Kajabi vs Kartra: Which Fits a Coaching Business in 2026?
Kajabi vs Kartra comes down to what you sell. Kajabi is the better fit if your coaching business runs on courses, a paid community and a polished branded storefront, and you can carry a plan that starts at $179 a month. Kartra is the better fit if you think like a marketer and want funnels, email, SMS, calendars and a helpdesk in one account at a lower entry price, starting at $119 a month once you need more than 500 contacts. Neither one gives a 1:1 or program client daily habits, check-ins and a personal coaching plan, which is where a coaching platform such as Coachful comes in.
This guide compares the two on the things coaches actually pay for: plan prices and contact caps as listed in October 2026, transaction fees, courses, community, funnels, email, booking and the experience your clients have between sessions. We make Coachful, so we also say plainly where it beats both and where it does not.
Kajabi vs Kartra: what is the short answer by use case?
Pick Kajabi for a course-and-community business with a brand you want to look premium; pick Kartra for a funnel-heavy marketing business on a tighter budget. If most of your income comes from 1:1 clients or multi-week programs, both are a stretch, and you should weigh a coaching platform alongside them.
- You sell a signature course and a paid community: Kajabi. Its plans are built around products, communities, a website and unlimited marketing emails, and its comparison table places the branded mobile app on Pro.
- You run launches, webinars and email or SMS follow-up: Kartra. Starter adds unlimited email and SMS, video hosting and calendars, with a 0% Kartra fee on your sales.
- You are just starting and have a small list: Kartra Essentials is the cheapest door ($59 a month), but it caps you at 500 contacts, 5 pages and 1 product, and it takes a 5% transaction fee. Most coaches outgrow it quickly.
- You coach 1:1 clients or run cohort programs with daily accountability: neither vendor documents per-client habits, check-ins or coaching plans. Coachful is built for that. See what coaching software covers.
One more practical difference: Kajabi has far more public reviews. On Trustpilot in October 2026, Kajabi showed 3.4 from 2,347 reviews and Kartra 3.2 from 129 reviews. Neither score is high, so read recent reviews about support and billing before you commit.
How do Kajabi and Kartra compare side by side?
Kajabi is a course, community, website, funnel and email platform for selling knowledge products. Kartra is an all-in-one marketing suite with pages, funnels, email and SMS, memberships, calendars and a helpdesk. The table below ranks the options for a coaching business on four criteria.
How we ranked: one login for the whole client journey, between-session delivery for clients, total stack cost, and setup effort (including whether someone will build it for you).
| Platform | Best for | Entry price | Fee on your sales | Client habits and check-ins | Booking | Client app |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Coaches who deliver programs, 1:1 work, courses and community from one login | Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients | 0% platform fee; only Stripe or Razorpay processing | Yes: habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals, streaks | Yes, with two-way Google, Apple and Outlook sync | Branded app inside the Coachful app |
| Kajabi | Course creators and paid communities with a premium brand | $179/mo (Basic), $143/mo billed annually | Kajabi Payments 2.7% to 2.9% + $0.30 (US); extra 0.5% to 2% on other providers except PayPal | Not documented | Coaching sold as a product, not a per-client plan | Branded app on Pro per the comparison table |
| Kartra | Marketers running funnels, email and SMS campaigns | $59/mo (Essentials), $52/mo billed annually | 5% on Essentials; 0% on Starter and Growth | Not documented | Calendars from Starter | No mobile app for students or admins (September 2026 profile) |
Kajabi's pitch is ownership of a knowledge business: courses, a community, a website and email in one place. Its plans scale by number of products, contacts, communities, websites and admin users. If you want a deeper look, read our Kajabi review.
Kartra's pitch is marketing horsepower: funnel mapping, campaigns, checkouts, analytics and, on higher plans, funnel simulation, affiliates, surveys, quizzes and a helpdesk. Our Kartra review goes through each module.
Which is cheaper, Kajabi or Kartra?
Kartra is cheaper at every comparable tier until the top one, where Kartra Professional ($549 a month) costs more than Kajabi Pro ($499 a month). The real comparison for most coaches is Kajabi Basic at $179 against Kartra Starter at $119, because Kartra's $59 Essentials plan is limited to 500 contacts and one product.
