LearnWorlds vs Kajabi: Which Should Coaches Pick in 2026?

In the learnworlds vs kajabi decision, LearnWorlds is the better pick if your business is mainly courses: it is cheaper to start, goes deeper on teaching tools such as interactive video, certificates and SCORM, and drops its own transaction fee from the Pro Trainer plan up. Kajabi is the better pick if you sell several knowledge products to a growing email list and want funnels, email and a community under one roof, but it starts at $179 a month, as listed in October 2026. Neither was built to run 1:1 coaching clients week to week, which is why this guide ends with a third option.

We make Coachful, a coaching platform, so read our view with that in mind. We have kept the LearnWorlds and Kajabi sections to what each vendor documents on its own pricing and help pages and what public reviewers report, and we say plainly where Coachful is the wrong choice. For deeper single-vendor detail, see our LearnWorlds review and Kajabi review.

LearnWorlds vs Kajabi: what is the short answer for coaches?

Pick by what you mainly sell. If you sell courses, LearnWorlds; if you sell a mix of products to a list, Kajabi; if you sell coaching programs with sessions and between-session follow-through, neither is the best fit.

• You sell self-paced courses and want serious teaching tools: LearnWorlds. Interactive video, quizzes, certificates, learning paths and SCORM packages are its home ground, and Pro Trainer costs $99 a month ($79 billed annually).
• You run launches, a membership and a community off an email list: Kajabi. Unlimited funnels, landing pages and marketing emails come on every plan, and the Growth plan adds an affiliate program.
• You are just testing a first course with a handful of buyers: LearnWorlds Starter at $29 a month, as long as you remember the $5 fee on every paid enrollment.
• You train teams or corporate clients: LearnWorlds Learning Center, for white-labelling, client groups, unlimited SCORM and LTI 1.3.
• You coach clients 1:1 or in cohorts, with sessions, contracts, habits and check-ins: a coaching platform. That is the gap both tools leave, and the section on the third option covers it.

How do LearnWorlds and Kajabi compare side by side?

LearnWorlds is a learning management system that also sells; Kajabi is a marketing and selling platform that also teaches. That one difference explains most of the table below.

Our ranking criteria, in one line: one login for the whole client journey, between-session delivery, total stack cost, and setup effort (including a free white-glove build).

Public reviewers rate the two very differently. LearnWorlds held 4.8 on Trustpilot from 423 reviews and Kajabi 3.4 from 2,347 reviews, both as listed in October 2026. Kajabi's larger review count reflects a larger customer base, so treat the scores as a signal to read recent reviews, not a verdict.

How much do LearnWorlds and Kajabi cost in 2026?

LearnWorlds is much cheaper at every comparable tier: its Pro Trainer plan costs $99 a month against $179 for Kajabi Basic, and LearnWorlds's top self-serve plan costs less than Kajabi's top plan. Fees and caps change the picture at the edges, so read the table and then the worked examples.

Current Coachful 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.

LearnWorlds prices exclude VAT, which is added for EU customers without a VAT number, and the page shows a dollar sign without naming the currency. Card processing through your own Stripe or PayPal account (2.9% plus $0.30 is the standard rate LearnWorlds cites) sits on top of every plan. Kajabi Payments rates for US entities are 2.9% plus $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% plus $0.30 on Growth and 2.7% plus $0.30 on Pro.

Worked example 1: when LearnWorlds Starter stops being cheap

These are illustrative numbers, not averages. On Starter you pay $29 plus $5 for each paid enrollment. At 10 paid enrollments in a month you pay $79. At 14 you pay $99, the same as Pro Trainer. From the 15th enrollment on, Pro Trainer is cheaper and also unlocks payment plans, subscriptions, certificates and unlimited courses. If you expect steady sales, Starter is a trial plan in practice.

Worked example 2: the Kajabi gateway surcharge

Say you keep your existing Stripe account on Kajabi Basic and sell $4,000 of coaching packages in a month (an example figure). Kajabi adds 2% on top of Stripe's own fees, which is $80 that month, or $960 over a year. Moving to Kajabi Payments, or to the Growth plan where the surcharge is 1%, reduces it. The surcharge does not apply to PayPal.

Worked example 3: annual cost of the most common tiers

Billed annually, LearnWorlds Pro Trainer works out to $948 a year and Kajabi Basic to $1,716, a gap of $768. Kajabi Growth billed annually is $2,388. Add the tools neither includes for 1:1 coaching (a scheduler, an e-signature tool, a habit or check-in app) and the real stack cost climbs for both. Our LearnWorlds pricing breakdown and Kajabi pricing breakdown go plan by plan.

