Kajabi vs WordPress is a choice between renting a finished all-in-one platform and owning a site you assemble yourself. Kajabi is faster to launch and charges a monthly plan plus card fees. WordPress costs less to run at scale and gives you full ownership, but you handle setup, updates and security.
Quick Summary
- TrueCommunity on WordPress: a community and LMS plugin that gives you courses, quizzes, groups, messaging and gamification on your own site. The free plugin is $0, and Pro starts at $119/year with the same price at renewal.
- Kajabi: no revenue share, but Kajabi Payments charges 2.9%, 2.8% or 2.7% plus $0.30 per US card sale depending on plan. Plans cap products, contacts and admin users.
- Control: on WordPress you own the database, the member list and the design. On Kajabi you work inside its structure.
- Effort: Kajabi wins for a first-time creator who wants one login. WordPress wins when you want ownership, a real community and a predictable cost.
Ready to own your community?
How does Kajabi pricing work in November 2026?
Kajabi sells three plans: Basic, Growth and Pro. All three include courses, landing pages, funnels, unlimited marketing emails and a community. The plans differ in limits, not in the core tool set, according to Kajabi’s own pricing page.
Many articles still quote the old cheapest plan and outdated price lists, so read any Kajabi price you find with the date in mind. This article avoids quoting dollar plan prices from third-party pages. The limits and fees below come straight from Kajabi’s official pricing page, read on November 4, 2026.
| Limit (Kajabi official page) | Basic | Growth | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Products | 5 | 50 | Unlimited |
| Contacts | 2,500 | 25,000 | 100,000 |
| Admin users | 2 | 11 | 26 |
| Websites | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Communities | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Card fee, Kajabi Payments (US) | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.8% + $0.30 | 2.7% + $0.30 |
| Fee with a third-party processor | 2% | 1% | 0.5% |
Limits checked on Kajabi’s pricing page on November 4, 2026.
Kajabi also states that it has no platform revenue share, and its FAQ says every plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee. Extra contacts come in blocks of 25,000 for $125 a month. A branded mobile app is listed as included on Pro.
Watch out: “Kajabi takes 0%” is true only for a revenue share. You still pay a card fee through Kajabi Payments, or a platform fee on top of your own processor if you bring one.
Does Kajabi take a percentage of my sales?
Not as a platform cut, but the processing fee works like a percentage. On the Basic plan, $10,000 in US card sales split into 100 orders of $100 costs 2.9% ($290) plus $0.30 per order ($30), so $320 before your plan fee.
On Growth the same sales cost $280 plus $30, so $310. On Pro they cost $270 plus $30, so $300.
If you use a third-party processor instead, Kajabi adds its own fee on top of the processor’s. At $10,000 in sales that extra fee is $200 on Basic (2%), $100 on Growth (1%) and $50 on Pro (0.5%). PayPal and Kajabi Payments are excluded from that fee, per Kajabi’s page.
The processor you choose on WordPress also charges fees, since someone has to move the money. The difference is that nothing is added on top by a platform plan.
What is the real cost of a WordPress course site?
A WordPress course business has four cost lines: hosting, the community and LMS software, payments, and email. Hosting and email prices vary widely by provider and list size, so price those two with your own quotes. The software and payments lines are the ones you can pin down.
| Cost line | Kajabi | WordPress with TrueCommunity |
|---|---|---|
| Platform or software | Monthly plan (Basic, Growth or Pro) | Free plugin $0, or Pro from $119/year (Solo), $199/year for 5 sites (Studio), $299/year for 30 sites (Agency) |
| Hosting | Included | Your own host |
| Card processing | 2.7% to 2.9% + $0.30 (US, Kajabi Payments) | Your gateway’s rate through WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads |
| Platform fee on outside processors | 0.5% to 2% | None from TrueCommunity |
| Community | Built in | Built in (same plugin) |
| Email marketing | Unlimited marketing emails included | Separate email tool |
| Contact growth | Plan limits, blocks of 25,000 for $125/month | No per-member fees |
TrueCommunity prices checked on /pricing/ on November 4, 2026. Kajabi figures from its official pricing page, same date.
The honest summary: Kajabi bundles hosting, email, website and checkout into one bill. On WordPress you buy those pieces separately, so the saving shows up as your list and revenue grow. A small, new course business may pay about the same either way and trade money for hours.
Cost check: Add up your WordPress stack on paper before you compare. Include hosting, an email tool, security and backups, plus the hours you spend on maintenance. Then put Kajabi’s plan fee and card fees next to it at your expected revenue.
