The cheapest of the kajabi alternatives that include community is a self-hosted WordPress setup, where a community and LMS plugin such as TrueCommunity replaces Kajabi’s courses and community for a flat yearly or one-time price. You give up Kajabi’s built-in email, funnels and checkout, so those costs move to other tools. The saving is real only if you do not need everything Kajabi bundles.
Quick Summary
- TrueCommunity is a community and LMS plugin for WordPress: feed, groups, messages, courses, quizzes and gamification in one plugin, on your own site. Pro costs $119/year (1 site), $199/year (5 sites) or $299/year (30 sites), and renews at the same price.
- Lifetime Pro plans are $249 (Solo), $399 (Studio) and $599 (Agency). There are no per-member fees and no platform cut.
- Kajabi includes email, landing pages, funnels and checkout, but its plans cap products, contacts and sites. Processing fees apply on top of the plan price.
- Leaving Kajabi means rebuilding email, sales pages and checkout. It also means running your own hosting and updates.
- TrueCommunity has no certificates, mobile app or paid memberships yet. These are planned, not shipped.
Ready to own your community?
What does Kajabi actually include, and where do the limits bite?
Kajabi sells an all-in-one business platform: courses, a community, marketing emails, landing pages, funnels, checkout and automations. That bundle is its real selling point, and the pricing page says so directly. Its argument is that price the pieces separately and the whole stack costs more.
The limits are what push people to look at kajabi alternatives. On the official pricing page, the three plans scale like this:
| Limit | Basic | Growth | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Products | 5 | 50 | Unlimited |
| Communities | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Websites | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Contacts | 2,500 | 25,000 | 100,000 |
| Admin users | 2 | 11 | 26 |
| Kajabi Payments card rate | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.8% + $0.30 | 2.7% + $0.30 |
| Fee if you use another payment provider | 2% | 1% | 0.5% |
Source: Kajabi’s official pricing page, checked on November 2, 2026. Card rates shown are for US entities. The third-party provider fee excludes PayPal and Kajabi Payments, and your provider’s own fees apply on top.
Past the plan limits, extra contacts are sold in blocks of 25,000 for $125 a month, at any size. The branded mobile app is part of the Pro plan, which Kajabi values at $199 a month on that page.
How much does Kajabi really cost once processing fees are included?
Kajabi says it takes no revenue share as a platform. That is accurate, and it is a point in its favor. But the processing fee is a percentage of every sale, so it behaves like a cut even though it is labelled a card fee.
Take an illustrative course business selling $10,000 a month on the Basic plan. With Kajabi Payments at 2.9%, card processing is $290 a month before the $0.30 per transaction. If you instead connect your own payment provider, Kajabi’s added 2% on Basic is $200 a month, and your provider charges its own fees on top.
The same $10,000 on a WordPress store costs you the gateway’s fees, with no additional platform surcharge. Gateway rates differ by provider and country, so use your own provider’s rate for that line. The point is the missing second layer, not a specific percentage.
Cost check: Add the plan price, the processing fee on your monthly sales, and the cost of extra contacts if your list grows past the plan cap. That is your real Kajabi bill, and it rises with your success.
Kajabi’s plan prices are listed on its own pricing page, so read the current figure there and put it into the same sum. We keep it out of the comparison below because the numbers you need depend on your plan and billing choice.
Which kajabi alternatives include community?
There are three routes, and each trades convenience for control. Which one fits depends on whether you want a hosted product or a site you own.
- A WordPress community and LMS plugin (TrueCommunity): courses, quizzes, groups, a feed, messages and gamification on your own WordPress site, with your data in your own database.
- A hosted community platform (Circle, Mighty Networks, Skool): a community-first product on someone else’s servers. They suit owners who want no site to maintain, and each has its own plan structure and fees to check on its official page.
- A WordPress LMS plus a separate community plugin: flexible, but you pay for two plugins, manage two sets of updates and handle compatibility between them.
TrueCommunity is the one that combines both halves in a single plugin. It uses existing WordPress accounts, so the same members see the courses and the community. That removes the integration work you would face when stacking an LMS plugin on top of a community plugin.
What does TrueCommunity include for a Kajabi-style course and community site?
The free plugin on WordPress.org is a complete community with basic courses. It includes the activity feed with polls and reactions, member profiles, public, private and locked groups, messaging, notifications, and courses with sections, lessons and auto-graded quizzes in seven question types.
Pro adds the advanced LMS tools, course selling and gamification. The Free vs Pro comparison lists every difference, and free features will not move to Pro.
