Kajabi fits course sellers who want email, funnels and checkout on 1 bill, from $143 a month on its Basic plan. LearnWorlds fits sellers whose lessons need SCORM files or interactive video, from $79 a month on Pro Trainer. Its $44 Starter plan adds $5 per enrollment and has neither. All prices are billed yearly.
The Kajabi vs LearnWorlds choice mostly splits on SCORM and interactive video against email and funnels. LearnWorlds Pro Trainer costs $948 a year and Kajabi Basic $1,716. At 2,500 contacts, that $768 gap keeps LearnWorlds cheaper with any email tool under $768 a year. Kajabi Basic includes unlimited email sends to 2,500 contacts and adds 2% a sale on your own Stripe account.
LearnWorlds changed its entry price in late October. Starter went from $29 to $49 a month on monthly billing and is now $44 billed yearly, with the same $5 per enrollment on top.
5 of the 6 comparisons on Google’s first page still quote the old $29. None of them mention the 2% Kajabi Basic adds to each sale when you take payments through your own Stripe account instead of Kajabi Payments.
The new Starter price and the 2% both change which plan costs you less. After that, the answer moves with 2 things you can estimate today: how many people you expect to enroll, and which email tool you would add.
Key Takeaways
- LearnWorlds Pro Trainer costs $768 a year less than Kajabi Basic. That is $948 against $1,716, both billed yearly, with no LearnWorlds per-sale fee.
- LearnWorlds Starter rose from $29 to $49 a month. It is $44 billed yearly, adds $5 per enrollment and cannot sell subscriptions or bundles.
- Kajabi charges an outside-processor fee. Basic adds 2% a sale on your own Stripe, Growth 1% and Pro 0.5%. PayPal and Kajabi Payments skip it.
- SCORM decides it for some sellers. Kajabi does not support SCORM files, while LearnWorlds Pro Trainer takes up to 20 SCORM uploads.
- Kajabi earns its price on marketing. Basic includes unlimited email sends to 2,500 contacts, unlimited landing pages and funnels, coaching and a community.
- CartMango, the checkout I run, now hosts video courses. CartMango is free right now, and courses sit on its $30-a-year plan, with no quizzes or certificates yet.
Kajabi vs LearnWorlds pricing on yearly billing
Billed yearly, LearnWorlds plans run from $44 to $249 a month and Kajabi’s pricing page lists 3 plans from $143 to $399 a month. LearnWorlds also sells a Corporate plan priced on request. Both pages show a higher month-to-month price, so every comparison here uses yearly billing unless it says monthly.
Price is only part of what makes a course pay off, since the course still has to sell. The Online Selling Mistakes Challenge covers the 5 selling mistakes digital product sellers make most, in 5 days of free emails.
LearnWorlds drops its per-sale fee from Pro Trainer up, while every plan on Kajabi’s pricing page adds 2%, 1% or 0.5% a sale when you take payments through an outside processor such as your own Stripe account.
| Plan | Billed yearly | Monthly billing | Per-sale fee | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LearnWorlds Starter | $44/mo | $49/mo | $5 per enrollment | 1,000 active learners a month, 1 admin |
| LearnWorlds Pro Trainer | $79/mo | $99/mo | None | 2,000 active learners a month, 5 admins |
| LearnWorlds Learning Center | $249/mo | $299/mo | None | 2,000 active learners a month, 25 admins |
| Kajabi Basic | $143/mo | $179/mo | 2% on an outside processor | 5 products, 2,500 contacts |
| Kajabi Growth | $199/mo | $249/mo | 1% on an outside processor | 50 products, 25,000 contacts |
| Kajabi Pro | $399/mo | $499/mo | 0.5% on an outside processor | Unlimited products, 100,000 contacts |
Kajabi prints its yearly totals: $1,716 for Basic, $2,388 for Growth and $4,788 for Pro. LearnWorlds prints a yearly saving instead: $240 on Pro Trainer and $600 on Learning Center. That puts those 2 at $948 and $2,988 a year.
LearnWorlds prints no total for Starter, so the $528 used below is 12 months at $44. Google’s AI Overview for this search still shows the old $29 a month. Our LearnWorlds review covers the change.
