Comparison · course-first vs community-first · live autocomplete · USD

Kajabi vs Circle — course-first vs community-first

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

You already have a method. The fork is not “which all-in-one includes courses.” It is course-first vs community-first: Kajabi is a business OS that attaches one community to a product. Circle is a branded community that also sells courses, events, and memberships on your Stripe.

Who this page is for

Experts who have one method and are staring at two tabs that both say “courses” and “community.” Kajabi looks like the grown-up course stack. Circle looks like a real home. They are not substitutes. One is a course business with a community bolted to products. The other is a branded community with courses inside the home. This is a live autocomplete comparison. It is not a second community site — the community section already has Circle pricing and Skool vs Circle vs Mighty Networks.

This page does not tell you how to build an audience. If you wanted a school LMS, start at Kajabi vs Teachable vs Thinkific. If the offer is a one-feed room, start at Kajabi vs Skool.

The short version

Course-first vs community-first

Course-first (Kajabi). Official line: the operating system for human expertise. Courses, coaching, digital products, memberships, communities. The member list, emails, and checkout are yours inside Kajabi Payments (or a 3rd-party processor with an extra percentage on new plans). Community is a product you attach — access groups, channels inside a course, Meetups with a built-in live room. Cap 1 / 1 / 3. A Kajabi community is still a course-business feature. You pay $179/mo month-to-month for Basic whether you open the community or not. Existing customers hit new rates on the first billing date on or after January 13, 2026.

Community-first (Circle). Official homepage and platform page: community, events, and courses under your own brand; website and landing pages; paywalls powered by Stripe; you connect an existing Stripe account. Professional includes courses, discussions, events, website builder, live streams, live rooms, custom branding, paid memberships, custom domain. Unlimited members. Spaces 20 / 30 / flexible. Circle’s cut: 2% / 1% / 0.5% plus Stripe. Email Hub is an add-on on Professional (+$99/mo* for 10,000 contacts; first 30 days free). Branded apps are optional on Circle Plus (custom). Displayed prices are USD, annual billing, taxes extra. 14-day trial, no credit card required. 30-day money-back. A Circle course is still a community feature.

The honest comparison is not “Circle is cheaper Kajabi.” Professional’s $89 card is annual — month-to-month in the page data is $99 — and you still pay 2% plus Stripe, and you still buy Email Hub if you need a list. Kajabi Basic at $179 includes unlimited marketing emails and no extra platform percentage on Kajabi Payments, with one community. If the method is something people buy once and take, Kajabi is the category. If they stay in a branded home with spaces and a site, Circle is the category. If they stay in a feed, neither of these — that is Skool.

Cited numbers, August 29, 2026

USD. Monthly is month-to-month where the vendor publishes it. Circle’s visible cards are asterisked annual rates; month-to-month dollars are from page data (priceMonth), not a second public card. Platform fee is the vendor’s cut, not card processing.

Sources: kajabi.com/pricing, circle.so/pricing. Full list at the bottom.

What the fees do to the same sale

Card processing sits on both stacks. Circle’s percentage is on top of Stripe. Paywall help (updated May 2026): US cards typically 2.9%+$0.30; subscriptions use Stripe Billing (help’s Business example stacks 0.7% Billing). Arithmetic on listed price, no tax. Refunds: Circle’s cut is refunded if you refund through Circle; not if you refund in Stripe directly.

• $97 one-time. Kajabi Payments, US card, Basic: 2.9%+$0.30 = $3.11. No extra platform percentage. Circle Professional 2% = $1.94 plus Stripe $3.11 = $5.05. Business 1% = $0.97 + $3.11 = $4.08. Plus 0.5% = $0.49 + $3.11 = $3.60.
• $97 subscription. Kajabi Payments: $3.11 plus 0.7% ($0.68) = $3.79. Circle Professional: $5.05 plus Stripe Billing 0.7% ($0.68) = $5.73. Business $4.76. Plus $4.28.
• $497 one-time. Kajabi Payments Basic: $14.71. Circle Professional 2% = $9.94 plus Stripe $14.71 = $24.65. Business 1% = $4.97 + $14.71 = $19.68. Plus 0.5% = $2.49 + $14.71 = $17.20.
• $2,000 one-time. Kajabi Payments Basic: $58.30. Keep Stripe on Kajabi Basic: add 2% = $40.00 on top of Stripe’s own fee (omitted). Circle Professional 2% = $40.00 plus Stripe $58.30 = $98.30. Business 1% = $20.00 + $58.30 = $78.30. Plus 0.5% = $10.00 + $58.30 = $68.30.

Arithmetic only: the monthly gap between Kajabi Basic ($179) and Circle Professional ($89 annual / $99 page-data month-to-month) is $80–$90 before Email Hub. Add Email Hub at +$99/mo* and Professional is $188 on the annual card — above Kajabi Basic — with 10,000 contacts against Kajabi’s 2,500 and unlimited marketing emails. That is not “Circle is cheaper.” You are buying a branded community, not a marketing OS. You do not buy Business to save the 1% on a $97 membership; you buy it for workflows, APIs, or unbranding. Plan math is on Circle pricing: which plan you actually need.

