Heartbeat vs Kajabi
We give Heartbeat a 2.6 GPA and Kajabi a 2.0, out of 4.0. Heartbeat grades higher on value for money, the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Heartbeat
Paid community platform with courses, events and member payments
Kajabi
All-in-one platform for selling courses, coaching and communities
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAHeartbeatGood | 2.0GPAKajabiFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CGraded against its alternatives, community platforms. Build is $40 a month billed yearly but keeps 5% of payments, $100 on $2,000: $140 a month. Grow's 2.5% makes $174. Dearer than Skool Pro ($82.50), Mighty ($119) and Circle ($129), level with Kajabi ($143). | DBasic is $143 a month billed yearly, and Kajabi takes no share of sales through Kajabi Payments, whose 2.9% + 30 cents is card processing. So $2,000 of sales a month costs $143, right where this category's dearest tenth starts. Use another processor and Basic adds 2%, another $40. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but a 14-day trial with no card needed, enough to set up channels and a first course. | DNo free plan. The 14-day trial covers the whole platform, but it rolls into Growth at $249 a month unless you cancel, so it's the kind that bills you at the end. |
| Features | BChannels, threads, DMs, evergreen and cohort courses with quizzes, events with Zoom recordings, video rooms for 256, paid offers and waitlists, workflows and Pulse AI. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the job; video hosting on Build is a $19 add-on. | BCourses with drip, assessments and cohorts, coaching, a community, unlimited emails, funnels and landing pages, upsells, affiliates, tax and paid newsletters. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the job; Basic just stops at 5 products and 2,500 contacts. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. Pulse AI sets up the space and channels from a description, but you're still building a community and its offers. | C4.34 from about 7,400 App Store ratings, mid-table for this category. And you're setting up a site, emails, funnels and a checkout before anything sells. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, the widest spread in this category, with Stripe, Zapier, Zoom, Google and Outlook calendars and an API from Grow. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign and a public API. No desktop app, which an A needs. An app in your own name is on Pro, or $199 a month extra. |
| Best for | paid communities on desktop and phone | running a whole course business from one account |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Heartbeat and Kajabi. How we grade
Price against what you get
Heartbeat starts at $40 a month and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Kajabi starts at $143 a month and scores 2.7.
Heartbeat scores higher and starts $103 a month lower. Of the other course and community platforms on the chart, none scores higher than Heartbeat for less, and 3 score higher than Kajabi for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Heartbeat starts at $40 per month, billed annually ($49 billed monthly). Kajabi starts at $143 per month, billed annually ($179 billed monthly).
- Only Heartbeat lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps.
- Heartbeat also covers workflow automation.
- Kajabi also covers marketing automation, email campaigns and paid newsletters.
At a glance
| Heartbeat | Kajabi | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $40 per month, billed annually ($49 billed monthly) | $143 per month, billed annually ($179 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card required | 14-day free trial of the full platform; it rolls into the Growth monthly plan at $249 unless cancelled |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Heartbeat Chat | Kajabi |
| Price read from | heartbeat.chat | kajabi.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Heartbeat
- Coaches and creators charging a monthly membership for a community
- Communities that mix discussion, courses and live calls in one place
- Members who want desktop apps as well as web and mobile
Kajabi
- Coaches and educators who want site, email, checkout and courses in one account
- Experts selling several kinds of product to the same audience
- Businesses that want their own branded app in the app stores
Worth knowing
Heartbeat
- Heartbeat keeps 5% of payments on Build, 2.5% on Grow and 1.25% on Scale, on top of Stripe's fee (typically 2.9% + 30 cents).
- Member limits count admins and moderators: 350 on Build and 5,000 on Grow.
- On Build, native video hosting is a $19 a month add-on with 50 hours; API access and removing Heartbeat branding start on Grow.
- The white-label branded mobile app is only on Scale, at $766 a month billed annually, which is sold through a call.
