# Kajabi Pricing 2026: Plans, Fees and Real Total Cost

> Kajabi pricing in 2026: Basic, Growth and Pro plan prices, Kajabi Payments fees, third-party processor surcharges, contact limits, and worked total-cost math at three revenue levels.
- **Author**: Deepak Jangir
- **Published**: 2026-10-29
- **Category**: Review, Pricing, Creators
- **URL**: https://dodopayments.com/blogs/en/kajabi-pricing-explained

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Kajabi pricing starts at $179/month for Basic, $249/month for Growth and $499/month for Pro, or $143, $199 and $399 per month when billed annually (as of October 2026). On top of the plan, Kajabi Payments charges 2.9% + $0.30, 2.8% + $0.30 or 2.7% + $0.30 per card transaction depending on your plan, and Kajabi takes no revenue share on your sales.

That is the headline. The real answer to "how much does Kajabi cost" depends on three more things: which limits you hit first, whether you use Kajabi Payments or a third-party processor, and whether you count the tax work Kajabi leaves on your desk. This guide covers all three, with worked math at $2,000, $10,000 and $40,000 in monthly revenue.

## Kajabi Pricing Plans at a Glance

Here is the full plan comparison, verified against Kajabi's pricing page in October 2026:

| Feature | Basic | Growth | Pro |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly billing | $179/month | $249/month | $499/month |
| Annual billing | $143/month | $199/month | $399/month |
| Products | 5 | 50 | Unlimited |
| Contacts | 2,500 | 25,000 | 100,000 |
| Admin users | 2 | 11 | 26 |
| Communities | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Websites | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| AI credits | 0 | 500 | 1,000 |
| Kajabi Payments card rate (US) | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.8% + $0.30 | 2.7% + $0.30 |
| Third-party processor surcharge | +2% | +1% | +0.5% |
| Revenue share | None | None | None |

Every plan includes unlimited funnels, landing pages, marketing emails and access groups. Pro adds a branded mobile app, which Kajabi values at $199/month, and the higher tiers include API access, which Kajabi values at $25/month. Each plan comes with a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Annual billing saves 20% on every tier. On Basic that is $432 a year, on Growth $600 and on Pro $1,200. If you are confident you will stay on Kajabi for at least a year, annual billing is the simplest discount available.

## What Kajabi's Plan Limits Mean in Practice

The plan limits matter more than the price gap between tiers, because they usually decide which plan you are forced onto.

### Products

Basic allows 5 products. A creator who sells a flagship course, a mini-course, a coaching offer and a membership as separate products is already at 4. Launching a sixth offer pushes you to Growth, which raises the plan cost by $70/month (or $56/month on annual billing) regardless of how much revenue that product brings in.

### Contacts

Contacts are everyone in your Kajabi account: buyers, free subscribers, lead magnet signups and community members. Basic caps you at 2,500, which a creator running free webinars or a lead magnet can pass in a few months. Growth raises the cap to 25,000 and Pro to 100,000.

Beyond your plan's cap, Kajabi sells extra contacts in blocks of 25,000 for $125/month. A Growth customer with 40,000 contacts needs one extra block, which takes the effective plan cost from $249 to $374/month. A Pro customer with 130,000 contacts needs two blocks, adding $250/month.

### Admin users

Basic includes 2 admin users, which works for a solo creator plus one assistant. Growth jumps to 11 and Pro to 26. If you work with a video editor, a community manager, a copywriter and a support person, Basic is not an option even at low revenue.

### Communities, websites and AI credits

Basic and Growth each include 1 community and 1 website. Pro includes 3 of each, which is mainly useful if you run separate brands. AI credits are 0 on Basic, 500 on Growth and 1,000 on Pro, with extra credits sold at $15/month per 500.

## Kajabi Fees: Kajabi Payments and Transaction Fees

Kajabi does not take a percentage of your revenue as a platform fee. This is a real difference from creator platforms such as Gumroad, which takes 10% + $0.50 on direct sales (see our [Gumroad fees breakdown](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/gumroad-fees-explained) for that math).

What you do pay is card processing. For US entities using Kajabi Payments, the rates are:

- Basic: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- Growth: 2.8% + $0.30 per transaction
- Pro: 2.7% + $0.30 per transaction

On a $50 order, that is $1.75 on Basic, $1.70 on Growth and $1.65 on Pro. The per-transaction gap between plans is small: 0.1% of revenue per tier, or $10 per $10,000 in sales.

### The third-party processor surcharge

Kajabi transaction fees appear when you choose not to use Kajabi Payments. If Kajabi Payments is available to you and you connect a third-party processor instead (PayPal excluded), Kajabi adds a surcharge on top of that provider's fees:

- Basic: +2% per transaction
- Growth: +1% per transaction
- Pro: +0.5% per transaction

A Basic customer who processes $10,000/month through an external processor at 2.9% + $0.30 on $50 orders pays $350 to the processor plus $200 to Kajabi. That $200 is more than the Basic plan price itself. Unless you have a strong reason to use another processor, the surcharge makes Kajabi Payments the default choice on Basic and Growth.

