8 Course Platforms That Replace Your $199/Month Kajabi Subscription

You do not need a $199/month Kajabi subscription to sell courses. These 8 tools include course builders you are probably already paying for.

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You are paying for a course platform you do not need. Kajabi charges $199/month. Teachable charges $99/month. Thinkific charges $49/month. And the only thing these tools do that your existing marketing platform cannot is host a course behind a login. That is it. No email marketing. No funnel builder. No checkout system. You still need those separately, which means you are stacking $300 to $500/month in subscriptions to sell a $297 course to 40 people.

Here is what changed: the tools you already use for email, funnels, and checkout have added course builders. Kartra has one. Systeme.io has one. GoHighLevel has one. Even ThriveCart, a checkout tool, now delivers courses. The era of paying a separate vendor $100 to $200/month just to drip-release video modules is over. This article covers eight platforms that let you build, sell, and deliver courses without adding another line item to your stack. Each one includes a course builder alongside features you are probably already paying for elsewhere.

What to look for in a course platform

Not every "course builder" is equal. Some give you a Teachable-grade experience. Others give you a folder of unlisted videos behind a password wall. Here are six criteria that separate real course platforms from marketing tools with a course feature bolted on.

1. Course builder features (video hosting, drip content, quizzes)

At minimum, you need video lesson hosting, the ability to drip content on a schedule, and some form of student progress tracking. Quizzes and completion certificates are bonuses that increase course completion rates. According to research published on ResearchGate, courses with embedded quizzes see 20 to 30% higher completion rates than passive video-only formats. If the platform only lets you upload videos to a page, that is a landing page, not a course.

2. Checkout and payment processing

You need one-time payments, recurring subscriptions, and payment plans. The ability to add order bumps and upsells at checkout directly impacts revenue per student. If your course platform does not handle checkout natively, you are adding ThriveCart or Stripe on top, which means more integrations and more failure points.

3. Student experience and membership portal quality

Students need a clean login portal where they can see their progress, access modules, and pick up where they left off. A clunky student experience leads to refund requests and bad reviews. Test the student-facing side of any platform before committing.

4. Built-in marketing (email, funnels, automations)

A course without a sales funnel is a product nobody finds. The best course platforms include email marketing, landing page builders, and automation workflows so you can market the course from the same dashboard where you built it. This is where all-in-one platforms beat dedicated course tools.

5. Pricing relative to course revenue

Your platform cost should not exceed 10% of your monthly course revenue. If you are making $1,000/month from courses, a $199 Kajabi subscription eats 20% of your revenue before you pay for anything else. A $0 to $50/month tool at the same revenue level keeps your margins healthy while you scale.

6. Ease of course creation (time to launch)

Some platforms let you go from zero to live course in a weekend. Others require two weeks of setup, custom integrations, and a YouTube tutorial marathon. If you are a solopreneur, time-to-launch matters as much as feature depth. A tool you can ship with in 48 hours beats a tool with 50 features you will configure over the next 6 months.

Comparison at a glance

1. Kartra

Kartra

Best for: Course creators who want checkout, email, membership portals, and course delivery in a single platform, replacing Kajabi and a separate email tool.

Kartra is the tool I point people toward when they tell me they are paying $199/month for Kajabi plus $29/month for an email tool plus $59/month for a checkout tool. That is $287/month for three separate dashboards. Kartra at $119/month does all three natively. The course builder supports video hosting, drip scheduling, quizzes, and completion tracking. The checkout handles one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, and one-click upsells. The email system runs tag-based automation sequences triggered by student behavior: someone finishes Module 3 and gets an upsell email for the advanced course 24 hours later.

Here is the math. If Kartra at $119/month replaces Kajabi ($199) plus your email tool ($29) plus your checkout tool ($59), that is $168/month saved. Over a year, you keep $2,016 that would have gone to three different vendors. And you eliminate the Zapier integrations holding them together.

The membership portal is where Kartra separates from lighter course features on other platforms. Students get a dedicated login, progress tracking, community discussion areas, and tiered access levels. You can run a $47/month membership alongside a $997 flagship course from the same dashboard. The built-in helpdesk means student support requests go into a ticketing system instead of drowning in your email inbox.