Here is how the pieces map to what a course creator uses on Kajabi:
| What you use on Kajabi | TrueCommunity equivalent |
|---|---|
| Courses and lessons | Sections, lessons and topics, with course features including drip content, prerequisites, seat limits and access expiry (Pro) |
| Quizzes and assignments | Seven quiz types free; assignments with approval and feedback in Pro |
| Cohorts | Seat limits and open/close dates (Pro) |
| Community and access groups | Groups with their own feeds, roles and community features |
| Selling a course | WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads (Pro, Private courses only) |
| Engagement | Points, ranks, badges, challenges, leaderboards and rewards (Pro) |
Selling works through your own store plugin. The buy button enrolls the buyer on purchase, and expired access can be renewed.
TrueCommunity does not process payments, so fees come from your store and payment gateway. The steps are in the sell a course guide.
Gamification is where a self-hosted setup can pull ahead of a basic course platform. You choose which activities are tracked, and badges and challenges pay out points.
Rewards can then unlock course access, group membership or a WooCommerce or EDD coupon. See the gamification features for the full list.
How much does a self-hosted setup cost over three years?
TrueCommunity pricing is flat. Every plan includes all Pro features, and plans differ only by site count and support. Yearly plans renew at the same price, with no intro discount followed by a jump.
| Plan | Sites | Year 1 | 3 years (yearly) | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | 1 | $119 | $357 | $249 |
| Studio | 5 | $199 | $597 | $399 |
| Agency | 30 | $299 | $897 | $599 |
Prices checked on November 2, 2026 on the TrueCommunity pricing page. Three-year yearly totals are the yearly price multiplied by three. Lifetime is one payment for updates to the core Pro plugin for life.
These figures cover the plugin only. Hosting, a domain, an email service and a checkout plugin are your own costs. You choose them and can keep them as small as your audience allows.
Watch out: The plugin price is only part of a WordPress budget. Add hosting and an email tool before comparing with Kajabi’s all-in-one price. The comparison is fair only when both sides include the same jobs.
Lifetime has limits. It excludes future paid add-ons (membership, LMS Pro, mobile app) and AI credits, so lifetime licences do not include them. Every payment, including renewals, has a 14-day money-back guarantee under the refund policy.
Try TrueCommunity free, upgrade when you need more
What do you lose when you leave Kajabi?
Be clear about this before you migrate. Kajabi’s strength is the bundle, and a WordPress setup is a different shape. These are the gaps a course creator should plan for.
- Marketing email: Kajabi includes it. On WordPress you add an email service or automation tool, which has its own cost. TrueCommunity sends branded notification emails, but it is not an email marketing tool.
- Funnels and landing pages: you build these with your theme or a page builder. TrueCommunity does not include a funnel builder.
- Checkout and payments: handled by WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads and your gateway, which you configure and maintain.
- Branded mobile app: Kajabi includes one in its Pro plan. The TrueCommunity app is coming soon, planned for late February, and is not available yet. Today the community and courses work in any phone browser.
- Hosting and upkeep: you manage your own hosting, backups, security and updates, or pay someone to.
Subscription billing deserves its own note. Paid memberships and recurring billing are planned for TrueCommunity (late March), not shipped. Today you sell courses through your store, and recurring access depends on what your store plugin supports.
Migration is also manual. Importers from other community platforms are planned, and today only existing WordPress users can be migrated, using the migrate users guide. Moving off Kajabi means exporting your content and contacts and recreating courses on the new site.
Is Skool or Circle better than Kajabi for a community?
Hosted community platforms are community-first, while Kajabi is a course and marketing platform that includes community. If your business is mostly discussion and events, a community-first product may fit more naturally. If your business is mostly courses with a supporting community, Kajabi’s structure is closer.
All of them are hosted, so you rely on the vendor’s pricing and limits. Compare their current plans and fees on their own official pages, because they change often. TrueCommunity takes a different route: you own the site, and the plugin does not send your data to the company.
How does TrueCommunity compare with a Kajabi plan on structure?
| Question | TrueCommunity | Kajabi |
|---|---|---|
| Where do members and content live? | Your own WordPress database | Kajabi’s platform |
| Limits on members | No per-member fees | Contact caps by plan (2,500, 25,000, 100,000) |
| Limits on products or communities | No product cap in the plugin | 5, 50 or unlimited products; 1, 1 or 3 communities |
| Platform cut on sales | None; you pay your store and gateway | No revenue share; card fees apply |
| Email, funnels, landing pages | Not included | Included |
| Branded mobile app | Coming soon, separate pricing | Included in Pro |
| Free tier | Free plugin with courses and community | Free trial, no free plan |
| Refund window | 14 days on every payment | 30-day money-back guarantee on plans |
Kajabi facts from its pricing page and TrueCommunity facts from its pricing page, both checked November 2, 2026. The free plugin works as your trial, so you can build a course and community before paying for anything.