Here is every plan as listed on each vendor's pricing page in October 2026.
| Plan | Monthly | Billed annually (per month) | Main limits | Platform fee on your sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coachful | Lowest plan: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients | Monthly plans cancel in one click. Unlimited clients: Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients | Flat monthly plans; lower plans cap clients, Pro is unlimited; team plans add coach seats | 0% |
| Kajabi Basic | $179 | $143 | 5 products, 2,500 contacts, 1 community, 1 website, 2 admin users, 0 AI credits | None with Kajabi Payments (2.9% + $0.30 processing); +2% on other providers |
| Kajabi Growth | $249 | $199 | 50 products, 25,000 contacts, 1 community, 1 website, 11 admin users, 500 AI credits | None with Kajabi Payments (2.8% + $0.30); +1% on other providers |
| Kajabi Pro | $499 | $399 | Unlimited products, 100,000 contacts, 3 communities, 3 websites, 26 admin users, 1,000 AI credits | None with Kajabi Payments (2.7% + $0.30); +0.5% on other providers |
| Kartra Essentials | $59 | $52 | 500 contacts, 5 pages, 1 product, 1 membership, 10,000 emails a month, 1 domain, 30 AI uses | 5% |
| Kartra Starter | $119 | $99 | 2,500 contacts, unlimited pages, products and memberships, unlimited email and SMS, 1 domain, 100 AI uses, 5 team members | 0% |
| Kartra Growth | $229 | $189 | 12,500 contacts, 3 domains, 250 AI uses, 10 team members | 0% |
| Kartra Professional | $549 | $429 | 25,000 contacts, 5 domains | Not stated on the page |
A few pricing details matter more than the headline numbers:
- Contact overages work differently. Kajabi sells extra contacts at $125 a month per 25,000. Kartra's page says that going over your lead limit upgrades you automatically to the next plan, with a mid-cycle reconciliation fee, and that there are no add-ons to buy more capacity.
- Kajabi charges extra for third-party payment providers. Kajabi Payments in the US costs 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro. If you use another provider (PayPal excepted), Kajabi adds 2%, 1% or 0.5% on top of that provider's fees, depending on the plan.
- Kartra's entry plan takes a cut. Essentials charges 5% on every sale. On $3,000 a month of coaching revenue (an example figure), that is $150 a month, which closes most of the gap to Starter.
- Annual billing saves real money on both. Kajabi's annual prices are about 20% lower; Kartra says annual saves up to 22%.
- AI allowances differ. Kajabi Basic includes 0 AI credits (Growth 500, Pro 1,000), with a top-up listed at $15 for 500 credits and marked as coming. Kartra lists 30, 100 and 250 AI uses on its first three plans.
For the full breakdown of each vendor, see our guides to Kajabi pricing and Kartra pricing.
What does a year actually cost? A worked example
Take an example coach with 1,500 contacts and 20 clients paying $300 a month, so $6,000 a month in sales. These are illustrative numbers, not a benchmark.
- Kajabi Basic, monthly: $179 for the plan, plus Kajabi Payments at 2.9% + $0.30 per charge, about $180 a month on those 20 payments. Roughly $359 a month before any other tools.
- Kartra Starter, monthly: $119 for the plan, 0% Kartra fee, plus your payment processor's own fees, which Kartra does not set.
- Kartra Essentials: not an option here. At 1,500 contacts you would pass the 500-contact cap, and the page says Kartra would upgrade you automatically.
Then add what neither covers for this coach: e-signed coaching agreements, client habits and check-ins, and a private client space per person. Most coaches bolt on a booking tool, a contract tool and a client portal, which is where the real cost of either stack grows.
How do courses and memberships compare?
Kajabi is the stronger course platform for most coaches, because courses are the center of its product and every plan includes them; Kartra includes memberships too, but Essentials allows only one. Your choice here depends on how many products you plan to sell.
Kajabi's plans cap products at 5 (Basic), 50 (Growth) and unlimited (Pro). A course, a community and a coaching offer can each count as a product, so a coach with a flagship course, a mini course, a membership and two coaching packages fills Basic on day one. Kajabi's coach notes from our research describe coaching on Kajabi as products and communities rather than per-client plans.
Kartra's memberships are capped at one on Essentials and unlimited from Starter, with video hosting included from Starter. Our September 2026 profile notes that Kartra memberships are not portable: if you leave, you rebuild them elsewhere. Kajabi's export is better documented: CSV exports for contacts, subscriptions, sales and members, while course content has to be downloaded asset by asset (September 2026 profile).
For audio-first programs, our guide to delivering audio courses without Kajabi covers the setup in detail.
Coachful includes courses too: modules, lessons, drip, completion tracking, downloads, videos, books, AI tools, events and bundles, all delivered into the client's branded home and app. It also comes with 48 course templates with quizzes. If courses are your whole business and you never coach anyone 1:1, Kajabi's depth may suit you better. If courses support your coaching, see our course platform for coaches.
