Kajabi vs Skool compared on real monthly cost, transaction fees and features, plus the all-in-one pick that undercuts Kajabi and does what Skool can't.
Short answer: Skool is the cheaper, simpler choice if all you need is a paid community. Kajabi is the more complete business platform, but it starts at $179 a month. If you want Kajabi's breadth (courses with quizzes, coaching, email and downloads in one place) without Kajabi's price, Zinstruct does all of it from $98 a month.
All prices and fees below were checked against each company's public pricing page on October 19, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's site before you buy.
Kajabi vs Skool at a glance
| Skool | Kajabi | Zinstruct | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | A paid community with simple courses | A full online business with a large email list | Courses, coaching, community, email and downloads on one bill |
| Entry price (monthly billing) | $9/mo (Hobby) | $179/mo (Basic) | $98/mo (Core) |
| Entry price (annual billing) | About $7.50/mo | $143/mo | $78/mo |
| Fee on each sale | 10% + $0.30 (Hobby), 2.9% + $0.30 (Pro) | No platform cut; Kajabi Payments card fee 2.7–2.9% + $0.30 | 5%, 2.9% or 1.9% by plan, card processing included |
| Courses | Yes (Classroom) | Yes | Yes |
| Quizzes | No | Yes | Yes, plus completion certificates |
| Email marketing | No (member notifications only) | Yes, unlimited sends | Yes: broadcasts, automations, segments |
| Paid coaching sessions | No built-in booking | Yes | Yes: booking, payment and reminders |
| Digital downloads | No standalone file store | Yes | Yes, including bundles and order bumps |
| Landing pages and funnels | No | Yes | Yes (sales funnels from Advanced) |
| Quiz funnels | No | No (third-party quiz apps only) | Yes (Advanced and Professional) |
| Cancel flows | No | Basic: one sitewide discount at cancellation, Kajabi Payments only | Yes: exit survey, stacked save offers by reason, per-offer flows |
| Public API | No (Zapier plugin on Pro only) | Included on Pro; $25/mo add-on on Basic and Growth | Yes (Advanced and Professional) |
| Community | Yes, Skool's core strength | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days | Yes | 7 days, no credit card |
How much does Kajabi cost compared with Skool?
Skool pricing
Skool has two plans, and both include unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls (Skool pricing):
| Plan | Monthly | Transaction fee |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby | $9 | 10% + $0.30 |
| Pro | $99 | 2.9% + $0.30 (3.9% + $0.30 on payments above $900) |
Annual billing gives you two months free. The $0.30 per payment and the higher rate on payments above $900 come from Skool's payments help documentation rather than its pricing page, so read that page too if you plan to sell high-ticket offers.
Kajabi pricing
Kajabi has three public plans (Kajabi pricing):
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | Products | Contacts | Admin users | Kajabi Payments fee (US) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $179 | $143 | 5 | 2,500 | 2 | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Growth | $249 | $199 | 50 | 25,000 | 11 | 2.8% + $0.30 |
| Pro | $499 | $399 | Unlimited | 100,000 | 26 | 2.7% + $0.30 |
Kajabi takes no revenue share. You pay the card-processing fee above when you use Kajabi Payments; if you use a different payment provider, Kajabi adds its own fee of 2%, 1% or 0.5% depending on your plan. Every plan has unlimited marketing emails, landing pages and funnels, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Zinstruct pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | Products | Contacts | Team members | Fee per sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core | $98 | $78 | 12 | 5,000 | 3 | 5% |
| Advanced | $148 | $118 | 30 | 20,000 | 10 | 2.9% |
| Professional | $198 | $158 | 70 | 50,000 | 25 | 1.9% |
Zinstruct pays the Stripe card-processing fee for you, so the percentage above is the whole cut. There is no extra $0.30 per payment. See the full breakdown on the Zinstruct pricing page.
