Stan Store wins the Kajabi vs Stan Store question for creators who sell from an Instagram or TikTok bio: Creator Pro costs $79 a month billed yearly and takes 0% a sale. Kajabi Basic, at $143 a month billed yearly, wins when you want a website, an email list and courses on 1 bill.
Neither takes a platform cut on its own payments, but Kajabi Basic adds 2% a sale on your own Stripe account and includes 2,500 contacts. CartMango (free right now, from $10 a year once paid plans start in November, 0% a sale plus Stripe’s card fee) sells courses on its $30 Platinum plan. All prices come from each company’s own pages.
Weighing Kajabi against Stan Store means deciding whether you need a full course platform yet, or just a store your followers can tap from a bio link. The yearly bills for the 2 sit hundreds of dollars apart.
The page-1 guides make it harder than it needs to be. 5 of the 7 written ones open Kajabi at a plan its pricing page does not show, and none mentions the 2,500-contact line that decides which Kajabi plan a growing list needs.
So below, all 10 plans sit in 1 table on the same billing basis, and 4 cuts take them down to 4. Each cut names what it removes, and each survivor comes with what it still cannot do.
Key Takeaways
- Stan Creator Pro undercuts Kajabi Basic. Creator Pro is $948 a year and Kajabi Basic is $1,716, both on yearly billing, a $768 gap.
- Kajabi’s 2% only hits your own Stripe. Kajabi Basic adds 2% a sale on your own Stripe account, while Kajabi Payments and PayPal skip it.
- Stan’s entry Creator plan is thin on selling tools. Discount codes, order bumps, upsells and email marketing all start on Creator Pro, $79 a month billed yearly.
- Kajabi Basic has 2 ceilings. It allows 5 products (all downloads count as 1) and 2,500 contacts, so a growing list points to Growth at $2,388.
- A third route. CartMango sells courses on Platinum ($30 a year once paid plans start) at 0% a sale, with videos hosted on YouTube or Vimeo.
Kajabi vs Stan Store: all 10 plans, priced the same way
Kajabi lists 4 selling plans, Stan Store 3 and CartMango 3, which makes 10 plans to price. I added CartMango because I run it, and since November it hosts courses too.
If this is your first paid product, the plan is only part of it. The Online Selling Mistakes Challenge walks through 5 common selling mistakes, over 5 days by email.
On yearly billing, Kajabi’s 4 plans run $71 to $399 a month, Stan’s run $25 to $79 (plus a $299 Creator Max plan sold month to month only), and CartMango’s run about $0.83 to $2.50 once paid plans start.
| Plan | Per month, billed yearly | Month to month | Cut of each sale | Products |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kajabi Kickstarter | $71 ($852 a year) | $89 | 0% on Kajabi Payments, 5% on your own Stripe | 1 |
| Kajabi Basic | $143 ($1,716 a year) | $179 | 0% on Kajabi Payments, 2% on your own Stripe | 5 |
| Kajabi Growth | $199 ($2,388 a year) | $249 | 0%, or 1% on your own Stripe | 50 |
| Kajabi Pro | $399 ($4,788 a year) | $499 | 0%, or 0.5% on your own Stripe | Unlimited |
| Stan Creator | $25 ($300 a year) | $29 | 0% | No limit |
| Stan Creator Pro | $79 ($948 a year) | $99 | 0% | No limit |
| Stan Creator Max | No yearly price | $299 | 0% | No limit |
| CartMango Silver | About $0.83 ($10 a year) | Yearly only | 0% | 10 |
| CartMango Gold | About $1.67 ($20 a year) | Yearly only | 0% | 25 |
| CartMango Platinum | About $2.50 ($30 a year) | Yearly only | 0% | Unlimited |
Every row comes from each company’s own pricing page or help center. Card processing comes on top of every row, usually 2.9% + 30 cents on a US card, and CartMango is free right now, with the 3 yearly prices starting when paid plans begin in November.
Kajabi Kickstarter needs a note. It is the $89-a-month starting price most guides quote (1 guide still says $69), and it is not on Kajabi’s pricing page. But Kajabi’s plans guide still lists it as a current plan, so it is in the count. The same guide lists a $29 “Parked” plan with no yearly price and no feature list, which I left out.
The 4 cuts below, and what each one removes.
Cut 1: anything over $3,000 a year
Kajabi Pro and Stan Creator Max go first, since each costs more than $3,000 a year. That leaves 8 plans.