## How Much Does Kajabi Cost? Worked Total-Cost Scenarios

The plan fee and processing fees together give you the real monthly cost. The scenarios below use these assumptions so the numbers are easy to check:

- Average order value of $50
- All sales on domestic US cards through Kajabi Payments
- No contact overages, no extra AI credits
- Monthly billing first, annual billing in brackets

The products and contacts limits are ignored here so the comparison stays like-for-like. In practice, a creator at $40,000/month is unlikely to fit in Basic's 2,500 contacts.

### $2,000/month revenue (40 orders)

- Basic: processing is 2.9% x $2,000 = $58, plus 40 x $0.30 = $12, so $70. Plus $179 plan = **$249/month** (12.5% of revenue). Annual: $213.
- Growth: $56 + $12 = $68 processing. Plus $249 = **$317/month** (15.9%). Annual: $267.
- Pro: $54 + $12 = $66 processing. Plus $499 = **$565/month** (28.3%). Annual: $465.

### $10,000/month revenue (200 orders)

- Basic: $290 + $60 = $350 processing. Plus $179 = **$529/month** (5.3%). Annual: $493.
- Growth: $280 + $60 = $340 processing. Plus $249 = **$589/month** (5.9%). Annual: $539.
- Pro: $270 + $60 = $330 processing. Plus $499 = **$829/month** (8.3%). Annual: $729.

### $40,000/month revenue (800 orders)

- Basic: $1,160 + $240 = $1,400 processing. Plus $179 = **$1,579/month** (3.9%). Annual: $1,543.
- Growth: $1,120 + $240 = $1,360 processing. Plus $249 = **$1,609/month** (4.0%). Annual: $1,559.
- Pro: $1,080 + $240 = $1,320 processing. Plus $499 = **$1,819/month** (4.5%). Annual: $1,719.

### What the scenarios show

| Monthly revenue | Basic total | Growth total | Pro total |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $2,000 | $249 (12.5%) | $317 (15.9%) | $565 (28.3%) |
| $10,000 | $529 (5.3%) | $589 (5.9%) | $829 (8.3%) |
| $40,000 | $1,579 (3.9%) | $1,609 (4.0%) | $1,819 (4.5%) |

Two patterns stand out. First, Kajabi is expensive at low revenue because the plan fee is fixed: at $2,000/month, Basic alone eats 9% of revenue before a single card is charged. Second, the lower processing rate on higher tiers never pays for the plan upgrade on its own. Moving from Growth to Pro saves 0.1% in processing, or $40 at $40,000/month, against a $250 increase in plan price. You upgrade for limits and features, not for the fee discount.

The scenarios also leave out costs that do not appear on Kajabi's invoice, which brings us to tax.

## What Kajabi Does Not Cover: Sales Tax and VAT

Kajabi does not describe itself as a merchant of record. That means you, the creator, are the legal seller on every sale, and the tax obligations attached to those sales are yours.

For digital products such as courses, memberships and coaching programs, that can include:

- **US sales tax**: many states tax digital products or electronically delivered services, and economic nexus thresholds mean you can owe tax in a state where you have no physical presence once your sales there pass the state's threshold.
- **EU VAT**: digital services sold to consumers in the EU are taxed at the buyer's local VAT rate from the first sale, which is why many creators register for the EU's One Stop Shop scheme.
- **UK VAT and other countries' GST**: the UK, Australia, Canada, India and many other countries apply similar rules to digital sales made to their residents.

Kajabi's processing fee covers moving money. It does not cover registering in each jurisdiction, calculating the correct rate at checkout, filing returns, or remitting what you collected. Those tasks fall to you, your accountant, or separate tax software. Our guide to [VAT compliance for digital products](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/vat-compliance-digital-products) walks through what this involves, and [why digital creators use a merchant of record](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/merchant-of-record-digital-creator) explains the alternative model.

If most of your buyers are in one US state and your revenue is small, this may be manageable. If you sell to a global audience, it becomes a real cost that the scenarios above do not include.

## Is Kajabi Worth It?

Kajabi is worth it when you would otherwise pay for, and stitch together, several tools it bundles into one subscription. Its honest strengths:

- **All-in-one stack**: course hosting, website, landing pages, funnels, email marketing and community live in one product with one login and one contact list.
- **Unlimited marketing emails and funnels on every plan**, which removes a cost that grows with list size on many standalone email tools.
- **No revenue share**, so your Kajabi bill does not scale with sales the way a percentage-based platform does.
- **Branded mobile app on Pro**, which matters if your community or membership lives on members' phones.
- **Low setup effort**: a non-technical creator can launch a course, a sales page and an email sequence without connecting separate services.

Kajabi is harder to justify in three situations:

- **Early revenue**: below roughly $3,000/month, the $179 Basic fee is a large share of revenue, and Basic's 5 product and 2,500 contact limits can force an early upgrade.
- **You already have a website and email tool you like**: you pay for parts of the bundle you do not use.
- **A large international audience**: you still carry the sales tax and VAT work yourself.

