01
Pain
A high starting price
Kajabi's Basic plan is $179 a month on monthly billing, or $143 a month billed annually (kajabi.com/pricing, as of October 2026). That is the entry point, before you have sold anything.
We build Prolaud, so we're not neutral. Everything below can be checked, and we've called out where Kajabi is the better pick. Decide for yourself.
All-in-one creator platform · Kajabi alternative
The honest Kajabi alternative for teachers who teach live
Kajabi's marketing suite is the reason most people choose it, and it is good. The two things we hear from teachers who leave are the starting price and the class itself: plans begin at $179 a month on monthly billing (as of October 2026), and the product is built around courses and marketing more than around a classroom. Prolaud gives you a CRM and marketing automation that cover the essentials, a live classroom on every plan, and a free plan to start on.
- CRM and marketing automation built in
- A live classroom inside the product
- Free Starter plan, with no trial clock
- Paid into your own Stripe or Razorpay account
Kajabi → ProlaudSide-by-side
Kajabi
Today
Live classes
Whiteboard
Quizzes
Own account
Commission
switch
Prolaud
From day one
Live classesin-platform
Whiteboardin the live room
Quizzestest-prep templates
Own accountpaid to you
Commission0% of sales
Full comparison below12 features
The honest verdict
Prolaud is the stronger Kajabi alternative if your product is live teaching. Kajabi pioneered the all-in-one creator platform, and its funnels and email marketing are deeper than ours. It takes no percentage of your sales when you use Kajabi Payments, so price per sale is not the argument. The argument is what the plan fee buys and where the class happens. Kajabi's plans start at $179 a month on monthly billing, and if you connect your own payment provider in place of Kajabi Payments, its pricing page lists a 2% fee on that plan (kajabi.com/pricing, as of October 2026). Prolaud has a free Starter plan, runs checkout on your own Stripe or Razorpay account at 0%, and builds in the classroom: scheduling, recording, a whiteboard, polls and attendance on the same student record as the sale. Kajabi remains the better choice if your revenue depends on multi-step email funnels and live teaching is not central.
Cost example
On $5,000/ month, here’s the swing.
Numbers below use public pricing — Kajabi’s figures are from its own pricing page, as of October 2026. Card processing is left out: on Prolaud you pay your payment processor’s standard fee, so check whether the rival’s rate already includes it. Plug in your own revenue on the payout calculator to run your own numbers against the other platforms.
Your Kajabi bill
Today$179
per month
0% platform fee with Kajabi Payments$0
Basic plan, billed monthly$179
A flat plan fee
No percentage on this setup, so compare the two plan fees and what each includes.
Your Prolaud bill
After switch$42
per month, Studio plan · flat
Per-transaction commission$0
Flat subscription$42
Stays flat regardless of sales
Sell ten times as much → still the same bill.
Your monthly swing
+$137
≈ $1,644 back in your pocket every year — at this revenue level.
Why teachers and creators move on
The recurring patterns we hear from Kajabi users.
We've onboarded teachers from every category of platform. These are the same complaints, again and again.
02
Pain
A fee for using your own processor
Kajabi's pricing page lists a fee on sales taken through a third-party payment provider: 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro (as of October 2026). Avoiding it means using Kajabi Payments.
03
Pain
Not built around the live class
Kajabi is built around courses, coaching offers and marketing. A classroom where attendance, polls, a whiteboard and the recording all land on the student's record is not its focus, so cohort teachers tell us they run that part elsewhere.
04
Pain
Community feels like a separate surface
Kajabi's community is its own area. Posts and mentions work, but teachers tell us the link between the community, the courses and the live sessions feels assembled more than woven.
What you get instead
Four promises we put in writing.
🧩
The classroom, not just the checkout
Kajabi's pitch is courses and marketing in one. Prolaud covers the core of that: a CRM where buyers become contacts automatically, tag-based segments, automations that send an email when someone buys or gets a tag, scheduled follow-ups and abandoned-checkout recovery. Then it adds what a teacher needs: live classes, a whiteboard, quizzes, certificates and a community, all on one student record.
Promise 1 of 4 · in writing
💳
Paid into your own account
You connect your own Stripe or Razorpay account and your students pay you directly, at 0% to us. Kajabi lets you bring a third-party payment provider too, and its pricing page lists a fee for doing so: 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth, 0.5% on Pro (as of October 2026). Here your own account is the normal path, with no surcharge.
Promise 2 of 4 · in writing
📤
Your students, exportable any day
Your students, your courses, your orders: all exportable to CSV or JSON on every plan, including the free Starter plan. There is no "upgrade to export" gate.
