Kajabi vs Circle
An all-in-one business platform against a dedicated community platform. Which one you need depends on whether email is part of the job.
VERIFIED 2026-07-28
The verdict
Kajabi if the business is courses and funnels, Circle if the business is the community. Kajabi's community is functional but noticeably lighter than Circle's; Circle's email marketing is a $99-a-month add-on on top of the plan. Add Circle plus a real email tool and the cost gap against Kajabi's $179 Basic plan largely closes, which is the comparison worth running rather than $89 against $179.
Choose Kajabi if
- You need email marketing, funnels, and checkout in one place
- Courses are the product and community is support for them
- You are past validation and the monthly cost is affordable
Choose Circle if
- The community is the product
- You already have an email platform you like
- You want a lower monthly floor to start from
Cost at three real sizes
Cheapest plan that holds the member count, including each platform's own cut and payment processing.
| Scenario | Kajabi | Circle |
|---|---|---|
| 50 members at $20$1,000 monthly revenue | $223Basic | $153Professional |
| 200 members at $25$5,000 monthly revenue | $384Basic | $394Professional |
| 500 members at $30$15,000 monthly revenue | $764Basic | $934Business |
Feature by feature
| Capability | Kajabi | Circle |
|---|---|---|
| Community features | Partially supported | Supported |
| Courses | Supported | Supported |
| Coaching and live events | Supported | Supported |
| Video hosting | Supported | Supported |
| Livestreaming | Partially supported | Supported |
| Newsletter and publishing | Partially supported | Partially supported |
| Private podcast support | Supported | Not supported |
| Payments and monetization | Supported | Supported |
| Branding and customization | Higher plan required | Higher plan required |
| Branded mobile app | Higher plan required | Higher plan required |
| Audience discovery | Not supported | Not supported |
| Email and marketing | Supported | Add-on required |
| Integrations and API | Supported | Higher plan required |
| Migration support | Partially supported | Partially supported |
| Customer and data ownership | Supported | Supported |
Best case across each platform’s full range. Individual plans gate some of these; the platform pages show which.