Video Transcript
ThriveCart now costs $47/month ($37 billed annually) for Standard or $87/month ($67 annually) for Pro+, with courses and community included on every plan. Kajabi costs $143-399/month with courses, email, funnels, and community built in. Short answer: ThriveCart wins on checkout conversion and, since July 2026, on price too. Kajabi still wins on email marketing and all-in-one simplicity — but the ecosystem-cost argument that used to decide this comparison no longer does.
Want platform-specific depth? See the Kajabi review with the all-in-one trade-offs or the Kajabi pricing breakdown with annual subscription math.
What Does Each Approach Actually Cost Over 3 Years?
I've had to redo this table. Until July 2026, ThriveCart's course features cost $395 extra and community meant a separate subscription, so the "cheap" option quietly became the expensive one. Academy is now bundled into every license, which removes two line items and flips the result.
| ThriveCart Ecosystem | Kajabi | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | $67/mo (Pro+ annual) | $143/mo (Basic annual) |
| Courses + community | Included (Academy Growth) | Included |
| Email marketing | +$29-59/mo separate | Included |
| Website | +$10-33/mo separate | Included |
| Tax processing | 0.35% per taxed transaction | Not documented |
| 3-year total | ~$3,850-5,760 | ~$5,148 |
See our ThriveCart pricing breakdown and Kajabi pricing breakdown.
Pro+ plus an email tool and a website runs $3,850-5,760 over three years, against roughly $5,148 for Kajabi Basic. That excludes the tax-processing fee, which adds about $650 over three years at $5,000/month with tax collection switched on — enough to push the top of the ThriveCart range past Kajabi if you also buy expensive email and hosting. On Standard billed annually it isn't close: roughly $2,800-4,700, depending on which email tool and host you pick.
What you're paying Kajabi for now is consolidation, not coverage. One account instead of three, one support team, no Zapier between your cart and your email list. That's worth something real, especially before a launch. It's just a narrower advantage than it was six months ago, and I'd rather tell you that than keep quoting a conclusion the numbers no longer support.
Where Does ThriveCart Win Over Kajabi?
Checkout pages are best-in-class
ThriveCart's checkout is its core product: high-converting order pages, one-click upsells, order bumps, A/B testing, dunning management, and affiliate tools. Kajabi has checkout pages and basic upsells, but ThriveCart's conversion optimization tools are in a different category. If maximizing revenue per checkout is your primary goal, ThriveCart wins.
Affiliate management is more sophisticated
ThriveCart Pro+ includes advanced affiliate center with JV contracts, automated payouts, and detailed affiliate reporting. Kajabi includes affiliate tools on Growth ($199/month) but they're less sophisticated. For affiliate-driven businesses, ThriveCart's tools are more mature.
No platform cut of your sales
ThriveCart takes no percentage of your revenue on any plan — you pay only Stripe or PayPal processing. Kajabi charges 0% with Kajabi Payments but 0.5-2% if you use your own Stripe. For creators who prefer their own Stripe account, ThriveCart avoids the surcharge Kajabi imposes.
One caveat their "0% fees" badge doesn't mention: since May 2026 ThriveCart charges 0.5% per transaction when its tax engine calculates or collects sales tax, or verifies a VAT ID (0.35% on Pro+ for accounts opened after May 1, 2026). It only applies when tax collection is switched on, so it's avoidable — but if you sell into the EU it isn't.
Cheaper on the entry plan
Standard runs $37/month billed annually against Kajabi Basic's $143, and it now includes unlimited courses and students, quizzes, certificates and a community. If you already have an email tool and a website, that's a $106/month gap for a feature set that covers most of what you'd actually use.
Where Does Kajabi Win Over ThriveCart?
One platform instead of three
Kajabi includes courses, email marketing, landing pages, funnels, checkout, community, and analytics in one platform. ThriveCart now covers courses, community, checkout and analytics, but not email marketing, marketing funnels beyond checkout, or a website. When your email integration with your course platform breaks at midnight before a launch, you want one support team to call. Kajabi provides that. ThriveCart doesn't.
Course builder is still deeper
Kajabi's courses include quizzes, graded assessments, drip content, cohort scheduling (Growth), video transcription, and student analytics. ThriveCart Academy — now included on every plan rather than sold as a $395 add-on — covers unlimited courses and students, quizzes, certificates and gamification. That's a much smaller gap than it was, and the remaining difference is graded assessment and cohort scheduling rather than the basics.
