9 Things I Wish I Knew BEFORE Buying Kajabi 2026

I've been using Kajabi since 2018 to grow multiple online businesses, and there are nine critical things I wish I had understood before starting with the platform. In this breakdown, I'm going to share insights about what Kajabi actually does, who should use it, and who should look elsewhere.

Understanding these aspects upfront will save you time and help you determine if Kajabi aligns with your business model. From pricing structures to specific features like courses, coaching, and community building, I'll walk you through the essential elements that matter most when deciding whether this platform fits your needs.

Key Takeaways

• Kajabi is designed specifically for digital products like courses, coaching, and memberships rather than physical products or service-based businesses
• The platform consolidates multiple tools including course hosting, website building, email marketing, and community features into one system
• Pricing varies based on needed functionality, and choosing the right plan depends on your current audience size and product requirements

Identifying the Right Audience for Kajabi

Supported Business Models

Kajabi is designed specifically for digital online businesses. It's a one-stop shop for anyone building a business around digital products and services.

The platform supports several core business models:

• Coaching - Individual or group coaching programs with built-in scheduling and session management
• Online courses - Video-based or text-based educational content with a robust course builder
• Podcasts - Hosting and distribution of podcast content
• Memberships - Recurring access models for ongoing content or community
• Communities - Facebook group-style communities hosted within your platform
• Newsletters - Email-based content distribution
• Digital downloads - Downloadable media files, templates, or other digital assets

Kajabi came from a courseware background. They originally just offered courses and have since built out additional features. I still think courses in Kajabi are brilliant, with clean user experience and extensive customization options.

The platform also functions as a complete website builder. You can host your main domain or subdomain entirely within Kajabi. Everything on my site is built within Kajabi, including my homepage and all landing pages.

Email marketing is fully integrated. You can send broadcasts to selected people on your list or create automated sequences triggered by specific actions like form submissions or product opt-ins.

Who Should Seek Alternatives

Kajabi is not designed for certain business models. From my experience, these businesses should look elsewhere:

Physical product sellers should avoid Kajabi. The platform is built exclusively for digital products and lacks the inventory management, shipping integration, and e-commerce features needed for physical goods.

Service-based businesses won't find Kajabi suitable for their core operations. The first business I built on this platform wasn't designed for Kajabi. It was a service-based business and we just used Kajabi to take payments through. We also built our website and did email marketing, but it wasn't until we understood what this platform was for that we started using it as intended.

Community-focused businesses from 1-2 years ago should have considered alternatives. If community was your main focus a year or two ago, I would have advised against buying Kajabi for that purpose. However, they have since acquired Vibly and made significant improvements. If you're signing up today with community as your main focus, I would now recommend Kajabi.

Anyone turned off by higher pricing should explore other options. Pricing is one of the things that turns people off about Kajabi because it is quite expensive.

Evaluating Pricing and Plan Options

Choosing the Most Cost-Effective Plan

When you sign up for Kajabi today, you have two payment options: annual or monthly. The annual option gives you 20% off compared to monthly payments.

I encourage everyone who is just starting out with only one product idea and a small audience to join using the Kickstarter plan. You need to identify what functionalities you need from the platform and then choose the package that suits your requirements.

If you scroll down through the pricing page, you can see everything included in each plan. It's worth reviewing what you're currently paying for with other products or services. You might actually save money by joining Kajabi on the basic, growth, or pro plan because you can eliminate multiple subscriptions.

The platform offers different tiers based on what's included in each package. Your decision should be based on your specific needs rather than getting features you won't use right away.

Understanding Available Features

Kajabi includes several core features across its plans. The platform originally came from a courseware background, and courses remain one of its strongest offerings.

Key features available include:

• Coaching programs (one-on-one and group)
• Courses with video, worksheets, and downloadables
• Podcasts
• Memberships
• Communities
• Newsletters
• Digital downloads (now unlimited downloads within one product)

The course builder lets you upload videos, add worksheets or downloadables, and include text. The user experience is clean and clear, with easy navigation between lessons. You can customize the look and feel of your courses, editing everything from the left-hand side panel.

The coaching product integrates with your calendars and allows you to set up availability, start times, and date ranges. It comes off your main product count, costing one product slot. You can link to video calls and add notes or resources all in one place.

Digital downloads are a fairly new feature where people can download media files, audio files, or templates. This product now offers unlimited downloads, meaning you use just one product against your product count but can have as many downloads as you like within that product.

The website and landing page builders let you host either your subdomain or main domain. Everything can be built within Kajabi's website or landing pages section.

Email campaigns and email marketing are also included. You can send broadcasts to selected people on your list or create sequences that are trigger-based. The system includes broadcast sequences, events, A/B testing, and template management.

Optimizing Online Courses

Course Builder Capabilities

Kajabi came from a courseware background. Back in the day, they just had courses. Now they have built out a series of features since that date, but I still think courses in Kajabi are brilliant.

The course builder allows you to build out courses as you go. You can upload video, any worksheets or downloadables, and put text in here. I'm using one of my free programs, Kajabi Unboxed, as an example of what you can create.

The user experience is really clean and clear. Users can play the video if it's a video program and then skip over to the next lesson. The build process is straightforward and intuitive.

Key features of the course builder include:

• Video upload capabilities
• Downloadable worksheets and resources
• Text content integration
• Lesson-by-lesson structure

If you are building a course-based business, I can't recommend Kajabi enough. This is where Kajabi came from, and Kajabi has just got such a robust course product.

Customization and User Experience

You can customize courses for the look and the feel. I have done a deeper dive on customizing your course content, but the builder itself is great.

In the customization panel, you've got a great builder. This includes a welcome video from me for anyone joining the program. You can edit everything down the left-hand side.

