Systeme.io vs Kajabi: What Is Kajabi's Extra Cost Actually Buying You

Systeme.io wins for most course creators, and it isn’t close on price.

Kajabi’s cheapest plan is $179/month. Systeme.io’s Startup plan is $170/year, or $14/month billed annually — less than a single month of Kajabi’s entry tier. For that gap to make sense, Kajabi has to be doing something Systeme.io genuinely can’t. Mostly, it isn’t.

Prices verified: Systeme.io October 2026, Kajabi September 2026.

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Where the money actually goes

Neither platform charges a platform fee on its own payments: Systeme.io is 0% on every plan, and Kajabi is 0% through Kajabi Payments. But that’s not the whole fee picture on either side. Systeme.io routes payments through Stripe and PayPal, and those processors take their own cut — Systeme.io’s pricing page just doesn’t spell out what that is.

Kajabi, to its credit, does publish its processing rates: 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, dropping to 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro. Use a third-party processor on Kajabi instead and there’s an added surcharge of 2% on Basic, shrinking to 0.5% on Pro, with PayPal exempt from that surcharge entirely. So the honest comparison isn’t “Systeme.io has no fees, Kajabi does” — it’s that Kajabi tells you its number up front, and Systeme.io leaves you to go find Stripe’s and PayPal’s rates yourself.

Contact limits tell a cleaner story in Systeme.io’s favor. Systeme.io’s Startup plan covers 5,000 contacts for $170/year. Kajabi’s Basic plan covers 2,500 contacts for $179/month, and if you outgrow it, Kajabi sells an extra block of 25,000 contacts for $125/month rather than forcing an upgrade — a reasonable patch, but it’s patching a limit that costs more to begin with.

What Kajabi’s price is actually buying

This is the honest part: Kajabi isn’t just expensive for no reason. Growth and Pro add real infrastructure, up to three websites, three communities, and 26 admin users on Pro, versus Systeme.io’s simpler, flatter structure. If you’re running a small team with multiple admins managing multiple product lines, that capacity has value, and the Kajabi review goes deeper on who that team actually is.

Kajabi also has no free tier at all, just a trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Systeme.io’s free plan is free forever, no card required, and includes 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, and 1 course. That’s not a stripped-down demo; it’s a usable starting point for someone testing whether they even want to sell courses.

Here’s the detail most people miss when they pencil out switching: if you stop paying Systeme.io’s paid plan, your account doesn’t vanish. It drops to Free, and contacts above 2,000 get archived rather than deleted.

Who should NOT choose Systeme.io

If you need a specific, published number of admin seats or multiple branded websites and communities under one account, Kajabi’s tiers spell that out plainly: 2 admin users on Basic, up to 26 on Pro, with up to three websites and three communities. Systeme.io doesn’t publish an equivalent admin-seat count anywhere on its pricing page, which makes it a harder sell for a team that needs to know exactly how many people can log in before they buy. Worth noting: Systeme.io’s Unlimited plan, at $97/month or $970/year, does include sub-accounts, so an agency running several client brands isn’t locked out — it just can’t compare admin limits the way Kajabi’s page lets you.

If you’re deep into Kajabi already, automations built, communities populated, years of customer data, the switching cost alone might outweigh the savings. Migrating platforms means re-exporting students, rebuilding funnels, and losing whatever reputation or reviews lived on the old site. The Kajabi vs Teachable comparison covers similar switching friction if you’re coming from a different direction entirely.

Three readers, three answers

A teacher launching her first course with 300 people on an email list: Systeme.io’s free plan or Startup tier handles this without strain, and at $170/year there’s no meaningful financial risk in trying it.

A coach running one course and a handful of webinars, no team: Systeme.io’s Webinar plan at $470/year still comes in well under a single Kajabi Basic year, and it adds the automated webinar tools that plan is named for.

An established business with 25,000 contacts, a content team, and three product lines: Kajabi’s Growth or Pro plan starts to earn its keep here, because the real cost is the agency’s time, not the software bill. For a side-by-side on where that math tips, the Kajabi vs Podia comparison is worth a look too.

Who should NOT choose Kajabi

Anyone testing whether course creation is even for them. Paying $179/month before a single sale lands is a bad bet when Systeme.io’s free plan exists, and the money-back guarantee doesn’t change the fact that you’re signing up for a serious monthly bill on day one. The full Systeme.io review lays out exactly what the free plan does and doesn’t include if you want the unglamorous details before committing.

If your business runs on third-party payment tools for reasons outside your control, Kajabi’s surcharge on non-Kajabi processors is a real cost that doesn’t show up on the headline price. It shrinks as you move up tiers, but on Basic, the plan most new users choose, it’s at its highest.

FAQ

Is Systeme.io’s free plan actually usable, or is it bait? It’s genuinely usable: 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, and 1 course with no credit card required and no expiration. It won’t scale a real business, but it’s enough to launch and test an offer before paying anything.

Does Kajabi have a free trial? Yes, though the pricing page doesn’t state the trial length. All three plans also carry a 30-day money-back guarantee, which is a different safety net than a trial, you’re billed first, then refunded if you cancel in time.

What happens if I cancel my Systeme.io paid plan? Your account doesn’t close. It drops to the Free plan, and any contacts above the 2,000 limit get archived rather than deleted.

Which platform is cheaper if I pay monthly instead of annually? Systeme.io’s Startup plan is $17/month paid monthly versus $14/month on the annual plan. Kajabi’s gap is larger in dollar terms: Basic runs $179/month paid monthly against $143/month on the annual plan.

Does Kajabi’s transaction fee apply even with Kajabi Payments? The platform fee is 0% through Kajabi Payments, but processing fees still apply: 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth, 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro. Switch to a third-party processor instead, and Kajabi adds its own surcharge on top, except on PayPal.

Can I switch from Kajabi to Systeme.io without losing everything? Expect to export your contact list and course content manually. Systeme.io does offer free migration on its Unlimited plan and on annual plans generally, which is worth asking about before you start moving anything yourself.

Sources

• Systeme.io pricing
• Systeme.io: systeme.io/affiliate-program
• Kajabi pricing

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How we got these numbers. Prices and fees come straight from the official pricing pages of Systeme.io (checked October 2026) and Kajabi (checked September 2026). Where a value wasn’t published, the table shows “—”. Prices in this space change often — confirm on the provider’s site before you buy.