Trials and refunds

LearnWorlds offers a 30-day free trial with core features, and its pages say no credit card is required; a school that is not upgraded is scheduled for deletion. Kajabi's help center lists a 14-day trial with an optional card (if you enter one, Kajabi places an authorization hold and charges when the trial ends), and some features such as bulk contact import and test emails stay locked until you pay. Kajabi also lists a 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan.

Which is better for building and selling courses?

LearnWorlds is the stronger course builder. It was designed as a learning platform, and its plan list reads like one: an AI course builder and quiz generator, interactive video, certificates, learning paths, bundles, and support for SCORM packages and LTI 1.3 on higher plans.

SCORM is a standard for packaging e-learning content so it runs in any compliant system (background on SCORM). Most coaches never need it, but if you sell training to companies whose learning teams send you SCORM files, LearnWorlds handles them (20 packages on Pro Trainer, unlimited on Learning Center) and Kajabi does not list it on its pricing page.

Kajabi's course tools are good enough for most coaching courses: video lessons, modules and drip release cover the basics. Its strength is packaging those courses into products, memberships and launches. Its weakness for a growing catalog is the product cap: Basic allows 5 products, which a coach with a mini-course, a flagship course, a membership, a challenge and a coaching package hits quickly.

One cap deserves attention on LearnWorlds: active learners per month (1,000 on Starter, 2,000 on Pro Trainer and Learning Center). A coach with a large free course used as a lead magnet can reach that ceiling well before revenue justifies Corporate pricing. Kajabi caps contacts instead (2,500 on Basic), and extra contacts cost $125 a month per 25,000.

Which handles websites, funnels and email better?

Kajabi is the stronger marketing engine. Every Kajabi plan includes unlimited funnels, landing pages and marketing emails, while LearnWorlds caps page funnels (15 on Pro Trainer) and mass emails (2,000 a month on Pro Trainer, 5,000 on Learning Center).

If your growth model is a free lead magnet, a nurture sequence and a launch, Kajabi was designed for that loop. LearnWorlds can do it, and its site builder is capable, but a coach emailing a list of 3,000 people twice a week would outgrow the Pro Trainer email allowance within the month (an example; check your own send volume). Extra emails are sold as an add-on whose price is not shown on the pricing page.

LearnWorlds pulls ahead on automations and white-labelling only at Learning Center ($299 a month). Kajabi's affiliate program starts on Growth; LearnWorlds offers basic affiliates on Pro Trainer and advanced affiliates on Learning Center. If funnels and email matter most to you, our Coachful vs Kajabi funnels and email comparison goes deeper.

How do they handle live coaching, booking and client management?

Both treat coaching as something you sell, not something you run. LearnWorlds lists live 1:1 and group sessions from Starter, and Kajabi sells coaching as a product or a community, but neither gives you a per-client plan with habits, daily check-ins and a coaching record.

That matters more than it sounds. A course platform tracks whether a learner finished lesson 4. A coaching business needs to know that a client agreed to three actions on Tuesday, skipped two morning check-ins, and is drifting before the next session.

• Booking and calendar sync: neither vendor's pricing page documents two-way calendar sync, buffers or minimum notice in the detail a session-based coach needs. Confirm on a trial before committing.
• Contracts: neither lists coaching agreements with e-signature.
• Client records: LearnWorlds keeps learner progress; Kajabi keeps contacts, tags and purchases. Neither keeps session notes, goals and check-ins per client.
• Payments for coaching: both support subscriptions and payment plans (LearnWorlds from Pro Trainer). LearnWorlds works with your own Stripe and PayPal; Kajabi prefers Kajabi Payments and surcharges other processors except PayPal.

If your coaching is a short add-on to a course (one group call a month inside a membership, say), either tool can carry it. If coaching is the main thing you sell, the workaround stack is where the cost and the friction live.

What about community, memberships and mobile apps?

Kajabi includes a community on every plan (three on Pro); LearnWorlds's pricing data we checked focuses on courses, memberships and subscriptions rather than a community feed, so confirm what you need on its trial. Both sell memberships and subscriptions, LearnWorlds from Pro Trainer.

Branded apps are where both get expensive. LearnWorlds sells its branded mobile app as an add-on with no price shown on the pricing page. Kajabi's October 2026 comparison table lists the branded app on Pro, at $499 a month, though its add-on list describes the app as included with a "$199/mo value" without naming the tier. Either way, a coach on LearnWorlds Pro Trainer or Kajabi Basic should expect clients to use a mobile browser or a vendor-branded app, not their own.

What does your client actually experience on each platform?

On LearnWorlds, a client experiences a school: a branded course catalog, lessons, quizzes and certificates. On Kajabi, a client experiences a product library and a community. Both are polished for learning; neither shows the client their own goals, today's tasks or their streak with you.