Customization options:

You can literally just open up the post body and edit it from in here. The interface makes it simple to adjust any element of your course without technical knowledge.

Leveraging Community Features

Recent Improvements

The community feature has evolved significantly over the past couple of years. If you were considering Kajabi a year or two ago specifically for community as your core product, I probably would have advised against it.

However, things have changed. Kajabi acquired Vibley, and they have come a long way with their community capabilities.

If you're signing up to Kajabi today and community is your main focus, I would now recommend the platform. The look and feel of the community is similar to a Facebook group. This is what you can expect when you build out your community space.

Best Practices for Engagement

I've done a deep dive on how to build out community, covering several key areas:

• How to edit in the settings
• How to add people to your community
• How to manage your access groups

The community product now provides a robust environment for member interaction. You can set up different access levels and organize your members effectively. The interface makes it straightforward to manage your community space and keep members engaged with your content.

Maximizing Coaching Functionality

Setup and Scheduling

The coaching product is probably the product that I use more often than not. You can sign anyone up to this product, and it comes off your main product count, so it does cost one product.

You can set it all up in terms of your availability, your start time, and date range. The platform integrates with your calendars, and the setup looks pretty simple.

Kajabi just had a revamp of the look and the feel of the coaching product. The design process is really simple, allowing you to create and deliver coaching packages efficiently.

Key Setup Features:

• Set your availability preferences
• Configure start times and date ranges
• Calendar integration included
• Uses one product from your product count

Integrated Resources and Delivery

If somebody wanted to buy a few coaching one-on-ones with you, you can set these out here. The platform keeps everything packaged in one place.

You can link to video calls directly through the coaching interface. The system allows you to add any notes or resources that you need for your sessions.

Delivery Components:

If you run a coaching business, then Kajabi is definitely for you. The platform makes it really simple to design and deliver coaching packages and then offer them to your potential clients.

Utilizing Digital Downloads

Product Creation

Digital downloads is a fairly new feature in Kajabi. You can design a product so people can go in and download media from you, whether it be a video file, an audio file, or templates.

If you're selling templates or any type of small ticket media, this could be a good option for you. It has recently become an unlimited downloads product.

Managing Multiple File Types

This means you just use one product against your product count. You create a download product, and you can have as many downloads in that product as you like.

The platform allows you to include:

• Video files
• Audio files
• Templates
• Other media formats

Each download type can be packaged within the same product, giving you flexibility in what you offer to your customers without consuming additional products from your plan allocation.

Building and Customizing Websites

Creating Pages and Landing Experiences

You have two things here. You have website pages and landing pages, but ultimately they are how you build out your entire website.

Kajabi is great for this. If you want it to host your main domain, you can either host your subdomain or your main domain. Everything can be built out within the website or the landing pages.

Everything you see when you go to timman.com is all built out within Kajabi. It's quite intuitive. It didn't take me long to build out this homepage and all my landing pages.

In fact, it took me like a weekend of learning how to do this and then build this out. These are the little drop downs on how you build out your store, how you build out your about page, how you build out your contact me.

You can click the drop down and then just work on each page individually.

Domain Integration

If you are looking for a software platform not just to host your courses, your coaching or your community but also to host your domain, host your website, your homepage and all your landing pages, then I can't recommend Kajabi enough. You can host either your subdomain or your main domain within the platform.

The system allows you to manage everything from one central location. All pages, whether they're part of your main website or specific landing pages, can be controlled through the same interface.

Enhancing Email Marketing Campaigns

Automation and Sequences

Kajabi offers two primary ways to send emails: broadcasts and sequences. Broadcasts allow you to send emails to selected people on your list, while sequences are trigger-based automated emails.

Sequences operate based on specific triggers. If someone fills out a form or opts into a product, you can send them a series of automated emails. This functionality has saved me significant time and effort.

The email layout provides several options for managing your campaigns:

• Broadcast - Send to selected contacts
• Sequences - Trigger-based automation
• Events - Event-related emails
• A/B Testing - Test different email versions

You can filter emails by status, including draft, scheduled, active, or sent. This organization system makes it easy to track where each campaign stands.

Template Management

Kajabi includes a template management feature for your email campaigns. You can save templates and quickly access them when you need to send another email.

The "Manage Templates" option lets you store frequently used email formats. This means you don't have to rebuild emails from scratch each time. Instead, you can draw on saved templates to streamline your email creation process.

By using this one function within Kajabi, I've eliminated the need to pay for a separate email provider. The platform handles all email marketing needs without requiring third-party integration.

Expanding with a Branded Mobile App

Add-On Features

If you want to expand your Kajabi experience beyond the desktop, you can invest in a branded mobile app. This is an add-on feature that doesn't come standard with your Kajabi subscription.

The mobile app allows your members to access your content through their own branded application. This means they can download an app with your business name and branding from the App Store or Google Play Store.

Key considerations:

• This is an additional cost on top of your regular Kajabi subscription
• You need to factor in the price when calculating your overall platform expenses
• The app provides a more professional appearance for your business
• Members get dedicated access without logging into a browser

User Experience on Mobile

The branded mobile app creates a different experience for your members compared to accessing Kajabi through a mobile browser. Your students can access their purchased content directly from their phone's home screen.

The app interface maintains a clean look similar to the desktop version. Members can navigate through their courses, watch videos, and access downloadable content all within the app environment.

Mobile app benefits:

• Direct access from the phone home screen
• No need to remember login URLs
• Push notifications for new content and updates
• Offline content access for certain materials
• Streamlined navigation designed for mobile devices

The app keeps everything contained in one place for your members. They can move through course lessons, participate in community discussions, and book coaching sessions all from their mobile device.