Skool vs Kajabi (2026): Which One Should You Run Your Community On?

I run my group on Skool's $9 plan. Kajabi's cheapest plan is $179 a month, about 20 times the price. So before telling anyone to pay that, I wanted to know exactly what the extra money buys.

The short answer: a lot, just not more community. Kajabi is a whole business platform (website, email, funnels, checkout, courses) with a community attached. Skool is a community with a classroom attached.

My verdict: if your members paying to talk to each other is the business, Skool wins, and Skool Pro stays cheaper than Kajabi at every revenue level I calculated. If you need a website, email marketing, quizzes or certificates, Kajabi earns its price.

How I compared them

I've run a Skool group since 2024 for my animal rescue work, and I tested it hands-on for my full Skool review. Everything I say about Skool comes from those screens and Skool's help center.

Every Kajabi detail comes from Kajabi's own pricing page and help center, checked on November 9, 2026. Where something depends on Kajabi's word rather than my testing, I say so.

Pricing side by side

Skool prices are per group, from the upgrade and billing screens in my account; Skool's fees are from its payments help article. Kajabi prices and card rates are from Kajabi's pricing page and its US fee schedule, for US businesses using Kajabi Payments. Kajabi also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan.

Two things the headline prices hide:

• Skool's Discovery cut. If you switch on Skool's directory traffic, Skool keeps 30% to 70% of payments from members it sends you. You choose the share. It doesn't apply to members you bring yourself.
• Kajabi's subscription fee. Kajabi's US fee schedule adds 0.7% to every subscription and payment-plan transaction, including the first one. A membership is a subscription, so this applies.
• Skool's high-ticket rate. On Skool Pro, payments of $900 or more are charged 3.9% plus 30 cents instead of 2.9%.
• Kajabi's outside-processor fee. Kajabi charges 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro if you use a third-party payment processor instead of Kajabi Payments (PayPal excluded).

At $10,000 a month, Skool Pro costs $114 less

Subscription prices alone are misleading, because Skool Hobby takes 10% of every sale and Kajabi adds 0.7% on memberships. Here's the monthly total for a membership priced at $50 a month, using annual Kajabi pricing and only the fees above.

These are my own calculations, using each platform's published US fees. They leave out taxes, refunds, international cards and Skool's Discovery cut.

The pattern is clear. Skool Hobby only makes sense while you're small. Somewhere around $1,270 a month in member payments, Skool Pro becomes cheaper. And Skool Pro stays cheaper than Kajabi at every level here, by roughly $50 to $160 a month.

That gap is the price of everything Kajabi includes that Skool doesn't. If you'd otherwise pay for a website builder and an email tool, the gap can disappear. If you won't, and Skool Pro fits your numbers, you can start a Skool group here (paid link).

Where Kajabi pulls ahead

Your website, email and funnels in one place

Every Kajabi plan includes a website on your own domain, unlimited landing pages, unlimited funnels and unlimited marketing emails, according to its pricing page. Contacts are capped at 2,500 on Basic, 25,000 on Growth and 100,000 on Pro.

Skool has none of that. Members land on your group's about page, and the closest thing to email marketing is a switch that emails a post to all members. If you sell to people who aren't members yet, you'll need separate tools.

Quizzes and certificates

Kajabi's help center describes graded and non-graded quizzes, auto-grading for multiple choice, a passing grade that can unlock the next module, and certificates sent automatically when someone finishes a course.

When I tested Skool's classroom, I didn't find either. For certification programs or anything compliance-related, that settles it.

Cohorts, branding and your own app

Live cohort courses, your own affiliate program, advanced automations and removing Kajabi's branding all start on Growth. A branded app listed in the App Store under your name is Pro only.

Where Skool pulls ahead

A community people actually come back to

Skool is built around the feed. Members earn points across nine levels, leaderboards show the most active people, and you can lock a course until someone reaches a level. That gives new members a reason to post before they get the good stuff.

Kajabi has communities too, with unlimited private access groups inside each one. But you get one community on Basic and Growth (three on Pro), and it's one feature among many rather than the center of the product.

It's fast and plain

Creating a Skool course is one dialog, and settings are a few tabs. There's very little to learn, which matters if you're the one doing everything.

Kajabi does far more, and that comes with more to set up: a website, offers, pipelines and email sequences.

The price of getting started

$9 a month gets you a working community with courses and payments on Skool. Kajabi's entry point is $143 a month billed annually, before you've made a sale.

A built-in directory

Skool runs a directory where people browse and search for groups. You pay for that traffic with a revenue share, but it can send you members you'd never have reached yourself.

Making money as an affiliate

If you plan to recommend whichever tool you pick, the programs differ a lot.

Skool pays 40% of the subscription for life on any group created through your link, from your first referral.

Kajabi's partner program starts with a one-time bounty equal to the referral's first month. Recurring commission only begins once you have 5 or more active referrals (10%), rising to 15% at 25 and 20% at 50, according to Kajabi's help center.

The GrowthToolGuide verdict

Pick Skool when the community is the product. Pick Kajabi when the community is one part of a bigger business that needs a website, email and funnels.

Skool fits

Coaches and creators selling membership in a group, mastermind and accountability communities, and anyone who already has an audience on social media and wants the cheapest, simplest home for it.

Kajabi fits

Course businesses that sell to cold traffic through email and funnels, certification programs that need quizzes and certificates, and creators who'd otherwise pay for a separate website and email tool.

Try Skool Paid link: I earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.

For everything I found inside Skool, including which features need the $99 plan, read my Skool review.

Skool vs Kajabi FAQ

Which side does your business lean on more: members talking to each other, or a website and email list that sells for you?