Key features:

• Full course builder with video hosting, drip content, and quizzes
• Checkout with order bumps, upsells, subscriptions, and payment plans
• Membership portal with tiered access and progress tracking
• Behavioral email automation tied to course progress and page visits

Pricing: $119/month Starter (2,500 leads), $229/month Growth (12,500 leads), $549/month Professional (25,000 leads).

Limitation: The interface has a steep learning curve. New users consistently report spending 2 to 3 weeks before feeling comfortable navigating the backend. The page builder is functional but not as flexible as ClickFunnels for complex funnel designs.

Try Kartra with a 30-day trial or read the full Kartra review.

2. Systeme.io

Systeme.io

Best for: Launching your first online course at zero cost, with funnels and email included on the free plan.

Systeme.io is the fastest path from "I have course content" to "I am collecting payments." The free plan includes a course builder, checkout pages, email marketing for 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, and automation workflows. No credit card required. No 14-day trial clock ticking. You could build your first course on a Saturday morning and start selling it by Sunday night.

For creators who would otherwise hire a freelancer to set up a course platform, funnels, and email sequences ($2,000 to $5,000 in setup fees), Systeme.io eliminates that cost entirely. The course builder supports video lessons, text modules, drip scheduling, and student progress tracking. The checkout handles Stripe and PayPal payments with zero transaction fees from Systeme.io (you only pay Stripe's standard 2.9% + $0.30).

Over 500,000 users run their businesses on Systeme.io. The paid plans scale from $27/month (5,000 contacts) to $97/month (unlimited). Even the $97/month tier is $102 cheaper than Kajabi's equivalent plan. The trade-off is polish. The course player interface is simpler than Kajabi's, and the template library is smaller. But for the creator making $0 to $5,000/month from courses, the math is not close: paying nothing beats paying $199/month for a prettier interface.

Key features:

• Course builder with video hosting, drip content, and progress tracking
• Sales funnel builder with opt-in, sales, and upsell page templates
• Email marketing with automation, tagging, and unlimited sends
• Built-in affiliate program management

Pricing: Free (2,000 contacts, 3 funnels). $27/month Startup. $47/month Webinar. $97/month Unlimited.

Limitation: Email deliverability is not on par with dedicated platforms like GetResponse or ActiveCampaign. Monitor open rates closely as your list grows past 5,000 contacts. The course player UI is utilitarian compared to Kajabi's polished student experience.

Start free on Systeme.io or read the full Systeme.io review.

3. GoHighLevel

GoHighLevel

Best for: Coaches and consultants who need course hosting and client management (CRM, scheduling, SMS) in one platform.

GoHighLevel is not a course platform that added marketing features. It is a marketing platform that added a course builder. The distinction matters. If your primary business is 1:1 coaching or consulting and you want to add a course as a revenue stream, GoHighLevel lets you do that without adopting a new tool. Your CRM, email sequences, SMS follow-ups, appointment scheduling, and course delivery all live in the same system.

The course and membership features include video lesson hosting, drip content scheduling, certificate generation, and community areas. Students get a branded portal with progress tracking. You could pay an agency $3,000/month to manage your CRM, run email campaigns, handle scheduling, and build out a course funnel. Or you could do all of it from GoHighLevel at $97/month and spend a weekend setting it up.

Where GoHighLevel stands out for course creators is the post-enrollment workflow. When a student buys your course, GoHighLevel can automatically tag them in the CRM, start a drip email sequence, send an SMS welcome message, and schedule a kickoff call. Try building that workflow across Teachable, Mailchimp, Calendly, and Twilio. You would need Zapier or Make to glue four tools together. GoHighLevel does it natively.

Key features:

• Course and membership builder with video hosting and drip content
• Full CRM with pipeline management and contact timeline
• Email and SMS automation with behavioral triggers
• Calendar booking with no-show follow-up sequences

Pricing: $97/month Starter. $297/month Agency Unlimited (white-label, unlimited sub-accounts).

Limitation: The course builder is functional but not deep. No built-in quizzes, limited assessment options, and the student portal design is basic compared to Kartra or dedicated course platforms. If course quality and student experience are your top priorities, GoHighLevel is not the strongest choice.