Where does the cost gap show up?
Three things move the comparison as you grow. First, plan limits: Kajabi’s Basic plan holds 5 products and 2,500 contacts, and Growth holds 25,000 contacts. Contacts past your plan come in blocks of 25,000 for $125 a month.
Second, card fees scale with revenue on both sides, but Kajabi adds a plan fee and sometimes a platform fee on top. Third, a WordPress licence is flat.
TrueCommunity charges no per-member fees, and yearly plans renew at the same price. Lifetime is a single payment for updates to the core Pro plugin.
Below a few thousand contacts and a handful of products, the difference is small. Above that, the flat WordPress license and the absence of contact blocks matter more each year.
Does Kajabi have a built-in community, and how does it compare?
Yes. Kajabi includes communities (1 on Basic and Growth, 3 on Pro) and access groups on every plan. It is a good fit if you want a simple space for discussion tied to a product.
On WordPress you add a community plugin. The usual problem is stacking: an LMS plugin, a separate community plugin and a gamification add-on, each with its own updates and its own bill. TrueCommunity is a community and LMS plugin in one, so members, groups and courses share a single login.
The community features include an activity feed with polls and reactions, member profiles and a directory, public, private and locked groups, private messages and group chats, and notifications. The course features cover sections, lessons, auto-graded quizzes with seven question types, enrollment and progress tracking in the free plugin.
Pro adds topics, drip content, prerequisites, assignments, live classes, challenge exams and course selling through WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads. You can see exactly which is which on the Free vs Pro comparison.
Engagement tools that live in the same plugin
Pro includes gamification: points with your own name (XP, Coins, Stars), ranks, badges, time-limited challenges and leaderboards. It also includes Rewards that unlock course access, group membership or a store coupon. Points come from badges and challenges, not from every single post, which keeps the system from being gamed by volume.
The setup order is covered in the gamification overview. For a course creator, a badge on finishing a module that unlocks a private group is a retention tool you do not need a separate add-on for.
Who has more control: Kajabi or WordPress?
WordPress, by design. Your members, posts, courses and quiz results sit in your own site’s database, and TrueCommunity does not send that data to the company. You choose your host, theme, checkout and email tool, and you can change any of them later.
On Kajabi you work inside one vendor’s structure. That makes the platform consistent and easy to use, and it also means design, pricing and feature changes are the vendor’s decisions. Its own blog says its framework limits deep customization.
Lock-in and who owns the student list
On WordPress the student list is rows in your database, and moving hosts means moving files and a database export. On a hosted platform, exports depend on what the platform offers, and you stay subject to its plan limits and price changes. If a vendor raises prices, your options are to pay or to rebuild elsewhere.
TrueCommunity uses existing WordPress accounts, so anyone who can log in is a member. That makes migrating existing WordPress users simple. Importers for other platforms are not available today and are planned, as covered below.
Can I move from Kajabi to WordPress without losing students?
You can, but plan it as a project. Export your contact list, recreate the courses, set up checkout, and invite students to log in on the new site. Video files usually need re-hosting or re-embedding.
TrueCommunity does not yet include importers from Kajabi or other community platforms, so today the member move means creating WordPress accounts for them, for example by CSV through a user-import tool, then enrolling them. Plan a quiet cutover week and tell students before it happens.
Try TrueCommunity free, upgrade when you need more
Which is better for SEO?
WordPress has the stronger SEO foundation for a content-led course business, because you control URLs, page structure, speed work and the plugins behind them. Kajabi gives you landing pages and a blog with decent defaults and far less to configure.
One TrueCommunity detail matters here: the community runs in its own layout on its own pages, by default at yoursite.com/community, and works with any theme. Your marketing pages, blog and sales pages stay in the theme and SEO setup you already trust.
Do I need technical skills to run a WordPress LMS?
You need to be comfortable with basic site care. Someone has to handle hosting, backups, updates and security, and that someone is you or a person you pay. A managed WordPress host removes much of that work.
TrueCommunity’s setup is short. It requires WordPress 6.3 or later, PHP 8.0 or later and pretty permalinks, and the quick setup guide covers name and URL, logos, modules, mail and user migration in five steps. The free plugin is on WordPress.org, so you can test it on a staging site before spending anything.
If a license lapses, the plugin keeps working and only updates and support stop until you renew. Pro includes private email support, and there is a 14-day money-back guarantee on every payment, including renewals, per the pricing page.
Which is better for a beginner course creator?