Think about a typical 12-week coaching client. In week 3 they need to see this week's goal, the two habits you agreed, a reminder of Thursday's session and a place to send a quick check-in. On a course platform that client opens a lesson list. The coaching itself happens somewhere else: email threads, a messaging app, a calendar link. Each extra login is a small reason to drift.

That is not a flaw in either product; it is what they were built for. A course buyer wants clear lessons and a certificate. A coaching client wants to feel followed. If your offer mixes both, the platform choice should follow the part that earns most of your revenue.

Which should you pick for your kind of coaching?

Match the platform to your revenue mix: course-led businesses fit LearnWorlds, list-and-launch businesses fit Kajabi, and program-led coaching businesses fit a coaching platform.

• Course-first educator or trainer: LearnWorlds Pro Trainer. Lower cost, deeper teaching tools, no transaction fee. See our LearnWorlds vs Thinkific comparison if you are weighing other course tools.
• Corporate or B2B training provider: LearnWorlds Learning Center or Corporate, for SCORM, LTI, client groups and white-labelling.
• Creator with a large list, launches and a membership: Kajabi Growth, which lifts the product cap to 50 and contacts to 25,000.
• Brand-new coach with no list yet: neither at full price. LearnWorlds Starter is the cheapest test, but a coach selling sessions before courses will get more from a tool built around clients. Our guide for new coaches covers the setup.
• 1:1, group or hybrid coach: a coaching platform, which the next section covers. Our Kajabi alternatives for coaches and LearnWorlds alternatives rank more options.

Is there a third option that beats both LearnWorlds and Kajabi for coaches?

Yes, if you coach clients rather than mainly sell courses. Coachful puts booking, payments, contracts, programs with habits and check-ins, courses, community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant under one login for you and one branded app for your clients.

What Coachful 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. The company is based in Tallinn, Estonia, and holds 4.5 on Trustpilot from 21 reviews.

Where Coachful beats both

• Between-session delivery. Multi-week programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars and streaks. This is the part LearnWorlds and Kajabi do not offer.
• Sessions built in. Booking pages with availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection; two-way Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook sync; built-in video or auto-created Zoom, Meet or Teams links; email reminders plus SMS and WhatsApp once messaging is enabled; paid sessions and session credits.
• Contracts before the first call. Coaching agreements with e-signature, stored on the client record.
• A real client record. Goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, tags, payments and sessions, with an AI briefing per client and a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk.
• No platform fee. Payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account with a 0% Coachful platform fee (since August 2026), including subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Stripe Tax.
• Courses and community too. Courses with modules, drip and completion tracking, plus a community feed, group chat, direct messages, video events and cohort groups created automatically when a client joins a program.
• Marketing without a separate tool. A section-based website builder with 30 homepage templates, booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels, and email sequences with triggers, delays, branching and A/B splits.

Here is how a program looks from the coach's side, from building the weeks to what the client sees each day:

Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, works from your live practice data: she builds programs, drafts emails and content, summarizes recorded sessions and briefs you before each session. Questions and planning are included in your Coachful membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits. Coaches pursuing a credential can also use ICF hour tracking, which counts coaching hours and distinct clients against ACC, PCC and MCC thresholds and exports a client coaching log.

Where LearnWorlds or Kajabi still win

• Pick LearnWorlds over Coachful if your business is mostly self-paced courses sold at volume, or you need interactive video, certificates, SCORM or LTI for corporate training. Coachful is built around coaching programs, not corporate e-learning standards.
• Pick Kajabi over Coachful if you run large launches to tens of thousands of contacts, want several separate brands and websites on one account (Kajabi Pro), or need your app under your own App Store account. Coachful's client app carries your branding inside the Coachful app listing.
• Pick either over Coachful if you want a course marketplace, third-party plugins or a general website for a non-coaching business. Coachful offers none of those.

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; health and wellness coaches should keep coaching separate from treatment and refer clients to a licensed professional when a medical or mental health concern comes up. There is no PayPal and no permanent free plan. It does not sync with Garmin, Fitbit, Whoop or Oura, has no stock exercise videos, and has no Salesforce or HubSpot integration. Its affiliate program tracks links, clicks, conversions and revenue, but payouts are recorded manually rather than sent by Coachful.

Courses, funnels and community in practice

For a coach leaving Kajabi or LearnWorlds, the question is usually whether the course and marketing side survives the move. Coachful's course builder covers modules, lessons, drip and completion tracking, with 48 course templates with quizzes and more than 40 ready-to-film program templates. Courses, downloads, videos, books, AI tools, events and bundles all appear inside the client's branded home, next to their program and sessions.