Try GoHighLevel free for 14 days or read the full GoHighLevel review.

4. ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels

Best for: High-ticket course launches ($500+) that rely on multi-step funnel sequences to convert cold traffic into buyers.

ClickFunnels approaches course selling from a different angle than the other tools on this list. Instead of building a great course platform and adding marketing features, ClickFunnels builds great funnels and adds course delivery as a supporting feature. If your strategy is webinar registration page to replay page to sales page to checkout to membership area, ClickFunnels does that sequence better than anyone. The template library is massive, with proven funnel templates tested by thousands of course creators in the Russell Brunson ecosystem.

ClickFunnels 2.0 added membership areas and course delivery. You can host video lessons, gate content behind a login, and drip modules on a schedule. The student experience is decent but not as polished as Kartra or Kajabi. Where ClickFunnels earns its price is in the funnel architecture itself: native A/B split testing, optimized checkout pages, and one-click upsell sequences that can add $50 to $200 in average order value per student.

For a course priced at $997, adding a $197 order bump and a $497 upsell with a 15% take rate means an extra $104 per transaction on average. At 20 sales per month, that is $2,080 in additional revenue that covers the ClickFunnels subscription several times over. The tool pays for itself through conversion optimization, not cost savings.

Key features:

• Drag-and-drop funnel builder with course launch templates
• Membership areas with video hosting and drip content
• Native A/B split testing on any funnel step
• One-click upsell and order bump sequences at checkout

Pricing: $97/month Startup (1 website, 20 funnels). $297/month Pro (unlimited funnels, 3 websites, affiliate center).

Limitation: The $97 entry price does not include built-in email marketing at the depth of Kartra or GetResponse. You will likely need a separate email tool for nurture sequences, adding $19 to $59/month to your stack. The course builder itself is secondary to the funnel builder and lacks quizzes, certificates, and community features.

Try ClickFunnels or read the full ClickFunnels review.

5. ThriveCart

ThriveCart

Best for: Course sellers who want to pay once and never deal with monthly platform fees again.

ThriveCart is primarily a checkout tool, but ThriveCart Learn turns it into a legitimate course delivery platform. For a one-time payment of $495, you get high-converting checkout pages, order bumps, upsell sequences, affiliate management, and a course builder that supports video lessons, drip content, quizzes, and student progress tracking. No monthly fees. No transaction fees beyond Stripe's standard rate.

The long-term math is what makes ThriveCart the most interesting option on this list. Compare it to Teachable at $99/month: after 5 months, ThriveCart has paid for itself. After 12 months, you have saved $693. After 3 years, you have saved $3,069. And unlike Teachable, ThriveCart includes a checkout system that was purpose-built for conversion optimization, with cart abandonment recovery, A/B testing on checkout pages, and one-click upsells that dedicated course platforms charge extra for.

ThriveCart Learn is not as feature-rich as Kajabi's course builder. There is no native community feature, no app, and the course player design is simple. But for solo creators selling one to five courses, it covers everything you need: upload videos, set a drip schedule, add quizzes, and track which students complete which modules. The checkout side is where ThriveCart really earns its keep. If you are sending traffic to a course sales page and want the highest-converting checkout possible, ThriveCart's checkout templates consistently outperform generic Stripe embeds.

Key features:

• ThriveCart Learn with video hosting, drip content, quizzes, and progress tracking
• High-converting checkout pages with A/B testing
• Order bumps, one-click upsells, and cart abandonment recovery
• Built-in affiliate management system

Pricing: $495 one-time payment for lifetime access. $690 one-time for the Pro plan (affiliate center, advanced analytics).

Limitation: No email marketing, no funnel builder, no CRM. ThriveCart handles checkout and course delivery only. You need a separate email tool (ConvertKit, GetResponse, or similar) and a landing page builder or funnel tool to complete your stack. The $495 upfront cost is a barrier for creators who have not yet validated their course idea.

Read the full ThriveCart review for a detailed feature breakdown and comparison with SamCart.

6. SamCart

SamCart

Best for: Creators who sell multiple digital products (courses, templates, ebooks, workshops) and want a single checkout platform to deliver all of them.

