Comparison · course host vs CRM stack · live autocomplete · USD

Kajabi vs GoHighLevel — course host vs CRM/funnel stack

Updated August 29, 2026 · Official product and pricing pages fetched this evening. If a number is missing below, we could not cite it.

You already have a method. The fork is not “which all-in-one has more tiles.” It is course host vs CRM/funnel stack: Kajabi is a business OS for selling and delivering what you teach. GoHighLevel (HighLevel on the official site) is an agency CRM with funnels, SMS, and pipelines — courses and communities live inside that machine.

Who this page is for

Experts who have one method and are staring at two “all-in-one” tabs. Kajabi looks like the course business. GoHighLevel looks like Kajabi plus a CRM. They are not substitutes. One is built to sell and deliver a course, a cohort, or coaching. The other is built to run leads, funnels, and client accounts — and it also has Memberships → Courses.

This is a live autocomplete comparison. It does not tell you how to build an agency. If you wanted a school LMS, start at Kajabi vs Teachable vs Thinkific. If the offer is a feed, start at Kajabi vs Skool.

The short version

Course host vs CRM/funnel stack

Course host (Kajabi). Official line: the operating system for human expertise. Pricing FAQ: courses, coaching, digital products, memberships, communities. The work is sell and deliver what you teach. Unlimited marketing emails and funnels on every named plan. Coaching is a first-class product with built-in live video. Community is a product you attach — cap 1 / 1 / 3. Kajabi Payments: no extra platform percentage. Existing customers hit new rates on the first billing date on or after January 13, 2026.

CRM/funnel stack (GoHighLevel). Official product name on the site is HighLevel. Pricing page tonight published public plan cards — this fetch did not have to omit dollars. Starter $97/Month or $970/Year: 3 sub-accounts, unlimited contacts, unlimited users, 24/7 support, all core features. Unlimited $297 / $2,970: unlimited sub-accounts, rebill phone & email at no markup, basic API. Agency Pro $497 / $4,970: SaaS Mode, automated sub-account creation, rebill with markup, user/agent reporting, advanced API. Enterprise: talk to sales. 14-day free trial on any plan; billing begins automatically unless you cancel. FAQ: month-to-month, no long-term contract. Core feature list includes website & funnel builder, CRM & pipelines, email + SMS marketing*, inbound & outbound calling*, courses, communities, payments & invoicing, workflow automation, booking calendars. Asterisk: usage-based charges apply. Community-builder page: launch a branded community; courses & memberships with gated content, paid tiers, and drip; native live events & video rooms; payments through Stripe. Help center (updated August 24, 2026): courses live under Memberships → Courses; create a product, then an offer (free, one-time, or recurring); connect a payment provider to sell.

The honest comparison is not “GoHighLevel is Kajabi for $97.” Starter is an agency seat with three sub-accounts. You are buying CRM, funnels, SMS, and pipelines. Courses are a core tile, not the reason the machine exists. Kajabi Basic at $179 is the course-business floor: unlimited marketing emails, a documented player and coaching product, no extra platform percentage on Kajabi Payments. If you needed the CRM, Kajabi’s funnels are not HighLevel’s pipeline. If you needed the course host, HighLevel’s Memberships → Courses path is not Kajabi’s OS.

If the method is a feed, stop and go to Skool. If it is a school catalog, go to Teachable or Thinkific. If it is an interactive player, go to LearnWorlds. This page is two operating systems that are not in the same category.

Cited numbers, August 29, 2026

USD. Monthly is month-to-month. Annual is the advertised year price on HighLevel’s cards (Starter $970, Unlimited $2,970, Agency Pro $4,970). Platform fee is the vendor’s cut, not card processing. HighLevel’s public cards were live on this fetch; usage dollars are not on those cards.

Sources: kajabi.com/pricing, gohighlevel.com/pricing. Full list at the bottom.

What the fees do to the same sale

Kajabi publishes a processing grid. HighLevel does not publish a course-sale platform percentage on the pricing page this fetch. We will not invent one. Arithmetic on Kajabi only, then the HighLevel bill you can actually cite.

• $97 one-time on Kajabi Payments, US card, Basic: 2.9%+$0.30 = $3.11. No extra platform percentage. Keep Stripe on a new Basic plan: +2% = $1.94 plus Stripe’s own fee (Stripe’s schedule omitted).
• $497: Kajabi Payments Basic $14.71. Stripe-on-Basic: +$9.94 plus Stripe.
• $2,000: Kajabi Payments Basic $58.30. Stripe-on-Basic: +$40.00 plus Stripe.

HighLevel: no public extra percent on that $97 / $497 / $2,000 to add. You still pay the processor you connected, and you still pay usage for phone, SMS, email, and premium AI — rates not extracted as a public dollar table on the pricing page this fetch, so omitted. Optional add-ons on that same page are billed separately (examples: AI Employee Growth $50/month per sub-account; HIPAA $297/month; white label mobile app $497/month). They are not rolled into Starter as a required bill.

Arithmetic only: the monthly gap between Kajabi Basic ($179) and HighLevel Starter ($97) is $82. That gap is not “GoHighLevel is cheaper.” You are not buying the same machine. Starter is three sub-accounts and a CRM. Unlimited at $297 is $118 above Kajabi Basic and exists to remove the sub-account cap and add API/rebilling — not to buy a better course player.

