Systeme.io vs Kajabi: Where Your Course Money Goes

The short answer: with 2,500 contacts and a handful of products, Kajabi Basic costs $143 a month billed annually, or $179 monthly, while Systeme.io holds twice that list on Startup for $17 a month and lists 0% transaction fees on every plan (Kajabi pricing, Systeme.io pricing, checked on 26 October 2026). Choose Systeme.io if your job is getting a course, a funnel and the emails behind it running on the smallest fixed cost. Choose Kajabi if your job is a coaching and course brand where the member experience is the product, with communities, cohorts, an AI business partner and, on Pro, your own app.

Disclosure: I may earn a commission through some links on this site. It does not change what this page says.

Kajabi is dressed for the expert. Its homepage talks about coaching programmes, communities, memberships and podcasts, and introduces Cofounder, an AI business partner inside Kajabi that builds a plan and drafts a launch (homepage). Systeme.io is dressed for the first sale. Funnels, email, courses, a blog, an affiliate programme and a store with physical products sit on one plan ladder that starts free (pricing). Both will sell a course tomorrow. They differ in what the course is wrapped in, and in who keeps what from each payment.

Price your own year first:

1. The plan at your list size. For example, at 2,500 contacts Kajabi Basic is 12 x $143 = $1,716 a year on annual billing, and Systeme.io Startup is $170 a year, two months free on its yearly plan (Kajabi pricing, Systeme.io pricing).
2. The processor you keep. For example, $4,000 of monthly sales taken through your existing Stripe account on Kajabi Basic adds Kajabi's 2% third-party fee, 0.02 x $4,000 = $80 a month, before Stripe's own charge (Kajabi pricing). Systeme.io connects Stripe, PayPal and five other processors at 0% (pricing).
3. The products you sell today. Count courses, coaching programmes, downloads and communities. Kajabi Basic stops at 5 products; Systeme.io's free plan allows 1 course and Startup 5 (Kajabi pricing, Systeme.io pricing).
4. The figure that will decide the second year. Revenue per contact over 90 days, from the sales report of whichever platform you test. Note your current figure before the move.

Where each payment goes

From the Kajabi pricing page and the Systeme.io pricing page, read on 26 October 2026. Kajabi's card rates are shown for US entities and vary by country; Growth sits between the two columns, at 2.8% + $0.30 and a 1% third-party fee.

The differences that decide it

What the course is wrapped in

Kajabi sells delivery as an experience: communities with access groups, cohort courses, coaching products, video transcriptions and translations, and a branded mobile app on Pro, the plan its FAQ suggests for anyone who wants their own app in the App Store (pricing). AI credits run 0, 500 and 1,000 a month by plan, with Expert Agents listed as coming soon. Systeme.io's course tools are plainer and wider: unlimited students on paid plans, communities, evergreen webinars from the $47 Webinar plan, and sub-accounts for a second brand (pricing).

How the bill follows the list

Kajabi's three plans hold 2,500, 25,000 and 100,000 contacts, and its FAQ sells extra contacts in blocks of 25,000 for $125 a month at any size (pricing). Systeme.io steps from 2,000 contacts free to 5,000, then 10,000, then unlimited at $97 (pricing). For example, a list of 40,000 needs Kajabi Growth at $249 monthly plus one block, $249 + $125 = $374, against $97 on Systeme.io.

An offer and its announcement, drafted by an agent

Kajabi documents this job in its MCP guide: the server drafts Offers with pricing, landing pages and email broadcasts, and the guide's own example is a discount offer with an announcement email. It will not process payments or send email blasts.

1. Add https://mcp.kajabi.com/mcp as a connector in Claude, which needs a paid Claude plan. On Kajabi's consent screen, grant the offers permission and the broadcasts permission, and leave "Publish or unpublish content" off.
2. Ask for a draft Offer on one course at a discount with an end date, and a draft broadcast announcing it to one tag.
3. The human check: open the Offer in the Kajabi admin and check the price, currency and end date against what you mean to sell. Read the broadcast on a phone, fix the claims, and send it yourself.

Because the server cannot send an email blast, the send stays with a person by design, not by habit.

Build it free, then trial the polish

Systeme.io's free plan needs no card and does not expire: build the course, the checkout and a welcome sequence there first, with up to 2,000 contacts and 500 students (pricing FAQ). If it does the job, the comparison is over. If the members need more, start Kajabi's free trial, knowing every Kajabi plan carries a 30-day money-back guarantee (pricing FAQ).

Kajabi's pricing headline promises no revenue sharing, and as a platform it keeps no share of sales. The fee table under it still takes 2% on Basic when a third-party processor carries the payment, and nothing when Kajabi Payments does (pricing). That gap steers sellers toward the processor Kajabi runs, so compare the two processing bills on your own volume before accepting the default.

Choose Systeme.io if your job is

• Launching a first course and list before there is revenue for software.
• Keeping the processor you already use, with no platform fee on sales.
• Growing a list into five figures on a flat $97 (pricing).

Choose Kajabi if your job is

• Running coaching, cohorts and a community as one branded member experience.
• Giving members your own app, on Pro.
• Drafting offers, pages and emails with an AI assistant that leaves publishing and sending to you.

More on Systeme.io in its entry and in how to use Systeme.io. Kajabi has no entry on this site; HighLevel vs Kajabi sets it against an agency platform, and Systeme.io vs ClickFunnels sets Systeme.io against a checkout specialist.

FAQ

Does Kajabi take a cut of course sales?

Not as a platform, says its FAQ. Card processing through Kajabi Payments carries a fee that varies by country, and a third-party processor adds 2%, 1% or 0.5% by plan, PayPal excluded (Kajabi pricing).

Can Systeme.io host a paid community?

Yes. Communities are on every plan, 1 on the free plan and 5 on Startup, with unlimited members (pricing). Access can be sold through its funnels and offers.

Which is cheaper at 25,000 contacts?

Systeme.io: Unlimited at $97 a month, against Kajabi Growth at $199 billed annually or $249 monthly (Systeme.io pricing, Kajabi pricing).