Kajabi vs. Skool For Delivering Your Course & Program

I currently use both. And I love both too.

Yet, Kajabi and Skool have very different use cases and various advantages & disadvantages that will come to light only in certain situations. 

So, which one will work best for you boils down to your unique circumstances.

Today, I want to show you how to choose between Kajabi and Skool based on those…

And get the absolute maximum of your informed decision.

Let’s dive into it.

Spoiler Alert: I'll also show you how to get my step-by-step courses on how to use both platforms like a pro… 

For free. 

So, make sure to read to the end. Or cheat and scroll down if you’ve already chosen a platform and just want to discover how to best use it :)

3 Components The Program You’re Delivering Should Have To Make Skool Your Best Choice… And Why Even A Lack Of One Makes Kajabi A Better Option

1. Pre-recorded videos (e.g., courses, workshops, and other video-based training)

2. Live events (e.g., live Q&As, community meetups, or any other live event that would go on a calendar)

3. A community where your buyers can interact with each other and you & your team.

If your program doesn’t have ALL of the above components…

Steer clear from Skool. 

It’s that simple of a choice for one reason:

Currently, Skool has these 3 features, and you can’t turn them off. This means that even if you don’t have any live events…

All your buyers will still see an empty calendar tab in the navigation menu.

Same goes for the community and classroom tabs.

So, a lack of even one component not only makes the whole thing seem less professional…

But will also confuse your buyers.

I wish Skool would let you turn these tabs off. But at the time of writing this article — that’s impossible.

The silver lining is it makes the choice between Skool and Kajabi much easier for us course creators:

If you have all the 3 components, go with Skool. 

Here’s why I absolutely love it in that case:

Skool Pros & Cons

Four advantages of Skool stand out:

1. It’s super intuitive to use both as a creator and end-user. Finding what you want and taking advantage of it is as easy as pie.

2. It’s built to encourage interaction and draw people to the platform. So, having a vibrant community that’s useful for everyone is simpler than ever.  

3. The front and back end are actually the same. Not many people notice this at all. But when I did, all I could think of was:

“Wow, that’s really cool.”

This means that as a creator, you see and use the platform EXACTLY like your buyers do. You just have some extra admin features.

This makes understanding & optimizing buyers’ experience a breeze.

4. It’s simple & clean. Everything is super organized and just works. 

Just opening the platform as a user or editor will show you exactly 

what I mean. I’ve used it for over a year and have never had a single issue.

When it comes to cons, Skool has only one, IMO:

You’ll need other software for email, landing pages, and website. Checkout (order forms, accepting payments) too, given that Skool’s built-in feature for that failed to impress me. (Kajabi comes in real handy for all this.)

When you think about it, if the only downside of a piece of software is it doesn’t do enough things…

You can almost look at it as an upside. Because, hopefully, that means the things the software does are done really, really well.

From what I’ve seen, that’s certainly the case with Skool.

What Moving To Skool Has Done For My Course Business (The Online Course Guy)

As I’ve said, we’ve been using Skool for over a year after transferring from Kajabi. Since making the move, we’ve seen a lot more community and live call engagement…

And a much lower member churn rate.

However, I still use Kajabi for the OCG brand because it ensures we have an amazing website, sales funnels, checkout, etc.

Here’s where Kajabi can excel for you, and when using it is a big no-no.

Kajabi Pros, Cons, And Why Its One Feature Forced Me To Deliver MY OCG Programs Via Skool

Kajabi is an amazing platform, and I wouldn’t change it for anything when it comes to just hosting video lessons and creating high-performing websites, emails, sales funnels, etc.

But there’s one thing Kajabi is absolutely horrible at:

Community features.

In that regard, it’s slow and the absolute opposite of intuitive & user-friendly.

My students rarely interacted there. Plus, we’ve had people leave JUST because of how bad the platform was.  

I won’t lie — it was great having my whole business in Kajabi. But because of only that one horrendous community thing…

I had to add Skool to the mix.

But if you don’t have the community element, Kajabi will more than do the trick for you. I still use it to pretty much run my whole “Piano In 21 Days” brand.

That’s because “Piano In 21” days is a more typical course business, where the course & content are the stars of the show. 

So, students log in to their Kajabi course portal, go through the training, leave comments & questions beneath the videos, and can ask for more support via email.

This functions amazingly because the community & events aren’t key components of the program.

So, if that’s the case for you too — going with Kajabi is your best bet.

Skool vs. Kajabi Pricing

With Skool, you have just one option you can take or leave:

Flat $99 per month for each Skool group you have. 

For example, I have two for course creators (Next Level Coaching and Genesis). So I pay $198 per month.

On the other hand, Kajabi offers tiered pricing, depending on your needs:

*Note that these are annual prices. If you pay per month, the monthly fees increase to $69, $149, $199, and $399 respectively.

The “Kickstarter” plan is a recent addition, and I think it works great if you’re just starting out. As you grow, the “Basic” plan will do the trick for most course creators.

Now, the only reason I haven’t linked directly to these pricing pages is that if you’re interested in trying out either Skool or Kajabi…

I can help you get the longest free trial with a sweet bonus on top.

Let me explain.

How To Get My Step-By-Step Courses On Using Kajabi Or Skool Like A Pro For Free

If this article helped you choose the right platform for you, and you are ready to get things rolling, here’s how I can help you kickstart the process:

1. If you’ve decided to go with Kajabi, sign up via this link, and you’ll get an extended free trial (30 days instead of the regular 14)…

Plus a free copy of my “Every Click Kajabi” course that serves as a step-by-step guide to building your business on Kajabi.

2. If you’ve decided to go with Skool, sign up via this link, and you’ll get my “Every Click Skool” course, which walks you through every step of setting up a successful Skool group.

Hope this helps get you started on the right foot and climb up the ladder quickly & frictionlessly.

Conclusion

If you have a traditional course business model, where the community & live events don’t exist (or aren’t important)…

Go with Kajabi.

If you’re running a program where, in addition to the course, you also want to create a vibrant community and have live events at least once a month…

Go with Skool. (Plus, use Kajabi or other software for creating your emails, landing pages, and website.)

Here’s to effortlessly choosing the right program delivery platform for you and using it to build a satisfied and ever-growing buyers list.

I’m rooting for you.

-Jacques