Kajabi vs Thinkific vs Podia: Best Course Platform 2026

The best online course platform for coaches in 2026 depends on where you expect to hit a ceiling. For the cheapest credible launch, Thinkific Basic at $40/mo billed annually is the pick (Thinkific pricing). For the fastest path to a paying audience plus a real email list, Podia Shaker at $84/mo annually wins with a 0% platform fee and 500 email subscribers (Podia pricing). For coaches scaling an actual business with funnels, a branded mobile app, AI help, and more than 10,000 contacts, Kajabi Growth at $199/mo annually is the only one of the three built for it (Kajabi pricing). If you are still mapping the wider stack, our no-code tool comparisons hub covers the adjacent categories.

The gotchas matter as much as the wins. Kajabi’s entry price is $143/mo and Basic ships with 0 AI credits, so the AI story only starts on Growth. Thinkific caps every self-serve plan at 10,000 current students, a hard structural wall. Podia’s cheapest tier, Mover, takes a 5% transaction fee, which quietly makes it the most expensive option once you sell with any volume.

How We Tested

This review is based on the vendors’ official documentation, pricing pages, and support pages. We did not run any of the three platforms hands-on. We reviewed the official pricing tables, feature lists, fee schedules, and support articles for Kajabi, Thinkific, and Podia as fetched on 2026-09-15. We did not test actual course-building UX, email deliverability, support response times, checkout conversion, or AI feature quality. Last reviewed: September 2026.

What is the best online course platform for coaches in 2026: Kajabi vs Thinkific vs Podia?

The best online course platform for coaches in 2026 is Kajabi, Thinkific, or Podia depending on which cap binds you first: Kajabi caps contacts, Thinkific caps current students, and Podia caps email subscribers. Kajabi starts at $143/mo annually (Kajabi pricing), Thinkific at $40/mo (Thinkific pricing), and Podia at $42/mo (Podia pricing). Your binding constraint decides the winner.

Kajabi

Kajabi is the premium all-in-one platform for established experts, starting at $179/mo monthly or $143/mo billed annually, with a 2,500-contact cap on Basic and metered AI credits of 0, 500, and 1,000 across the three plans (Kajabi pricing).

The line-up is Basic, Growth, and Pro. Basic is $179/mo or $143/mo annual, Growth is $249/mo or $199/mo annual, and Pro is $499/mo or $399/mo annual (Kajabi pricing). Products scale 5, 50, and unlimited; contacts scale 2,500, 25,000, and 100,000; admin users scale 2, 11, and 26 (Kajabi pricing). Extra AI credits beyond your plan allowance cost $15 per 500, so heavy AI use is a metered add-on rather than a flat feature (Kajabi pricing).

Every plan includes unlimited marketing emails, funnels, and landing pages, plus a branded mobile app that the pricing page lists as an included “$199/mo value” (Kajabi pricing). Kajabi Payments processing runs 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth, and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro. If you bring a third-party processor, Kajabi adds a 2%, 1%, or 0.5% platform fee depending on tier (Kajabi pricing).

The 2026 product cadence is where Kajabi separates from the field: Cofounder, Backstage, Newsletters, Podcasts, the Amplify Ad Network, Kajabi MCP, and Expert Agents (Kajabi updates). Note that Expert Agents is listed as announced but not yet available, with limits and pricing to be determined, per Kajabi’s product updates, so do not buy on that promise alone.

Thinkific

Thinkific is the course-first LMS for creators and corporate training, priced at $54/mo Basic, $109/mo Start, and $219/mo Grow monthly, with a hard 10,000 current-student ceiling on every self-serve plan and Plus quoted custom (Thinkific pricing). Prices rose roughly 10% on August 13, 2026 (Thinkific pricing update).

Annual billing brings Basic to $40/mo, Start to $82/mo, and Grow to $164/mo (Thinkific pricing). Before the August increase, those monthly prices were $49, $99, and $199 (Thinkific pricing update).

Video bandwidth is 100, 200, and 400 GB/mo across the three tiers, and all plans include unlimited published courses (Thinkific pricing). If you use your own Stripe or PayPal instead of Thinkific Payments, the gateway fee is 5.0% on Basic, 2.0% on Start, and 1.0% on Grow, waived entirely once you pass $1M in sales in a calendar year (Thinkific fee FAQ). Thinkific Payments itself processes at 2.9% (Thinkific pricing).

AI shows up as an AI Teaching Assistant and an AI landing-page builder (Thinkific pricing). The branded mobile app is a $199/mo add-on, included on select Plus plans, and Plus adds 10,000+ user seats, SCORM, custom roles, phone plus priority email support, and a dedicated customer success manager (Thinkific pricing).

The email limitation is real: Thinkific handles cart and sequence automation, but growing a newsletter list typically routes through a third-party email service via Zapier (Thinkific support). If you already automate elsewhere, our Make vs Zapier comparison shows which connector is cheaper for that kind of job.

