After the hike · January 13, 2026 · USD

Best course platform after the Kajabi price hike

Updated August 29, 2026 · Official product and pricing pages fetched this evening. If a number is missing below, we could not cite it.

January 13, 2026 was Kajabi’s first increase in ~10 years. Existing Heroes hit the new rate on the first billing date on or after that day. Tonight’s public Basic is $179/mo. The question is not “is Kajabi expensive.” It is whether you are still buying the OS — or paying OS money for a player.

Who this page is for

Experts who already have a method and are looking at a Kajabi invoice dated after January 13, 2026 — or at the public cards, deciding whether to start. You are not here for a rant. You are here to sort who still belongs on Kajabi from who is now renting a business OS they will not open.

This is not a migrate-off playbook. That map is migrate off Kajabi — what actually replaces what. It is not a reconstructed legacy price table. The official update page confirms the dated event and that pricing moves to the new point; this fetch did not extract old-vs-new dollar amounts as text (likely images). Third-party recaps of $149→$179 exist. They are not in the table. We cite the public cards and the January 13 event, not a reconstructed grid. The vendor page is Kajabi (2026). The three-host table is Kajabi vs Teachable vs Thinkific.

The short version

What January 13, 2026 actually changed

Official update page (“Upcoming changes to your Kajabi plan”): first price change in ~10 years. A price increase across all plans. For existing Heroes, new pricing takes effect on January 13, 2026. The same page: new rate on the first billing date on or after January 13, 2026. Tonight is August 29, 2026 — anyone whose first billing date on or after January 13 has already passed is on the new point. Annual customers whose next billing date was still ahead of January 13 would hit it on that later date. We are not inventing your bill date.

Plan migration is not required. If you stay on a legacy plan, features and limits stay the same; you do not get premium features or expanded limits on the new plans; pricing still moves to the new point. Founder and Beta Invite plans are not impacted by the price change. Bespoke plans: see billing. Extra 5,000 contacts: $20 → $25 (update FAQ). Public API and Branded Mobile App, previously add-ons, are included on the new Pro plan (update FAQ).

On new plans, in regions where Kajabi Payments is available, using Stripe (or another 3rd-party provider other than PayPal) adds 2% Basic / 1% Growth / 0.5% Pro. That fee does not apply if you remain on your current (legacy) plan, if Kajabi Payments is not available in your region, or for PayPal in any region. Staying on legacy to keep Stripe without the surcharge also means staying off the new plan’s discounted Kajabi Payments rates and off features the update page lists as new-plan-only (including Cohort Courses on “certain new plans”). That trade is real. We are not telling you which way to migrate.

This fetch did not extract old-vs-new dollar amounts as text from the official update page (likely images). We will not reconstruct $149 → $179 from a blog. Public cards tonight are the numbers.

You are not the only one who hiked

Thinkific’s official 2026 update: first subscription increase since 2022. Approximately 10% on Basic, Start, Grow, Legacy Pro, and Fixed Growth — monthly and annual — effective August 13, 2026. Expand unchanged. Existing non-profit customers and customers with active discounts are exempt. USD, official current → new: Basic $49 → $54/mo (annual $432/yr → $475/yr). Start $99 → $109. Grow $199 → $219. Tonight’s public cards already show the new rates. The lock-in window (switch monthly to annual before August 13) is closed as of this page’s date.

Leaving Kajabi over January 13 is not a move onto a frozen market. It is a move onto a different machine that also repriced this year — or onto Teachable, which renamed plans in June 2025 and still takes 7.5% on Starter. Price pain is not a category. Fit is.

Cited numbers, August 29, 2026

USD. Monthly is month-to-month. Annual is the advertised per-month rate when you pay yearly. These are tonight’s public cards, not a reconstructed pre-hike grid.

Sources: kajabi.com/pricing, Kajabi Jan 13, 2026 update, thinkific.com/pricing, teachable.com/pricing. Full list at the bottom. *0% on teachable:pay or Monthly Payment Gateway.

What the fees do to a simple offer, after the hike

The hike changed the subscription. It did not invent a Kajabi platform percentage on Kajabi Payments. US card, Kajabi Payments, Basic grid rate. Same arithmetic the vendor page already published.