LearnWorlds’ free trial runs 30 days and Kajabi’s runs 14, and our Kajabi coupon code guide covers a longer partner trial for Kajabi. Our full Kajabi pricing breakdown goes deeper on Kajabi’s fees and add-ons.
What a $100 course sale leaves you on each
On a $100 course sale with a US card, you keep $96.80 on LearnWorlds Pro Trainer or on Kajabi Basic with Kajabi Payments, $94.80 on Kajabi Basic with your own Stripe account, and $91.80 on LearnWorlds Starter.
| Setup | Platform cut | Card fee | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| LearnWorlds Starter, Stripe | $5.00 | $3.20 | $91.80 |
| LearnWorlds Pro Trainer, Stripe | $0 | $3.20 | $96.80 |
| Kajabi Basic, Kajabi Payments | $0 | $3.20 | $96.80 |
| Kajabi Basic, your own Stripe | $2.00 | $3.20 | $94.80 |
| Kajabi Growth, your own Stripe | $1.00 | $3.20 | $95.80 |
The gaps come from 2 fees on top of the card fee. LearnWorlds Starter charges a flat $5 for every course enrollment, and Pro Trainer and above charge none. Kajabi adds nothing on Kajabi Payments or PayPal sales. On an outside processor such as your own Stripe account, its plan table lists a “Fee if you use an outside processor” of 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro. Kajabi’s FAQ adds that the fee does not apply in countries where Kajabi Payments is not offered.
Every row in the table uses 2.9% plus 30 cents. That is Stripe’s standard rate for a domestic card and what Kajabi Payments charges on Basic, falling to 2.8% on Growth and 2.7% on Pro, per Kajabi’s pricing page. Those Kajabi rates are for US businesses, and other countries pay different ones.
The $5 enrollment fee hurts most on a cheap course. On a $20 course it is a quarter of the price, and after the $0.88 card fee you keep $14.12.
Both vendors’ own comparison pages understate Kajabi’s fee. Kajabi’s post says LearnWorlds Starter carries a per-sale fee Kajabi doesn’t charge. That holds only on Kajabi Payments, on PayPal or where Kajabi Payments is not offered. LearnWorlds’ page says Kajabi charges 0% transaction fees on every plan, which leaves out the same row.
Where Kajabi and LearnWorlds tie: quizzes, certificates and community
Kajabi and LearnWorlds both host video courses, run quizzes, issue completion certificates (LearnWorlds from Pro Trainer) and include a community, so those 4 rarely decide the pick. The details:
- Quizzes: Kajabi courses take graded quizzes with 4 question types and can require a passing grade before the next module opens. LearnWorlds includes quizzes on every plan.
- Certificates: Kajabi can send a completion certificate automatically when someone finishes a course. LearnWorlds adds certificates from Pro Trainer.
- Community: Kajabi includes 1 community on Basic and Growth and 3 on Pro. Every LearnWorlds plan includes a built-in community and social network.
- Your own site: both run on your own domain. Kajabi Basic includes 1 website with unlimited landing pages, and LearnWorlds adds landing pages from Pro Trainer.
- Other tools: Kajabi connects third-party tools on every plan and adds webhooks from Growth. LearnWorlds adds Zapier from Pro Trainer.
- Support: LearnWorlds offers email support 24 hours a day, 5 days a week on Starter and around the clock above it. Kajabi Pro adds dedicated support.
What separates them is SCORM, interactive video, email and the selling tools, along with team size and how many students you expect.
If your course needs SCORM files or interactive video
LearnWorlds Pro Trainer is the pick when your lessons arrive as SCORM packages or need interactive video, at $79 a month billed yearly, or $948 a year. This is the seller running compliance training, continuing-education courses or a certification program. It is also anyone who builds lessons in an e-learning authoring tool and exports them as SCORM. Kajabi’s help center defines SCORM as a set of technical specifications for e-learning products.
Kajabi cannot take those files. Its help center answer is 1 line: “Kajabi does not support LMS formats like SCORM or HTML5 files.” LearnWorlds Pro Trainer takes up to 20 SCORM uploads, and Learning Center takes as many as you like.