Kajabi Pro is $4,788 a year on yearly billing. Kajabi’s own pitch for it is “Built for $200k+ a year businesses that want their own app”, and what you pay for is a branded app in the App Store, 3 websites, 3 communities and 100,000 contacts. A creator choosing between Kajabi and a link-in-bio store is rarely shopping for any of that.
Stan Creator Max costs $299 a month, $3,588 over 12 months, with no yearly price published, and it adds 2 things: a custom domain and admin seats for a team. It is also not open to everyone yet. Stan’s help center says the option “hasn’t yet been released to all Creators”, so anyone who wants it has to ask support. You can still point your own domain at the cheaper plans, though: your store lives at stan.store/yourusername, and a forwarding rule at your domain host sends visitors there.
Cut 2: a plan with room for only 1 product
Kajabi Kickstarter goes next, because its single product slot fills the moment you sell a course next to anything else. That leaves 7 plans.
Kajabi counts each course, coaching program, podcast and newsletter as 1 product, and all your downloads together as 1 more, so a course plus a few ebooks is already 2 products, 1 more than Kickstarter allows. None of the 7 page-1 guides explains that downloads rule. The rest of the plan is tight too: 250 contacts, no custom domain, no connection to email tools like Kit, Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign, and a 5% fee on every sale if you keep your own Stripe account.
Cut 3: any plan with no discount codes or order bumps
Stan’s $29-a-month Creator plan is the only one that falls here. That leaves 6 plans.
Discount codes, order bumps and upsells all start on Creator Pro, and the full list of what Creator lacks runs long. Stan’s plan comparison puts all of these on Creator Pro only: payment plans, discount codes, limited-quantity offers, upsells and order bumps, funnels, affiliate management, email broadcasts, email flows, contact imports and ad pixels.
Creator still covers the storefront, calendar bookings, an unlimited course builder, subscriptions, lead magnets, a community space and AutoDM for Instagram replies. What it lacks is any tool for discounts, add-ons or follow-up offers.
Why make this a cut at all? A launch discount brings in more buyers, and a checkbox add-on at checkout makes each order bigger, both without more traffic. Kajabi Basic has both, since Kajabi’s help center says order bumps “are available on all offers” and its coupon guide names no plan requirement. CartMango Silver has coupons and order bumps too, though upsells start on Gold.
Cut 4: plans that cannot host a course
CartMango Silver and Gold drop out here, since CartMango’s course feature is on Platinum only. That leaves 4 plans.
If you sell templates, ebooks or presets and never plan a course, skip this cut. CartMango Silver at $10 a year handles digital downloads with order bumps, and you would keep it on your list. The Gumroad vs Kajabi comparison runs the numbers for download sellers.
Every Kajabi plan and Stan Creator Pro can host a course, but the 3 platforms left are not equal. Kajabi has the deepest course tools: modules, drip, graded quizzes, and completion certificates. Stan’s eCourse product holds modules and lessons, uploads videos up to 4 GB per lesson and can drip content. On CartMango Platinum, lessons hold text, images, audio, files and a pasted video link, with a progress bar and a “Mark complete” button, but there are no quizzes or certificates, and video files stay on YouTube, Vimeo or Loom.
What a $100 sale leaves you on each platform
On a $100 sale paid with a US card, Stan Creator Pro, Kajabi Basic on Kajabi Payments and CartMango Platinum all leave you $96.80, while Kajabi Basic on your own Stripe account leaves $94.80.
| Setup | Card fee | Platform fee | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stan Creator Pro | $3.20 | $0 | $96.80 |
| Kajabi Basic, Kajabi Payments | $3.20 | $0 | $96.80 |
| Kajabi Basic, your own Stripe | $3.20 | $2.00 | $94.80 |
| Kajabi Growth, your own Stripe | $3.20 | $1.00 | $95.80 |
| CartMango Platinum | $3.20 | $0 | $96.80 |
The card fee is Stripe’s standard US rate of 2.9% + 30 cents, which Kajabi Payments matches on Basic. Kajabi Growth gets 2.8% on its own payments, which is why the 1% row only matters if you keep your Stripe. None of the figures include each plan’s own price, or Stripe’s payout fee on Stan, covered below.
The AI Overview Google shows for this search. The last line says Kajabi has 0% transaction fees.
Kajabi’s pricing page leads with “0% revenue share”, and that holds on Kajabi Payments. But the compare table further down the same page has a row called “Fee if you use an outside processor”, priced at 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro. It “applies to any third-party payment processor” and excludes PayPal and Kajabi Payments, and Kajabi’s plans guide adds a 5% rate for Kickstarter and says the fee skips legacy plans.