Which has better funnels and email marketing?
Kartra has the deeper funnel and campaign toolkit; Kajabi has simpler, unlimited funnels and marketing emails on every plan. If you run frequent launches with SMS follow-up, Kartra fits more naturally.
Kajabi's pricing page lists unlimited funnels, landing pages and marketing emails from Basic, with automation and affiliate features on Growth. Contact caps (2,500 on Basic) are the main constraint, not email volume.
Kartra's Essentials plan includes forms, a funnel mapper, analytics, checkouts and 100 pre-built campaigns, but limits you to 10,000 emails a month and 5 pages. Starter lifts that to unlimited pages, email and SMS. Growth adds funnel simulation, automations, affiliates, surveys and quizzes, and a helpdesk. Professional adds real-time funnel analytics and helpdesk live chat. Our September 2026 profile notes Kartra funnels are not portable to other platforms.
If funnels and email are your main reason to switch, our article on Coachful vs Kajabi for coaching funnels and email goes deeper, and ClickFunnels vs Kajabi covers another funnel-first option.
Coachful's funnels are built around coaching outcomes: booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels with pixels and UTM tracking, plus about 25 funnel templates. Its email covers lists, broadcasts and multi-step sequences with triggers, delays, branching and A/B splits. Its broadcasts are email; SMS in Coachful is used for session reminders once messaging is enabled.
How do websites and branding compare?
Both include a website builder and custom domain; Kajabi gives you more room to run several brands on Pro, and Kartra lets you connect more domains as you move up. For a single coaching brand, either is enough.
Kajabi includes 1 website on Basic and Growth and 3 on Pro, with Pro adding full customization and multiple brands. Kartra includes 1 domain on Essentials and Starter, 3 on Growth and 5 on Professional, but Essentials limits you to 5 pages.
Coachful includes a section-based website builder with a blog, custom domain, SEO settings, 30 designed homepage templates and an Import website option, plus a link-in-bio page that sells. If you are leaving Kajabi or another builder, our guide on moving a coaching website off Kajabi, Wix or Squarespace walks through the steps.
Which is better for booking sessions and running 1:1 clients?
Kartra, by a small margin, because it lists calendars from Starter; Kajabi treats coaching as a product you sell rather than a calendar and client record you manage. Neither documents per-client goals, habits or check-ins.
This is the gap most coaches feel after a few months on either platform. A course platform tracks who bought what and who finished which lesson. A coaching business needs to know who booked, who signed the agreement, who skipped this week's check-in and who is quietly drifting away. Kajabi and Kartra are not built around that client record.
Coachful's booking pages handle availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection, with two-way Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook calendar sync. Sessions get built-in video or an auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams link, plus email reminders, and SMS (24 hours before) and WhatsApp (1 hour before) once messaging is enabled. You can sell paid sessions and session credits, ask intake questions on booking, and send a coaching agreement with e-signature before the first call.
Every client then has one record: goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, tags, payments, sessions and an AI briefing, with a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk. That status is what tells you who needs a message this week. More on this in our guide to scheduling software for coaches.
What is the client experience like on each?
On Kajabi, clients get a course and community portal, plus a branded mobile app if you are on Pro. On Kartra, clients get a membership portal in the browser, and our September 2026 profile notes no mobile app for students or admins. On both, the experience is content-first: clients consume what you publish rather than work through a personal plan.
That works well for self-paced learners. It works less well for clients paying for accountability, where the value is in the daily and weekly rhythm between calls. Neither vendor's documentation describes morning check-ins, habit streaks, goals with progress bars or weekly tasks tied to a client's own program.
In Coachful, a client opens one branded home and app that holds their next session, their program for this week, their habits, their goals with progress bars, their check-ins and their documents. Multi-week programs carry weekly goals, daily tasks, habits and morning and evening check-ins. Group programs create cohort groups automatically on enrollment, and the community feed, group chat, direct messages and video events sit in the same place.
Here is a short walkthrough of how a client journey is set up in Coachful:
If you run memberships or group programs on Kajabi today, our guides to running coaching memberships without Kajabi and running coaching programs without Kartra show how the client journey changes. For groups specifically, see group coaching software.
How do community, team seats, AI and support compare?
Kajabi is stronger on community and team size; Kartra is stronger on built-in customer support tools. Both include AI, with small allowances on entry plans.