The real cost: plan price plus fees
Sticker prices hide the number that matters: what you pay each month once sales come in. Here is the all-in monthly cost at three revenue levels.
Assumptions: monthly billing, US cards, every sale is a $50 payment (a typical community or membership price), Kajabi using Kajabi Payments.
| Monthly sales | Skool Hobby | Skool Pro | Kajabi Basic | Kajabi Growth | Zinstruct Core | Zinstruct Advanced | Zinstruct Professional |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2,000 | $221 | $169 | $249 | $317 | $198 | $206 | $236 |
| $5,000 | $539 | $274 | $354 | $419 | $348 | $293 | $293 |
| $10,000 | $1,069 | $449 | $529 | $589 | $598 | $438 | $388 |
What the table tells you:
- Skool Hobby gets expensive fast. At $5,000 a month in sales, the 10% fee costs you $500, more than 50 times the plan price.
- Skool Pro is the cheapest option for a pure community at lower revenue. That's a real advantage, and we won't pretend otherwise. But Skool Pro has no email marketing, so most creators add a separate email tool, and its cost isn't in this table.
- Zinstruct Advanced costs less than every Kajabi plan at every revenue level shown, while including email, funnels and checkout upsells.
- Above about $6,200 a month in sales, Zinstruct Professional costs less than Skool Pro, even before you pay for the email tool Skool doesn't include.
On annual billing the subscription gap with Kajabi widens: Zinstruct Core costs $940 a year against $1,716 for Kajabi Basic, and Zinstruct Professional costs $1,900 a year against $4,788 for Kajabi Pro.
Where Skool wins
- Lowest entry price. $9 a month is hard to beat when you're testing an idea.
- Community engagement. Skool's levels, leaderboards and points are built in, and you can unlock a course when a member reaches a set level.
- Simplicity. One layout, very little setup. For a creator who only wants a group and a few lessons, that's a feature.
- Discovery. Skool runs a public directory where people browse communities, which can send you members.
Where Kajabi wins
- Scale of contacts. Kajabi Growth includes 25,000 contacts and Pro includes 100,000, more than the matching Zinstruct tiers.
- Breadth. Podcasts, a branded mobile app (included on Pro) and built-in AI credits on Growth and Pro.
- No platform revenue share. You pay card processing only, which favors high-volume sellers.
- Maturity. Kajabi has been around a long time, with a large ecosystem of templates, experts and tutorials.
Where both fall short
Skool's gap is everything outside the community. There are no quizzes or completion certificates, no email marketing, no landing pages or funnels, and no built-in way to book and charge for one-on-one sessions. If you sell a structured course, coaching or a newsletter, you end up bolting on other tools, and paying for them.
Kajabi's gap is price. The cheapest public plan is $179 a month (or $143 billed annually) and includes only 5 products and 2,500 contacts. Once you outgrow that, the next step is $249 a month. Many creators are paying for capacity they won't use for years.
Why Zinstruct is the better pick for most knowledge businesses
Most people searching "Kajabi vs Skool" are deciding between a cheap tool that does one thing and an expensive tool that does everything. Zinstruct is built to remove that trade-off: every product you need to sell what you know, on one platform, at roughly half Kajabi's subscription price.
Everything Skool leaves out:
- [Courses](/courses) built for teaching: native video hosting, graded quizzes, drip scheduling, downloadable materials and automatic completion certificates.
- Coaching: clients self-book into your open slots, pay at booking, and get automatic reminders. Run one-on-one calls, group cohorts or packages.
- [Newsletters](/newsletters): broadcasts, welcome and drip automations, segments, and selling products right inside your emails.
- Downloads: sell PDFs, templates and recordings one-off, in bundles, or as order bumps, with instant delivery.
And a real [community](/community): threaded chat and posts, events with RSVPs, moderation tools, and access you can make free, paid, or gated behind any product, on web and mobile.
