Skool and Kajabi are leading platforms in the online education and community-building market. Skool hosts 15,094 paid and 13,648 free communities serving over 2 billion users. Skool charges a flat $99 monthly fee for unlimited features. Kajabi serves over 50,000 entrepreneurs in 120 countries. Its plans cost $149 to $399 per month. Kajabi has generated $3.5 billion for its users and has 60 million enrolled students. Skool founded in 2019 focuses on community-driven learning with gamification features. Kajabi was founded in 2010. Its toolkit helps users create and sell digital products, like courses and memberships.
The choice between Skool and Kajabi depends on the creator's priorities. Skool is better in community engagement and interactive learning experiences. Kajabi provides an all-in-one solution for course creation, marketing, and sales. Both platforms offer unique strengths for online educators and entrepreneurs.
Skool
Skool uses gamification, like leaderboards and badges, to boost member engagement and interaction.
Skool focuses on simplicity and ease of use with structured modules.
Skool has few marketing tools. You need external tools for advanced features.
Skool relies on tools like Zapier, Stripe, and Zoom for extra features.
Kajabi
Kajabi is an all-in-one tool for creators. Its features have course creation, marketing, and sales.
Kajabi offers advanced course creation tools. They include customizable templates, quizzes, and assessments.
Kajabi has built-in marketing automation, sales funnels, and email tools.
Kajabi offers deep customization for branding and design. It has many native tools and supports third-party integrations.
Creating community and selling courses in Skool and Kajabi helps you generate extra income. I currently earn over $52K per month through a specific online business. This business enabled Dan and me to establish a community with over 7,400 active members. This article explains the differences between Skool and Kajabi. I also include online reviews of both platforms. At the end of the article, you will know which of the platforms is best to achieve your goals.
The best between Skool vs Kajabi depends on your needs as a course creator or community builder. Skool is the better option if your focus is on community engagement and easy to use platform. It has strong tools like:
Kajabi is better for those who need a complete platform to create, market, and sell online courses. Kajabi has:
Kajabi offers extensive customization for courses, websites, and products. Its strong marketing tools make it a perfect for entrepreneurs. It is best if you want to grow your business while delivering high-quality courses.
Skool excels at interaction and community management. Kajabi, however, combines course creation with powerful marketing and sales tools. Choose based on your priority. If you want to build a community, use Skool. If you want to market and sell courses, use Kajabi. Both platforms are effective, but they cater to different needs and goals.
FEATURES
Skool
Kajabi
Community Engagement Tools
Skool has strong discussion forums and live streaming. It includes gamification features like leaderboards and badges. Skool also has direct messaging, content sharing, and event management tools. Plus, it has customizable sub-community spaces.
Kajabi provides a Community Hub where you can build a community around their content. It has discussion forums, direct messaging, content sharing, and notifications. Kajabi's community tools are less extensive than Skool's.
Marketing and Sales Features
Skool adds gamification to boost engagement and messaging for communication. It has tools to sell access to the community, courses, and events. However, Skool lacks advanced marketing tools like email automation and sales funnels.
Kajabi has automated email marketing, a sales funnel builder, and custom landing page templates. Kajabi supports payment processing, one-click upsells, and affiliate management. It can recover abandoned carts, too. It also offers analytics, A/B testing, and integration with marketing tools.
Target Audience
Skool focuses on content creators, influencers, and entrepreneurs with an existing audience.
Kajabi serves course creators, coaches, and businesses wanting to offer online education.
Navigation and Setup
Skool is easier to learn than Kajabi. The platform's interface has sections: Community, Classroom, Calendar, and Leaderboards. They are accessible from the main dashboard. You can add content, make courses, and customize their communities with minimal effort.
Kajabi offers a more comprehensive setup process with greater flexibility. The dashboard has categories like Website, Products, and Sales. It is for extensive customization of courses, websites, and marketing funnels. This detailed setup has more options, but it can be harder for beginners to learn.
Ease of Use
The platform has a clean, simple design. It's easy to navigate. You can set up your community and courses without extensive technical knowledge.
Kajabi has more features, making it a bit complex to use at first.
Free Trial Availability
Skool offers a 14-day free trial for new users.
Kajabi offers a 30-day free trial for new users.
