Kajabi vs Kartra for Selling a Course: The Numbers

For a single course with a small list, Kartra is cheaper to start and more expensive per sale. Its Essentials plan is $59 a month, allows 1 product and 1 membership, and charges a 5% transaction fee. Kajabi's cheapest plan is $179 a month, allows 5 products, unlimited funnels and unlimited marketing emails, and charges 2.9% plus $0.30 through Kajabi Payments. The crossover point depends on revenue, not features. Everything below comes from the two vendors' pricing pages as read on October 10, 2026, with the rows neither page publishes called out.

Kartra is cheaper to enter and the entry plan is narrow

Kartra publishes four tiers: Essentials at $59 a month or $52 billed annually, Starter at $119 or $99, Growth at $229 or $189, and Professional at $549 or $429. Lead counts run 500, 2,500, 12,500 and 25,000.

Essentials is the one to read closely. It allows 5 pages, 1 product, 1 membership or course, 1 custom domain and 10,000 emails a month, and it carries a 5% transaction fee. Everything above Essentials lists unlimited pages, products, memberships and emails.

That means the useful Kartra plan for a course business is Starter at $119 a month, not Essentials. Starter drops the transaction fee to 0% and removes the product cap, while still allowing 1 custom domain and 5 team members.

The jump from 500 leads to 2,500 is the real reason to move, and lead caps behave differently from vendor to vendor. What the row counts, and what it quietly excludes, is set out in what a funnel builder's contact limit actually counts.

Kajabi starts higher and publishes fewer caps

Kajabi publishes three tiers: Basic at $179 a month or $143 billed annually, Growth at $249 or $199, and Pro at $499 or $399. Contacts run 2,500, 25,000 and 100,000. Products run 5, 50 and unlimited.

Communities: 1 on Basic, 1 on Growth, 3 on Pro.
Websites: 1 on Basic, 1 on Growth, 3 on Pro.
Admin users: 2, 11 and 26.
AI credits: none on Basic, 500 on Growth, 1,000 on Pro.
Funnels, landing pages, marketing emails and access groups: unlimited on all three tiers.
Kajabi Payments processing: 2.9% plus $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% plus $0.30 on Growth, 2.7% plus $0.30 on Pro.

Unlimited marketing emails on the cheapest plan is the strongest line on the page, because metered sending is what forces upgrades elsewhere. ClickFunnels, by contrast, caps Launch at 50,000 sends a month, per its pricing page checked October 10, 2026.

The page does not publish a trial length, a custom domain count or a monthly email figure. It also does not state whether coaching is included on Basic. Those four rows were not readable on the pricing page as of October 10, 2026.

Kartra plans and pricing (four tiers, leads, 5% fee, trial, guarantee), captured October 15, 2026. Figures change; the live page is the source of truth.

The transaction fee decides the cheaper platform, not the subscription

Compare Kartra Essentials at $59 plus 5% against Kajabi Basic at $179 plus 2.9% and $0.30 a sale. Setting those two rates equal gives a crossover near $5,700 of monthly revenue. That arithmetic is the editorial team's own, from the published rates.

The real crossover sits lower. Kajabi's 2.9% plus $0.30 is the Kajabi Payments processing rate itself, while Kartra's 5% is charged on top of whatever Stripe or PayPal take. Neither page publishes the processor rate behind Kartra.

Kartra Starter removes the comparison entirely at $119 and 0%, which is why the honest match-up for a growing course is Starter against Kajabi Basic: $119 against $179, with 2,500 leads against 2,500 contacts.

Percentage rows are the easiest thing to miss on a pricing page. systeme.io prints 0% on all four of its tiers and ClickFunnels prints no figure at all, as covered in ClickFunnels vs systeme.io.

Products, memberships and communities are counted differently

Kajabi counts products, and a product can be a course, a coaching offer or a downloadable. Basic allows 5. Kartra counts products and memberships as separate rows, and Essentials allows 1 of each.

Communities only appear on the Kajabi page: 1 on Basic and Growth, 3 on Pro. Kartra publishes no community row, so a cohort or forum feature cannot be assumed from its pricing page.

Admin seats also split. Kajabi Basic allows 2 admin users against 26 on Pro. Kartra allows 5 team members on both Essentials and Starter, which is more seats for less money at the entry level.

Custom domains are where Kartra is thinnest: 1 on Essentials and Starter, 3 on Growth, 5 on Professional. One domain is enough for a single brand and not enough for a second launch on a separate site.

Kajabi pricing (three tiers, contacts, products, Kajabi Payments rates), captured October 15, 2026. Figures change; the live page is the source of truth.

What neither pricing page tells you

Neither page publishes video hosting bandwidth, which matters most for a course. Kartra's page does not publish helpdesk limits either. Kajabi's page does not publish a trial length, so trial terms have to be confirmed in the signup flow.

Kajabi's help centre adds one rule the pricing page omits. It states that at 100% of contact usage "you will be given 30 days to update or remove your contacts before your account is locked," with an in-app warning at 90%.

Kartra publishes "14 days free" on every tier and a "30-Day risk-free money back guarantee. Cancel anytime." What to spend those 14 days on is laid out in the funnel builder free trial checklist.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kartra cheaper than Kajabi for a course?

At the subscription line, yes. Kartra Essentials is $59 a month against Kajabi Basic at $179. Setting the published rates equal puts the crossover near $5,700 of monthly revenue, and lower still once processor fees behind Kartra's 5% are counted.

Which Kartra plan should a course business actually buy?

Starter, at $119 a month or $99 billed annually. It removes the 5% fee, lifts the product and page caps to unlimited and raises leads from 500 to 2,500. Essentials allows 1 product and 5 pages, which rules out most launches.

Does Kajabi limit marketing emails?

The pricing page lists marketing emails as unlimited on Basic, Growth and Pro, checked October 10, 2026. It does not publish a monthly send figure anywhere, so there is no number to compare against metered platforms.

How many students can each platform hold?

Neither page publishes a student count. Both bill on contacts instead: 2,500, 25,000 and 100,000 on Kajabi; 500, 2,500, 12,500 and 25,000 leads on Kartra. Enrolled students become contacts, so the contact row is the cap.

Does Kajabi have a free trial?

The pricing page does not state a trial length as of October 10, 2026. Kartra publishes 14 days free on all tiers plus a 30-day money-back guarantee. Confirm Kajabi's terms in the signup flow before entering a card.

Can either platform replace an email tool?

Both include email. Kajabi lists unlimited marketing emails on every tier; Kartra allows 10,000 a month on Essentials and unlimited above it. Standalone tools price sends as a multiple of contacts instead, which is a different trade.

Bottom line

Read the fee row before the price row. Kartra Essentials at $59 looks like the cheap option until the 5% cut and the one-product cap are counted, and Kartra Starter at $119 is the plan that actually competes with Kajabi Basic.

Choose Kajabi for unlimited funnels, emails and a community on day one. Choose Kartra Starter if $60 a month matters more than communities and multiple domains. Prices and limits above are from both pricing pages on October 10, 2026.