Compared with Kajabi:
- Core is $98 a month against $179 for Kajabi Basic, with more than twice the products (12 vs 5) and twice the contacts (5,000 vs 2,500).
- Card processing is included in Zinstruct's fee, so there's no $0.30 added to every payment.
- Professional is $198 a month against $499 for Kajabi Pro, with the same three communities.
- Cancel flows do more to keep members. Kajabi can show a single sitewide discount when someone cancels, and only for subscriptions paid through Kajabi Payments. A Zinstruct cancel flow asks why the member is leaving, then shows a series of discount offers in order, each matched to the reasons you choose. You can attach a different flow to each offer.
Being straight about the trade-offs: Kajabi's Growth and Pro plans include more contacts than Zinstruct's matching tiers, and Kajabi offers podcasts and a branded app that Zinstruct doesn't list. If your list is already past 50,000 contacts, compare those limits carefully. Sales funnels, quiz funnels and checkout upsells start on Zinstruct's Advanced plan, not Core.
You can try Zinstruct for 7 days without a credit card, and every paid plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
How Zinstruct cancel flows work
When a member clicks cancel, the flow walks them through up to four steps:
- Exit survey. "Why are you cancelling?" with 1–6 reasons you write, an optional "Other" (always shown last), optional follow-up questions, and the option to shuffle the order.
- Save offers. Discounts from 5% to 100% off the member's current subscription, for one payment, 1–3 months, or forever. Stack several in order; "No thanks" moves to the next. Each offer can show for every reason or only for specific ones, so a member who says "too expensive" can see a different offer from one who says "not using it enough."
- Feedback. An optional free-text question with a minimum length you set, and an option to skip.
- Result. The member sees "offer accepted," "confirm cancel" or "cancelled." A cancellation always takes effect at the end of the paid period, so nobody loses access they've paid for.
Core includes 3 cancel flows, Advanced 20 and Professional 50 (drafts, live and paused flows count; archived ones don't). Cancel flows aren't available during the free trial.
How to choose: a quick decision guide
- Choose Skool if you only need a paid community, you're on the Pro plan once sales pick up, and you're fine running email in a separate tool.
- Choose Kajabi if you already have a very large list, need a branded mobile app or podcast hosting, and the $179–$499 monthly price isn't a concern.
- Choose Zinstruct if you sell more than one thing (a course and coaching, a community and a newsletter, downloads alongside any of them) and want it all on one platform for less than Kajabi.
Frequently asked questions
Is Skool cheaper than Kajabi?
On the sticker price, yes: Skool starts at $9 a month and Kajabi at $179. Once you count transaction fees, Skool Hobby becomes the most expensive option in our comparison at $5,000 a month in sales. Skool Pro stays cheaper than Kajabi for a community-only business, but you'll usually pay separately for email.
Can I run courses on Skool?
Yes. Skool's Classroom lets you host lessons and unlock courses by member level. It doesn't offer quizzes or completion certificates, which matters if you teach a structured program or need to prove completion.
Does Kajabi take a percentage of sales?
Kajabi takes no revenue share. You pay card-processing fees through Kajabi Payments (2.7–2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction in the US, depending on plan). If you use another payment provider, Kajabi adds a fee of 0.5–2% on top of that provider's charges.
What's the best alternative to both Kajabi and Skool?
If you need more than a community but don't want to pay Kajabi's prices, Zinstruct combines courses, coaching, community, newsletters and downloads on one platform from $98 a month, with card processing included in its fee.
Can I move my Skool community or Kajabi courses to another platform?
Yes. Plan the move in stages: rebuild your courses, invite members, and keep the old platform running until everyone has switched over. Members on recurring payments need to resubscribe on the new platform, so tell them early and give them a clear date.
Try the all-in-one alternative
If Skool feels too limited and Kajabi feels too expensive, see what one platform with every product looks like. Start your 7-day free trial of Zinstruct, no credit card required, and compare plans Pricing .