Softwr

LMS · head to head

Kajabi vs LearnDash

Kajabi logo

Kajabi

LMS

All-in-one platform for knowledge entrepreneurs

From
$143/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
LearnDash logo

LearnDash

LMS

WordPress plugin that turns a site you already own into a course platform with no revenue share

From
$199/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Kajabi starter plan limited to 1 product, 1 community, and 1 website; requires upgrade for scaling; LearnDash the flat licence excludes everything around it. Hosting, backups, security patching, video hosting and email deliverability are now your cost and your responsibility, and they are not small once traffic grows.
  • They diverge on capability: Kajabi covers Website builder, LearnDash covers Quiz engine.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kajabi and LearnDash actually diverge.

Attributes where Kajabi and LearnDash differ
AttributeKajabiLearnDash
Starting price$143/month$199/year
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer site per year
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, WordPress
Founded2010Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (LMS).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Kajabi

  • Website builder
  • Email marketing
  • Sales funnels
  • Memberships
  • Communities
  • Mobile app
  • Analytics
  • Zapier

Only in LearnDash

  • Quiz engine
  • Certificates
  • Groups and group leaders
  • Commerce integration
  • Ownership of data

Both cover

  • Course builder

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Kajabi

  • Solo creators launching single digital products or coursesnot LearnDash
  • Small coaching businesses with course, community, and email marketing needsnot LearnDash
  • Multi-product creators requiring customisation and white-label optionsnot LearnDash

LearnDash

  • A creator whose course revenue has grown to the point where a percentage based platform costs more than a developer wouldnot Kajabi
  • Organisations that already run WordPress and want courses on their own domain and brandnot Kajabi
  • Training businesses that need learner data in a database they control rather than in a vendor accountnot Kajabi
  • Agencies building course sites for multiple clients under one unlimited site licencenot Kajabi

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Kajabi

  • Starter plan limited to 1 product, 1 community, and 1 website; requires upgrade for scaling
  • Starter and Basic tiers support only 1 community each; Growth tier caps at 1 community (Pro tier reaches 3)
  • Payment processing fees 2.9%–2.7% (Kajabi Payments) plus 5%–0.5% for third-party providers, tiered by plan
  • Admin user allowances escalate significantly: Starter (default 1), Basic (2), Growth (11), Pro (26)

LearnDash

  • The flat licence excludes everything around it. Hosting, backups, security patching, video hosting and email deliverability are now your cost and your responsibility, and they are not small once traffic grows.
  • WordPress plugin conflicts are a live risk. A core or theme update can break checkout or course progression at a moment you did not choose, and there is no vendor operations team standing behind uptime.
  • Performance under load needs deliberate hosting work. Shared hosting handles a small course and fails visibly during a launch, and fixing that is a hosting migration rather than a setting.
  • Selling requires assembling several plugins for payments, memberships and email, so the true stack is four or five vendors with independent update cycles rather than one product.
  • Support covers the plugin, not your site. When the fault sits in the interaction between your theme, your host and another plugin, resolving it is your problem and often a contractor invoice.

Pricing, plan by plan

Kajabi

$143/month
  • Basic$179/month
    • 5 products
    • 1 community
    • 2,500 contacts
  • Growth$249/month
    • 50 products
    • 1 community
    • 25,000 contacts
  • Pro$499/month
    • Unlimited products
    • 3 communities
    • 100,000 contacts

LearnDash

$199/year
  • LearnDash LMS, 1 site$199/year
    • Single site licence
    • All course, quiz and certificate features
    • No share taken of course revenue
  • LearnDash LMS Plus, 10 sites$399/year
    • Up to ten sites
    • Same feature set
    • Suits agencies and multi brand operators
  • LearnDash LMS Pro, unlimited sites$799/year
    • Unlimited sites
    • Same feature set
    • Priced for agencies building for clients

Which should you pick?

Choose Kajabi if

  • You need website builder.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want email marketing.
Kajabi review

Choose LearnDash if

  • You need quiz engine.
  • You work on Web, WordPress.
  • You also want certificates.
LearnDash review

Questions people ask

Is Kajabi or LearnDash better?
Neither clearly leads. Kajabi starts at $143/month and LearnDash at $199/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kajabi or LearnDash?
Kajabi starts at $143/month and LearnDash at $199/year.
Does Kajabi or LearnDash run on more platforms?
Kajabi runs on Web, iOS, Android. LearnDash runs on Web, WordPress.
What is Kajabi best used for?
Kajabi is most often used for solo creators launching single digital products or courses, small coaching businesses with course, community, and email marketing needs, multi-product creators requiring customisation and white-label options. Of those, solo creators launching single digital products or courses and small coaching businesses with course, community, and email marketing needs are not what LearnDash is typically brought in for.
What can Kajabi do that LearnDash cannot?
Kajabi covers Website builder, Email marketing, Sales funnels, Memberships. LearnDash covers Quiz engine, Certificates, Groups and group leaders, Commerce integration. Both handle Course builder.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kajabi: How much does Kajabi cost?

Kajabi offers three subscription plans: Basic at $179/month (or $143/month annual), Growth at $249/month (or $199/month annual), and Pro at $499/month (or $399/month annual). A 30-day free trial is available.

Source
LearnDash: Does LearnDash take a percentage of my course sales?

No. It is a flat annual licence per site and you keep all revenue. That is the main financial argument against percentage based hosted platforms once sales volume is meaningful.

Kajabi: What are the payment processing fees on Kajabi?

Kajabi charges payment processing fees through Kajabi Payments: 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic plan, 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth plan, and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro plan. Third-party providers charge lower rates (2%, 1%, and 0.5% respectively, excluding PayPal).

Source
LearnDash: What is the real total cost?

The licence plus hosting capable of handling your traffic, plus video hosting, plus an email service, plus whatever developer time keeps the stack working. Budget for the stack, not the plugin.

Kajabi: How many contacts can I store on each Kajabi plan?

Basic plan supports 2,500 contacts, Growth plan supports 25,000 contacts, and Pro plan supports 100,000 contacts with unlimited products and 3 communities.

Source
LearnDash: Should I use LearnDash Cloud instead?

If you want the plugin without administering WordPress, yes. You give up some of the cost advantage and some control in exchange for not being responsible for the server.

Share

Related pages

More on Kajabi

More on LearnDash

Keep looking

Other head to heads