The two cap community in different places, which is worth checking against how you actually work. ThriveCart limits members — 2,000 on Standard, 10,000 on Pro+ — but lets you run up to 10 communities on Standard and unlimited on Pro+. Kajabi limits spaces: one community on Basic and Growth, three on Pro, without a published member ceiling. If you want several small cohort communities, ThriveCart is the more generous plan. If you want one very large community, Kajabi is.
Email marketing is the gap that didn't close
Kajabi includes email automation, broadcast emails, tagging, segmentation, and visual workflow builders. ThriveCart has no email capabilities at all — you need ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign or similar at $29-59/month. Of everything that used to separate these two platforms, this is the piece July's changes left untouched, and for a creator without an email tool it's the whole decision.
The Best-of-Both Approach
Here's something most comparison articles miss: you don't have to choose. Many course creators use ThriveCart for checkout (upsells, order bumps, affiliate management) and a separate platform for course delivery. When someone purchases through ThriveCart, they're automatically enrolled in the course platform via Zapier.
This gives you ThriveCart's best-in-class checkout with a purpose-built learning environment for your students. We know this works because Ruzuku creators do it regularly — ThriveCart handles the sale, Ruzuku handles the teaching.
Who Should Consider ThriveCart?
- Creators who already have email + website. If you use ConvertKit and WordPress, adding ThriveCart at $37/month billed annually makes more sense than migrating everything to Kajabi.
- Affiliate-driven businesses. ThriveCart's affiliate tools and JV contract management are more sophisticated than Kajabi's.
- Checkout optimization focused. If conversion rate on your sales pages is your primary growth lever, ThriveCart's A/B testing and upsell tools are unmatched.
- Anyone who wants to try before paying. The 30-day free trial is new as of July 2026 — twice Kajabi's 14 days, and until this year ThriveCart offered no trial at all.
Who Should Consider Kajabi?
- Creators with no email tool yet. This is the strongest reason left. Kajabi's email marketing, automations and segmentation are included; ThriveCart has none, and email is the one gap bundling Academy didn't close.
- Course-first businesses needing graded assessment or cohorts. Kajabi's course tools still go deeper than Academy on graded assessments and cohort scheduling.
- Creators who value simplicity over optimization. One account beats three, even when the three are individually better at their specific jobs.
The Teaching-First Option
If courses are your core business and you want the simplicity of Kajabi without the price — or you want to pair ThriveCart's checkout with proper course delivery — Ruzuku starts at $99/month with unlimited everything, zero fees, per-lesson discussions, Zoom, and student tech support. Start free.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ThriveCart really cheaper than Kajabi?
Yes, in most configurations, and that's a change from earlier in 2026. ThriveCart Pro+ at $67/month billed annually plus an email tool and website runs $3,850-5,760 over three years against roughly $5,148 for Kajabi Basic. Standard is cheaper still. Kajabi only wins on total cost if you'd otherwise buy expensive email and hosting.
Does ThriveCart have a course builder?
Yes, and it's included now. Every plan bundles a ThriveCart Academy tier with unlimited courses and students, quizzes, certificates and gamification. The old $395 Learn+ add-on for quizzes and certificates is gone. Kajabi still goes deeper on graded assessments and cohort scheduling.
Can I use ThriveCart and Ruzuku together?
Yes — many creators do this. ThriveCart handles checkout, Ruzuku handles course delivery. Connected via Zapier for automatic enrollment.
Does ThriveCart have email marketing?
No. You need a separate email tool ($29-59/month). Kajabi includes full email marketing.
Does ThriveCart charge transaction fees?
ThriveCart takes no percentage of your sales on any plan, which is what its "0% fees" marketing refers to. Separately, accounts opened from May 1, 2026 onward pay a tax-processing fee whenever ThriveCart's tax engine calculates or collects sales tax or verifies a VAT ID: 0.5% per eligible transaction on Standard and 0.35% on Pro+. It only applies when tax collection is enabled, and ThriveCart says Legacy and grandfathered Pro+ accounts from before that date aren't being charged. You still pay your processor (Stripe 2.9% + $0.30).
Is the ThriveCart lifetime deal still available?
Yes, but it's no longer priced publicly. ThriveCart added monthly plans on July 15, 2026 and kept the lifetime option, linking to it with "Ready to commit for life?" — but the page routes you into a signup flow instead of showing a figure. Sites still quoting a specific lifetime price are citing pre-July-2026 numbers. Existing license holders keep what they bought.