If you already have customers and subscriptions running in your own Stripe account, moving them is real work, so the 2% is what you pay to avoid moving them. At $2,000 a month in sales that is $40 a month, which takes Kajabi Basic from $1,716 to $2,196 a year. Kajabi’s FAQ adds 1 exception: if you live where Kajabi Payments is not offered, there is no extra fee at all.
Stan works the other way round. Stan’s Stripe setup guide says you create a new Stripe account that Stan manages and cannot connect an existing one. A separate Stan help article describes a test that lets a share of new sign-ups connect their own. So there is no own-Stripe fee to dodge, but most sellers cannot bring their current Stripe account either.
Stan’s fee page also lists Stripe’s payout fee on those accounts: 0.25% + 25 cents each time you cash out, with a $1 minimum, so moving $1,000 to your bank costs $2.75. Stan itself takes 0%.
Sellers outside the US can pay more. A seller in an r/passive_income thread says their sales were converted into euros at an exchange rate “approximately 2% worse than the prevailing reference rate”, on top of the listed fees. That is 1 person’s account, but Stan’s fee page does list a Stripe charge for selling in a currency different from your Stripe account’s: 1% on US accounts and 2% in most other countries.
Kajabi Basic, Kajabi Growth, Stan Creator Pro or CartMango Platinum
After 4 cuts, Stan Creator Pro ($948 a year) suits bio-link sellers, Kajabi Basic ($1,716 a year) suits a few courses with a website and a list under 2,500, Kajabi Growth ($2,388 a year) suits anyone past those limits, and CartMango Platinum ($30 a year once paid plans start) suits sellers who mainly need checkout and course lessons.
Stan Creator Pro: your buyers arrive from your bio
Stan is built around 1 mobile page that a follower taps from Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. Creator Pro puts a store, bookings, courses, discount codes, order bumps, email marketing and affiliate tools on that page for $79 a month billed yearly. Stan’s help center says there is no limit on how many products you can sell, though it recommends showing 4 or 5 at a time.
Stan’s plan list names a storefront rather than a website builder, and your store lives at stan.store/yourusername unless you get onto Creator Max. If you are also weighing a dedicated checkout against Stan, our SamCart vs Stan Store comparison prices the order bump on each.
Kajabi Basic: a few courses, a site and a list under 2,500
Kajabi Basic gives you a website on your own domain, unlimited landing pages and funnels, unlimited email sends to 2,500 contacts, a community and up to 5 products, with every download counted together as 1. If your business is 1 course, 1 coaching offer and a few ebooks, that fits comfortably, and Kajabi’s course tools are the deepest here. The limits show up quickly though. Basic has no affiliate program, shows “Powered by Kajabi” in your footer and allows 2 people on the account, you plus 1 admin.
Kajabi Growth: past 5 products or 2,500 contacts
Growth at $199 a month billed yearly lifts the caps to 50 products and 25,000 contacts. It adds an affiliate program, live cohort courses, Comment to DM and a footer with no Kajabi branding, and it cuts the outside-processor fee to 1%. The catch is the jump: Growth costs $1,440 a year more than Stan Creator Pro, so it pays off only when the website, the email and the course tools are things you would otherwise buy separately. The Kajabi vs LearnWorlds comparison shows what a course-first platform charges for the same job.
CartMango Platinum: courses and a checkout with no cut
CartMango Platinum covers checkout, courses, Mini Pages for the sales page, order bumps, upsells, cart abandonment and an affiliate program for up to 250 affiliates, with 0% of each sale. Payments go straight to your own Stripe or PayPal. There is no email sending built in, so buyers sync into a tool like Kit, beehiiv, ActiveCampaign or BirdSend.
Support and community on each
Kajabi offers chat and email support, Stan offers email only, and CartMango answers through a contact button with no live chat. Kajabi’s support guide says its AI agent answers first and brings in a team member when needed, and Pro adds a dedicated customer success manager. Stan’s help center says all support runs through email, with no phone or video calls. CartMango’s site promises a reply within 1 business day.
Community differs too. Every Kajabi plan includes 1 community per site, and Stan’s $29 Creator plan already includes community features. CartMango’s community feature is in development and not live yet.
