Kajabi vs Podia: which one should a coach selling courses pick?
The short answer
Podia is the budget pick: website, courses, community, email and simple paid coaching from $49 a month, 5% fee until Shaker at $99. Kajabi starts at $179 but its Coaching product adds a native scheduler, built-in live video, funnels and affiliates, with a branded app on Growth. Podia for a small list, Kajabi for a business already earning.
Pricing and features checked September 2026. We link every source at the bottom of the page.
Eight things a coaching business needs,
scored side by side.
All 27 capabilities roll up into these eight groups. Native coverage earns a full point; partial coverage or an add-on earns half.
Kajabi
3.8 / 5
Podia
2.7 / 5
Coachful
4.9 / 5
Coaching delivery
Scheduling & sessions
Getting paid
Marketing & growth
Community & content
Client management & trust
Brand & apps
AI & platform
What each one costs,
and what it costs once you add the rest.
Kajabi
course platform
Kickstarter
Removed from public pricing page in January 2026; reportedly still surfaces in-trial or via support. 250…
$89/mo
$71/mo annual
Basic
5 products, 2,500 contacts, 1 community, 1 website, 2 admin users, 0 AI credits, unlimited landing…
$179/mo
$143/mo annual
Growth
50 products, 25,000 contacts, 1 community, 11 admin users, 500 AI credits, affiliate program, branded mobile…
$249/mo
$199/mo annual
Pro
Unlimited products, 100,000 contacts, 3 communities, 3 websites, 26 admin users, 1,000 AI credits
$499/mo
$399/mo annual
- Fees
- 0% platform fee when using Kajabi Payments (processing 2.9% + $0.30 Basic, 2.8% + $0.30 Growth, 2.7% + $0.30 Pro). If you use your own Stripe/PayPal, Kajabi adds a…
- Model
- Priced per plan by product/contact/admin-user caps, not per member. Admin users: 2 / 11 / 26.
- Trial
- Free trial on any plan; kajabi.com/pricing says 'Try Kajabi for 1 month, on us!' (third-party sources report 14 days via direct signup and 30 days via partner links).…
Podia
creator storefront
Mover
$504/yr. 5% transaction fee, 50 products, 500 videos, 25 community spaces, email up to 100 subscribers…
$49/mo
$42/mo annual
Shaker
$1,008/yr. 0% fee, 150 products, 1,000 videos, 100 spaces, 500 email subscribers, 1 assistant, affiliates…
$99/mo
$84/mo annual
Earthquaker
$1,800/yr. 0% fee, unlimited products/videos/spaces/assistants, 1,000 email subscribers included
$179/mo
$150/mo annual
- Fees
- Mover: 5% Podia fee. Shaker and Earthquaker: 0%. Stripe/PayPal processing 2.9% + 30c on top. Email subscribers beyond the included 100/500/1,000 are billed as a…
- Model
- Per plan; unlimited customers on all plans; email pricing scales with subscriber count; assistants 0 / 1 / unlimited.
- Trial
- 'Try everything free for 30 days'; third-party sources say no credit card required. No free plan (the former free tier was retired).
With CoachfulCoachful
coaching platform
Lite
Up to 5 clients. Every feature.
$29/mo
$19/mo annual
Solo
Up to 20 clients. Every feature.
$49/mo
$39/mo annual
Pro
Unlimited clients, Coachful Intelligence.
$99/mo
$79/mo annual
Studio
3 coach seats.
$199/mo
$159/mo annual
- Fees
- 0% platform fee. You keep everything after Stripe or Razorpay processing.
- Model
- Flat monthly price. Lite is capped at 5 clients, Solo at 20 clients, and Pro is unlimited.
- Trial
- 7-day free trial. Card required at signup, no charge during the trial, cancel in one click.
The true cost of your stack
Kajabi plus the tools it does not cover
We pre-selected what Kajabi lacks. Toggle anything you would actually buy. Entry-tier prices, September 2026.
Kajabi + 2 tools
$134/mo
$89 Kajabi + $45 in add-ons. 3 logins for your clients.
Coachful Solo, everything included
$49/mo
Saves $85/mo, $1020/yr.
27 capabilities,
nothing hidden in the footnotes.
