Comparison · cohort / live · USD

Thinkific vs Kajabi for cohort / live programs

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

A dated group that starts together is a different host than a recorded library. Thinkific puts live cohorts on Start, not Basic. Kajabi lists cohort courses — and hosts the live video. They are not interchangeable.

Who this page is for

Experts who already have a method and will run it as a live program: a group that starts on a date, meets, and ends. Recordings are leftovers. This is not a page about how to facilitate a cohort or extract a methodology.

If the offer is a membership people stay in, use best membership platform for a simple one-offer expert. If you wanted Teachable in the three-way, start at Kajabi vs Teachable vs Thinkific — Teachable’s public pricing page is a course/school grid and does not advertise a distinct live-cohort product the way Thinkific does.

The short version

Dated group vs recorded library

Thinkific. Pricing page: live cohorts and coaching are listed under “Everything in Basic, plus” on Start. The comparison grid marks Zoom Meetings and Webinars with a dash on Basic. Coaching and Webinars as a sellable product exist on all named plans (Basic includes 5 coaching/webinar products; Start is unlimited). Official coaching page FAQ: “Do I need an existing video conference platform to host an event? Yes. You’ll need to set up and connect the event with your video conference tool of choice.” Help center: Live (Zoom) lessons inside a course once the Zoom app is connected; drip “on a specific date” so a cohort progresses together. Thinkific does not host the live video.

Kajabi. Pricing feature grid lists “Cohorts Courses” as a platform feature on the named plans (not broken out as a paid add-on on that grid). Course FAQ: evergreen vs cohort with live video sessions; drip; quizzes; certificates; no lesson cap; not SCORM. Coaching FAQ: built-in live video, no Zoom required; Zoom/Meet/Calendly optional; group room up to 200 + 20 breakout rooms of 10; coaching is not in the Kajabi mobile app (mobile web only). Community Meetups have a built-in live room. You are buying the business OS around the live program.

If the work is Tuesday at 12 with a group that enrolled together, read Thinkific Start and Kajabi. If the work is a recording people buy tonight, Basic on Thinkific or Kajabi’s evergreen format — and the January 2026 Kajabi hike still sits on the floor.

Cited numbers, August 29, 2026

USD. Monthly is month-to-month. Annual is the advertised per-month rate when you pay yearly. Platform fee is the vendor’s cut, not card processing.

Sources: thinkific.com/pricing, Thinkific Coaching and Webinars, kajabi.com/pricing, Kajabi online courses, Kajabi coaching. Full list at the bottom.

What the fees do to a cohort seat

Say a seat is $497, US card, one successful charge. Card processing sits on both stacks. The extra question is the vendor’s own cut.

• Thinkific Payments: public native headline 2.9% → $14.41. No third-party gateway fee. Keep Stripe on Start: add 2% = $9.94 on top of Stripe’s own fee (Stripe’s schedule omitted).
• Kajabi Payments, Basic: 2.9%+$0.30 = $14.71. No extra platform percentage. Keep Stripe on a new Basic plan: add 2% = $9.94 on top of Stripe.
• $2,000 package. Thinkific Payments at the 2.9% headline: $58.00. Kajabi Payments Basic: $58.30. Thinkific Stripe-on-Start: +$40.00. Kajabi Stripe-on-Basic: +$40.00. Same shape; different live-video and marketing stack.

The monthly gap between Thinkific Start ($109) and Kajabi Basic ($179) is $70. That gap is not “Thinkific is cheaper for a cohort.” You are not buying native live video, email, or funnels on Thinkific. If those tools are already paid for, Start can be the host. If they are not, Kajabi’s $179 is replacing several tabs, not competing with $109.

Kajabi subscriptions and payment plans add 0.7% on Kajabi Payments (US help), on every installment including the first. A $497 seat paid in full is not that add-on; a payment plan is. We are not publishing a break-even month.

Who should not pick which

Skip Thinkific if

You need native live video, funnels, and email as the marketing system. Thinkific’s live events need your own conference tool. Also skip Basic — live cohorts start on Start. Skip keeping Stripe unless you have priced 5/2/1%.

Skip Kajabi if

You want the cheapest player for a Zoom-based cohort and you will keep email and checkout somewhere else. Public Basic is $179/mo. Also skip if you need SCORM — official course FAQ: Kajabi Courses are not SCORM compliant. Thinkific’s public grid lists SCORM as a higher-plan row (dash on Basic this fetch; not claimed here as a Start feature).

Visit the hosts

Thinkific affiliate slot — not live

Kajabi’s trial box and visit button use the 30-day trial affiliate, justinwise.net/kajabi. Official Kajabi pricing remains the source for numbers. Thinkific’s button is the official pricing URL only.

Omitted on purpose

• Kajabi legacy dollar table and Kickstarter as a buyable public price. Not on kajabi.com/pricing as a current card. JSON-LD on product pages still exposes a $69 lowPrice; that is not a public plan card.
• Exact Thinkific Payments US schedule beyond the public 2.9% FAQ line. Country fee table is linked from the cost article; we cite the 2.9% headline and the third-party percentages from the official cost article.
• Thinkific public Expand plan card. The August 2026 increase article prices Expand at $499/mo, unchanged. Current pricing page plan cards are Basic / Start / Grow / Plus.
• Whether “Cohorts Courses” on Kajabi’s grid is absent from every legacy plan. The January 2026 update page says Cohort Courses are among features “only available on certain new plans” if you migrate. The live feature grid lists it on Basic / Growth / Pro. We cite the live grid for new public plans and do not invent a legacy exception table.
• How to run a cohort, how to price a seat, or anything that documents your method for you.

Sources

1. Thinkific pricing — Basic $54/$40, Start $109/$82, Grow $219/$164; “Live cohorts and coaching” on Start; paid memberships on Start+; Zoom meetings dash on Basic; 5 coaching/webinar products on Basic; 10,000 current students; 30-day trial; 2.9% native FAQ. HTML fetched August 29, 2026.
2. Thinkific Coaching and Webinars — sellable 1:1 or group live product; requires your own video-conference tool.
3. Creating a Live Lesson with Zoom — Live (Zoom) lessons inside a course; Start / Grow / Expand in the article’s plan list; Zoom app required.
4. Set a drip schedule by calendar date — every student shares the same start; “great for cohorts that need to progress through a course together.”
5. Thinkific’s 2026 plan pricing update — ~10% increase August 13, 2026; Expand unchanged at $499/mo.
6. How much does Thinkific cost? — third-party gateway 5% / 2% / 1% / 0.5%; $1M/year cap; Thinkific Payments avoids the fee.
7. Kajabi pricing — JSON-LD $143/$179 Basic, $199/$249 Growth, $399/$499 Pro; Cohorts Courses on the feature grid; Kajabi Payments rates; 3rd-party 2%/1%/0.5%; 30-day trial. Fetched August 29, 2026.
8. Kajabi online courses — evergreen vs cohort with live video; drip; quizzes; certificates; no lesson cap; not SCORM.
9. Kajabi coaching — 1:1 and group; built-in live video; group room up to 200 + 20 breakout rooms of 10; Zoom/Meet optional; coaching not in the Kajabi mobile app.
10. Kajabi communities — Meetups with a built-in live room; channels inside a course.
11. Kajabi Payments fees: United States — 2.9%+$0.30 cards, +0.7% subscriptions and payment plans.
12. Upcoming changes to your Kajabi plan — first increase in ~10 years; January 13, 2026; Cohort Courses named among features on certain new plans if you migrate.