• $97 one-time. Kajabi Payments Basic: 2.9%+$0.30 = $3.11. Keep Stripe on a new Basic plan: +2% = $1.94 plus Stripe (omitted). Teachable Starter: 7.5% = $7.28 plus US card $3.11 = $10.39. Thinkific Payments at the 2.9% headline: $2.81. Thinkific Stripe-on-Basic: +5% = $4.85 plus Stripe.
• $497 one-time. Kajabi Payments Basic: $14.71. Teachable Starter 7.5% = $37.28 plus US card $14.71 = $51.99. Thinkific Payments 2.9% → $14.41. Thinkific Stripe-on-Basic +$24.85.
• $2,000 one-time. Kajabi Payments Basic: $58.30. Teachable Starter 7.5% = $150.00 plus US card $58.30 = $208.30. Thinkific Payments 2.9% → $58.00. Thinkific Stripe-on-Basic +$100.00.

The monthly gap between Kajabi Basic ($179) and Thinkific Basic ($54) is $125. The gap to Teachable Builder ($89) is $90. Those gaps are the OS, not a fee you can outrun with volume unless you were going to buy the emails and funnels anyway. Volume at $97 is on the $97 page. We are not publishing a break-even month here.

Who still belongs on Kajabi

Stay on Kajabi if the work is a course or cohort business you sell: landing page, email sequence, checkout, player, maybe one community attached, maybe coaching in the same OS. Public Basic is $179/mo. You would otherwise buy those tabs separately. The January 13 rate is the price of keeping them in one login.

Stay, and use Kajabi Payments if you are on a new plan in a region where it is available. No extra platform percentage. US cards 2.9%+$0.30 on Basic. The 3rd-party surcharge is the reason not to keep Stripe “because we always used Stripe” without pricing 2/1/0.5%.

Stay on a legacy plan only as the official trade the update page describes: same features and limits, new price point, no 3rd-party surcharge, no new-plan extras. We cannot cite your legacy dollar. Founder and Beta Invite are the named exemptions from the price change.

Stay on Growth or Pro if you need 50 or unlimited products, 25,000 or 100,000 contacts, or Pro’s branded app / API / custom code editor. Those are catalog and team conversations, not hike conversations. The hike moved every named public tier to tonight’s cards.

Who should not stay

Skip Kajabi — pick Thinkific Basic — if

You want the cheapest cited player for one recorded course and you will keep email and checkout somewhere else. Public Basic is $54 / $40 after August 13. Unlimited courses. One community. 10,000 current students. Stay on Thinkific Payments. Skip Basic if the program is a live cohort — Start is $109 / $82. Skip keeping Stripe unless you have priced 5/2/1%.

Skip Kajabi — pick Teachable Builder — if

You want a school with a catalog shape and you will not sit on Starter. $89 / $69. 0% on teachable:pay. Ten published products. The 7.5% on Starter is how a $39 invoice becomes the expensive one. Also skip Teachable if you need unlimited published courses; Growth stops at 50 unless you go Custom. Live-cohort framing is weaker on the public page than Thinkific Start.

Skip Kajabi — pick the room — if

The offer is a feed or a branded membership. Kajabi’s community cap did not grow on January 13. Skool Hobby $9/mo, 10% transaction fee; Pro $99/mo, 2.9%. Mighty Launch $79/mo on the annual toggle this fetch ($950/year). Circle is the branded-community fork. Those pages: Kajabi vs Skool, Kajabi vs Mighty Networks, Kajabi vs Circle.

Skip Kajabi — and do not pick a Kickstarter story — if

You needed a public Kickstarter-priced tier. It is not on kajabi.com/pricing today. The update page mentions the Kickstarter tier in plan-type copy. No public dollar amount cited here. Also skip if you need SCORM. Also skip if you need more than one community on Basic or Growth, or more than three on Pro.

Visit the hosts

Teachable affiliate slot — not live Thinkific affiliate slot — not live

Kajabi’s trial box and visit button use the 30-day trial affiliate, justinwise.net/kajabi. The Kajabi pricing button is a pricing-page affiliate. Official Kajabi pricing remains the source for Kajabi numbers. Teachable and Thinkific buttons are official product URLs only. Visit Skool uses the Skool signup affiliate. Official skool.com/pricing remains the source for Skool numbers.

