Thinkific vs. Kajabi: Which platform is right for you?

Thinkific and Kajabi both offer easy-to-use course builders that let you focus on your expertise and business — not on spending time learning how to use the platform.

Kajabi offers an impressive interface. Though it may take creators some time to learn how to build a course on Kajabi, most of the necessary course builder tools exist.

However, Thinkific’s course builder has been designed specifically for course creators. It’s simple and gives creators the ability to build their entire course without a big learning curve.

Preparing educational materials is even easier with Thinkific’s advanced AI technology. For example, creators can build course outlines and quizzes in a few clicks. Thinkific’s AI Course Outline Generator instantly creates a detailed course outline tailored to your audience's needs and Thinkific's AI Quiz Generator creates quizzes that keep learners engaged, test comprehension, and identify knowledge gaps.

Simply put, Thinkific offer a design and build experience that is approachable for everyone.

Thinkific also offers a bit more flexibility and customization options during the course creation process. 

A great learning experience is vital to your success as a course creator. It will help your students learn more effectively and make them want to share it with their friends — helping you grow your business.

Kajabi offers a modern learning experience for students. A clean design means that the courses you create are both engaging and exciting for students. 

Thinkific offers an unmatched suite of functionality that extends beyond how the course looks and courses in general. For example, Thinkific includes intermission and progress pages in between lesson modules — something that has been proven to significantly increase student engagement and completion in a course. These pages are intended to allow students to keep track of their progress through the course, an important factor in preventing drop-off and keeping course completion rates high. 

Thinkific does more than just courses — they cover helpful digital learning experiences like Digital Downloads, Live 1-1 Coaching Sessions, and Webinars. With Digital Downloads, students can find value in quickly-downloadable guides, templates, exclusive resources, and more. With Coaching & Webinars, students can schedule coaching sessions and other forms of dedicated one-on-one time, attend workshops, and register for webinars.

As they’re both all-in-one platforms, Kajabi and Thinkific offer sales and marketing tools that help course creators attract more students and earn more revenue. 

Kajabi has helpful native sales and marketing features such as email marketing tools and pipelines. These options are great for creators looking to get started fast and stay on one tool. However, if you’re looking for more, you may find your options limited. 

Thinkific offers sales and marketing features that go beyond the basics. With Thinkific, the sales and marketing tools complement the focus on course creation and the student’s learning experience. For example, Digital Downloads make it easy to maximize your earning potential, engage new audiences, and deliver more content to your existing audience. By offering digital products like eBooks, guides, templates, and more, businesses can open up a new stream of revenue and increase leads. 

Likewise, Coaching & Webinars make it easy to build a meaningful connection with your audience, and find and attract new customers — while boosting revenue by adding a price tag to these events. 

Working holistically, Thinkific offers access to the best tools in the business for marketing and email automation, increasing sales, and enhancing the learning experience through gamification with 90+ integrations in the Thinkific App Store. These apps are created by developers for Thinkific and can be downloaded, installed, and implemented without any coding required for all Thinkific users.

While Kajabi used to set itself apart with its mobile app, the introduction and popularity of Thinkific’s mobile app means Creator Educators have even more robust options when it comes to choosing a mobile app for their learning content. Let’s take a look at some of the similarities and differences between Kajabi and Thinkific’s mobile apps. 

Like Thinkific’s mobile apps, The Kajabi Mobile App lets content creators and businesses deliver courses right to their students’ phones. Kajabi’s app is advertised as a good option for solo entrepreneurs or smaller businesses, as it is a ready-made mobile app so you don’t have to worry about the coding, build process or development costs.

Kajabi has also built its mobile app with the student learning experience in mind, as Kajabi highlights one-touch access to courses and push notifications for better student engagement. In addition to a ready-made app, Kajabi currently offers a beta version of a branded app. Thinkific offers mobile app options for businesses of all sizes: Branded Mobile and Thinkific Mobile.

Different from Kajabi’s ready-made app, Branded Mobile ($199/month) is more of a custom, made-to-order app for businesses. Branded Mobile is a white-labeled app that puts your brand front and center with your own App Store listing and logo. Great for those who aren’t confident in their coding skills, you’ll get a fully customized and branded mobile app through experts who will build, publish, and maintain your app so you can focus on your business. Closer to Kajabi’s app, Thinkific Mobile (included free with Start plans and above) is a mobile-friendly way for students to access courses or communities under a universal Thinkific branded app. Both Thinkific mobile apps offer student engagement features like Drip Lesson Release notifications to let students know when previously locked course material is available and push notifications on community activity.

It’s important to choose a course platform that you can trust, where getting the answers to your questions is easy and your data is always secure. 

Both Thinkific and Kajabi offer a network of experts, a growing community of peers, and a responsive support team. As you grow, and your learning platform becomes mission-critical, Thinkific offers more security and support options to ensure your success.

A course platform can be a big investment — with a big payoff. Not only do you want a tool that fits your budget, but it should also satisfy your needs now and into the future. Depending on what you’re looking for, both Thinkific and Kajabi offer pricing plans for creators at every stage. 

Kajabi offers three tiers that vary mostly on usage. Users have access to almost all features within their core plan.

Thinkific offers tiers for businesses from side hustle to enterprise. And with add-on features like a Branded Mobile app ($199/mo) and more, no matter what stage you’re in, you have access to the functionality you need — without paying for things you don’t.