Customer Support
Skool provides basic support team and resources options for its users. Access community help through its user forums. Members can ask questions and get help from other users. For more direct support, Skool provides email-based assistance at help@skool.com.
Kajabi has more comprehensive customer support system compared to Skool. The platform has 24/7 live chat support for all users. Help is always available when needed.
Integration
Skool limits native integrations but provides flexibility through third-party connections. It supports Zapier integration and webhook support.
Kajabi provides set of native integrations and third-party connections. It integrates:
- email marketing services like Mailchimp and ConvertKit
- payment processors like Stripe and PayPal
- analytics platforms like Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel
Payment Method
The payment methods available on Skool and Kajabi are Stripe and Paypal. Creators charge monthly or annual fees for community access, with a transaction fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per payment. Creators receive payouts weekly to their bank accounts.
Kajabi supports one-time payments, subscriptions, and payment plans. It integrates with Stripe and PayPal, allowing transactions in many currencies. Kajabi also include free trials, coupon codes, upsells, and order bumps. Creators have more ways to monetize their offerings.
Analytics and Payment Processing
Skool focuses primarily on community engagement and course progress. The platform provides insights into member activity, content engagement, and basic sales data. For payment processing, Skool uses a straightforward system integrated with Stripe Express.
Kajabi includes reports on sales, revenue, subscriptions, opt-ins, page views, and product progress. The dashboard helps users track KPIs, monitor engagement, and make decisions. Kajabi supports multiple payment gateways, including Stripe and PayPal.
Return and Refund Policies
Creators set refund policies for their communities and courses. But, it has no standard refund policy for the whole platform. Group admins or course creators manage refunds. It usually takes 7-10 business days to return the money to the original payment method.
Creators can set their own refund policies for products, courses, and memberships. Also, course creator process both automatic and manual refunds on the platform. Decide between full, partial, and some condition-based refunds, like a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Skool Pros and Cons
Pros
Skool excels in community-building features. It incorporates gamification elements to boost member engagement.
Skool provides integrated course creation and delivery tools. Offer educational content alongside community interactions in your community.
Skool's mobile app ensures members can access communities on-the-go to enhance user experience.
Skool offers basic analytics to track community engagement and course progress.
Cons
Skool does not offer native video hosting. You an external platform for video content.
Customization options for course layout and design are limited.
Skool restricts its payment system to USD. It is inconvenient for international creators and members.
Skool lacks advanced learning tools, like quizzes. This may limit its educational depth.
Kajabi Pros and Cons
Pros
Kajabi offers an all-in-one platform for integrating course creation, marketing, and sales tools.
Kajabi has email automation and sales funnels.
The platform doesn't take a cut of earnings, allowing creators to keep 100% of their revenue.
Kajabi's mobile app improves access for creators and students. Manage your course and community on-the-go.
Cons
Kajabi's higher price point compared to Skool. It is challenging for beginners or those on a tight budget.
Kajabi has many features which can overwhelm new users.
Some users report receiving unhelpful responses from customer support. It's frustrating when issues arise.
The platform lacks a shopping cart, which complicates selling many products at once.
Skool Pricing
Skool has a straightforward pricing model with two options. $99 per month for the monthly plan or $999 per year for the annual plan, which breaks down to $83.25 per month.
Its pricing includes all features of Skool, such as:
Kajabi Pricing
Kajabi Monthly Pricing Plans:
Kajabi offers a 20% discount per month for new users who choose annual billing. These prices exclude applicable taxes. Each plan includes a different set of features tailored to your needs
Who Is Skool for?
Skool is for entrepreneurs who want to build and engage with online communities, such as:
Who Is Kajabi for?
Kajabi is for a wide range of knowledge entrepreneurs and content creators, such as:
What Does YouTube Say About Skool?
George Vlasyev highlights Skool's simplicity. For him, it is one of the easiest platforms to set up and manage. He likes its sleek design and intuitive interface. They work well for both admins and users. However, he notes that the course tools lack advanced features, like quizzes.
Skool's pricing is $99/month per group, offering unlimited members and features. George acknowledges the lack of live chat support. But, the user community is active and helpful. He recommends Skool as an all-in-one platform for course creators.