Promise 3 of 4 · in writing
💰
Zero commission on what you earn
Kajabi takes no percentage when you use Kajabi Payments, so this is not a contest on commission. The difference is the floor and the choice of processor: Kajabi starts at $179 a month on monthly billing, and its pricing page lists a 2% fee on Basic for sales through a third-party payment provider (kajabi.com/pricing, as of October 2026). Prolaud takes 0% with your own processor on every plan, including the free Starter plan.
Promise 4 of 4 · in writing
Free Starter plan, no time limit · No credit card
Side by side
Kajabi vs. Prolaud.
Each cell reflects the rival's public pricing and feature pages when this page was last reviewed; dated figures say when. Hover any “partial” row for the caveat.
| Feature | Kajabi | Prolaud |
|---|---|---|
Live classes built into the platform Schedule, host and record the class without renting a separate video seat. | ||
Recordings with chapters The recording attaches to the class, with chapter markers and the class chat alongside the video. | ||
Multiplayer whiteboard in the live room K-12 grade-band templates, brainstorms, SWOT, mind maps. Multi-cursor, saved per class. | ||
Quizzes built for test prep, not just recall Templates for SAT, AP and GMAT practice, code review and essay rubrics. | ||
Cohort community with @-mentions Post types (Announcement / Question / Win / Discussion) and a member directory. | ||
Certificates with a designer and a verify link Drag-and-drop designer, bulk issue from a CSV, and a public page where an employer can check a certificate. | ||
0% of your sales taken by the platform A flat plan fee, and nothing that grows with what you sell. | ||
Paid into your own payment account Checkout runs on your own Stripe or Razorpay account, so the platform never holds your money. | ||
Workspace export (CSV / JSON) Per-entity exports and a full-workspace download on every plan, free Starter included. | ||
CRM + marketing automation Contacts added automatically on purchase, tag-based segments, trigger-and-action rules with scheduled follow-ups. | ||
Abandoned-checkout recovery Detects a stalled checkout and sends a win-back message. | ||
Deep email funnels + broadcast analytics Multi-step visual funnel builder with detailed open and click reporting on email sequences. |
ships todaypartial / caveatsdoesn’t ship
Free Starter plan, no time limit · No credit card
Straight talk
When Kajabi is genuinely the better choice
Be honest with yourself here. Pick Kajabi if your revenue depends on elaborate multi-step marketing funnels with detailed open and click reporting, and live teaching is not central to what you sell. Kajabi's marketing depth is real and battle-tested, and ours covers the essentials without matching it. If that is you, switching would cost more than it saves, and we would rather tell you now than have you leave in month two.
Other options worth a look
Other Kajabi alternatives
We compare honestly against each of these too — so you can hold Kajabi up against the whole field, not just against us.
How to switch
The Kajabi → Prolaud migration, in 5 steps.
Most teams are fully migrated inside a weekend. You don't lose your roster, your courses, or your branding.
1
Step 1
Export your student roster from Kajabi (most platforms offer a CSV under "Students" or "Members"). Map the columns to name, email and phone.
2
Step 2
Bulk-import the CSV into /dashboard/students. The import matches on email, so running it again is safe.
3
Step 3
Recreate your courses. The curriculum builder lets you drag modules and lessons, paste video embed URLs and upload PDFs without a wizard. Most teachers move five courses in an afternoon.
4
Step 4
Apply your brand: logo, primary color, and a custom domain on any paid plan. The portal-template picker has 7 starting points if you want to refresh the look while you are at it.
5
Step 5
Tell your students you have moved, with the new portal URL. One announcement goes out in-app and by email, and reminders can be scheduled after it.
Most teams finish over one weekend
Stuck mid-migration? Email us — we'll walk through the CSV mapping or migration scripts with you on a call. No upsell.
The switching framework
Five questions worth answering before you switch.
Score each tool yourself, Kajabi and us included — these are the questions that actually decide it.
Questions to ask before you switch
- 1
Does it ship live cohort tooling that respects classroom dynamics?
- 2
Is my data exportable on every plan, including the free tier?
- 3
Will my bill stay flat as my sales grow, with no per-sale cut?
- 4
Am I paid into my own payment account, or does the platform hold the money?
- 5
Can I migrate over a weekend without losing my roster?
Start free — keep 100% of what you earn.
Launch your academy freeCommon questions
From teachers leaving Kajabi.
Kajabi vs Prolaud — what's the real difference?