Funnels cover booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout flows with Meta Pixel, GA4 and UTM tracking, and about 25 funnel templates. The social planner schedules posts to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Threads and YouTube from one calendar, and Instagram automations can send a booking link, lead magnet or checkout by DM when someone comments a keyword, with the person landing in the same lead and client records.

What does switching from Kajabi or LearnWorlds to Coachful involve?

Less than most migrations, because the Coachful team imports your clients, programs and content for you during onboarding, and the white-glove service can rebuild your site or funnels.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. From Create, then "We'll build it for you", you describe what you want built (a website, funnel, sales page, program, course outline and written material, email sequence, lead quiz, event 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 is invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices, and gaps are left for you to fill. It does not cover recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing. One recent example: a somatic coach leaving Kajabi had the homepage and About page rebuilt and the contact form connected. Another, 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.

A practical switching order for a coach with live clients:

1. Export your contacts, subscriptions, sales and members from Kajabi (it emails CSV files) or check LearnWorlds's export options during your last billing cycle; LearnWorlds's export process is not documented on the pages we checked.
2. Start a free trial of Coachful and request the white-glove build for your website or main funnel.
3. Rebuild your flagship program with weekly goals, habits and check-ins, and move your course content.
4. Connect Stripe Connect or Razorpay and your calendar, then set up booking pages and send agreements to new clients.
5. Move active clients at a natural break, such as a new month or program week, so billing and sessions do not overlap.

Note that Kajabi's older help documentation says data is removed 90 days after cancellation, so export before you cancel. If you ever leave Coachful, a full client data export comes as a ZIP with roster, notes, check-ins, goals, habits, sessions and form responses, plus course export.

For a direct page-by-page comparison, see Coachful vs Kajabi or our overview of the Kajabi alternative for coaches. If you mainly want courses alongside coaching, the online course platform for coaches page shows how they fit together.

Frequently asked questions

Is LearnWorlds cheaper than Kajabi?

Yes, at every comparable tier as listed in October 2026. LearnWorlds Pro Trainer costs $99 a month ($79 billed annually) while Kajabi Basic costs $179 ($143 billed annually). LearnWorlds Starter is $29 but adds $5 per paid enrollment, so it stops being cheaper than Pro Trainer at about 14 sales a month.

Does Kajabi or LearnWorlds charge transaction fees?

LearnWorlds charges $5 per paid enrollment on Starter and no platform fee from Pro Trainer up. Kajabi charges no extra fee on Kajabi Payments or PayPal, but adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro when you use another processor. Card processing fees apply on both.

Which is better for coaches, LearnWorlds or Kajabi?

For course-led coaches, LearnWorlds offers more teaching depth for less money. For coaches who grow through funnels, email and a community, Kajabi's unlimited funnels and emails fit better. For coaches whose income comes from 1:1 or group programs, neither covers habits, check-ins, contracts and client records, which is why a coaching platform is usually a better fit.

Can I run 1:1 coaching on LearnWorlds or Kajabi?

You can sell and host it: LearnWorlds lists live 1:1 and group sessions, and Kajabi sells coaching as a product. Neither keeps per-client plans with daily tasks, habits and check-ins, so most 1:1 coaches add a scheduler, an e-signature tool and a client app alongside them.

Do LearnWorlds and Kajabi offer free trials?

LearnWorlds offers a 30-day free trial and its pages say no credit card is required. Kajabi's help center lists a 14-day trial with an optional card, and Kajabi offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan. Some Kajabi features, such as bulk contact import and test emails, stay locked during the trial.

Which has a branded mobile app?

Both, at a cost. LearnWorlds sells the branded app as an add-on with no price on its pricing page, and Kajabi's comparison table lists it on the Pro plan at $499 a month. Coachful clients use one app carrying the coach's branding inside the Coachful app listing.

What is Coachful's free white-glove service?

It is a build service included on every Coachful plan: you describe a website, funnel, program, course outline, email sequence or similar, attach links and files, and the Coachful team builds it in your account, usually within about 24 hours. It does not invent credentials, testimonials or prices, and it does not cover video recording, logo design or ad management.

Can Coachful replace Kajabi for a coach with courses and a community?

For most coaches, yes: Coachful includes courses with drip and completion tracking, a community feed with group chat and events, funnels, email sequences and a website builder. It is not a fit if you need a course marketplace, SCORM, several separate brands on one account or your own App Store listing.

Is Coachful suitable for health and wellness coaches?

Yes for coaching, with limits. Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and is not for clinical records, so health coaches should keep medical information in a clinical system and refer clients to a licensed professional when needed. See the page for health coaches for how programs and check-ins work in that niche.