Podia

Podia is the simple creator storefront with built-in email marketing, priced at $49/mo Mover, $99/mo Shaker, and $179/mo Earthquaker monthly, with tight email-subscriber caps of 100, 500, and 1,000 and a 5% transaction fee on Mover only (Podia pricing).

Annual billing drops those to $42/mo, $84/mo, and $150/mo (Podia pricing). Crucially, Podia charges unlimited students on all plans with no per-student fees, so the cap is your email list rather than your audience (Podia features).

Products scale 50, 150, and unlimited; videos scale 500, 1,000, and unlimited; community spaces scale 25, 100, and unlimited (Podia pricing). Files cap at 5 GB each (Podia features).

Every plan includes courses, downloads, coaching, events, community, a website with blog and landing pages, built-in email marketing, 1,900+ integrations, sales tax handling for 230 countries, and 20+ currencies (Podia pricing). Affiliate marketing, upsells, PayPal, and Zapier are gated to Shaker and above (Podia pricing). Processing runs through Stripe or PayPal at 2.9% + $0.30 (Podia pricing).

If you outgrow your subscriber cap, Podia sells add-on tiers rather than auto-upgrading you (Podia pricing). Refunds are limited to a 72-hour window, with no partial refunds on annual plans (Podia pricing). There are no published AI features, and the “Assistants” feature refers to human team accounts rather than AI (Podia features).

Pricing and feature comparison table

The table below compares Kajabi, Thinkific, and Podia side by side on entry price, audience cap, platform fee, built-in email, AI features, and mobile app availability as of September 2026, using each vendor’s own pricing page (Kajabi pricing, Thinkific pricing, Podia pricing). Annual rates are the monthly-equivalent figures shown when you pay yearly.

Dimension	Kajabi	Thinkific	Podia
Cheapest plan (monthly / annual)	$179 / $143	$54 / $40	$49 / $42
Audience cap on entry tier	2,500 contacts	10,000 current students	100 email subscribers
Platform fee (own gateway)	2% (Basic)	5.0% (Basic)	5% (Mover)
Built-in processor fee	2.9%–2.7% + $0.30	2.9%	2.9% + $0.30
Built-in email marketing	Unlimited sends (contact-capped)	Cart/sequence automation only	Broadcasts + automations (subscriber-capped)
AI features	Cofounder, MCP, Expert Agents (announced, pricing not yet published); 0/500/1,000 credits	AI Teaching Assistant, AI page builder	None published
Mobile app	Included on all plans	$199/mo add-on	Not offered
Free plan	No (30-day trial)	No (30-day trial)	No (30-day trial, no card)

Cost math, our arithmetic rather than vendor claims, assuming $5,000/mo in sales. Podia Mover’s 5% fee equals the $42 subscription gap to Shaker at exactly about $840/mo in sales, so anyone above that line belongs on Shaker. Thinkific Basic’s 5% gateway fee versus Start’s 2% crosses over at about $1,400/mo in sales. At $5,000/mo in sales, Kajabi Basic with a third-party processor runs about $143 + 2% × $5,000 = $243/mo, Thinkific Basic with your own Stripe runs about $40 + 5% × $5,000 = $290/mo, and Podia Mover runs about $42 + 5% × $5,000 = $292/mo.

FAQ

These are the questions coaches ask most often when choosing between Kajabi, Thinkific, and Podia, answered from each vendor’s published pricing page and fee documentation (Kajabi pricing, Thinkific pricing, Podia pricing).

Which platform has no transaction fees?

Podia Shaker at $84/mo annual and Earthquaker at $150/mo annual charge a 0% platform fee (Podia pricing). Thinkific waives its gateway fee on Plus and after $1M per year in sales, but charges 5%/2%/1% on Basic/Start/Grow with your own Stripe (Thinkific fee FAQ). Kajabi charges 2%/1%/0.5% with a third-party processor, while Kajabi Payments adds no platform fee beyond card processing (Kajabi pricing).

Do any of these platforms offer a free plan?

No. Thinkific retired its free tier, and Kajabi and Podia list no free plan as of September 2026. Each offers a 30-day free trial, and Podia’s trial requires no credit card (Kajabi pricing, Thinkific pricing, Podia pricing).

Which platform is best if I need built-in email marketing?

Kajabi includes unlimited marketing emails on every plan, capped by contacts at 2,500 / 25,000 / 100,000 (Kajabi pricing). Podia includes broadcasts, campaigns, and automations but caps subscribers at 100 / 500 / 1,000 (Podia pricing). Thinkific provides cart and sequence automation but not a full newsletter tool, so most creators connect a third-party email service (Thinkific support).

If you want to build custom learner tooling without a developer, our Base44 review covers the AI app builder route. Browse the full tools directory and the practical guides library to round out the rest of your stack around whichever platform you pick.

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