Kajabi, if your priority is launching in a weekend and you have never touched a website. It has a trial, one login, one support channel and no plugin decisions. That convenience has a monthly price.
WordPress is a fair choice for a beginner who is willing to learn, or who already runs a WordPress site. Starting with the free plugin lets you build a community and a first course at $0 and upgrade only when you need drip, assignments or course sales.
What are the middle options?
You do not have to pick an extreme. Three common middle paths work well.
- WordPress for community and courses, hosted checkout elsewhere: keep your members on your site and sell through a checkout you already use.
- Kajabi for sales pages and email, WordPress for the member space: a hybrid that keeps Kajabi’s marketing tools while you own the community.
- Start free on WordPress, then add Pro: existing posts, groups, courses and members stay when you upgrade, so switching risk is low.
Pro is an add-on that needs the free plugin active. See the Pro install guide for the upgrade steps.
When TrueCommunity fits (and when it does not)
TrueCommunity fits creators who want a private community and courses on one WordPress site, flat pricing and ownership of their data. It also fits agencies building for clients: Studio covers 5 sites at $199/year and Agency covers 30 sites at $299/year, with every feature in every plan.
It is not the best choice in these cases:
- You want a finished all-in-one with no WordPress work. Kajabi bundles hosting, email, website and checkout.
- You need a branded mobile app today. Kajabi lists one on Pro. TrueCommunity’s app is coming soon, and the community works in phone browsers now.
- You need certificates, SCORM or enterprise reporting. TrueCommunity does not offer them today, and deeper LMS plugins such as LearnDash exist for that. Certificates are planned.
- You need paid memberships or subscription billing built in. Course selling works through WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads, and only for Private courses. Memberships are planned.
- You want students to create groups or courses. Group and course creation is admin-only.
TrueCommunity is also a new product with few installs, so judge it on the free plugin and the 14-day refund rather than on a track record.
What’s coming next to TrueCommunity
The biggest item for course creators is a phone app. Your members already use the community and courses in a phone browser, and a native app is on its way.
- Mobile app (coming very soon, planned for late February): each community gets its own branded app with its own name, icon and colours on iPhone and Android. It brings every free and Pro feature, from the feed and groups to messages, courses, quizzes, assignments, badges, challenges, leaderboards and rewards. Members sign in with the same WordPress account and everything stays in sync. It is a separate product with its own pricing, see the mobile app page.
- Completion certificates (planned for late December): with your logo, signature and a verification link.
- Importers (planned for early December): for BuddyPress, BuddyBoss, FluentCommunity and bbPress, plus CSV member import.
- Memberships and paid access (planned for late March): an optional module for paid groups and course bundles.
Follow the public roadmap or request a feature at /contact/.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kajabi worth it compared with WordPress for selling courses?
It is worth it when you value launch speed and one bundled tool over ownership. Kajabi includes email, a website, funnels and a community, so you avoid assembling pieces. The cost is a plan fee, plan limits and card or platform fees that grow with revenue.
Does Kajabi take a percentage of my sales?
Kajabi says it takes no platform revenue share. You still pay card processing of 2.9%, 2.8% or 2.7% plus $0.30 (US) on Basic, Growth and Pro through Kajabi Payments. If you use your own processor, Kajabi adds 2%, 1% or 0.5% on top.
What is the real total cost of a WordPress course site?
It is hosting, community and LMS software, payments and email, plus your time. TrueCommunity’s free plugin costs $0 and Pro starts at $119/year, while hosting and email depend on your providers. Add your own maintenance hours to the bill, because that is the cost most comparisons leave out.
Can I move my course from Kajabi to WordPress?
Yes, but there is no one-click move today. You export contacts, rebuild courses and re-host or re-embed video. TrueCommunity importers are planned for December, and today only existing WordPress users can be migrated.
Which gives a better community for a course business?
Kajabi’s built-in community is easy and tied to your products. TrueCommunity gives you a fuller community on your own site, with groups, profiles, messaging and gamification sharing members with your courses. Which is better depends on how central community is to your business.
Do I need technical skills to run a WordPress LMS?
You need basic comfort with hosting, backups and updates, and a managed WordPress host reduces the work. TrueCommunity’s five-step setup covers the plugin itself. If you want zero site care, Kajabi is the easier route.
Which is better for a beginner course creator?
Kajabi is simpler for a first launch, since everything is in one place. A beginner who wants to own the site can start with the free TrueCommunity plugin from WordPress.org and add Pro later. Compare plans on the pricing page.
Build your community on a site you own