Kajabi vs Maven
We give Kajabi a 2.0 GPA and Maven a 2.2, out of 4.0. Kajabi grades higher on features. Maven grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, 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
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAKajabiFair | 2.2GPAMavenFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | DNo subscription, but Maven keeps 10% of each sale, so $2,000 of sales a month costs $200, past where this category's dearest tenth starts ($143). The fee shrinks when sales do, and it pays for a listing on Maven's marketplace and its Student Growth Program. |
| 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. | BNothing to pay to start: no subscription, and you can publish and sell, with free Lightning Lessons to build a list. Selling isn't free, though: the 10% is graded under value, and paid offerings start at $200. |
| 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. | CCohort courses, workshops, self-paced cohorts, free Lightning Lessons, automated emails, a cohort community and Zoom scheduling with recordings. It does the live-cohort job fully, but that's a narrower job, with prices from $200 and refunds set by Maven. |
| 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 App Store rating on record. Maven handles the page, checkout and emails, but a live cohort takes a lot of running, and courses are reviewed before they're listed. |
| 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. | BWeb, with Stripe, Zoom, Zapier, Klarna and webhooks for wiring it to other tools. No phone or desktop apps listed. |
| Best for | running a whole course business from one account | live cohort courses taught by working experts |
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 Maven. 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. Maven has no paid plan and scores 2.3.
Kajabi scores higher, and starts $143 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 none scores higher than Maven 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). Maven is free.
- Maven has a free plan. Kajabi does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Kajabi lists iOS and Android apps.
- Kajabi also covers marketing automation and paid newsletters.
- Maven also covers surveys.
At a glance
| Kajabi | Maven | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free |
| Starts at | $143 per month, billed annually ($179 billed monthly) | Free |
| Free plan | None | No fee to teach. Maven keeps 10% of what each student pays as a platform fee, and Stripe's processing fees come out as well. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of the full platform; it rolls into the Growth monthly plan at $249 unless cancelled | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Kajabi | Maven Learning, Inc. |
| Price read from | kajabi.com | help.maven.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
Maven
- Working professionals teaching live courses alongside a day job
- Experts without a large audience who want marketplace traffic
- Courses that companies reimburse, with team and invoice purchases
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.
Maven
- Maven keeps 10% of every sale, and Stripe fees (2.9% + $0.30 for US cards) come out too; refunds return Maven's fee but not Stripe's.
- Paid offerings must be priced at $200 or more, and courses are reviewed before they are listed on the marketplace.
- Experts are enrolled in the Student Growth Program by default, which can discount a course by up to 30%; opting out is by email.
- Maven, not the expert, decides refunds: students get a full refund up to the course's halfway point.
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.
Maven
- Cohort courses and workshops
- Sell multi-week live courses, one-day workshops, self-paced cohorts, resources and coaching from one expert profile and landing page builder.
- Free Lightning Lessons
- Short free live sessions that collect sign-ups and feed them into the email list for a paid course or workshop.
- Built-in email campaigns
- Pre-written automated emails go to waitlisted, applying and dropped-off students, and announcements email the whole cohort.
- Cohort community
- Each course comes with channels for announcements, discussion, intros and questions, plus project submissions and course content in one place.
- Zoom and calendar scheduling
- Connect a Zoom account to create meeting links for every session, auto-record them and publish recordings to students.
- Marketplace listing and promotion
- Reviewed courses appear on Maven's discovery site, and the Student Growth Program runs sales, referrals, affiliates and ads for a share of revenue.
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.
Maven
Teach on Maven$0
No subscription. Maven keeps a 10% platform fee on each sale and pays the rest to your Stripe account; paid offerings start at $200.
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.
Maven
No public discounts listed.