Affiliation says Skool is a user-friendly and all-in-one platform. Skool features include:
Affiliation emphasizes integration of community, courses, and calendar into a single platform. However, you must pay for each extra community if you need separate spaces.
What Does YouTube Say About Kajabi?
ImminentHD says Kajabi is the best all-in-one platform. It excels in course creation, marketing, and sales. Kajabi has easy-to-use interface and strong marketing tools, such as:
He knows Kajabi is pricier than some competitors, but its many features justify the cost. Kajabi has a mobile app for students and Kajabi University for user education. He notes that there's a learning curve for beginners. ImminentHD recommends Kajabi for creating and selling online courses.
Brian Ellwood uses Kajabi for website building, funnel setup, and email marketing. According to him, you can create lead magnets and funnels easily. A funnel includes a squeeze page where users enter their email to download a resource. Kajabi also handles email sequences, payments via Stripe, and affiliate links for promotions. Ellwood appreciates the mobile app that keeps users connected on the go. Kajabi has no live chat support, but it offers email support and a helpful user community. He recommends Kajabi as the best choice for online coaches and consultants. It is easy to use and has many features.
Ellwood highlights several features of Kajabi:
Skool VS Kajabi on YouTube
Jacques Hopkins, who created Piano in 21 Days, compared Skool and Kajabi. He recommends Skool for programs with pre-recorded videos, live events, and a strong community. Skool excels with its gamified community tools and a shared calendar. Its user-friendly design boosts your audience engagement. However, Skool lacks email marketing, landing pages, and a robust checkout system. Users need to pair it with platforms like Kajabi for those functions. Hopkins pays $99 per month per group on Skool. Since switching to it, his coaching program has better engagement and lower churn.
For traditional course businesses focused on content delivery, Hopkins suggests Kajabi. It includes tools for course hosting, email marketing, landing pages, and payments. The pricing starts at $69 per month on the Kickstarter plan. For his Piano in 21 Days business, Kajabi meets all his needs.
Rued Riis compares pros and cons for building online communities and delivering courses. Rued notes that Skool emphasizes community engagement. It has gamification, a leaderboard that unlocks content, and a user-friendly design. These features encourage interaction. Skool integrates courses into the community, making learning more social. However, Skool lacks advanced features that Kajabi provides. These include built-in video hosting and extensive customization options.
Kajabi is an all-in-one solution for Rued. It has video hosting, customizable course layouts, and private circles for niche communities. However, Riis criticizes Kajabi's community features as clunky and less engaging. Riis thinks Skool better gets the trend for community-driven learning. Kajabi has better features, though. He plans to explore both platforms over the next six months.
Is Skool Worth It Than Kajabi?
Skool is worth it than Kajabi if you want to focus on building a strong and engaged community. It's easy to use and set up. So, it's perfect for creators new to course platforms or community-building. Skool’s focus on interaction and social learning helps you keep members engaged. The Online Membership Industry Report says it costs five times more to get a new customer than to keep an existing one. Skool's focus on community can help you keep and grow your audience.
If you need a complete platform to create and market courses, use Kajabi. It's better for scaling your business. It has tools for email marketing, web design, and sales funnels. But, it's more expensive and harder to learn. The same report shows that only 22.03% of membership sites last 1-2 years, and only 14.12% last over five years. Choosing the right platform is key to long-term success. If you want simplicity and strong community features, go with Skool. If you need advanced tools to grow your business, Kajabi is the better option.
Conclusion: How We Built a Community and Sold Our Program Without Using Kajabi or Skool?
I've created a website and used SEO to build a community and sold our program without using platforms like Skool or Kajabi. I've been running this blog and ranking for some of the toughest keywords on the internet. This attracted organic traffic, which allowed us to grow our community without relying on third-party platforms. The skill of ranking in Google and generating free traffic has changed my life.
Surprisingly, this strategy also works as a business model in itself. I've been doing local lead generation since 2014 and have already reached over $52,000 per month in revenue. Once your website ranks on Google, it will attract leads. Local businesses will pay you monthly for these leads. You can rent this digital real estate to local service business owners for $500 to $3,000 per month.
Additionally, local lead generation is scalable and cost-effective. You don’t need to create complex products or manage large groups of people. You can make thousands in passive income each month. Just build a few high-ranking lead gen sites.
