Top 7 Reasons NOT to Buy Kajabi (What to Use Instead)

Kajabi promises to be the ultimate all-in-one platform for running your entire online business. While this sounds appealing, that simplicity comes with a trade-off - specialization.

As a brilliant all-in-one solution, Kajabi can't possibly master every functionality your online business might need. I'm going to give you a completely honest breakdown of where Kajabi might fall short for your specific needs, along with recommended alternatives for each area. My goal isn't to discourage you from using Kajabi, but to empower you as a business owner so you can ask the right questions and choose the platform that truly fits your business.

Key Takeaways

• Kajabi is an all-in-one platform that trades specialization for simplicity across multiple business functions
• The platform works best for digital products but has limitations in areas like physical products, advanced email marketing, and affiliate management
• Your choice should depend on whether you want to focus on systems integration or spend your time creating content and serving clients

What Is Kajabi?

Kajabi is a platform designed specifically for digital products. If you're selling courses, memberships, or coaching services, this platform targets the digital space.

I'm looking at Kajabi.com to understand what this all-in-one platform offers. Kajabi promises to be a simple solution where you can run your entire online business from one place.

What Kajabi includes:

• Course creation and hosting
• Email marketing (broadcasts, sequences, and event-based emails)
• Landing page builder
• Community features
• Checkout and payment processing
• Affiliate management system

The platform positions itself as an all-in-one solution. This means instead of using separate tools for different functions, you can manage your digital business from a single dashboard.

Key features I can access:

• Email system: Three ways to send emails including events, broadcasts, and automated sequences
• Landing pages: Builder with templates and basic customization
• Checkout pages: Simple payment processing with coupon codes, Google Pay, and Apple Pay
• Course platform: Student progress tracking and certificate downloads
• Community space: Facebook-style group functionality after acquiring Vively
• Affiliate dashboard: Basic partner management with commission tracking

Kajabi acquired Vively to enhance their community features. The community function has gone through several iterations and now resembles a Facebook group interface.

I can see student progress bars in my courses to track who hasn't started, who's in progress, and who has completed programs. The affiliate system offers basic functionality without dynamic pricing structures.

The platform focuses on simplicity over specialization. By trying to handle multiple business functions, it provides adequate solutions across different areas rather than excelling in any single function.

Who Should Use Kajabi?

Kajabi isn't the right fit for everyone, despite being a powerful all-in-one platform. Here's who should look elsewhere:

Physical Product Sellers If you're selling physical products, Kajabi simply isn't designed for this. Shopify offers superior integrations to get your physical products distributed worldwide.

Landing Page Specialists While Kajabi provides landing page functionality, it lacks the depth specialists need. If your business relies heavily on high-converting landing pages with advanced tracking metrics and detailed analytics, Lead Pages offers more specialized functionality focused on conversions first.

Email Marketing Experts Kajabi includes three email options: events, email broadcasts, and email sequences with basic templates. However, businesses requiring advanced email segmentation, split testing, and deeper analytics will find it limiting. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) provides an email-first operating system with more sophisticated capabilities.

Conversion-Focused Checkout Specialists The checkout function in Kajabi is quite limited. You get:

• Basic branding banner
• Logo or video upload
• Simple text area
• Coupon functionality
• Google Pay and Apple Pay
• Terms and conditions

For businesses needing advanced checkout analytics and conversion optimization, SamCart delivers more comprehensive checkout functionality.

Community-First Businesses Despite acquiring Vively and improving their community platform, many users still find it clunky and simplistic. If building communities is the hub of your online business, Circle focuses 100% on community functionality with superior user experience.

Course Analytics Specialists While I can see basic progress bars showing who hasn't started, who's in progress, or who's completed courses in my Kajabi dashboard, detailed student analytics aren't available. If tracking comprehensive student metrics is crucial for improving results, Learn Worlds provides much more detailed course analytics.

Affiliate Marketing Focused Businesses Kajabi's affiliate dashboard is basic without dynamic pricing. For businesses centered on affiliate growth with tiered commission structures and comprehensive partner resources, ThriveCart offers more sophisticated affiliate management tools.

Despite these limitations, I still use Kajabi for my entire online business. The deciding factor comes down to one question: Do you want to be a systems integrator or do you just want to be a creator?

Some business owners need best-in-class functionality across every area for that extra 10% performance. For me, I spend most of my time creating content and engaging with clients rather than managing multiple platforms.

Limitations Of Kajabi

Physical Product Sales

Kajabi isn't designed for physical products. While you can link up your products to the Kajabi platform, it lacks the specialized functionality needed for physical product businesses.

