Kajabi Alternatives 2026: 5 Options, 3 Free
Kajabi alternatives: Moodle, Frappe Learning, Systeme.io, Teachable and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 22, 2026.
•3 min read•Online Courses & Creator Platforms
Verdict:Kajabi suits creators who sell courses and memberships and want the sales pages, checkout, email and hosting in one place. Leave it when the monthly price no longer matches the revenue or when you need to own the learning data on your own server. Kajabi's Basic plan is listed at $179 a month billed monthly, so the platform fee is significant before any traffic arrives. Moodle and Frappe LMS are the two free routes, and both are open source. Moodle has a long history in schools and corporate training, and you pay only for hosting, so it suits a larger course with a technical operator. Frappe LMS is lighter in ambition and fits a team that already runs Frappe or wants an AGPL codebase. You will need to build the selling layer yourself, which is the real cost of the free route. Systeme.io is the pragmatic middle: its free plan covers 2,000 contacts and three funnels, enough to test a course offer before committing to a paid platform. Teachable and Thinkific are paid-only and sit below Kajabi on price, so they make sense when you want course hosting and accept less built-in marketing. The trade-off is clear: free software saves money and returns the work of checkout and marketing to you, while the hosted alternatives keep that work but charge for it.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moodle | Free (Software is free open source; you pay for hosting, or buy managed hosting elsewhere) | Web browser, Self-hosted (PHP) | Schools and self-hosted course programmes | Docs only |
| Frappe Learning | Free (Free open-source software; you pay for your own hosting) | Self-hosted (easy-install script, Docker), Frappe Cloud (managed hosting) | Teams that want an open-source LMS | Docs only |
| Systeme.io | Free (2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, unlimited emails); paid from $17 per month, billed monthly (Startup) | Web browser | Creators who sell with funnels and email | Docs only |
| Teachable | Paid from $29 per month, billed yearly (Starter; $39 monthly; 7.5% transaction fee) | Web browser | Creators who want a lower paid entry point | Docs only |
| Thinkific | Paid from $82 per month, billed annually (Start; $109 monthly) | Web browser | Course sellers who build their own marketing | Docs only |
| Podia | Paid from $42 per month, billed annually (Mover; $49 monthly; 5% transaction fee) | Web browser | Online Courses | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want a free self-hosted course platform and can run a server (Moodle is the pick)
- You want an AGPL open-source LMS for your own team (Frappe Learning is the pick)
- You want funnels and email for a small course offer at no cost (Systeme.io is the pick)
- You want paid course hosting at a lower monthly entry price (Teachable is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Kajabi features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Kajabi today: Paid from $143 per month, billed annually (Basic; $179 billed monthly) (Kajabi pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Kajabi alternatives
Kajabi's plans cap what you can run. Basic is $179 a month ($143 billed annually) for 5 products, 2,500 contacts and 2 admin users; Growth is $249 ($199 annual) for 50 products and 25,000 contacts. Extra contacts are sold in blocks of 25,000 for $125 a month. Kajabi Payments charges 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, and using a third-party payment provider adds a 2% Kajabi fee on that plan.
Moodle
Compared with Kajabi: Free GPL-3.0 learning management system you host yourself; you pay only for hosting or a managed host. Against Kajabi you lose the sales pages, checkout and built-in marketing, and gain full control of course data and no monthly platform fee.
Price: Free (Software is free open source; you pay for hosting, or buy managed hosting elsewhere) (Moodle pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted (PHP). GPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 7.6k GitHub stars · last commit Oct 21, 2026
Best for: Schools and self-hosted course programmes.
Worth knowing: No built-in storefront; selling courses needs payment plugins. Price source is the repository README.
Frappe Learning
Compared with Kajabi: Free AGPL-3.0 learning platform that you run on your own hosting. Compared with Kajabi it has no built-in checkout or membership billing, so you gain an open codebase and lose the all-in-one selling tools.
Price: Free (Free open-source software; you pay for your own hosting) (Frappe Learning pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted (easy-install script, Docker), Frappe Cloud (managed hosting). AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 3.4k GitHub stars · latest release v2.67.1 (Oct 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Teams that want an open-source LMS.
Systeme.io
Compared with Kajabi: Free plan with 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels and unlimited emails. Against Kajabi it covers funnels and email for a small creator, but it has far less course-hosting depth than Kajabi's dedicated course and membership builder.
Price: Free (2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, unlimited emails); paid from $17 per month, billed monthly (Startup) (Systeme.io pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Creators who sell with funnels and email.
Teachable
Compared with Kajabi: No free plan; Teachable offers a 7-day trial per plan and a 30-day money-back guarantee, with the Starter plan at $29 a month billed yearly. Compared with Kajabi it costs less on entry, but you give up some of Kajabi's marketing and pages out of the box.
Price: Paid from $29 per month, billed yearly (Starter; $39 monthly; 7.5% transaction fee) (Teachable pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Creators who want a lower paid entry point.
Thinkific
Compared with Kajabi: No free plan and a 30-day free trial, with the Start plan at $82 a month billed annually. Against Kajabi it is positioned for course sales with fewer bundled marketing tools, so you pay less per month but do more assembly yourself.
Price: Paid from $82 per month, billed annually (Start; $109 monthly) (Thinkific pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Course sellers who build their own marketing.
Other popular options (paid)
Podia
Compared with Kajabi: Mover is $42 a month billed annually ($49 monthly) with a 5% Podia transaction fee; Shaker is $84 and Earthquaker $150 with no Podia fee. Cheaper than Kajabi's $143 annual Basic, with no free plan.
Price: Paid from $42 per month, billed annually (Mover; $49 monthly; 5% transaction fee) (Podia pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- You want a free self-hosted course platform and can run a server: Moodle
- You want an AGPL open-source LMS for your own team: Frappe Learning
- You want funnels and email for a small course offer at no cost: Systeme.io
- You want paid course hosting at a lower monthly entry price: Teachable
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Moodle, Frappe Learning, Systeme.io, Teachable, Thinkific: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Kajabi. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked 2026-10-22: Kajabi, Moodle, Frappe Learning, Systeme.io, Teachable, Thinkific, Podia. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.