking tool, habit tracker, chat group) is a place a client can drift away from. Count the logins before you count the savings.
Which Kajabi alternative should a health coach choose?
Choose Coachful if you coach people through multi-week programs and want booking, payments, agreements, daily habits and check-ins, courses, community, website, funnels and email in one login, with a team that will build your site or first program for you. It is the only tool here that covers both Kajabi's marketing side and the daily client work health coaching depends on.
Choose Practice Better if you are a licensed practitioner or need HIPAA-grade handling and supplement protocols, and you are happy to keep marketing elsewhere. Choose Teachable, Thinkific or LearnWorlds if your income is a self-paced course sold at volume. Choose Mighty Networks or Circle if a large community is the product. Choose Systeme.io or Stan Store if you are just starting and need a low-cost funnel or bio-link shop. Choose Kartra or GoHighLevel if heavy launch marketing and SMS are what drive your business.
Coachful in one paragraph: a coaching platform for coaches who deliver programs, from solo coaches to small teams replacing four to six tools. It does not handle clinical records, insurance billing or wearable sync. Start with a free trial, then ask the team to build your site, funnel or first program through the white-glove service. 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.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Kajabi alternative for health coaches?
For most health coaches running 1:1 or group programs, Coachful is the strongest fit because it adds habits, daily check-ins and per-client programs to the course, community, funnel and email tools Kajabi offers. If you need HIPAA coverage, Practice Better is the better choice. If you only sell a self-paced course, Teachable or Thinkific may be enough.
Is Coachful HIPAA compliant?
No. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and does not sign a business associate agreement, so it is not for clinical record-keeping or insurance billing. Many independent health coaches paid directly by clients are not covered entities under HIPAA, but if you work with a clinic or bill insurance, check with an attorney and use a tool that signs a BAA.
Can I move my Kajabi courses and contacts to Coachful?
Yes. Kajabi lets you export contacts, subscriptions, sales and members as CSV files, and course content is downloaded asset by asset. During onboarding, Coachful imports your clients, programs and content for you. Export everything before cancelling Kajabi.
What is Coachful's free white-glove service?
On every plan, you can ask the Coachful team to build a website, funnel, sales page, program, course outline, email sequence and more inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. You describe it and attach up to 8 reference links and 10 files. The team invents nothing, such as testimonials or credentials, and does not record videos, design logos or run ads.
Can my clients log meals, habits and progress in Coachful?
Yes. Clients track habits and daily tasks, answer morning and evening check-ins, and see goals with progress bars and streaks. The Fitness & Nutrition pack adds meal plans, recipes, food lookup, barcode scanning, nutrition targets, progress photos and measurements. Coachful does not sync with Garmin, Fitbit, Whoop or Oura, and Apple Health sync is not publicly available.
Which Kajabi alternative is cheapest for a new health coach?
Systeme.io has a free plan with 2,000 contacts and one course, and Practice Better's free Sprout plan supports 3 clients. Both leave gaps: Systeme.io has no 1:1 client records or habit tracking, and Practice Better has no website builder or funnels in its plan list. Count the extra tools you will need before comparing headline prices.
Do I need a course platform at all as a health coach?
Often not as a separate tool. Most health coaching value comes from structured programs and accountability, with short lessons supporting each week. A platform that delivers lessons inside the program, such as Coachful's courses and downloads, usually serves clients better than a standalone course library.
Can I run group health programs and 1:1 clients in the same tool?
In Coachful, yes: enrolling clients in a group program creates a cohort group automatically, with a community feed, group chat and video events, while 1:1 clients keep private programs. Community tools such as Circle and Mighty Networks handle groups well but have no 1:1 scheduling or private plans.
Does Coachful take a percentage of my sales?
No. Since August 2026, Coachful charges a 0% platform fee; you pay only your Stripe or Razorpay processing fees. By comparison, several tools in this list charge 2% to 7.5% on their entry plans.