The 4 survivors side by side
Stan Creator Pro is the lowest-cost survivor with email built in at $948 a year, Kajabi Basic costs $768 more for a website and stronger course tools, and CartMango Platinum costs $30 a year once paid plans start, with no built-in email sending.
| Plan | Yearly cost | Closest call | Fits best | Still does not do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stan Creator Pro | $948 | Cut 3: has discount codes and order bumps | Selling from a bio link | A custom domain (Creator Max only) |
| Kajabi Basic | $1,716 | Cut 2: room for 5 products | A website and a few courses | Affiliates, or past 2,500 contacts without the $125 add-on |
| Kajabi Growth | $2,388 | Cut 1: under $3,000 a year | A growing list and catalog | A branded app included (a paid extra below Pro) |
| CartMango Platinum | $30 once paid plans start | Cut 4: hosts courses | Checkout and courses, 0% a sale | Video hosting, built-in email |
Count your email list before you compare monthly prices
Kajabi Basic includes only 2,500 contacts, and that number decides which Kajabi plan a growing list needs. None of the 7 page-1 guides gives it, and 1 still says Basic includes 10,000.
A lead magnet is the usual way to grow a list, and every free signup counts as a contact, buyer or not. Past 2,500, Kajabi gives you 2 options. You can add a block of 25,000 contacts for $125 a month, which takes Basic to $268 a month ($143 on yearly billing plus the block). Or you move to Growth at $199 a month billed yearly, which includes 25,000 contacts and costs less than Basic plus the block.
So past 2,500 contacts, Growth at $2,388 a year is the cheaper Kajabi plan.
Stan handles email differently. Its Creator Pro feature list says “Unlimited contacts”, and its help center says email sits on Creator Pro because “Stan pays a fee for every email sent”, so that “your email list can grow without your bill growing too”. If you are moving an existing list, note that Stan caps manual imports at 5,000 contacts per store.
CartMango has no email tool of its own, so your contact limit is whatever your email platform sets, on that platform’s own pricing.
FAQ
Is there anything better than Kajabi?
For a course business that wants a website, email, community and courses in 1 place, Kajabi covers more than either rival here. If you only use part of it, Stan Creator Pro covers bio-link selling for $948 a year. CartMango Platinum covers checkout and course lessons for $30 a year once paid plans start, without quizzes or certificates.
What is better than Stan Store?
For selling from a bio link, Stan does the job it was built for. If you want a full website and stronger course tools, Kajabi is the step up. If you would rather not pay a monthly plan, Gumroad charges 10% + 50 cents a sale instead, and CartMango charges from $10 a year once paid plans start, with card fees extra on both and payouts to your own Stripe or PayPal on CartMango. Our Gumroad vs Stan Store comparison runs the break-even.
Is Kajabi still worth it?
Kajabi is worth it when you use the website, email, courses and community together, since you would otherwise pay for each one. It is poor value for a seller with a few downloads and a small list. Basic costs $1,716 a year and usually rises to Growth’s $2,388 once your list passes 2,500 contacts.
How much percentage does Kajabi take?
Kajabi takes no revenue share on Kajabi Payments or PayPal. On Kajabi Payments you pay the card fee instead, 2.9% + 30 cents on a US card on Basic. If you connect your own Stripe account, Kajabi adds 5% on Kickstarter, 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro. The fee skips legacy plans and anyone living where Kajabi Payments is not offered.
Does Stan Store host course videos?
Yes. Stan’s eCourse product uploads videos straight into each lesson, up to 4 GB per video, and adds modules, drip and supporting files like PDFs. Stan’s help center has no article on quizzes or completion certificates, both of which Kajabi documents in its own help center.
Does Stan Store have a free plan?
No. Stan’s help center says there is no free plan “at the moment”. The cheapest option is Creator at $29 a month, or $300 a year, and stores show a “Try 14 Days Free” banner for new sign-ups. Affiliate-only accounts are free, but they only hold resell links and commissions, not a store.
Selling a course without the monthly platform bill
Whichever side of Kajabi vs Stan Store you land on, the bill starts when the 14-day trial ends: $948 a year for Stan Creator Pro once you want discount codes and order bumps, or $1,716 for Kajabi Basic, its first plan with room for more than 1 product.
If what you need most is a checkout and a home for course lessons, CartMango is free right now and costs $30 a year on Platinum once paid plans start, with order bumps, upsells, affiliates and 0% a sale.
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
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- Kajabi vs LearnWorlds: selling tools against teaching tools, both price lists on yearly billing
- SamCart vs Stan Store: what an order bump costs on each, situation by situation
- Gumroad vs Stan Store: when a per-sale fee beats Stan’s monthly plan
- Payhip vs Teachable: 9 plans cut to 3 on live prices, for course sellers watching the monthly bill