Tap any cell for the specific detail behind it. Partial means it exists with real limits, or needs an add-on.
What matters most here
Fair play first,
then the honest answer.
Kajabi's coaching product is more complete than any other course platform's, and Podia's support is praised in review after review as over-the-top helpful.
Pick Kajabi if…
- You sell high-ticket group programs and want the scheduler, live video for up to 200 participants and session notes in the same product as the course.
- You run funnels and email at volume: unlimited Pipelines, sequences and 25,000 contacts on Growth.
- You want a branded mobile app without a separate add-on (Growth and Pro).
- You need an affiliate program and several admin users (11 on Growth).
Pick Podia if…
- You are starting out and $49 a month for website, courses, community and email is the whole budget.
- You have a small list: 100 subscribers on Mover or 500 on Shaker is enough for now.
- You already book sessions with Calendly or SavvyCal and are happy to keep it.
- You want a 30-day trial with no card and unlimited customers on every plan.
With CoachfulPick Coachful if…
- Your coaching is more than sessions: programs with habits, check-ins and goals per client.
- You want a native booking page with Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook sync, contracts and intake included.
- You want a client mobile app and 0% platform fee at $49/mo, not $179.
Real ratings,
the good and the bad.
Scores and counts as published on each review site when we checked. We do not curate them.
Kajabi
- G2★★★★★4.1(93)
- Capterra★★★★★4.4(226)
- Trustpilot★★★★★3.5(2337)
Praised for
- Genuinely all-in-one: website, email marketing, funnels, checkout, courses, communities and coaching share one contact record
- Coaching product has native scheduler, built-in live video, session notes and milestone-based programs - more than any other course platform here
- Branded mobile app included on Growth/Pro rather than a $199+/mo add-on
Complaints
- January 2026 restructure raised prices 25-61%, cut Basic contacts from 10,000 to 2,500, removed Kickstarter from public pricing and added a surcharge for third-party processors; existing customers were not…
- Trustpilot complaints about AI-first support that cannot escalate to humans, unexpected charges, failed cancellations and data-retrieval fees
- Value-for-money is the weakest Capterra sub-score (3.7/5); no AI credits and no affiliate program on Basic
Podia
- Capterra★★★★★4.6(120)
- Trustpilot★★★★★4.0(139)
Praised for
- Truly consolidated for the price: website, blog, email, community, courses, coaching and downloads on every plan
- Trustpilot 4.0 and Capterra/G2 4.6 - reviewers repeatedly praise responsive, 'over-the-top helpful' support
- Unlimited customers on every plan; 0% fee from Shaker up
Complaints
- 5% fee on Mover ('the 5% fee cliff') pushes anyone selling seriously to $84+/mo
- Email subscriber caps are the lowest in this set; email becomes an extra bill quickly
- No mobile app, no native scheduling/video, light course tooling - reviewers switch when they outgrow it
Coachful
- Trustpilot★★★★★4.5(21)
Praised for
- Coaching delivery (programs, habits, check-ins) is native, not bolted on
- Scheduling, payments, contracts, website, community and email in one subscription
- Flat pricing from $29/mo, with unlimited clients on Pro at $99/mo and no platform fee
Complaints
- Younger product with a smaller public review footprint than 10-year-old tools
- Mobile app is branded, not fully white-labelled under your own App Store listing
- No HIPAA certification
Leaving is easier than
you have been told.
Getting your data out of Kajabi
- Export
- CSV exports for contacts, subscriptions, sales and members from within the dashboard (emailed CSV); course content must be downloaded manually per asset.
- Lock-in
- Monthly or annual; annual is non-refundable mid-term beyond the 30-day first-payment guarantee. Cancellation ends access at period end; data permanently removed 90 days after cancellation.
- Worth knowing
- Trustpilot reviewers report difficulty cancelling and being asked to pay to retrieve customer data; export everything before cancelling.
Getting your data out of Podia
- Export
- Contacts export to CSV; per-product customer export (active enrollments only); sales/invoice export.
- Lock-in
- Monthly or annual (annual billed upfront); cancel any time from settings. No published pro-rata refund on annual.
