Kajabi vs Thinkific

Kajabi vs. Thinkific (2023) – Which Is The Best Online Course Platform?

Are you struggling to decide between Kajabi and Thinkific? Are you looking to determine which one is the most suitable for you? "If so, then your research ends here."

When it comes to creating and selling online courses, course creators have a plethora of platforms to choose from. Two of the most popular options are Kajabi and Thinkific. Although they share a lot of similarities, they are also very different. Both platforms provide an array of features and functionality to aid in the design and delivery of high-quality course content. However, each of these platforms has its own set of features, pricing structure, and level of customization. In this article, we will provide you with a comprehensive guide that will help you decide which platform is the best fit for your needs.

 
Introduction to Kajabi and Thinkific?

 Before we dive into the specifics of each platform, let’s get to know these two platforms a bit more, starting with Kajabi.

Kajabi is an all-in-one cloud-based platform that offers a variety of tools for all aspects of online course business, including course creation and delivery, membership, website building, email marketing, etc. It's designed for course creators who want to have everything in one place and don't want to integrate multiple tools. This approach makes it simpler and quicker for you to get started.

On the other hand, Thinkific also serves as a cloud-based platform for creating, promoting, and selling online courses. It mainly focuses on the creation and delivery of courses, providing features such as tools for course creation, a professional course player, and engagement tools for learners.

 
Kajabi vs. Thinkific – Comparing Two Of The Best Online Course Platforms

When evaluating the online course platforms that are suitable for your business, it's important to have a clear idea of the features, pricing, and user experience you need. Having a clear understanding of your needs and how different platforms compare will make the decision-making process easier, whether you choose Kajabi, Thikific, or another platform.

Let’s now dive deeper into the aspects of Kajabi and Thinkific and try to find a winner. Here are the factors we’ll compare.

·       Course creation

·       Sales & Marketing

·       Ease of use

·       Pricing

·       Free Plan

·       Customer Support

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Kajabi Vs. Thinkific Summary:

1- Course Creation:

Both Kajabi and Thinkific are user-friendly platforms for creating and selling online courses. They both have intuitive interfaces that make it easy to add content such as videos, audio, PDFs, text, quizzes, and assignments, to your online course using a simple drag-and-drop method.

Kajabi:

Kajabi is a platform that offers a variety of content creation options, including mini-courses, online courses, evergreen training, and memberships. This can be a useful tool to streamline the process of creating your own course.

One of the benefits of using Kajabi is the ability to choose from pre-designed templates or start with a blank canvas. Additionally, the platform allows for easy content organization through bulk uploading and automatic lesson division.

With its user-friendly interface and various features, Kajabi empowers users to have complete control over their content and simplifies the course creation process.

Thinkific:

Thinkific offers a user-friendly course-building experience, similar to Kajabi. However, the options for types of content are limited to three: 

Mini-course:  A low-cost or free course to promote other products and generate leads

Flagship course:  A comprehensive online course

Pre-sell:  A landing page to gauge interest in your course

Like Kajabi, It also provides the option to start with a blank page and create your course from scratch. In this, you can easily add chapters and present them in many formats such as videos, quizzes, surveys, PDFs, presentations, and more.

 You can upload lessons in bulk and it will separate them into modules for you. However, it only has two levels of content, Lessons, and Chapters. Unlike Kajabi, it does not have the ability to further segment your content into modules.

 2- Ease of use:

An ideal online course creation platform should have a user-friendly and easy-to-use interface. If the platform is difficult to navigate, it can make it challenging to take advantage of the features provided and create a successful course.

Kajabi:

Kajabi also offers an organized and user-friendly dashboard, with all the necessary tools and options easily accessible via a sidebar menu.

Its dashboard presents a clear summary of key performance indicators such as opt-ins, sales, comments, and members over the last 30 days. The menu options available include Website, Products, Marketing, and People, allowing users to easily navigate and manage their online course.

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Thinkific:

Thinkific is an easy-to-use course-building platform that features a streamlined user interface, making it accessible to new users. Once logged in, users can immediately begin creating their course.
All the functions are available under the menu item at the leftmost part of the dashboard.

Menu Items include options like:

·       Design Your Site.

·       Market and Sell.

·       Advanced Reporting.

·       Manage Learning Content.

·       Support Your Students.

 
While both Kajabi and Thinkific offer user-friendly interfaces, Kajabi stands out with its more comprehensive feature set.