Omitted on purpose

• Kajabi legacy dollar table (old $149 / $199 / $399 style figures). The official January 2026 update page confirms a price increase across all plans and the January 13, 2026 effective date. This fetch did not extract old-vs-new dollar amounts as text (likely images). Third-party recaps exist; they are not in the table.
• Kajabi Kickstarter as a buyable public price. Not listed on kajabi.com/pricing. The update page mentions the Kickstarter tier in plan-type copy. No public dollar amount cited here.
• JSON-LD $69 lowPrice on Kajabi product pages. That is not a public plan card.
• Homepage “Save 50%” / Cofounder promo as a Kajabi plan price. Marketing, not a cited tier.
• A click-by-click move. The named replacement map is migrate off Kajabi. This page is who stays and who leaves.
• A break-even month presented as advice. Neighboring arithmetic lives on the $97 page and the Teachable fees page.
• Exact Thinkific Payments US schedule beyond the public 2.9% FAQ line. We did not invent 2.9%+$0.30 as Thinkific’s native US rate.
• Teachable Custom Payment Gateway extra percentage. Not on teachable.com/pricing this fetch.
• Thinkific public Expand plan card. The August 2026 increase article prices Expand at $499/mo, unchanged. Current pricing page plan cards are Basic / Start / Grow / Plus.
• Keyword volumes, “is Kajabi still worth it” rankings, and anything that documents your method for you.

Sources

1. Upcoming changes to your Kajabi plan — first increase in ~10 years; existing Heroes, first billing date on or after January 13, 2026; migration not required; 3rd-party fee does not apply if you stay on a legacy plan; Founder/Beta exempt; contacts add-on $20→$25; Cohort Courses named among certain new-plan features; Public API and Branded Mobile App included on new Pro. Fetched August 29, 2026.
2. Kajabi pricing — public plans, JSON-LD prices ($143/$179 Basic, $199/$249 Growth, $399/$499 Pro), product/contact/community/website/admin limits, unlimited emails/funnels/landing pages, Kajabi Payments US grid, 3rd-party 2%/1%/0.5%, 30-day trial. Fetched August 29, 2026.
3. Kajabi Payments fees: United States — 2.9%+$0.30 cards, +0.7% subscriptions and payment plans. Fetched August 29, 2026.
4. Kajabi communities — access tied to products; cap 1 / 1 / 3 on the pricing grid. Fetched August 29, 2026.
5. Thinkific pricing — Basic $54/$40 (save $173), Start $109/$82, Grow $219/$164; unlimited courses; 10,000 current students; 1 community on Basic; live cohorts on Start; 30-day trial; 2.9% native FAQ. HTML fetched August 29, 2026 (WebFetch Cloudflare-blocked; curl 200).
6. Thinkific’s 2026 plan pricing update — ~10% increase August 13, 2026; first subscription increase since 2022; Basic $49→$54, Start $99→$109, Grow $199→$219; annual $432→$475 / $888→$978 / $1,788→$1,968; Expand unchanged at $499/mo; non-profit and active discounts exempt. Fetched August 29, 2026.
7. How much does Thinkific cost? and Third-party payment gateway fee FAQ — 5.0% / 2.0% / 1.0% / 0.5%; $1M/year cap; Thinkific Payments avoids the fee. Fetched August 29, 2026 (curl 200).
8. Teachable pricing — Starter $39 / $29, Builder $89 / $69, Growth $189 / $139; 7.5% vs 0%*; 5 / 10 / 50 products; 100 / 1,000 / 5,000 active students; 7-day trial. Fetched August 29, 2026.
9. Teachable Pay (updated June 22, 2026) — Starter 7.5%; Builder+ 0% on Teachable Payments; US card 2.9%+$0.30. Fetched August 29, 2026.
10. Skool pricing — Hobby $9/mo, 10%; Pro $99/mo, 2.9%. Cited as the room alternative, not as a course LMS. Fetched August 29, 2026.
11. Mighty Networks pricing — Launch $79/mo annual-toggle card, $950/year. Cited as the branded-membership alternative. Fetched August 29, 2026.