How do you set up a Kajabi-style site on WordPress?
The setup is short, and you can test most of it on the free plugin first. WordPress 6.3+, PHP 8.0+ and pretty permalinks are required.
- Install the free plugin from WordPress.org, following the install guide.
- Work through the quick setup: name and URL, logos, modules, mail and user migration.
- Build your first course with the create a course guide, adding sections, lessons and quizzes.
- Create groups for each cohort or topic. Group and course creation are admin-only.
- Add Pro when you need drip, assignments, selling or gamification, using the Pro install guide.
- Connect WooCommerce or EDD, set the course to Private and add the buy button.
Because Pro is an add-on to the free plugin, your posts, groups, courses and members stay when you upgrade. That lowers the switching risk of starting free.
When TrueCommunity fits (and when it does not)
TrueCommunity fits a course creator who wants courses and community on a site they own, with a flat cost that does not scale with members. It also suits a creator who already has email and checkout tools, or is happy to choose them. Coaches, associations and brands that want their own branding and data fit well too.
It is not the best choice in these cases:
- You rely on Kajabi’s email, funnels and landing pages as one tool and do not want to rebuild them.
- You want no site to maintain. Hosting, security and updates are yours.
- You need certificates, SCORM or enterprise-scale reporting today. LearnDash, Tutor LMS and LifterLMS are deeper LMS products on those points, and TrueCommunity does not offer them.
- You need subscription billing built in, or a shipped branded mobile app.
- Your members should be able to create groups or courses. Both are admin-only.
If you are weighing it against an LMS plugin with a separate community plugin, the one-plugin approach saves a license and an integration. It does not match their depth.
What’s coming next to TrueCommunity
Several gaps in this comparison are on the public roadmap. None of these are available today.
- Mobile app: coming 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 the feed, groups, messages, notifications, courses, quizzes, assignments, badges, challenges, leaderboards and rewards to members’ phones, with the same WordPress sign-in and everything in sync. It is a separate product with its own pricing, described on the mobile app page.
- Certificates: planned for late December, with verification links and PDF download.
- Events and live sessions: planned for early January, with RSVPs, reminders and Zoom or Google Meet links.
- Memberships and paid access: planned for late March, as an optional module.
Follow progress on the roadmap, or request a feature through the contact page at /contact/.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest alternative to Kajabi that includes community?
A self-hosted WordPress setup is usually the cheapest, because the plugin cost is flat and has no per-member fees. TrueCommunity starts free, and Pro is $119/year for one site or $249 once. You still pay for hosting and any email or checkout tools you add, so total it up on both sides.
Can I build a Kajabi-style course and community site on WordPress?
Yes, for the courses and community halves. TrueCommunity provides lessons, quizzes, assignments, drip, groups, messaging and gamification, and sells courses through WooCommerce or EDD. The parts Kajabi bundles, such as email marketing and funnels, need other tools.
Is there a self-hosted alternative to Kajabi with no monthly fee?
Yes. TrueCommunity Pro has lifetime plans at $249, $399 and $599, and the free plugin has no fee at all. Hosting is still a recurring cost, and lifetime excludes future paid add-ons and the mobile app.
Does Kajabi charge transaction fees if I use my own Stripe account?
Kajabi does not take a revenue share, but its pricing page lists an extra fee when you use a third-party payment provider. It is 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro, excluding PayPal and Kajabi Payments, and your provider’s own fees come on top. Where Kajabi Payments is not offered in your region, it says there is no additional fee.
What do I lose by leaving Kajabi?
You lose the bundled email, landing pages, funnels and checkout, plus the included branded app on Pro. On WordPress you replace each with separate tools. Plan the email list export and course rebuild before you cancel.
Is a WordPress LMS plus community plugin cheaper than Kajabi over 3 years?
It can be, since one plugin like TrueCommunity costs $357 over three years on Solo yearly, or $249 lifetime. Add hosting, email and checkout to make the comparison fair, and use Kajabi’s current plan price from its pricing page. Stacking two plugins from different vendors narrows the gap.
Can I try TrueCommunity before paying?
Yes. The free plugin on WordPress.org includes the community and basic courses with quizzes, and the pricing page shows the Pro plans. Every Pro payment has a 14-day refund window, so you can also test Pro on your own site.
Build your community on a site you own