Thinkific vs Kajabi vs Podia for a first small course

A lot of digital product sellers reach the same point: a printable or template sells well, buyers ask “how do I actually use this?”, and a short course starts to look like the natural next product. The question is where to host it.

Thinkific, Kajabi and Podia are three of the best-known course platforms. They’re also priced very differently, and the most expensive one isn’t automatically the best choice for a first, small course. This guide compares them on what matters at that stage: cost in your first year, fees per sale, what the entry plan includes, and how much extra you’d be paying for features you won’t use yet.

How this comparison was made: all prices, limits and fees come from each platform’s own pricing page and help centre, checked in October 2026. We haven’t built the same course on all three, so this is a comparison of published plans and terms, not a hands-on usability test.

The quick answer

• Podia is the most natural fit if you sell downloads and a course together and want a tidy storefront for both. The Mover plan charges a 5% transaction fee; Shaker removes it.
• Thinkific is the best fit if the course experience itself matters most (quizzes, a structured curriculum, certificates later) and you want room to grow into cohorts or memberships.
• Kajabi is built for a whole business on one platform (website, email, funnels, community, courses). For a first small course it’s the most expensive of the three by a wide margin.
• If budget is the deciding factor, Systeme.io’s free plan includes one course and is worth testing first. More on that below.

Entry plans compared

Checked October 2026. Podia’s prices shown are the annual-billing rate; monthly billing costs more.

Podia

Podia is a storefront for creators: courses, digital downloads, coaching, a community and webinars, all sold from one site with built-in checkout and email.

Plans

• Mover: US$42/month billed yearly (US$504/year). 50 products, 500 videos, 25 community spaces, 5% transaction fee, email for up to 100 subscribers.
• Shaker: US$84/month billed yearly (US$1,008/year). 150 products, no Podia transaction fee, plus affiliate marketing, upsells, PayPal and Zapier, email for up to 500 subscribers.
• Earthquaker: US$150/month billed yearly (US$1,800/year), email for up to 1,000 subscribers.

On every plan you also pay Stripe or PayPal processing. Podia quotes 2.9% + 30c as a typical rate, varying by location; Stripe’s published Australian rate is 1.65% + A$0.30 for domestic cards.

Podia’s pricing page says every plan includes courses, downloads, coaching, community, a website and blog, a custom domain, landing pages, sales tax handling across 230 countries and 20+ currencies.

Strengths for a first course

• Downloads and courses sit side by side in one shop. If you already sell printables, they can live next to the course and be bundled with it.
• A 14-day trial with no card needed makes it easy to build first and decide later.

Watch out for

• The 5% fee on Mover. On US$5,000 of course sales in a year, that’s US$250 on top of the subscription. Shaker removes it, but costs US$504 more per year, so Shaker pays for itself only once you’re selling more than about US$10,000 a year through Podia.
• Email is capped low (100 subscribers on Mover). If you’re building a list, you’ll likely pair Podia with a separate email tool or pay for more subscribers.

→ See Podia’s plans

Thinkific

Thinkific is a learning platform first. Its course builder, quizzes, assignments and certificates are aimed at people for whom teaching is the product.

Plans

• Basic: US$54/month monthly, or US$40/month billed yearly. Unlimited courses, video lessons with quizzes and discussions, 1 community, up to 5 digital downloads, checkout with order bumps and coupons, abandoned-cart emails, and a custom domain.
• Start: US$109/month monthly, or US$82/month billed yearly. Adds live cohorts and coaching, completion certificates, assignments, bundles, upsells, payment plans, memberships and subscriptions, and an HTML/CSS editor.
• Grow: US$219/month monthly, or US$164/month billed yearly. Removes Thinkific branding, adds 3 communities, API access and priority support.

Thinkific doesn’t have a free plan; it offers a 30-day free trial instead.

Payments and fees

Thinkific’s own processor, Thinkific Payments, is the default for creators in Australia (and the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and parts of Europe and Asia). Thinkific’s help centre listed the Australian domestic card rate at 1.75% + A$0.30 when we checked, with extra charges for international cards and currency conversion. If you use Stripe or PayPal instead in a supported country, Thinkific charges an additional gateway fee that varies by plan. PayPal checkout is listed from the Grow plan.