Interactive video is LearnWorlds’ other draw. It lists it at a basic level on Pro Trainer and an advanced level on Learning Center. LearnWorlds’ own Kajabi comparison marks Kajabi without it, and I found no interactive video feature in Kajabi’s help center either. My read: if no buyer has ever asked you for SCORM or interactive video, you probably do not need either, and this section is not your situation.
Basic quizzes are close to a tie, as covered above. One reported gap is reporting, by 1 course developer’s account in an r/onlinecourses thread: their team was frustrated that Kajabi “can’t natively score assessments or quizzes by multiple subcategories,” and could not build a report for each student.
What you give up is the marketing half. Pro Trainer caps mass email at 2,000 credits a month and page funnels at 15, and its affiliate marketing runs at a basic level. 1 seller in the same thread who moved from Kajabi to LearnWorlds said LearnWorlds ended up more expensive, “especially when layering in the fact that you need an email software on top of it.”
BirdSend, the email tool I also run, costs $140 a year for up to 2,500 contacts, with no free plan and a 7-day trial. Pro Trainer plus BirdSend comes to $1,088 a year, $628 under Kajabi Basic, though you now run 2 logins and connect them yourself. A pricier email tool closes that gap. A bigger list does not: at 10,000 contacts BirdSend costs $290 a year, so Pro Trainer plus BirdSend is $1,238, while Kajabi needs Growth at $2,388.
If your course feeds coaching, a membership and an email list
Kajabi Basic is the pick when your course is 1 of several products sold to the same list, at $143 a month billed yearly, or $1,716 a year. This is a coach who sells a course, 1-to-1 sessions and a monthly membership, and emails the same people about all 3. Kajabi pitches the whole bundle as “One subscription replaces five tools,” and on Basic that bundle holds:
- Up to 5 products across courses, coaching, memberships, downloads and podcasts
- 2,500 contacts with unlimited email sends
- Unlimited landing pages and funnels, plus 1 website and 1 community
- A built-in checkout that takes Kajabi Payments, PayPal or your own Stripe account
LearnWorlds can sell a membership too, but only from Pro Trainer, since Starter cannot sell tiered subscriptions or payment plans. Selling is where 1 commenter in that thread, who has used both, drew the line: “LW is bad on the marketing/sales feature side but great on the learning features side, whereas a platform like Kajabi is the exact opposite – great on the sales side but it’s terrible for its learning features.” That overstates the teaching side, since Kajabi has quizzes and certificates, but it matches the gaps above: SCORM, interactive video and, by that thread’s account, reporting.
The seller in that thread who moved from Kajabi to LearnWorlds went further: “I went from Kajabi to Learnworlds and regret it. While the course platform part is much better, the lack of marketing and sales features absolutely killed my business.”
Kajabi Basic has 4 catches:
- 5 products fill up fast. A course, coaching and a membership leave room for 2 more.
- Affiliates need Growth. Kajabi’s affiliate programs start at $199 a month billed yearly, or $2,388 a year.
- The list cap is 2,500 contacts. Past that you move to Growth, which holds 25,000, or buy contacts in blocks of 25,000 for $125 a month.
- The 2% applies on your own Stripe account. Kajabi Payments or PayPal avoids it.
I’d pay the Kajabi premium only if I knew I’d use most of that bundle every month. If list size is what you are weighing, our Kajabi vs Kartra comparison prices Kajabi against Kartra by list size, and our Kajabi review sorts what recent Trustpilot reviewers complain about.
If you sell training to companies or client teams
LearnWorlds Learning Center is the pick for training sold to organizations, at $249 a month billed yearly, or $2,988 a year.
This is the trainer who sells seats to companies, or runs separate academies for several clients. Over Pro Trainer, Learning Center adds:
- Full white-label, with no LearnWorlds logos
- Training for up to 10 client groups
- 25 admins instead of 5
- Automations with triggers, conditions and delays, plus course reports you can schedule and send
- Higher caps: 5,000 mass email credits a month, unlimited page funnels and unlimited SCORM uploads
Kajabi’s plans give you 2, 11 or 26 admins, and its pricing page lists no client groups or sub-accounts. Kajabi Pro’s 3 websites and 3 communities, at $399 a month billed yearly, suit 3 brands better than 10 client teams.
