Building on Kajabi comes with a set of great features, especially for those teaching pre-recorded courses. And the marketing options are strong.
So why do people leave?
Most people bump up against the limitations of the platform, especially if they want to serve an audience with things beyond pre-recorded courses. In this article, we’ll explain why people migrate off Kajabi and suggest a few places to go.
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Why people migrate off Kajabi
Kajabi is a course powerhouse with a good LMS and complex marketing features. So why do people migrate from Kajabi to other platforms? We deal with Kajabi migrations every week. Here are the most common reasons people migrate from Kajabi.
Community features
Kajabi’s community features were never really something the company focused on. In the initial version of Kajabi, the community was so basic that it was essentially a text-based discussion forum, a lot of course creators would run separate communities in a Facebook Group.
But for many creators, communities and courses go together like salt and pepper. And more and more, course members are looking for a deeper connection a community can bring.
So Kajabi’s answer to this was to launch Community 2.0 in Dec. 2022, a new community feature under Kajabi’s brand.
But even the new community feature has a drawbacks:
- Very basic community features–it’s still essentially a web forum.
- It exists on a separate platform, with a separate login–making members less likely to use it.
The Kajabi alternatives below bring courses and community together naturally, and with powerhouse community features Kajabi doesn’t have.
And even Kajabi still runs its own Kajabi Hero Community on Facebook.
Once you see the magic of a great community: of user-generated content, your students making friends and answering each others’ questions (without you even doing anything), it’s hard to really ever imagine going back to a static platform like Kajabi.
Overall limited extra features
Kajabi has put a ton of work into its features set when it comes to marketing flows and an asynchronous LMS. That makes it work really well for selling asynchronous courses. It’s essentially a solid course platform with a basic community add-on.
But the course features don’t really come anywhere near what a modern platform should have.
- You can’t add things like an activity feed, chat, events, discovery, or leaderboards to your courses.
- It’s missing native livestreaming (you have to use YouTube).
- It’s missing native video hosting (you use Wistia).
- And it’s missing the flexibility of something like Mighty Spaces, which gives you a ton of extra features to make courses shine.
Kajabi has doubled down on the legacy digital business of pre-recorded courses and never really adapted.
No branded apps
When we see people who outgrow Kajabi, one of the most common pain points is that they want to move their successful course businesses to their own apps. Successful creators can make the jump to offering branded courses on THEIR apps in the App Store and Google Play Store. It’s a huge value add, and we find that they often make MORE revenue when they make the jump.
With Kajabi, there’s no way to grow into a branded mobile app.
Less support
Finally, Kajabi is missing critical support infrastructure like a customer community run on its own platform (a Facebook Group isn’t really good support) AND brand and community strategists as you grow. We’ll get into this below and explain why having better support in your corner makes you more successful.
Platforms for those migrating from Kajabi
1. Mighty Pro
For those who have seen some success on Kajabi but have outgrown it, Mighty Pro is definitely the place to go. Mighty mixes courses, community, content, and commerce all in one place–under one brand.
You get the power of an asynchronous LMS that’s as good as Kajabi’s, but then add in native features like events, discussions, chat & messaging, livestreaming, member profiles, and you’ve got the recipe for an extremely engaged community to go along with your course.
You can bundle and sell any mixture of live and pre-recorded courses, events, coaching, private groups, and memberships in 135 different currencies.
Did we mention that Mighty Pro does all this under YOUR app? We work with established brands and creators to build beautiful community and course apps with all the features above, that are under YOUR brand in the App Store and Google Play Store.
Imagine livestreaming or offering courses on YOUR app instead of someone else’s.
Mighty Pro also comes with a community and course AI assistant, Mighty Co-Host™, which automates course outlines, gives you icebreakers and sparks conversation with the Infinite Question Generator, and boosts your creativity with posting and profile assistance.
We’ve built apps for TED, Fortune, Cambridge University, Adriene Mishler, Sadie Robertson Huff, and Drew Binsky. And you’ll work closely with our team of Account Executives and Community Strategists who have scaled 7-figure creator brands and 8+-figure subscription businesses.
Finally, we take care of the migration from Kajabi for you. It doesn’t need to be a headache.
Ready to get started? Schedule a call with us to learn more!
2. Mighty Networks
Mighty Pro is for people who have outgrown Kajabi. But if you’re not finding success on Kajabi and bumping up against the limitations of the platform, Mighty Network might be a better choice.
