Technology in its way is replacing many of the hard contents and works through the digital platform which is making mankind's work uncomplicated and clean. Kajabi and Thinkific are both cloud-based platforms that allow you to make, design, and sell courses as well as membership sites online. Kajabi was started in 2009 and Thinkific was started in 2012. Both of them are extremely well-equipped platforms to offer an online course, start a Membership site, or online coaching.
What appeals to me the most is that we can retain control over course policies, etc. as opposed to Udemy and Skillshare. Both of the platforms have some similarities as well as differences. We will go through them thoroughly to help you find your fit: Kajabi Vs Thinkific.
Two of the most prominent online courses will be discussed in the next segments. The comparison of Kajabi Vs Thinkific.
Learning should be pleasurable and gratifying, something which also would eventually add up in mankind for good. What makes them this qualified to enhance their targeted customers? Let's find out!
Kajabi and Thinkific both offer amazing tools for users however edge here is with Kajabi for providing all together more tools.
Kajabi Vs Thinkific- Design
Kajabi Design -
Kajabi and Thinkific both have contemporary designs to attract it's the customer as well as to make it insightful while working, but Thinkific wins here as it also provides logo and color options.
Price always makes a great difference and the facilities and the content that you offer should be worth the price. Here I will give detailed information about the plans and subscriptions offered by these platforms with their prices subsequently.
First, let's take a quick look at Kajabi's three pricing tiers - Basic, Growth, and Pro. Here's a breakdown of monthly vs annual pricing:
-
Pricing structure when you pay monthly:
- Basic: $588 ($49/month)
- Pro: $1188 ($99/month)
- Growth: $1181 + $.10 per active student (first 100 students free) ($99/month + $.10 per active student)
- Premier: $5988 ($499/month
- Pricing structure when you pay annually:
- Basic: $469 ($39/month)
- Pro: $948 ($79/month)
- Growth: $948 + $.10 per active student (first 100 students free) ($79/month + $.10 per active student)
- Premier: $4788 ($399/month)
Both offer competitive prices but Thinkific has cheaper prices than Kajabi because of specific markets. I would say it's a tie here.
Kajabi Vs Thinkific -Check out process
It allows the facility of offering your courses in various currencies, which is a major benefit if you have a widespread international student base.
Kajabi also has direct integration with Stripe and Paypal. Kajabi also has a one-step checkout which is more user friendly.
Thinkific Check-out Process
In Thinkific currency, the chosen facility is only at a site level, which means you cannot offer one course in different currencies which is a major setback considering you have an international student base.
PayPal can only be used for courses offered in USD and with a one time fee. Thinkific also has a two-step checkout which can lead to a lot of people leaving without paying.
Verdict-Here Kajabi is the winner as payment method and currency is available for a wide range of international student base.
Kajabi Vs Thinkific-Marketing
Thinkific Marketing
Thinkific on the other hand also have various marketing tools to keep their students motivated throughout the course. The user of Thinkific can send their students motivation emails to celebrate their win.
Both are the winner here as both provide the same tools.
Verdict-Kajabi has very easy to use technology that includes secure hosting, data ownership, data exports, full stability, etc. It provides all in one service and makes it cost savings when selling online courses.
When adding the text images or videos on the seller platform or students' learning program. Thinkific allows you to have full support in the operation. There is limited public information on the full capabilities of security and hosting for Thinkific.
Concerning security and hosting, Kajabi has a healthier service. It gives a distinct advantage of having all in house tools with the addition of performance characteristics and cogency to the product.
Verdict-The Thinkific community is at its early phase and it is not as developed as Kajabi's. You can start a discussion and it is similar to the comments section on Kajabi but you have to click on the 'discussion' button which is difficult to find when you are on the go as it is quite small. The whole experience is much easier if the payment options are well equipped and easily accessible. You can charge a one time fee or a recurring price for your course at both the cloud-based platforms.
Kajabi Vs Thinkific- Course Updation
- Kajabi has a couple of choices in this section, the comment section at the bottom helps you connect with the author or other participants immediately. You can directly start a discussion.