The catch is the learner ceiling. Learning Center keeps the same 2,000 monthly active learners as Pro Trainer, so the extra $170 a month on yearly billing buys branding, seats, client groups and higher caps while the learner limit stays put. Past 2,000, LearnWorlds quotes its Corporate plan on request.
If you expect fewer than 84 sales in your first year
LearnWorlds Starter is the lowest-priced way into either platform while sales are slow, at $44 a month billed yearly plus $5 per enrollment.
Starter costs $528 a year before fees and Pro Trainer costs $948. The $420 gap equals 84 enrollments at $5, so from the 85th sale of the year Pro Trainer is cheaper. On monthly billing the line sits at 10 sales a month, because Starter is $49 and Pro Trainer $99.
Yearly cost before card fees and Kajabi’s outside-processor fee. Starter matches Pro Trainer at 84 enrollments and costs more after that.
Below that line, Starter is a fair deal for a first paid course, and it includes quizzes. It drops most of the selling tools, as LearnWorlds’ own plan table shows.
LearnWorlds’ own plan table. Starter is crossed out for bundles, subscriptions, installments, funnels, mass email and affiliates.
The same table marks free courses, landing pages, certificates and Zapier as not included on Starter. You get 1,000 active learners a month, 1 admin and email support 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. So Starter fits paid courses you promote from somewhere else and sell 1 at a time.
I’d treat Starter as a test plan. If an audience is already waiting for your course, Pro Trainer costs less from the 85th sale and spares you a plan change mid-launch. Kajabi’s public pricing page has nothing near Starter’s price, since it starts at $143 a month billed yearly.
If your lesson videos already live on a video host
CartMango, which I run, is the pick when your course is video lessons you already keep on a video host, and you want the checkout and the course in 1 place, at any course length. CartMango is free right now, and its courses sit on the $30-a-year Platinum plan once paid plans start in November.
This is a coach or creator selling video courses, short or long, maybe beside some downloads, who does not need quizzes, certificates or SCORM. CartMango courses are new. A course is built from modules and lessons, and each lesson holds text, images, audio, files and video links. Students click “Mark complete” as they go, and the course tracks their progress. In the offer settings you pick which courses a purchase unlocks, so the buyer pays and goes straight in.
Order bumps, upsells and downsells are on the same plan, with 0% a sale plus Stripe’s or PayPal’s card fee. Next to LearnWorlds Pro Trainer at $948 a year, $30 is far less, though you add an email tool (BirdSend is $140 a year for 2,500 contacts) and keep your videos on a separate host.
It is an early release. CartMango does not store video files itself. Each lesson streams from wherever the video lives: YouTube, Vimeo, Loom, a Zoom recording, Bunny Stream or your own server. It has no quizzes, certificates, SCORM or interactive video, and its community feature is still being built. If your course needs any of those, LearnWorlds or Kajabi is the better home.
If you sell templates or ebooks and no lessons
A checkout tool fits a seller of templates, ebooks or audio files, since Kajabi and LearnWorlds both bill you for a course player you would not open.
Gumroad takes 10% plus $0.50 a sale with no plan to buy, and Payhip’s free plan takes 5% a sale. CartMango, which I run, is free right now and costs $10 to $30 a year once paid plans start in November, with 0% a sale. Card fees come on top for all 3, and all 3 host the sales page for you, so you need no website. On a $20 file, CartMango’s $10 plan pays for itself after 4 sales against Gumroad and 10 against Payhip’s free plan.
Kajabi Basic sells downloads too, inside its 5-product cap, at $1,716 a year. That only adds up if you also want its email and course tools.
CartMango also runs video courses now (see the video host section above). CartMango’s community feature is still being built and is planned for the $30 Platinum plan. CartMango brings you no buyers: every visitor is one you send.