Mighty Networks is perfect for course instructors who aren’t ready for the premium app and features of Mighty Pro, but want to grow their course to a profitable business under their own brand.
Mighty Networks has many of the same great features Mighty Pro has, things like livestreaming, live and pre-recorded courses, events (with RSVP), member profiles, messaging and chat, discussion features, and more.
These are the features that unlock serious growth and profitability for your brand–there’s no comparison for people finding meaningful connections as they learn.
Each Mighty Network also comes with Mighty Co-Host™, giving you a powerful AI assistant that can automatically create a Big Purpose, community name, brand, landing and sales pages, and more. You can bundle your course with things like memberships, premium groups, events, and masterminds, making it perfect for those spinning their wheels.
Mighty Networks doesn’t come with a branded app, but it does come with a fantastic Mighty Networks app for every platform. And you can always make the step up to a branded app when you’re ready.
In fact, Mighty is the only platform that lets you grow from community and courses to your own branded app without switching platforms.
You can try Mighty Networks free for 14 days, no credit card required!
3. Thinkific
As a 1:1 alternative to Kajabi, Thinkific gives you a better course platform with a lot of strong marketing features. It’s an all-in-one platform for creating, marketing, and selling online courses. You can create courses quickly and easily with the drag-and-drop function.
Like Kajabi, it has a good LMS for pre-recorded courses. But it has some of the features Kajabi is missing, things like live lessons and coaching and a few more community options. With an app store that comes with a lot of integrations and an app for every device, Thinkific is a good option for those focusing on an asynchronous course + some other bonus features.
Mixing Kajabi with another platform
Sophia Amoruso’s The Business Class & The Lounge
A perfect example of a world-renowned entrepreneur that has taken this approach to her digital business is Sophia Amoruso. She is a successful entrepreneur, New York Times Bestselling Author, and the founder of Girlboss and Nasty Gal.
With years of experience starting multimillion-dollar business ventures, Amoruso offers an online course through Kajabi called “Business Class.” Over 8 weeks, members learn skills to develop their brand, marketing, legal knowledge, leadership skills, and more so they can succeed in growing their small businesses.
Amoruso has found success through building out her online course modules on Kajabi but needed a more robust option for community than what Kajabi offered. She chose Mighty Pro as the destination for her online community The Lounge which acts as a private membership community for those who are (or have taken) The Business Class to network with other entrepreneurs, ask questions, and receive advice from industry experts.
Commune & Commune Community
Another great example of a successful online course business on Kajabi that leverages the community building power of Mighty Pro is from Commune. Commune is a premier media company for personal and societal well-being and has focused on providing robust online courses powered by Kajabi.
Their online courses cover a variety of topics relating to global wellness, personal growth, mental health, and more. In addition to offering a wide assortment of courses with teachers like Marianne Williamson, Russell Brand, Deepak Chopra, and more.
In addition to their online courses, Commune has a bustling online community with over 100k members on a Mighty Pro called “Commune Community.” On their private paid social network members are able to connect over course material, share insights from their own lives, pose questions, offer advice, and more.
Aaron Doughty’s HighViber
Aaron Doughty is a successful Youtuber with over 1 million followers. On his channel he provides practical life-advice, meditation, his teachings expand people’s consciousness in ways they never expected.
While he continued to thrive creating new video content, he realized that it was increasingly important to scale his business and grow a community on a platform that would provide him with his own space to grow. He collaborated with us at Mighty Pro for a number of reasons, here’s what he told us, “Mighty Pro allowed me to fully realize my vision for the HighViber community. The ability to bring my customers together in one place has been what I’ve dreamed of since I started my business.”
Since Doughty launched the HighViber community on Mighty Pro he’s had almost 18,000 members join the community, interact with his branded mobile apps, and participate in an array of challenges and networking opportunities. Now, Doughty is eyeing in-person events and using Mighty Pro to create hybrid experiences where members of the HighViber community can participate in-person or virtually. These types of experiences weren’t possible for Doughty before Pro, and it’s been an exciting avenue to explore for expanding his business.
Ready to make the move?
If the time has come to migrate from Kajabi, schedule a call with us and we'll walk you through your options! We can help you figure out if Mighty Pro is right for you, and show you other great options for building on Mighty.