Shopify integrations can get your physical products around the world much better than Kajabi. If you're selling physical products, Shopify provides the dedicated tools and global shipping capabilities that Kajabi simply doesn't offer.

Landing Page Functionality

Kajabi gives you a good solution for landing pages. However, you might find solutions elsewhere that give you more functionality within your landing pages.

The platform lacks advanced features for:

• Tracking metrics
• Better conversions
• In-depth analytics

If landing pages or sales pages are super key to your business and you're a specialist in building out landing pages, Lead Pages specializes in high converting landing pages first and then everything else about your online business second.

Email Marketing Tools

Kajabi allows you to build out emails in three ways:

• Events
• Email broadcast
• Email sequences

The platform includes a number of templates you can use. But if you want more functionality with your emails, Kajabi might not be the best fit for you.

Missing features include:

• Advanced list segmentation
• Split testing capabilities
• Deeper understanding of email analytics

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) operates as an email first system. If your company heavily relies on being best-in-class at email marketing, this might be your solution.

Checkout And Payment Features

The checkout function is quite limited. Here's what you get:

That is it. If you want a more in-depth checkout function focused on getting the best conversion, having a look at the analytics, and really driving those sales home, Sam Cart might be a better fit for you.

Community Building Capabilities

Kajabi recently acquired Vively and has gone through a few iterations of their community platform. The current version looks pretty much like a Facebook group now.

While it has come a long way since acquiring Vively, some users still feel that it is:

• A little bit clunky
• A little bit simplistic

Circle focuses 100% on communities and has a very good look and feel. If communities are the hub of your online business, Circle might be a better fit for you.

Course Analytics And Tracking

I can see basic progress information about students in my courses. The dashboard shows who hasn't started the course, who has started yet to finish it, or who have actually finished the program and downloaded the certificate.

However, if I want any more detailed analytics about each student, I can't see that within this dashboard. Learn Worlds allows you to track so much more in terms of metrics for people going through your courses and online programs.

If your online business is focused around building courses and trying to get the best results from your students, Learn Worlds is probably a good fit for you.

Affiliate Program Management

Kajabi offers an affiliate dashboard, but it's quite basic and lacks dynamic pricing features. The system doesn't provide the sophisticated tools needed for comprehensive affiliate management.

Looking at Kajabi's own affiliate program shows the difference in functionality:

Their tiered pricing and dashboard makes it really easy for Kajabi to recruit affiliate partners for their own brand. If you want something like this for your own business and you're focusing on affiliates, Thrive Cart might be a better fit for you.

Recommended Alternatives

Shopify For Physical Products

Kajabi is not designed for physical products. If you're selling physical products, Shopify provides better functionality for getting your products around the world.

While you can link up your products to a Kajabi platform, the platform focuses on digital products like courses, memberships, and coaching services. Shopify integrations offer superior solutions for physical product businesses.

Lead Pages For Landing Pages

If landing pages or sales pages are super key to your business, Lead Pages might be a better fit. This company specializes in high converting landing pages first and then everything else about your online business second.

Kajabi provides a good landing page solution, but you might find more functionality elsewhere. Lead Pages offers better tools to:

• Track your metrics
• Get better conversions
• Access more in-depth analytics

ConvertKit For Email Marketing

If your company heavily relies on being best-in-class at email marketing, Kit (formerly known as ConvertKit) provides an email first operating system. While Kajabi allows you to build out emails through three ways - events, email broadcast, or email sequences - it has limitations.

ConvertKit offers more functionality for:

• Segmenting your list
• Split testing
• Deeper analytics understanding

Kajabi does have email templates available, but if you want advanced email marketing capabilities, ConvertKit specializes in this area.

Sam Cart For Checkout Optimization

Kajabi's checkout function is quite limited. The checkout features include:

• Branding banner at the top
• Logo or video upload capability
• Text area with rich text
• Coupon application
• Google Pay and Apple Pay
• Terms and conditions section

If you want a more in-depth checkout function, Sam Cart would be a better fit. This platform focuses on getting the best conversion on your checkout, providing detailed analytics, and driving sales home more effectively.

Circle For Online Communities

Kajabi recently acquired Vively and has gone through several iterations of their community platform. The current version looks like a Facebook group and has come a long way since the acquisition.

Some users still find it clunky and simplistic. Circle provides a better alternative if you're focused 100% on communities. Circle has a superior look and feel because it focuses entirely on communities as the hub of your online business.

LearnWorlds For Courses

If you're focusing on courses and want detailed analytics of people going through your programs, LearnWorlds provides better student tracking capabilities. In Kajabi, I can see basic progress information including:

• Who hasn't started the course
• Who has started but not finished
• Who has finished and downloaded certificates

LearnWorlds allows you to track much more detailed metrics for students going through your courses and online programs. This helps you address issues and get your students better results.