- Worth knowing
- Product customer export omits customers whose access has expired, so export contacts globally before leaving.
With CoachfulMoving in
Send us your export
CSV of clients, your packages, your program outlines. We map the fields.
We rebuild it with you
Programs, booking pages, contracts and payments set up on an onboarding call.
Clients get one invite
They log into your branded home on web and mobile. Nothing to re-explain.
Full client data ZIP (roster, notes, check-ins, goals, habits, sessions, form responses), course export, org backup JSON. And if you ever leave: monthly plans, cancel in one click. data stays until you ask for deletion.
Coaches who made the switch
I tried running my coaching business across five different apps. It was a complete waste of time and money. Then I found Coachful. It was everything I need in one platform.
Christopher Duff
Founder, Duff X Athletics
It’s the coaching platform I always wanted — it just didn’t exist yet. I have one dashboard for everything and already saved $1,300 by cancelling all the tech I had duct-taped together.
Emily F.
Coach · United States
Fantastic piece of software for coaches who want everything to be in one place. The Coachful team have been amazing at being on hand to help get everything set up. Would highly recommend!
Luis
Coach · United Kingdom
Your Whole Practice, in 30 Seconds
Clients, sessions, programs, chat and payments in one calm workspace that carries your brand.
Everything a coach needs, in one place
Kajabi vs Podia, answered
The questions coaches ask before choosing.
By a lot. Podia is Mover $49 (5% fee), Shaker $99 (0%) and Earthquaker $179, or $42/$84/$150 billed annually. Kajabi is Basic $179, Growth $249 and Pro $499, or $143/$199/$399 annually; the $89 Kickstarter plan was pulled from public pricing in January 2026. Kajabi Basic caps you at 5 products and 2,500 contacts, while Podia Mover allows 50 products.
Not natively. Podia's coaching product collects payment first, then hands the client to a Calendly, SavvyCal, YouCanBookMe or Squarespace Scheduling link. Kajabi's Coaching product has a built-in Scheduler with availability-based or manual booking and built-in live video, though we could not verify two-way Google or Outlook sync for it.
Podia charges 5% on Mover and 0% on Shaker and Earthquaker, plus Stripe or PayPal processing at 2.9% + 30c. Kajabi charges 0% when you use Kajabi Payments (processing 2.9% + 30c on Basic, 2.8% on Growth, 2.7% on Pro), but since 2026 adds a 0.5% to 2% surcharge if you bring your own Stripe or PayPal account.
Kajabi includes a customer app on Growth and Pro, branded with your name rather than Kajabi's, which competitors often sell as a $199+/mo add-on. Podia has no app for students or creators; everything runs in the mobile browser. If clients living in an app matters, that alone decides it.
Podia scores 4.6 on Capterra (120 reviews) and 4.0 on Trustpilot (139). Kajabi is 4.4 on Capterra (226), 4.1 on G2 (93) and 3.5 on Trustpilot from 2,337 reviews, with value for money its weakest Capterra sub-score at 3.7. Recent Kajabi complaints focus on the January 2026 price restructure of 25% to 61% and AI-first support; Podia's 28% one-star share cites slow support outside US hours.
Both have native email with broadcasts and automations. Podia includes 100, 500 or 1,000 subscribers by plan and bills more as a paid tier, which is the lowest cap in this set. Kajabi includes 2,500 contacts on Basic, 25,000 on Growth and 100,000 on Pro with unlimited sends inside those caps, though 2026 reviews report deliverability and domain-connection problems.
Coachful covers courses with drip release, a community, a website builder with blog, funnels with pixels and UTM tracking, and email sequences with branching, and then adds what course platforms skip: programs with daily tasks, habits, check-ins, booking with Google, Apple/iCloud and Outlook sync, built-in video, contracts and intake. Branded iOS and Android client app on every plan. 0% platform fee on Stripe Connect. From $29/mo Lite (5 clients), $49/mo Solo for up to 20 clients, $99/mo unlimited Pro. 7-day free trial, card required, no charge during the trial.
Neither one runs the whole coaching business. Coachful does.
Programs, scheduling, payments, community and your website in one login. 7-day free trial, cancel in one click.
Built for coaches who take their clients seriously