Which platform fits each seller
Across the 6 situations, LearnWorlds wins 3 picks, Kajabi wins 1 and CartMango, which I run, fits the 2 cases where checkout and video lessons are the whole job.
| Your situation | Pick | Cost, billed yearly | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCORM files or interactive video | LearnWorlds Pro Trainer | $948 | 2,000 mass email credits a month |
| Course plus coaching, membership and email | Kajabi Basic | $1,716 | 5 products, 2% on your own Stripe |
| Selling training to companies | LearnWorlds Learning Center | $2,988 | Still 2,000 active learners a month |
| Under 84 sales in year 1 | LearnWorlds Starter | $528 plus $5 a sale | No subscriptions, bundles or landing pages |
| Video course, no quizzes needed | CartMango Platinum | Free right now, then $30 a year | Videos stay on your own host. No quizzes, certificates or SCORM |
| Files, no lessons | CartMango | Free right now, then $10 to $30 a year | You bring every buyer |
CartMango only fits the last 2 rows: video courses without quizzes or certificates, and plain files.
FAQ
How much is LearnWorlds per month?
LearnWorlds costs $49, $99 or $299 a month on monthly billing for Starter, Pro Trainer and Learning Center, or $44, $79 and $249 a month billed yearly. Starter adds $5 per course enrollment, and Corporate is priced on request. The LearnWorlds pricing page lists a branded mobile app as an add-on without a price.
What are the downsides of Kajabi?
Kajabi’s main downsides are price and limits. Basic costs $1,716 a year and caps you at 5 products, affiliate programs need the $2,388 Growth plan, and Basic adds 2% a sale on your own Stripe account. Kajabi also does not support SCORM files. Our Kajabi review covers what recent reviewers complain about most.
Is LearnWorlds a good platform?
LearnWorlds is a strong teaching platform with a weaker selling side. Pro Trainer adds certificates, SCORM uploads and interactive video, and every plan includes unlimited video hosting and a built-in community. Its email and funnel tools are thinner than Kajabi’s, and Starter cannot sell subscriptions, bundles or payment plans, so plan on a separate email tool if you email your list often.
Is there anything better than Kajabi?
For SCORM files or interactive video, LearnWorlds is the better fit. For a smaller bill on a plain video course, our Kajabi vs Teachable and Kajabi vs Thinkific comparisons price 2 cheaper course hosts. For a video course with the videos already on a host like Vimeo or Bunny Stream, CartMango runs the course area on its $30-a-year plan, without quizzes or certificates. Our Kajabi alternatives guide covers 8 options priced with their per-sale fees.
Which one gives you your own mobile app?
Kajabi includes your own branded app, listed in the App Store under your name, on the Pro plan at $399 a month billed yearly. Every Kajabi plan includes the shared Kajabi app for customers. LearnWorlds sells a branded mobile app as an add-on and does not print its price on the pricing page.
Can you move from Kajabi to LearnWorlds?
Yes. LearnWorlds offers done-for-you migration on request and lists Kajabi among the platforms it has moved customers off. Its pricing page offers a free migration consult, and its Kajabi comparison page lists the migration service itself at a custom price. Our LearnWorlds review covers the other direction, leaving LearnWorlds later.
Before you pay for a course player
Kajabi vs LearnWorlds is settled by 1 question: do you mostly teach, with SCORM files and interactive video, or mostly sell, with email and funnels around the course? Both platforms bill you for the whole bundle, used or not, so pick the one whose half you will use.
If your course is video lessons with no quizzes, certificates or SCORM, or your bestseller is a download, the Kajabi vs LearnWorlds question shrinks to a sales page, a checkout and a course area. CartMango covers that on its own, with a hosted Mini Page, order bumps on every plan, upsells on the $20 plan, courses on the $30 plan and no cut of the sale. CartMango is free right now, and paid plans start in November from $10 a year.
About the Author
👋 I’m Welly, founder of CartMango (the site you’re on), a checkout platform for digital product sellers. We’ve previously processed $179M+. I also run BirdSend (email marketing tool, 3.1B+ emails sent). On the side I show other non-techie digital sellers how I use AI workflows to automate 50%+ of my operations. Find me on LinkedIn.
Related Reading
- Kajabi pricing: every Kajabi plan, the outside-processor fee and the add-ons
- Kajabi vs Podia: another course host priced against Kajabi
- Kajabi vs Teachable: a cheaper course host priced against Kajabi
- Kajabi alternatives: 8 options priced with their per-sale fees