Thrive Cart For Affiliates

Kajabi offers an affiliate dashboard, but it's quite basic without dynamic pricing. If you're focusing on affiliates and having other people promote your products as a business growth strategy, Thrive Cart provides better functionality.

Looking at Kajabi's own affiliate program shows the difference in capabilities:

This tiered pricing and comprehensive dashboard makes it easy for Kajabi to recruit affiliate partners. If you want similar functionality for your own business with a focus on affiliates, Thrive Cart offers better solutions.

Choosing The Right Platform For Your Business

Kajabi promises the dream of one simple all-in-one platform to run your entire online business. But that simplicity comes at a cost - specialization.

Kajabi is brilliant as an all-in-one platform, but by its nature, it can't possibly master all functionality your online business needs. I'm going to break down seven key areas where Kajabi might not be the best solution for you, with recommended alternatives for each.

Physical Products

If you're selling physical products, Kajabi isn't designed for this. Shopify offers better integrations to get your physical products around the world. While you can link products to Kajabi, it's not built for physical inventory management.

Landing Pages

If you're a landing page specialist or landing pages are super key to your business, Kajabi provides a good solution but lacks advanced functionality. Lead Pages specializes in high-converting landing pages first, offering better tracking metrics, conversion optimization, and in-depth analytics.

Email Marketing

If your company relies heavily on being best-in-class at email marketing, Kajabi's email system has limitations. Kajabi offers three email options: events, broadcasts, and sequences with templates. However, for advanced segmentation, split testing, and deeper analytics, Kit (formerly ConvertKit) provides an email-first operating system with more sophisticated functionality.

Checkout Functions

Kajabi's checkout and offers functionality is quite limited. You can add branding banners, logos, videos, text, apply coupons, and include Google Pay and Apple Pay. That's it.

For more in-depth checkout functions focused on conversion optimization and detailed analytics, SamCart offers superior checkout performance and sales analysis tools.

Community Features

Kajabi recently acquired Vively and has improved their community platform significantly. It now resembles a Facebook group and has come a long way. However, some users still find it clunky and simplistic.

If communities are the hub of your online business, Circle focuses 100% on community building with superior look, feel, and functionality.

Course Analytics

For courses, Kajabi shows basic student progress through progress bars indicating who hasn't started, who's in progress, and who's completed with certificates. You can't access detailed analytics about individual student behavior within the dashboard.

LearnWorlds provides extensive student tracking metrics, allowing you to monitor detailed course analytics and improve student results more effectively.

Affiliate Programs

Kajabi offers a basic affiliate dashboard without dynamic pricing structures. For comparison, Kajabi's own partner program includes tiered commissions: starter (1-4 referrals) gets one-time payouts, builder (5-24) gets 10%, accelerator (24-49) gets 15%, and premium (50+) gets 20%.

If affiliate marketing drives your business growth, ThriveCart provides more sophisticated affiliate management tools and dynamic pricing options.

Despite these limitations, I still use Kajabi for my entire online business and have for years. It comes down to one question: Do you want to be a systems integrator or do you just want to be a creator?

For some business owners, having best-in-class functionality across every area may provide that extra 10% revenue or performance. For me, I spend most of my time creating content, engaging with clients, and building my business rather than managing multiple platforms.

Final Thoughts On Kajabi

Despite every limitation I have just mentioned, I still use Kajabi for my entire online business and I have done for years. The reason for me is actually quite simple.

It comes down to one question. Do you want to be a systems integrator or do you just want to be a creator for your online business?

I get it for some business owners. Having the very best in-class at every functionality across your online business may give you that extra 10% revenue or 10% performance.

But for me, I spend most of my time creating content. I engage with my clients and build my business rather than managing multiple platforms and integrations.

Kajabi's strength lies in its simplicity as an all-in-one solution. While specialized platforms might excel in individual areas, they require time and effort to connect and maintain.

The trade-off becomes clear when you consider your priorities:

• Specialization: Best-in-class tools for each function
• Integration: One platform that handles everything adequately

My business runs smoothly on Kajabi because it eliminates the complexity of managing separate systems. I don't spend time troubleshooting integrations or switching between platforms.

The platform allows me to focus on what matters most - creating valuable content and serving my audience. This approach has worked consistently for years in my online business.

Your choice depends on your business model and priorities. If you need maximum performance in specific areas like email marketing or affiliate management, specialized tools make sense.

However, if you value simplicity and want to focus on content creation rather than system management, Kajabi provides a solid foundation for your entire online business.