- If you want to engage your students more you can also start a community, which can be clubbed with a lesson or it can also be put out separately. This community is a little different than Facebook communities as you can monitor the content that is seen by the participants. They also have a 'push' button which is more or less like the 'Bell icon' on Youtube, which notifies you if some new content is uploaded.
- The most important advantage is that they offer you a mobile App which helps if you are on the go.
Kajabi has three levels for your course - Lessons (Posts), Modules (categories), and subcategories, which is an added benefit for your flexibility. When it comes to uploading a course, you can just upload it through your laptop or you can also use cloud-based platforms like Google Drive or Dropbox.
The process doesn't stop at just designing and uploading a course, the place where you showcase your course (course player) is one of the most important factors and that is where the students spend the most amount of their time. Kajabi has 10 different course player themes and you have to choose one based on what course you are offering, what kind of a student base you are expecting, etc.
Thinkific only has two levels for your course i.e. Lessons and Modules, it does not offer you the subcategories' feature. One of the best features in Thinkific is the Video Library, you can add and store those videos in the library and use them for different courses. But one more major difference is while uploading a course you cannot import content directly from Google Drive or Dropbox. And when it comes to course player themes, earlier it was one of its weaknesses but now they have improved a lot but it still only has one theme which looks quite professional and sleek. Once you upload your course, you need to keep a tab on the students' progress; and assessments are the best way to do it.
Kajabi Vs Thinkific- Similarities
So, designing always feels like a concept for 'Techies' or people who know their way around the laptop or computer.
You can also host an unlimited amount of videos. Both have pre-designed course templates to help you design the course or you can easily use a blank one if you want to start from scratch.
One more thing that is similar to Kajabi and Thinkific is that you can upload all the content at once or keep uploading it at certain intervals, which is known as dripping. You can also lock some of your content if it is a prerequisite for a student to complete a certain lesson or a module before moving further in the course.
Both sites are equally good in this feature. The customer support team is prompt and helps you as instantly as possible. They also offer online training sessions on how to use the platforms and articles, as well as videos, which are available on the site for the same. Kajabi once more has an added benefit of chat support, which is accessible 24/7 and can be an immensely useful feature if you need instant help even on weekends. Thinkific has Email support- Monday to Friday 9 AM to 5 PM PST, which can be a problem if you need help after the working hours or on weekends.
Customer Reviews-
Kajabi Customer Reviews
Thinkific Customer Reviews
So both the platforms have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. But what matters the most is which platform works better for you. So here are some tips on what would work for you-
If you want a variety of themes and all facilities under one roof then I would suggest that you go for Kajabi, the price might seem a little high but it is worth it if you already have a kind of established customer base.
Conclusion- Kajabi Vs Thinkific 2020-Which one is the Best?
Kajabi and Thinkific both are very competitive and provide a wide range of online courses through their functional platform. Authoring a course online, well if you would have asked me a year ago if I know about it, my immediate reply would have been, No, and I don't want to know" but I came across an article explaining the whole idea of online teaching, offering a course, and most importantly it introduced me to all the websites that are thriving to give the authors an amazing opportunity to open his/her knowledge to the world with the help of a plethora features that they offer. As I kept digging deeper, I came across a variety of sites like Udemy, Skillshare, edX, and Udacity, etc. where one can design a course and make it available to people across the world.
With time and of course an increased amount of interest in the field, I came across Kajabi and Thinkific, I started looking up for more information about these platforms and came across tons of it but it became very difficult for me to zero in on one platform.
So this was my trial to help you decide - What works for you?
When I look at these platforms from a student's point of view, what comes to my mind first, is how interesting and engaging the whole course/ Membership is going to be.
What keeps your customers engaged or in this case students engaged is what facilities do you provide them other than just the course. These activities make them come back to your content.
Kajabi has a better student engagement facility compared to Thinkific.
Well, I hope I have been of help to you in finding the answer to Kajabi Vs Thinkific!