Skool Vs Kajabi: Why I Like One Over the Other

If you’re looking to either create an online course platform or build an online community, then odds are you’ve stumbled across the Skool vs. Kajabi debate 🎓

Both have different offerings, so the question becomes, which one are you going to pick? 🤔

Here’s the thing. I’m going to give you my two cents, but you need to pick what’s right for you. At the end of the day, these are two great product offerings and you need to decide which one best matches your needs, which may be very different than mine.

So let’s get into the quick and dirty. Oh, and if you’re a visual learning, you can just watch my five minute YT video 🎥 instead.

Not in the mood to read or watch and just want an answer?

Online Course Platforms or Community Builders?

We saw an intense increase in the rise of the online course business during the pandemic, and it stuck.

And this reason I see for this is two-fold.

1. People started created a 21st century forward education option in very specific skills 📚, making them one of the best learning tools on the web.

Think about it. College or traditional systems can’t change their platform overnight and I think they lost a lot of edge. They’re often taught by professors that aren’t actively in the game,

2. Cost Cost Cost 💰

With everyone coming out of college (at least in the US) thousands of dollars in debt, but not necessarily the skills to complete a job, people are rethinking how they’re going to invest themselves.

And this isn’t a knock on those professionals, because I do think getting a general education gives you critical skills that will carry you forward (in case you didn’t know, I’m a PharmD before I transitioned into the online business world).

But starting your life at 22 years old in significant debt that will take decades to claw out of has us rethinking education. So keep this in mind if you’re planning on teaching a skill that is used to help people make money or improve their business and think about what it is they’re looking for.

Skool vs. Kajabi User Experience (Winner: Skool)

Skool is like Apple and Kajabi is like Android. I can pick up Skool and know how to use their app in seconds. Kajabi frustrates me.

Skool you have a Chat Tab, Calendar Tab, and Classroom Tab. That’s pretty much it. It’s user interface is clean and beautiful.

Now with Kajabi, the nicest way to put it is that it’s just not my favorite. It’s so cluttered. The notifications are so high that it honestly gives me a bit of anxiety 😤 seeing that I have like 50+ notifications in every chat to read. They really need to learn a bit about alert fatigue.

And when I signed up, it took me like five minutes to find the classroom. Which was the entire point of me purchasing the course I bought.

I don’t like that the calls aren’t in calendar view. However, if you’re not planning on doing weekly calls or Q&As, people mention that they don’t like Skool as much because you can’t turn off the Calendar feature and then it just looks blank. So keep that in mind with what you’re planning.

Kajabi vs. Skool Features (Kajabi Winner)

Here’s the quick breakdown of what you have in each one.

Here’s what you get with Skool 🎒

Here’s what you get with Kajabi:

It’s no question- Kajabi offers FAR more than Skool. This is great if you need particular parts of the course creation process but not everything, you can basically build a bundle that’s right for your business.

How Are You Driving Traffic? Kajabi Wins.

You can create the most beautiful and impactful course in the world, but if no one knows you exist, then you’re not going to make a penny.

So here’s the biggest negative of Skool: There’s nothing to help you drive traffic to your site. If you have an existing audience, then no problem. But for those starting from scratch, you basically need to learn and invest in one of the following:

Kajabi at least offers some support in this direction. You still need to know what you’re doing but they make it easier.

How Are You Engaging Your Audience? Skool Wins.

Skool has a community forum that’s just a much better user experience than Kajabi in my opinion.

Maybe it’s because the communities I’ve joined, but I’ve found that I meet real people, doing real things, and providing real value.

The other groups have had that Tony Robbins “Hoorah Hoorah” feel that I just don’t vibe with personally (no offense, I like some of his content but those thousands of people conferences are not for me).

Skool Vs. Kajabi Pricing

Skool is a flat fee of $99 a month. That’s it.

Here’s a link to a 14-day free trial you can start now and begin playing with it:

Kajabi’s pricing depends on what you’re actually looking for and what features you want. Recently (I think with Skools recent growth), I’m pleasantly surprised to see that Kajabi is doing a major rebranding and facelift on their site (long overdue) and now offering cheaper prices to get you into their funnel. You can start also with a 14-day trial and now they have a Kickstarter plan that’s lowered the barrier of entrance.

Skool Vs. Kajabi Take Home

Choose Kajabi for the all-in-one platform where you’re selling an online course. I’m thinking more one and done digital products. Or maybe for the branded online mobile app experience too.

But for the online community vibe where you have a ton of touch points, interactions, Live Q&As, then it’s Skool.