If you are still comparing course platforms, our roundups of [Kajabi alternatives](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/kajabi-alternatives), [Teachable alternatives](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/teachable-alternatives), [Thinkific alternatives](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/thinkific-alternatives) and [Podia alternatives](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/podia-alternatives) cover the main options side by side.

## The Unbundled Alternative to Kajabi Pricing

The alternative to an all-in-one platform is an unbundled stack: pick your own website, email and course delivery tools, and use a dedicated payments layer for checkout, billing and tax. [Dodo Payments](https://dodopayments.com) fits the payments layer of that stack as a merchant of record.

As the legal seller, Dodo Payments calculates, collects, files and remits sales tax, VAT and GST in 190+ countries, and handles fraud screening and chargebacks. Its [pricing](https://dodopayments.com/pricing) has no monthly fee:

- 4% + $0.40 on domestic US cards and wallets
- +1.5% for international cards
- +0.5% for subscriptions
- Tax management, invoicing and analytics included
- Payouts free, with a $5 fee on payouts under $1,000

Using the same assumptions as above ($50 average order, domestic US cards, one-time sales):

| Monthly revenue | Dodo Payments fees | Kajabi Basic total | Kajabi Growth total |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $2,000 | $96 (4.8%) | $249 | $317 |
| $10,000 | $480 (4.8%) | $529 | $589 |
| $40,000 | $1,920 (4.8%) | $1,579 | $1,609 |

At $40,000 on 4% + $0.40, that is $1,600 + (800 x $0.40) = $1,920. The comparison is not like-for-like, and it should not be read as one. Kajabi's total includes your website, email and community; the Dodo number covers checkout, billing and tax compliance only, and you add the cost of the other tools you choose. At higher revenue on domestic-only sales, Kajabi's processing rate is lower. The case for unbundling is strongest when you sell internationally, when tax compliance would otherwise cost you time or accountant fees, or when your revenue is too low to carry a $179+ monthly plan.

For creators who sell recurring access, Dodo supports [subscriptions](https://docs.dodopayments.com/features/subscription) natively, and you can embed checkout on your own site with [overlay checkout](https://docs.dodopayments.com/developer-resources/overlay-checkout). Course access can be granted automatically by listening for `payment.succeeded` and `subscription.active` events through [webhooks](https://docs.dodopayments.com/developer-resources/webhooks). Our guide to [selling online courses without Teachable](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/sell-online-courses-without-teachable) shows how this setup works end to end.

## How to Choose a Kajabi Plan

If you decide Kajabi is the right fit, pick the plan by limits first and price second:

- **Choose Basic** if you have 5 or fewer products, fewer than 2,500 contacts, and one helper at most.
- **Choose Growth** if you need more products, a larger email list (up to 25,000 contacts), more team seats, or AI credits.
- **Choose Pro** if you need a branded mobile app, multiple websites or communities, or 100,000 contacts.
- **Pay annually** once you are sure you will stay a year, since it cuts the plan cost by 20%.
- **Stay on Kajabi Payments** unless you have a specific reason not to, because the third-party surcharge adds 0.5% to 2% on every sale.

Then budget separately for sales tax and VAT compliance, because no Kajabi plan includes it.

## FAQ

### How much does Kajabi cost per month?

As of October 2026, Kajabi costs $179/month for Basic, $249/month for Growth and $499/month for Pro on monthly billing. Annual billing lowers those to $143, $199 and $399 per month.

### Does Kajabi charge transaction fees?

Kajabi takes no revenue share, but Kajabi Payments charges card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro for US entities. If you use a third-party processor other than PayPal where Kajabi Payments is available, Kajabi adds 2%, 1% or 0.5% on top of that provider's fees.

### What happens if I go over my Kajabi contact limit?

Kajabi sells extra contacts in blocks of 25,000 for $125/month. A Growth account with 40,000 contacts, for example, needs one block, raising its monthly cost from $249 to $374.

### Does Kajabi handle sales tax and VAT?

Kajabi does not describe itself as a merchant of record, so you remain the legal seller and are responsible for sales tax, VAT and GST on your digital product sales. That includes registration, calculation, filing and remittance in each jurisdiction where you owe tax.

### Is Kajabi worth it for a new creator?

It can be if you want one tool for courses, website, email and community and you expect to grow quickly. At $2,000/month in revenue, though, Basic plus processing costs about $249/month, or 12.5% of revenue, so many new creators start with a lighter stack and move to an all-in-one platform later.

## Conclusion

Kajabi pricing is simple on the surface: three plans from $143 to $499 per month, no revenue share, and card processing between 2.7% and 2.9% + $0.30. The real cost depends on which limit you hit first, whether you avoid the third-party processor surcharge, and how much the tax work Kajabi leaves to you is worth. For creators who use the whole bundle and sell mostly in one country, Kajabi can be good value at scale. For creators with an international audience or early-stage revenue, an unbundled stack with a merchant of record like [Dodo Payments](https://dodopayments.com/pricing) handling checkout and tax is worth modelling before you commit.
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