- Community: Kajabi includes 1 community on Basic and Growth and 3 on Pro. Kartra's pricing page does not list a community module in the plan limits we recorded. For a deeper community comparison, see Kajabi vs Circle and Kajabi vs Skool.
- Team: Kajabi allows 2, 11 and 26 admin users. Kartra lists 5 team members on Starter and 10 on Growth.
- Helpdesk: Kartra includes a helpdesk from Growth and live chat on Professional. Kajabi lists dedicated support on Pro.
- AI: Kajabi 0, 500 and 1,000 AI credits; Kartra 30, 100 and 250 AI uses.
- Trials and guarantees: Kajabi's help center lists a 14-day trial with a card optional; if you enter one, Kajabi places an authorization hold and charges when the trial ends, and some features (bulk contact import, test emails, some automations) stay locked until you activate a paid plan. Kartra offers a 14-day free trial on any plan. Both list a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Coachful's AI assistant, Michelle, works from your live practice data: it builds programs, drafts emails and content, summarizes recorded sessions, briefs you before sessions and can give optional private feedback on your own coaching against ICF Core Competencies 3 to 8. Questions and planning are included in the membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits. Coachful also tracks coaching hours and distinct clients against ACC, PCC and MCC thresholds and exports an ICF client coaching log, which matters if you are working toward a credential from the International Coaching Federation. See ICF hour tracking and the AI coaching assistant.
Which should you pick, Kajabi or Kartra?
Choose Kajabi if courses and community are your main product and you will use the room on Basic or Growth; choose Kartra if launches, email and SMS campaigns drive your income and you want 0% fees from Starter. If you coach clients through programs, look at Coachful first.
| Platform | Pick it if | Skip it if |
|---|---|---|
| Coachful | You coach 1:1 or in groups, deliver multi-week programs, and want booking, payments, agreements, courses, community, website, funnels and email in one login with a branded client app | You need HIPAA, PayPal, wearable sync, a course marketplace or a Salesforce or HubSpot integration |
| Kajabi | You sell courses and a paid community, want a branded app (Pro) and unlimited marketing emails, and can afford $179 a month or more | You need per-client habits and check-ins, or you want to use a payment provider other than Kajabi Payments without an extra 0.5% to 2% |
| Kartra | You run funnel-heavy launches with email and SMS, want a helpdesk, and prefer a lower entry price with 0% fees from Starter | You need a mobile app for clients, portable funnels and memberships, or flexible contact overages |
By coach type:
- New coach with a small list: Kartra Essentials looks cheapest, but the 500-contact cap and 5% fee usually push you to Starter within months. A coaching platform with a free white-glove build gets you live faster; see our page for new coaches.
- Course creator who coaches on the side: Kajabi Basic or Growth.
- Launch-driven business coach: Kartra Starter or Growth.
- Life, health or mindset coach running 12-week programs: neither fits the daily rhythm well; Coachful does.
- Coach with a small team: Kajabi Growth's 11 admin users or Kartra Growth's 10 team members; Coachful's team plans add coach seats with per-coach availability and staff permissions (for teams).
Is there a third option that beats both for coaches?
Yes, if you coach people rather than only sell content. Coachful covers the course, community, website, funnel and email jobs that Kajabi and Kartra do, and adds the client side neither documents: booking with calendar sync, agreements, per-client programs, habits and check-ins, all in one branded client app.
What Coachful is. Coachful is a coaching platform. One subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant, with one login for the coach and one branded app for the client. It is built for coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions; solo coaches growing into a small team; and coaches replacing 4 to 6 tools. The company is based in Tallinn, Estonia, and shows 4.5 on Trustpilot from 21 reviews.
Where it beats both.
- One login for the whole client journey: lead, booking, agreement, payment, program, check-ins, course, community and renewal on one client record.
- Between-session delivery: weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, streaks and an optional AI Coach that selected clients can chat with between sessions.
- Total stack cost: flat monthly 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), and a 0% platform fee since August 2026, with payments through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account. Subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, refunds, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Stripe Tax are included in your Coachful membership.
- Setup effort: more than 40 ready-to-film program templates, 48 course templates, about 25 funnel templates, and clients, programs and content imported for you during onboarding.
Where it does not. 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 take PayPal and has no permanent free plan. The client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not under your own App Store account. There is no Garmin, Fitbit, Whoop or Oura sync, no multi-stage sales deal board for large teams, no Salesforce or HubSpot integration, no course marketplace and no third-party plugins. If you run a pure course business with no coaching, Kajabi may suit you better; if your income runs on launch funnels with SMS campaigns, Kartra may.
Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. On every plan, you can open Create > We'll build it for you · FREE, describe what you want (a website, funnel, sales page, program, course outline, email sequence, lead quiz, webinar or automation), and attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files such as logos, photos, brand guides and copy. 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. It does not include recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing.
Recent builds show the range. A somatic coach leaving Kajabi had the homepage and About page rebuilt and the contact form connected. A real-estate and money coach got a year-long cohort program with an application form, an eight-page site and a free nine-day bootcamp funnel. A business mentor for beauty professionals got a 12-week mentorship sales page, a free start-up-guide funnel and rewritten follow-up emails. Read more about the free white-glove service.
How to start. Start a free trial, request the free white-glove build for your website or first program, and connect Stripe or Razorpay. If you are coming from Kajabi, our Coachful vs Kajabi comparison and Kajabi alternative page list what moves over; from Kartra, see our Kartra alternatives. For a wider field, read our ranking of Kajabi alternatives for coaches.
What should you check before you switch?
Check what you can export and what you will have to rebuild, because neither platform makes leaving painless. Contacts move easily; courses, memberships and funnels usually do not.
- Export contacts with tags. Kajabi emails CSV exports for contacts, subscriptions, sales and members. Kartra exports contacts to CSV with fields, lists and tags (September 2026 profile).
- Save course content. On Kajabi, course content is downloaded manually per asset, and our September 2026 profile notes data is removed 90 days after cancellation. On Kartra, memberships must be rebuilt.
- List your live funnels. Kartra pages and funnels export only as Kartra elements, so plan to rebuild them.
- Move active subscriptions with care. Recurring payments tied to a vendor's payment system may need clients to re-enter card details on the new platform.
- Time the cancellation. Both list a 30-day money-back guarantee; check the terms before you rely on it.
FAQ
Is Kajabi or Kartra better for coaches?
Kajabi is better for coaches whose business is mainly courses and a paid community. Kartra is better for coaches who rely on funnels, launches and email or SMS campaigns. Neither documents per-client habits, check-ins or coaching plans, so coaches who run 1:1 or program work often look at a coaching platform instead.
Which is cheaper, Kajabi or Kartra?
Kartra is cheaper at entry: $59 a month for Essentials against $179 for Kajabi Basic, as listed in October 2026. But Essentials caps you at 500 contacts and charges 5% on sales, so the fairer comparison is Kartra Starter at $119 a month. At the top, Kartra Professional ($549) costs more than Kajabi Pro ($499).
Does Kajabi or Kartra charge transaction fees?
Kartra charges 5% on Essentials and 0% on Starter and Growth; Professional's fee is not stated on the page. Kajabi charges no extra fee when you use Kajabi Payments or PayPal, but adds 2%, 1% or 0.5% (Basic, Growth, Pro) when you use another provider, on top of that provider's fees.
Do Kajabi and Kartra have mobile apps?
Kajabi's pricing comparison table places the branded mobile app on Pro. Our September 2026 profile notes Kartra has no mobile app for students or admins. Coachful gives clients a branded app inside the Coachful app.
What happens if I go over my contact limit?
Kajabi sells extra contacts at $125 a month per 25,000. Kartra's pricing page says it upgrades you automatically to the next plan with a mid-cycle reconciliation fee, and it does not sell capacity add-ons.
Do Kajabi and Kartra offer free trials?
Kajabi's help center lists a 14-day trial with a card optional; if you add a card, Kajabi places an authorization hold and charges when the trial ends. Kartra lists a 14-day free trial on any plan. Both list a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Can I book 1:1 sessions on Kajabi or Kartra?
Kartra lists calendars from its Starter plan. Kajabi sells coaching as a product rather than a per-client calendar and record. If booking, agreements and client records are central to your work, a coaching platform such as Coachful handles them in one place with two-way calendar sync.
What is Coachful's free white-glove service?
On every Coachful plan, you can ask the team to build a website, funnel, sales page, program, course outline, email sequence or other asset inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. You attach up to 8 reference links and 10 files, and nothing is invented: gaps are left for you. It does not include videos, logo design, ads or ongoing marketing.
Is Coachful HIPAA-compliant?
No. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and does not sign a BAA, so it is not for clinical record-keeping or insurance billing. Coaching is not treatment; if a client needs medical or mental health care, refer them to a licensed professional.
Can I move from Kajabi or Kartra to Coachful?
Yes. Clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding, and the free white-glove service can rebuild your website or funnels. Export your contacts and course files before you cancel, since Kajabi course content is downloaded asset by asset and Kartra memberships must be rebuilt.
