Kartra vs Kajabi: The Honest Comparison for Coaches + Course Creators

Last Updated on December 10, 2025

Comparing Kartra vs Kajabi? Get an honest review for coaches and course creators. Discover which all-in-one platform saves you more time, and money.

You’ve finally decided it’s time to simplify your business tech stack. No more juggling half a dozen tools, duct-taping Zaps together, or wondering which software broke this time. You’re ready for one platform that does it all (email marketing, funnels, course delivery, checkouts, automations)… without needing a tech degree to make it all talk to each other.

But then comes the big question: Kartra or Kajabi?

If you’ve spent any time in the online business space, you’ve probably heard these two names tossed around like they’re twins.

Both promise to be the “all-in-one” solution to your digital business woes. Both are sleek, powerful, and built to help you scale. And yet… they couldn’t be more different in how they approach the behind-the-scenes magic of running your business.

We get asked about this comparison all the time and for good reason. Our team has tested just about every major platform out there (and wasted thousands of dollars in the process). These days, we run everything, from our opt-ins and evergreen funnels to memberships and client onboarding, inside Kartra.

But here’s the thing:

We’re not here to convince you Kartra is perfect. It’s not.

We’re here to help you figure out which platform actually fits you. Your business model, your goals, and the way you want to work.

So if you’ve been wondering whether to build your business empire on Kartra or Kajabi, you’re in the right place. This is your no-fluff, honest, side-by-side comparison… from a team that uses one, respects the other, and cares most about helping you make the smartest decision for your future.

What Are Kartra and Kajabi? (And Who Are They For?)

Before we dive into features and pricing, let’s start with what these two platforms actually are and the kinds of business owners they serve best.

Because while both promise to be “all-in-one” solutions, they’re built with very different philosophies in mind.

Kartra in a Nutshell

If your dream is to have everything in one place — your email marketing, funnels, checkout pages, membership sites, video hosting, and automations… Kartra was designed for you.

Think of it as the engine of your online business.

One login. One dashboard. Every moving part of your marketing system connected, automated, and designed to scale with you.

Kartra shines for:

• Coaches, consultants, and service providers who are ready to scale with evergreen funnels.
• Digital product creators and course owners who want deep automation without patching tools together.
• Business owners who are tired of juggling five subscriptions and just want one platform that works.

Our team uses Kartra every single day… for opt-ins, sales pages, evergreen webinars, and even membership delivery. The built-in automations alone have saved us dozens of hours a week and over $12,000 a year in tool costs.

But Kartra’s not about being the “prettiest” tool… it’s about being the smartest.

If you love strategy, data, and systems that run your business while you sleep, you’ll probably fall in love with it too.

Kajabi in a Nutshell

Kajabi, on the other hand, built its reputation on beauty and simplicity.

It’s the tool that helps you package your expertise into a polished, professional online course, membership, or coaching program, without needing to be tech-savvy.

Kajabi’s strengths lie in:

• Gorgeous design templates for landing pages and courses.
• An intuitive interface that’s easy for non-techy creators to use.
• A student experience that feels seamless and elevated.

If you’re a course creator, educator, or coach who prioritizes a premium look and feel (and you’re okay using integrations or a few external tools for advanced automations), Kajabi can be a dream.

It’s less about doing everything and more about doing content delivery and branding beautifully.

Kartra vs Kajabi: The Key Difference

Here’s the simplest way to think about it:

• Kartra = systems, automation, and scalability.
• Kajabi = design, content, and simplicity.

Both are powerful. It just depends on what kind of business you’re building and how much control you want over your systems.

Kartra vs Kajabi: Feature Breakdown

When you’re comparing all-in-one platforms, the real question isn’t “which is better?” — it’s “which one gives me what I actually need?”

Both Kartra and Kajabi are powerful, but they prioritize different things. Kajabi leans into design and content delivery. Kartra leans into automation and conversion.

Here’s how they stack up, feature by feature.