Who should not pick which

Skip Kajabi if

The offer is a branded community people stay in, and you will not use landing pages, email, and funnels as the business. You are paying $179/mo for a course OS with one community on Basic. Also skip if you need unlimited separate communities — Pro stops at three. Skip keeping Stripe on a new plan unless you have priced 2/1/0.5%. Skip if you need SCORM.

Skip Circle if

The offer is a course business: sales page, email sequence, checkout, player. Circle is a community with courses inside it. Also skip if you wanted Skool’s merchant-of-record simplicity and no Stripe account. Skip if 3 admins / 20 spaces will not hold and you have not priced the $10 / $20 add-ons. Skip Plus unless you are buying branded apps, SSO, or the custom tier on purpose. Skip treating Email Hub as “included marketing” on Professional — it is +$99/mo*.

Skip both if

The offer is a feed. That is Skool. Visit button below; official pricing stays the citation. If the offer is a school catalog, start at Kajabi vs Teachable vs Thinkific. If it is Mighty’s membership network, that is Mighty Networks vs Circle.

Visit the hosts

Circle 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. Circle’s button is the official pricing URL 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 and Kickstarter as a buyable public price. Not on kajabi.com/pricing as a current card.
• Homepage “Save 50%” / Cofounder promo as a Kajabi plan price. Marketing, not a cited tier.
• Circle Plus public dollar card. Custom. Third-party “starts at” quotes are not official cards.
• Circle add-ons as a required bill rolled into Professional. They are listed; they are optional. Full add-on grid is on Circle pricing.
• A break-even month presented as advice. The $97 / $497 / $2,000 arithmetic is Circle’s official percentage plus the US card rate Circle’s help cites, against Kajabi Payments.
• Tax as a dollar table. Circle’s asterisk: displayed prices do not include applicable taxes. We did not invent a tax rate.
• Exact Stripe card rates you would pay if you keep Stripe on Kajabi. Only Kajabi’s 3rd-party percentage is cited. Stripe’s own schedule is Stripe’s except where Circle’s help cites 2.9%+$0.30 US.
• Teachable, Thinkific, LearnWorlds, GoHighLevel, Discord as this two-host fork. Mighty Networks is a different community-section page.
• Keyword volumes, “Circle is expensive” threads as pricing sources, and anything that documents your method for you.

Sources

1. 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.
2. Upcoming changes to your Kajabi plan — first increase in ~10 years; existing Heroes, first billing date on or after January 13, 2026. Cited from the August 29, 2026 Kajabi vendor-page fetch.
3. Kajabi Payments fees: United States — 2.9%+$0.30 cards, +0.7% subscriptions and payment plans. Cited from the August 29, 2026 Kajabi vendor-page fetch.
4. Kajabi online courses — evergreen vs cohort; drip; quizzes; certificates; not SCORM. Cited from the August 29, 2026 Kajabi vendor-page fetch.
5. Kajabi communities — access tied to products; cap 1 / 1 / 3. Cited from the August 29, 2026 Kajabi vendor-page fetch.
6. Kajabi coaching — group room up to 200 + 20 breakout rooms of 10. Cited from the August 29, 2026 Kajabi vendor-page fetch.
7. Circle pricing — Professional priceMonth 99 / priceYear 89; Business 219 / 199; Plus custom; visible cards $89/mo* / $199/mo*; meta “starting as low as $89 per month”; 14-day trial; no credit card required; 30-day money-back; members unlimited; admins 3/5/unlimited; moderators 10/15/unlimited; spaces 20/30/flexible; transaction fees 2%/1%/0.5%; storage 200GB/500GB/1TB; live 100/200/flexible attendees, 15/20/flexible room, 10/15/flexible hours; Email Hub +$99/mo* for 10k contacts, first 30 days free; add-ons as listed. Fetched August 29, 2026.
8. Circle platform — “Prices displayed in USD, based on annual billing and do not include applicable taxes.” Professional feature list includes courses, events, website builder, live streams, live rooms, paid memberships, custom domain. Fetched August 29, 2026.
9. Circle payments — paywalls powered by Stripe; connect existing Stripe; Professional 2% / Business 1% / Plus 0.5% in addition to Stripe. Fetched August 29, 2026.
10. Circle paywall transaction fees (updated May 2026) — same 2%/1%/0.5%; Stripe cards typically 2.9%+$0.30 (US); subscriptions use Stripe Billing; Business subscription example stacks 0.7% Billing; Circle’s fee refunded on Circle-issued refunds, not Stripe-dashboard refunds. Fetched August 29, 2026.
11. Skool pricing — Hobby $9/mo, Pro $99/mo. Cited only as the one-feed room we are not comparing here. Fetched August 29, 2026.