Achene vs Kajabi

There’s a better home for your academy.

An all-in-one platform that raised prices 20% in January 2026 — and holds an F rating from the Better Business Bureau.

Get early access to Achene

£5/mo

vs $179/mo for Kajabi Basic

Entry price for a full course platform

Unlimited

vs 5 products on Kajabi Basic

Courses you can publish on Achene

Unlimited

vs 2,500 contacts on Kajabi Basic

Students you can reach by email

Feature by feature

How Achene and Kajabi stack up on the things that matter most to independent educators.

FeatureAcheneKajabi
Starting price£5/month$179/month
Course (product) limitUnlimited from £19/mo5 (Basic) · 25 (Growth) · Unlimited (Pro)
Email contact limitNo limit2,500 (Basic) · 25,000 (Growth) · 100,000 (Pro)
Commission on sales0% on all tiers0% via Kajabi Payments
Email marketingIncluded on all tiersIncluded on all tiers
CommunityGlobal + per-course forumsBasic forum feature — no live rooms or real-time chat
Video hostingIncluded on all tiersIncluded on all tiers
Custom domainAll paid plansAll paid plans
Annual lock-inNone — month-to-month20% discount incentivises annual

Pricing, side by side

Kajabi prices in USD. Achene prices in GBP — no commission on student payments on any tier.

Kajabi plans

Basic
$179/mo
  • Up to 5 courses
  • Unlimited students
  • Email marketing: Included
  • Community: Included
  • Custom domain: Included
Growth
$249/mo
  • Up to 25 courses
  • Unlimited students
  • Email marketing: Included
  • Community: Included
  • Custom domain: Included
Pro
$499/mo
  • Unlimited students
  • Unlimited courses
  • Email marketing: Included
  • Community: Included
  • Custom domain: Included

Achene plans

Seed
£5/mo
  • 0% commission on all sales
  • Unlimited students
  • 1 published course
  • Community forums: Included
  • Email broadcasts: Included
  • Custom domain: Included
Taking RootMost popular
£19/mo
  • 0% commission on all sales
  • Unlimited students
  • Unlimited courses
  • Community forums: Included
  • Email broadcasts: Included
  • Custom domain: Included
Thriving
£49/mo
  • 0% commission on all sales
  • Unlimited students
  • Unlimited courses, 1 TB storage
  • Community forums: Included
  • Email broadcasts: Included
  • Custom domain: Included
Established
£99/mo
  • 0% commission on all sales
  • Unlimited students
  • Unlimited courses, 2 TB storage
  • Community forums: Included
  • Email broadcasts: Included
  • Custom domain: Included

See what you’d save

Enter your current plan and revenue to see your estimated annual saving with Achene.

$
Your estimated annual savings

Kajabi annually

$2,148

Achene annually

$287

0% commission

You save

$1,861

(~£1,477)

Estimates only. Achene prices in GBP; competitor prices in USD. Conversion at £1 ≈ $1.26. Does not include standard Stripe processing fees (2.9% + $0.30), which apply to all platforms.

Why educators move away from Kajabi

  • In January 2026 Kajabi raised prices 20–25% across all plans with minimal notice. Creators who had been on Kajabi for years faced $1,200+/year increases overnight. Reddit threads, a Change.org petition, and an F rating from the Better Business Bureau followed.

  • Kajabi Basic cuts your contact list to 2,500 — counting every email subscriber, not just paying students. Growing your list means upgrading to $249/month.

  • The Basic plan caps you at 5 products. A sixth course forces you to $249/month Growth, even if 5 products is genuinely all you need otherwise.

  • Features like affiliate management, cohort courses, API access, and video transcription are all locked behind the $249/month Growth plan — not available on Basic at any price.

  • No completion certificates on any Kajabi plan — a surprising omission at $179–499/month that creators moving to Teachable specifically cite.

  • Automation failures (reported at ~20% of triggers) and checkout payment failures after free trials are recurring complaints even among long-term users.

Ready to make the move?

Achene lets you import your existing students via CSV — migration is straightforward. Get early access below.

Get early access

We’re launching soon. Leave your details and we’ll let you know when you can get started. There will be a generous free trial for early access users.