Kajabi vs LearnDash
We give Kajabi and LearnDash the same GPA: 2.0 out of 4.0. Kajabi grades higher on features. LearnDash grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Kajabi
All-in-one platform for selling courses, coaching and communities
LearnDash
WordPress plugin for building and selling online courses
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAKajabiFair | 2.0GPALearnDashFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CPro is $399 a year, about $33 a month, with no fee per sale or per student, so $2,000 of sales costs $33 a month: the middle of this category. Hosting for the WordPress site is on top, and isn't in that figure. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | DNo free version. There's a 48-hour demo site with no card needed, which is a look around rather than a trial. |
| Features | 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. | CA drag-and-drop course builder, quizzes with 8 question types, assignments, certificates, MemberDash memberships, AI outlines and ProPanel reporting. Plenty, but it needs a WordPress site to be useful, and community comes from add-ons like bbPress. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo rating on record. The builder is drag-and-drop, but first you need WordPress running on a host, then the plugin and its settings, so there's real setup. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | BRuns in the browser inside WordPress, with Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce, Elementor, MemberPress, Gravity Forms, bbPress and ThriveCart. No apps listed. |
| Best for | running a whole course business from one account | courses on a WordPress site you already run |
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: Kajabi and LearnDash. How we grade
Price against what you get
Kajabi starts at $143 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. LearnDash starts at $33.25 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3.
Kajabi scores higher, and starts $109.75 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other course and community platforms on the chart, 3 score higher than Kajabi for less, and 3 score higher than LearnDash 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
- Kajabi starts at $143 per month, billed annually ($179 billed monthly). LearnDash starts at $399 per year.
- Only Kajabi lists iOS and Android apps.
- Kajabi also covers marketing automation, email campaigns, paid newsletters and community.
At a glance
| Kajabi | LearnDash | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $143 per month, billed annually ($179 billed monthly) | $399 per year |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of the full platform; it rolls into the Growth monthly plan at $249 unless cancelled | 48-hour free demo site, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Kajabi | Liquid Web, LLC |
| Price read from | kajabi.com | liquidweb.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
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
LearnDash
- Course sellers who already run a WordPress site
- Agencies building learning sites for clients
- Training providers selling group seats to companies
Worth knowing
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.
LearnDash
- LearnDash needs a WordPress site, so you supply and maintain the hosting, theme and updates yourself.
- The pricing page does not say how many sites a license covers; LearnDash's own license docs still describe 1-site, 10-site and unlimited licenses.
- Group seat sales, the instructor role and multi-instructor courses need Elite at $599 a year.
- The license renews automatically each year; without a valid license the plugin keeps working but gets no updates, security patches or support.
Key features
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.
LearnDash
- Drag-and-drop course builder
- Arrange courses into lessons, topics and assessments, with shared course steps, video progression and a distraction-free focus mode for learners.
- Quizzes, assignments and certificates
- Quizzes with 8 question types including essays and sorting, assignment management, a certificate builder, and badges and points.
- MemberDash memberships
- Membership tiers, recurring subscriptions and course bundles are built in, and members manage their own payment details and subscriptions.
- AI course outlines
- Describe a topic and the AI builder drafts a course outline with lessons and a set of quiz questions to edit before publishing.
- ProPanel reporting
- Enrollment trends, completion rates, quiz performance and at-risk learners in one dashboard, with weighted grading and custom report cards.
- Groups and instructors
- On Elite, sell seats to organizations whose leaders manage their own teams, and let several instructors build courses from the front end.
Plans
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.
LearnDash
Pro$399
per year, renews annually
Course and quiz builders, MemberDash memberships, Stripe and PayPal, certificates, AI course outlines and quizzes, ProPanel reporting and gradebook.
Elite$599
per year, renews annually
Everything in Pro, plus group management and seat sales, an instructor role with front-end course creation, multiple instructors, and ratings and reviews.
Ways to pay less
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.
LearnDash
No public discounts listed.