Kajabi's strength is marketing: funnels, email sequences and offers. Prolaud's is the class: a live room with a whiteboard, polls and attendance on the same student record as the purchase. Kajabi takes no percentage on Kajabi Payments and its plans start at $179 a month on monthly billing (kajabi.com/pricing, as of October 2026); Prolaud takes 0% on your own Stripe or Razorpay account and has a free plan to start on. See the whole loop at prolaud.com/loop. This page also spells out where Kajabi is genuinely the better buy.
Is Prolaud cheaper than Kajabi?
For most teachers, yes, and the difference is the monthly floor, not a per-sale fee. Kajabi's Basic plan is $179 a month on monthly billing, or $143 a month billed annually (kajabi.com/pricing, as of October 2026). Prolaud has a free Starter plan and flat paid plans; the current prices are on our pricing page. Neither platform takes a percentage on its default payment setup, so compare the two plan fees and what each one includes.
Can I use my own Stripe account?
Yes, and it costs nothing extra. You paste your Stripe API keys into Prolaud, students pay by card in US dollars, and the money goes straight to your Stripe account. Prolaud takes 0%. Kajabi's pricing page lists a fee for sales through a third-party payment provider: 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro (as of October 2026).
Will I lose Kajabi's marketing automation if I switch?
The core is built in: a CRM where contacts are added when someone buys, tag-based segments, automations that fire on a purchase or a tag and send an email or add a tag, scheduled follow-ups, automatic abandoned-checkout recovery and re-engagement for students who are slipping. Kajabi's visual funnel builder and email broadcast analytics are still deeper and more mature. If your business runs on multi-step funnels with detailed open and click reporting, weigh that carefully. For welcoming new buyers, chasing unfinished checkouts and winning back drop-offs, it is covered here.
How do I move my students and courses from Kajabi?
Export your student roster from Kajabi as a CSV and bulk-import it into your new academy; the import matches on email, so running it again is safe. Recreate courses by pasting your existing video embed URLs and uploading PDFs, or draft them with the AI course builder from your outline. Connect your own Stripe or Razorpay account, point your custom domain, and go live. Most teachers move a cohort over in a weekend, and export works on every plan if you ever want to leave again.
Is Kajabi still better for anything?
Yes, and we will say so. If your revenue depends on elaborate multi-step marketing funnels with detailed open and click reporting, and live teaching is not central to your product, Kajabi's marketing depth is real and it is likely the better fit. We are the stronger choice when your product is live teaching, cohorts or coaching. The section above on when Kajabi is the better choice gives the honest split.
Compare other alternatives
Evaluating more than one platform?
Each comparison is built the same way, so you can hold Kajabi up against the rest.
TTeachable Alternative
Live classes, a cohort community and your courses in one workspace, with 0% of your sales taken and payouts into your own account.
See comparisonTThinkific Alternative
A course builder with the live classroom, whiteboard and community in the same product, and 0% of your sales taken.
See comparisonPPodia Alternative
Podia's simplicity with a real classroom behind it: live cohorts, a whiteboard and test-prep quizzes, at 0% of your sales.
See comparisonGGumroad Alternative
For when you outgrow the checkout link and need courses, live classes, a community and a real student record.
See comparisonLLearnWorlds Alternative
For teachers who want the live cohort at the center: a built-in classroom and whiteboard, with 0% of your sales taken.
See comparisonTTagMango Alternative
Same creator-mobile-first focus — with the deeper teaching surface and zero-commission commitment Indian educators ask for.
See comparisonSSkolasti Alternative
Both India-built. Skolasti is course-hosting with strong content-DRM and a per-coach price; we add live teaching, community, a free tier, broader product types and flat 0%-commission pricing.
See comparisonCClassWalla Alternative
ClassWalla gives coaching institutes a branded Android/iOS app from ₹4,999/mo or revenue-share. We're the open-web alternative: a free tier, flat 0%-commission pricing, a cohort community and 8 product types — no app install to browse or buy.
See comparisonSSkool Alternative
Skool is a strong paid community with live calls. Prolaud is for when the class is the product: a whiteboard, quizzes, certificates and a storefront, with 0% of your sales taken.
See comparisonCCircle Alternative
Circle is the best-designed community tool here, with live metered at 10 hours a month and a 15-person room on its $89 plan. Prolaud is built for teaching live, with 0% of your sales taken.
See comparisonMMaven Alternative
Maven is built for live cohorts and keeps 10% of sales, with a marketplace attached. Prolaud runs the same cohort at 0%, on your own domain, for teachers who already have an audience.
See comparisonStart free. We take 0% of what you earn.
Free Starter forever. No credit card. Cancel any day. The export button still works.
One-click export works on every plan · even Starter