Strengths for a first course

• The most course-focused of the three: structured lessons, quizzes and discussions on the entry plan.
• Unlimited courses on Basic, so a free “starter” course plus a paid course is fine.
• Upgrade path to cohorts, memberships and certificates if the course becomes the main business.

Watch out for

• Basic allows only 5 digital downloads, so it’s not a full printables store.
• Payment plans, bundles and certificates need Start. If you’re planning a higher-priced course and want to offer instalments, budget for Start, not Basic.
• Thinkific branding stays on your site until Grow.

→ See Thinkific’s plans

Kajabi

Kajabi positions itself as an all-in-one platform for “expert businesses”: website, courses, community, email marketing, funnels, checkout and a branded mobile app on its top plan.

Plans

• Basic: US$179/month monthly, or US$143/month billed yearly. 5 products, 1 community, 1 website, unlimited landing pages, funnels and marketing emails, 2,500 contacts, 2 admin users.
• Growth: US$249/month monthly, or US$199/month billed yearly. 50 products, 25,000 contacts, 11 admin users and 500 AI credits (Basic has none).
• Pro: US$499/month monthly, or US$399/month billed yearly. Unlimited products, 3 communities, 3 websites, 100,000 contacts, 26 admin users and a branded mobile app.

Kajabi’s FAQ says it takes no revenue share, and every plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Payments and fees

Kajabi Payments is available to businesses registered in Australia, and Kajabi publishes Australian card rates on its help centre (they were being reduced in stages from 1 October 2026, so check the current figure). If you use a third-party processor (other than PayPal) instead, Kajabi adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth and 0.5% on Pro, on top of that processor’s own fee.

Strengths

• Email marketing, funnels and landing pages are built in, so you may not need separate email or page-builder tools.
• Kajabi’s own advice is that Basic suits people who haven’t sold anything yet, and Growth makes sense once revenue is coming in and your list is past a few thousand people.

Watch out for

• Cost. Billed yearly, Basic is about US$1,716 a year. That’s more than three times Thinkific Basic or Podia Mover.
• Five products on Basic. Each printable or bundle you sell counts, so Basic isn’t a store for a big printables catalogue.

→ See Kajabi’s plans

First-year cost for a small course

Here’s a simple scenario: you sell a US$49 course, plus a few downloads, and make US$2,000 in sales in your first year. Using annual billing and ignoring payment processing (which you pay everywhere):

Thinkific’s annual figure is US$40 × 12. Thinkific says you save US$173 a year versus monthly billing, so its exact annual total may differ slightly.

At US$2,000 a year in sales, Kajabi Basic would cost most of your revenue. That’s not a criticism of Kajabi. It’s built and priced for businesses that are already earning more. For a first course, it usually makes sense to start cheaper and move once you’ve proved people will buy.

The cheaper alternative: Systeme.io

If you’re not sure the course will sell, Systeme.io’s free plan includes one course (Systeme.io’s FAQ lists a 500-student limit on free), sales funnels, email and 0% transaction fees. The course area is simpler than Thinkific’s, but it’s enough to test whether buyers want a course at all. If they do, you can move to a dedicated platform with real numbers behind the decision. Our Systeme.io review covers the free plan’s limits.

Which should you pick?

• You sell printables or templates and want to add a course to the same shop: Podia. Start on Mover, and move to Shaker when the 5% fee costs more than the upgrade.
• The course is the main product and you care about the learning experience: Thinkific. Basic is enough to launch; budget for Start if you want payment plans or certificates.
• You’re already earning, have a list in the thousands and want one platform for everything: Kajabi Growth is what Kajabi itself suggests at that stage.
• You want to test demand before paying anything: Systeme.io free.

Before you choose: course platforms change their plans and limits often. Everything here was checked on each vendor’s website in October 2026. Use the free trials to build your first module before committing to an annual plan.