Side-by-Side Comparison

FEATURE	KARTRA	KAJABI
Email Marketing	Built-in, behavior-based automation with tagging, sequences, and advanced logic.	Email broadcast + basic automation (less flexible logic).
Landing Pages & Funnels	Drag-and-drop funnel builder, pre-built campaigns, split testing, and upsells.	Beautiful templates, simple page builder, but limited funnel structure.
Courses & Memberships	Fully integrated with automations, upsells, and progress tracking.	Industry-leading course design and student experience.
Checkout & Payments	Native checkout with bump offers, upsells, and coupons.	Stripe and PayPal integration; fewer checkout customization options.
Video Hosting	Built-in video hosting with analytics and call-to-action overlays.	Uses Wistia (included in all plans).
Affiliate Management	Built-in affiliate center with tracking and payouts.	Available, but less customizable.
Helpdesk & Support	Built-in ticket system + knowledge base.	None — must use external tool.
Calendar & Scheduling	Built-in calendar tool for appointments and events.	None built-in; requires integration.
Analytics	Deep metrics for behavior, tagging, conversions, and revenue.	High-level overview dashboards.
Integrations	Minimal — most tools are native.	Integrates with popular third-party tools.
Blogging & SEO	Not designed for blogging (use WordPress).	Not designed for blogging (use WordPress). Limited blogging functionality.

In Plain English

If your business thrives on funnels, email automation, and conversions, Kartra gives you more control and depth. Everything is built to talk to each other — no Zapier required.

If your business centers around courses, coaching, and client experience, Kajabi wins in user-friendliness and branding. Its pages look stunning out of the box, even if you’re not a designer.

Many of our clients use Kartra for all their funnels, sales, and automations and keep WordPress as their blog home base for SEO (just like we do at Success with Soul).

Kartra vs Kajabi Pricing in 2026 (and What You Really Get)

Let’s be honest: pricing can be sneaky.

Both Kartra and Kajabi offer “tiers,” but the real question is: what do you actually get for the money?

Below is a side-by-side look at their most current pricing (as of 2025), plus some context on what those plans really mean for your business.

Kartra Pricing Overview

PLAN	MONTHLY (BILLED ANNUALLY)	KEY FEATURES
Essentials	$59/month	Up to 500 leads, 1 custom domain, 5% transaction fees, all core tools.
Starter	$119/month	Up to 2,500 leads, 1 domain, unlimited emails, automations, and membership sites.
Growth	$229/month	Up to 12,500 leads, 3 domains, advanced automations, and agency tools.

What you’re really paying for:

Kartra’s pricing is all about scaling your systems. You get access to everything from day one. That includes funnels, checkout, email, video hosting, helpdesk, automations, and affiliate management. You only pay more as your contact list grows.

That means you can start small and scale up without switching platforms later.

Kajabi Pricing Overview

PLAN	MONTHLY (BILLED ANNUALLY)	KEY FEATURES
Kickstarter	$89/month	1 product, 250 leads, 1 website, unlimited emails, no custom domain
Basic	$179/month	5 products, 500 leads, 1 website, unlimited emails, custom domain
Growth	$249/month	50 products, 25,000 leads, 1 website, unlimited emails, custom domain, affiliate program management
Pro	$499/month	Unlimited products, 100,000 leads, 3 websites, unlimited emails, custom domain, affiliate program management, branded mobile app

What you’re really paying for:

Kajabi is more about content delivery and design polish. It includes beautiful course templates and built-in communities, but if you want robust automation or analytics, you’ll likely need external tools (like Kit, Deadline Funnel, or Zapier).

That means the monthly cost can rise fast if you start adding integrations.

Our Experience:

After switching to Kartra, we cut over $12,000 per year in software costs by replacing tools like Kit, Leadpages, ThriveCart, and Vimeo for video hosting. That alone paid for multiple years of Kartra.

The Pros and Cons: The Honest Truth

Every platform has strengths and trade-offs… and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. 😉

We’ve tested both Kartra and Kajabi extensively, and while they share some overlap, they feel completely different to use. So, here’s our unfiltered look at where each one shines and where they stumble.

Kartra Pros

✅ Truly All-in-One

From email marketing and checkout pages to membership sites, affiliate programs, and video hosting — everything lives under one roof. No Zaps, no plugins, no “tech glue.”

✅ Powerful Automations + Behavior Tracking

You can create smart, behavior-based automations that tag and segment leads based on actions (opens, clicks, purchases, etc.). Perfect for evergreen funnels that run on autopilot.