 
3- Sales  & Marketing:

When creating an online course, it's important to consider how you will sell and market it to reach the maximum number of students. As such, it's essential to evaluate the marketing and sales features of both platforms before making a decision.

Kajabi:

Kajabi offers an extensive array of marketing and sales tools to help you effectively promote your courses or website. The platform includes features such as the ability to create sales pipelines, design and launch email campaigns, set up automation, host events, and use forms. These options provide you with a comprehensive set of tools to reach and engage your target audience.

 It has a powerful email marketing tool which is one of the reasons it stands out among other course platforms. The platform offers a user-friendly visual editor and a variety of built-in email templates that can be easily customized and previewed. These templates cover all types of emails, including event announcements, product showcases, and more. This feature makes it easy to create and send professional-looking email campaigns.

Thinkific primarily provides core features to students and learners, while Kajabi offers a more robust set of marketing and sales tools. Therefore, when comparing the two platforms in terms of marketing and sales capabilities, Kajabi has an advantage over Thinkific.

Thinkific:

In Thinkific, accessing the marketing and sales features is simple, as they are located under the "Market and Sell" option on the leftmost menu of the dashboard.

 It provides a variety of features that aid in selling and marketing your course, such as selling memberships and subscriptions, running promotional discounts, and offering free trials. You can even place customizable sales widgets on any external website or blog, making it easy for students to purchase your course from anywhere. Additionally, Thinkific enables you to set up an affiliate marketing program to incentivize students to share your course with others who could benefit from it.

Furthermore, It supports integration with over 1000 business tools, including platforms like Facebook, Google AdWords, and more. This allows you to seamlessly connect with email marketing software like MailChimp, ConvertKit, among others, to create targeted campaigns to reach your audience.

4- Customer Support:

Both Kajabi and Thinkific offer similar options for customer support, including phone, email, and live chat. However, Kajabi offers 24/7 live chat support, while Thinkific's live chat support is only available during business hours. Additionally, both platforms allow users to submit a support ticket.

Both platforms offer reliable customer support, however, Kajabi has an edge with its real-time support and availability of free tutorials. This allows users to quickly resolve issues and learn about new features.

5- Pricing:

Kajabi:

Kajabi pricing is broken down into three plans:

·       Basic ($149/month) – allows up to three courses and pipelines

·       Growth ($199/month) – ideal for up to 15 courses

·       Pro ($399/month) – supports 100 products and pipelines.

All plans provide a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 14-day free trial. You can also save 20% if you opt to pay annually.

Unlike Thinkific, Kajabi doesn't have a free option. At first glance, Thinkific may seem like a more affordable option as it allows users to host unlimited students and create unlimited courses at a lower cost compared to Kajabi. However, when it comes to advanced features, the subscription plans differ. For example, creating a membership site requires purchasing Thinkific's Pro plan at $99 per month.

Thinkific:

Thinkific pricing comes across four tiers:

·       Free – ideal for testing the platform.

·       Basic ($49/month) – provides basic features such as unlimited courses,      reporting, and custom domain

·       Start ($99/month) – offers powerful features to scale your business

·       Grow ($199/month) – Grow your online business with even more advanced tools that will help you sell more and expand into multiple learning products.

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In addition to its four main pricing plans, Thinkific offers an additional Growth plan which serves as an add-on to its Pro plan, providing access to advanced features typically only available on its Premier plan. For large organizations and businesses, Thinkific also has an Enterprise plan that offers customizable features. All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Additionally, users can save 25% if they opt for an annual payment plan.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Kajabi is a great choice for more experienced marketers or online course creators who are looking for an all-in-one platform that caters to the needs of information businesses. It allows users to create courses, landing pages, and pipelines, and market them to reach a wider audience. Additionally, it's ideal for creating membership site platforms or subscription-based selling models. Furthermore, Kajabi can serve as a replacement for email marketing tools like MailChimp and landing page builders like ClickFunnels.

 However, in my opinion, Thinkific is the best overall platform. It's more affordable than Kajabi while still allowing for a custom course experience tailored to your audience. It allows you to customize your course site's home page and design, add videos, text, and assignments to the same course page, send drip email sequences, and send one-time courses or drip them out over time.

Ultimately, the goal is to make your students feel like they're not using a cheap course builder. You want your course to feel like a professional learning experience. Thinkific can do that at a lower cost than Kajabi. Both platforms offer a great user experience, excellent customer service, and are easy to use, so it's a good idea to test them out for yourself and see which one you prefer.

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