Kajabi
- No revenue share, but Kajabi Payments charges 2.7% to 2.9% plus $0.30 a sale in the US; using another processor (not PayPal) adds 0.5% to 2%.
- Basic stops at 5 products, 2,500 contacts and 2 admin users. Extra contacts cost $125 a month per block of 25,000.
- There is no free plan. The branded mobile app is only in Pro unless bought for $199 a month.
- Basic has no AI credits; Growth gets 500 and Pro 1,000, and 500 more cost $15 a month.
Key features
Heartbeat
- Channels, discussions and messages
- Organize the community into public and private channels with threaded posts and live chat, plus one-to-one and group DMs and a member directory.
- Courses and documents
- Evergreen courses with drip release or cohort courses with fixed dates, with quizzes, assignments and a discussion on every lesson, beside a document library.
- Events and video rooms
- Live events with RSVPs, reminders, calendar sync and Zoom recordings, plus voice and video rooms for up to 256 people at once.
- Payments and offers
- Sell subscriptions, one-time offers, tiered memberships and paid waitlists, with coupons, trials, upsells and ready-made checkout pages.
- Workflows
- Send emails and DMs, grant access or follow up automatically when members join, attend, finish a course or go quiet. Build allows 5 workflows.
- Pulse AI
- An AI co-builder that sets up the space, channels and first pages from a description of your community and builds landing pages.
Kajabi
- Courses and coaching
- Courses with drip release, progress tracking, assessments and cohorts, plus coaching programs, memberships, podcasts and digital downloads.
- Communities
- Topic-based spaces with threaded posts, activity feeds and announcements, tied to product purchases. Basic and Growth include 1 community, Pro 3.
- Email, funnels and landing pages
- Unlimited marketing emails, landing pages and funnels on every plan, with broadcasts, sequences and automations triggered by what students do.
- Checkout and payments
- One-time prices, subscriptions and payment plans, coupons, order bumps, upsells, affiliate programs and automated tax calculation.
- Newsletters with paywalls
- Publish a newsletter from the same account and charge for it with paid subscriptions, premium issues or paywalled posts.
- Branded and Creator apps
- A mobile app with your own branding, included on Pro or $199 a month on other plans. A separate Creator app shows sales and contacts on a phone.
Plans
Heartbeat
Build$40
per month for up to 350 members, billed annually ($49 monthly)
Unlimited channels, courses, events and checkout pages, 5 automation workflows, 1 landing page, custom domain. Heartbeat keeps 5% of payments.
Grow$124
per month for up to 5,000 members, billed annually ($149 monthly)
Unlimited workflows, 50 hours of video hosting, 15 landing pages, affiliates, API access, white-label emails, no Heartbeat branding. 2.5% fee.
Scale$766
per month, unlimited members, billed annually ($849 monthly)
A white-label branded mobile app, advanced analytics, 50 landing pages, 200 hours of video and same-day support. 1.25% fee. Sold through a call.
Kajabi
Basic$143
per month for up to 2,500 contacts, billed annually ($179 monthly)
5 products, 1 website, 1 community, 2 admin users, no AI credits. Kajabi Payments at 2.9% + $0.30 a sale; other processors add a 2% fee.
Growth$199
per month for up to 25,000 contacts, billed annually ($249 monthly)
50 products, 1 website, 1 community, 11 admin users, 500 AI credits. Kajabi Payments at 2.8% + $0.30; other processors add a 1% fee.
Pro$399
per month for up to 100,000 contacts, billed annually ($499 monthly)
Unlimited products, 3 websites, 3 communities, 26 admin users, 1,000 AI credits and the branded mobile app. Other processors add a 0.5% fee.
Ways to pay less
Heartbeat
- Annual discount
Save 17% with annual billing
Build is $490 a year instead of $49 a month and Grow $1,490 instead of $149, two months free; Scale saves 10% at $9,200 a year.
Kajabi
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
Kajabi's pricing page lists 20% off for annual billing: Basic $143 a month instead of $179, Growth $199 instead of $249, Pro $399 instead of $499.