Who should not pick which

Skip Kajabi if

The work is an agency CRM: pipelines, SMS, sub-accounts, reputation, SaaS Mode. Public Basic is $179/mo for a course-business OS. Also skip if you need more than one community on Basic or Growth. Skip keeping Stripe on a new plan unless you have priced 2/1/0.5%. Skip if you need SCORM.

Skip GoHighLevel if

The offer is a course you sell with a player, email, and checkout, and you do not want to live in an agency CRM. Courses are a tile. Also skip if you will not price usage (phone, SMS, email, AI) on top of $97 / $297 / $497. Skip Agency Pro unless you are buying SaaS Mode on purpose. Skip if you needed Kajabi’s documented group room of 200, or LearnWorlds’ Interactive Video Editor — those numbers are not on HighLevel’s pricing cards.

Skip both if

The offer is a feed. That is Skool. Visit button below; official pricing stays the citation. If the offer is a school catalog, start at Kajabi vs Teachable vs Thinkific. If it is a branded community, that is Kajabi vs Circle.

Visit the hosts

GoHighLevel affiliate slot — not live

Kajabi’s trial box and visit button use the 30-day trial affiliate, justinwise.net/kajabi. The Kajabi pricing button is a pricing-page affiliate. Official Kajabi pricing remains the source for Kajabi numbers. GoHighLevel’s button is the official pricing URL only. Visit Skool uses the Skool signup affiliate. Official skool.com/pricing remains the source for Skool numbers.

Omitted on purpose

• Kajabi legacy dollar table and Kickstarter as a buyable public price. Not on kajabi.com/pricing as a current card.
• Homepage “Save 50%” / Cofounder promo as a Kajabi plan price. Marketing, not a cited tier.
• HighLevel usage dollars for phone numbers, SMS, email sends, and premium AI. The pricing page says usage-based charges apply and links out; those rate cards were not extracted as a public table on the pricing page this fetch.
• HighLevel course product caps, community caps, and native live-room capacity. Courses and communities are listed; those ceiling numbers were not on the public plan cards.
• HighLevel Enterprise public dollar. Custom. Third-party “starts at” quotes are not official cards.
• A HighLevel platform percentage on course sales. Not published on the pricing page this fetch. We did not print 0% as a fact.
• Add-ons as a required bill rolled into Starter. They are listed; they are optional.
• Exact Stripe card rates on either stack when you use Stripe. Only Kajabi’s 3rd-party percentage is cited. Stripe’s own schedule is Stripe’s.
• Teachable, Thinkific, Circle, Mighty Networks, Discord, LearnWorlds as this two-host fork.
• Keyword volumes, “Kajabi vs GoHighLevel” listicles as pricing sources, and anything that documents your method for you.

Sources

1. Kajabi pricing — public plans, JSON-LD prices ($143/$179 Basic, $199/$249 Growth, $399/$499 Pro), product/contact/community/website/admin limits, unlimited emails/funnels/landing pages, Kajabi Payments US grid, 3rd-party 2%/1%/0.5%, 30-day trial. Fetched August 29, 2026.
2. Upcoming changes to your Kajabi plan — first increase in ~10 years; existing Heroes, first billing date on or after January 13, 2026. Cited from the August 29, 2026 Kajabi vendor-page fetch.
3. Kajabi Payments fees: United States — 2.9%+$0.30 cards, +0.7% subscriptions and payment plans. Cited from the August 29, 2026 Kajabi vendor-page fetch.
4. Kajabi online courses — evergreen vs cohort; drip; quizzes; certificates; not SCORM. Cited from the August 29, 2026 Kajabi vendor-page fetch.
5. Kajabi communities — cap and access model. Cited from the August 29, 2026 Kajabi vendor-page fetch.
6. Kajabi coaching — group room up to 200 + 20 breakout rooms of 10. Cited from the August 29, 2026 Kajabi vendor-page fetch.
7. HighLevel pricing — Starter $97/Month or $970/Year, 3 sub-accounts, unlimited contacts, unlimited users; Unlimited $297 / $2,970, unlimited sub-accounts, rebill phone & email no markup, basic API; Agency Pro $497 / $4,970, SaaS Mode, automated sub-account creation, rebill with markup, user/agent reporting, advanced API; Enterprise custom; 14-day trial; core features including courses and communities; usage-based asterisk; optional add-on dollars as listed; payment providers listed; FAQ month-to-month, Starter vs Unlimited = sub-account cap. Fetched August 29, 2026.
8. HighLevel community builder — branded community; courses & memberships (gated content, paid tiers, drip); native live events & video rooms; Stripe; 14-day trial, credit card required; same $97 / $297 / $497 monthly cards. Fetched August 29, 2026.
9. HighLevel: Getting Started — Launch a Course (modified August 24, 2026) — Memberships → Courses; Free / One-Time / Recurring; videos, lessons, PDFs, quizzes; connect a payment provider to sell. Fetched August 29, 2026.
10. Skool pricing — Hobby $9/mo, Pro $99/mo. Cited only as the one-feed room we are not comparing here. Fetched August 29, 2026.