✅ Saves Serious Money

We’ve replaced tools like Kit, Leadpages, ThriveCart, Vimeo, and Deadline Funnel saving over $12,000 per year in subscriptions.

✅ Scalable + Systemized

When your business grows, Kartra grows with you. You can add products, memberships, or affiliate programs without rebuilding your backend.

✅ Built-in Support Tools

Integrated helpdesk, ticketing system, calendar, and affiliate center mean you can serve your clients and partners in one place.

Kartra Cons

❌ Design Limitations

The page builder is solid but not as “pretty” or intuitive as Kajabi’s. You’ll trade some design polish for backend power.

❌ Slight Learning Curve

Because Kartra does so much, it can feel overwhelming at first. Expect a few days of setup time before it clicks… but once it does, it flows.

❌ Not Built for Blogging or SEO

Kartra isn’t meant to replace WordPress (neither is Kajabi). We always recommend pairing it with a WordPress blog (like we do at Success with Soul) for organic traffic and long-form content.

Kajabi Pros

✅ Beautiful, Polished Design

Kajabi’s templates and page builder make everything look professional, even if you have zero design skills.

✅ Streamlined User Experience

From setup to student access, everything feels cohesive and simple. It’s beginner-friendly and less intimidating than Kartra.

✅ Strong for Course Creators

If your business revolves around courses or coaching, Kajabi’s course builder and community tools are top-notch. However, they do have a limit on the number of courses you can have while Kartra does not (on their Starter or Growth plans).

✅ Built-in Branding Tools

You can easily match your website, course, and emails for a cohesive visual brand experience.

Kajabi Cons

❌ Limited Automations

Kajabi offers basic automations (e.g., “if they buy this, send that”), but lacks the deeper logic Kartra provides for tagging, tracking, and segmentation.

❌ Fewer Built-In Tools

You’ll need outside tools for things like helpdesk, advanced automations, and scheduling. That adds cost and complexity.

❌ Higher Overall Cost

While Kajabi looks sleek, it’s also way more expensive, especially when you start layering on integrations.

❌ Less Flexibility for Complex Funnels

If you love testing and optimizing multi-step funnels or evergreen campaigns, Kajabi’s simpler setup can feel limiting.

The Honest Bottom Line

If you’re focused on automation, data, and scalability — Kartra is the stronger long-term choice.

If you’re focused on branding, aesthetics, and simplicity — Kajabi will feel like home.

Both platforms are solid. The “best” one depends on how your business runs behind the scenes.

💬 At Success with Soul, we use Kartra for everything — sales funnels, email automations, course delivery, and client management… because it gives us freedom, not friction.

Our Honest Recommendation: Kartra vs Kajabi

After years of testing tools, tinkering with integrations, and migrating clients across nearly every “all-in-one” platform on the market, here’s our honest truth:

Both Kartra and Kajabi are excellent platforms but they’re built for different kinds of business owners.

If you’re a creator who values beautiful design, simple setup, and a seamless course experience, Kajabi might be your happy place. It’s elegant, intuitive, and does a lot right, especially for coaches and educators who want a polished brand presence.

But if your business model involves automation, evergreen funnels, lead nurturing, and scaling beyond 1:1 or live launches, then Kartra is where the magic happens.

Here’s Why We Chose Kartra

When we switched to Kartra, our entire backend transformed:

• We replaced six separate tools — Kit, Leadpages, ThriveCart, Vimeo, Deadline Funnel, and Zapier — overnight.
• We stopped wasting hours fixing broken Zaps and duplicate data.
• And we finally had one login for everything… from checkouts and email marketing to video hosting and memberships.

It saved us over $12,000 a year, but more importantly, it gave us back our time.

Kartra isn’t perfect, no tool is. But for our team and our clients inside The Room, it’s the platform that offers the best balance of functionality, flexibility, and scalability.

Frequently Asked Questions: Kartra vs Kajabi

Final Thoughts

Both Kajabi and Kartra are incredible tools but your business model will determine which one fits best.

If you crave simplicity and polish, go Kajabi.

If you want power, integration, and automation, go Kartra.

Either way, the right tech setup should serve your business, not slow it down.

If you’re ready to simplify your systems and scale your business the soulful way, join us inside The Room and let’s build your scalable tech stack together.