SamCart started as a checkout page builder and added course delivery features that compete directly with ThriveCart Learn. The differentiator is the product catalog approach. If you sell a $47 template pack, a $297 course, a $997 coaching program, and a $19/month membership, SamCart gives you one dashboard to manage checkout pages, delivery, and analytics across all four products.

The checkout pages are among the best-looking in the industry. Clean templates, mobile-optimized by default, and conversion-tested layouts. SamCart reports that their optimized checkout pages convert at rates above industry averages, with built-in features like trust badges, countdown timers, and social proof notifications. For creators selling $50 to $500 products, the checkout experience directly affects revenue per visitor.

SamCart's course delivery feature lets you host video lessons, gate content, and drip modules. It is not as deep as Kartra's membership portal, but it handles the core job: student logs in, sees their purchased content, watches the lessons. If you are a creator who freelanced for years and now wants to productize your knowledge into multiple offers, SamCart is the checkout-first platform that grows with your product line.

Key features:

• Course and digital product delivery with student portal
• High-converting checkout pages with A/B split testing
• Order bumps, upsells, and subscription management
• Affiliate center and advanced analytics dashboard

Pricing: $59/month Launch. $119/month Grow (A/B testing, cart abandonment). $199/month Scale (affiliate center, CRM integrations).

Limitation: No email marketing, no funnel builder. SamCart is checkout and delivery only. The course builder is basic compared to Kartra or even ThriveCart Learn. Monthly pricing means the long-term cost exceeds ThriveCart's one-time fee within 5 to 8 months. Best suited for creators who need the multi-product catalog and do not want to pay $495 upfront.

Read the full SamCart review for pricing details and a direct comparison with ThriveCart.

7. ConvertKit (Kit)

ConvertKit (Kit)

Best for: Creators who teach through email sequences rather than video, selling email-based courses and digital products to their existing audience.

ConvertKit (now rebranding to Kit) takes a different approach to course delivery. Instead of building a membership portal with video lessons, ConvertKit lets you sell knowledge products delivered via email sequences. An 8-day email course. A 30-day challenge delivered to the inbox. A writing workshop that arrives as daily lessons. For creators whose audience lives in their inbox, not on a course platform, this format outperforms traditional video courses in engagement and completion.

ConvertKit's Creator Commerce feature handles the checkout side. You can sell digital products (courses, ebooks, templates, presets) directly from ConvertKit with Stripe processing. No separate checkout tool needed. The free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers with basic broadcasts and product sales. Paid plans at $29/month unlock automation sequences and subscriber scoring, which let you build conditional email courses where the next lesson depends on whether the student clicked a link or completed an action in the previous one.

If you would otherwise hire a copywriter at $1,500 to $3,000 to write your email course sequence, ConvertKit's template library and tag-based automation builder let you do it yourself in a weekend. The subscriber tagging system is the cleanest in this price range, and building segmented sequences for different buyer types is straightforward even for non-technical creators.

Key features:

• Email-based course delivery through automated sequences
• Creator Commerce for selling digital products with Stripe checkout
• Tag-based subscriber management with visual automation builder
• Landing pages and opt-in forms with conversion-optimized templates

Pricing: Free (10,000 subscribers, broadcasts and product sales). $29/month Creator (automation, sequences). $50/month Creator Pro (subscriber scoring, advanced reporting).

Limitation: No video course hosting. No membership portal. No drip content in the traditional sense. If your course requires students to watch video lessons in a structured portal, ConvertKit is not the right tool. It works specifically for text-based, email-delivered education products. You also cannot run quizzes, issue certificates, or track lesson completion the way a traditional course platform does.

Read the full ConvertKit review for a detailed look at Creator Commerce and email automation features.

8. GetResponse

GetResponse

Best for: Creators who sell courses through webinar funnels and want email, webinars, and course templates in one platform.

GetResponse occupies a unique position: it is the only tool on this list that bundles native webinar hosting with email marketing and course builder templates. If your course sales strategy is "run a free webinar, pitch the course at the end, follow up via email," GetResponse runs that entire sequence without a single integration.

The webinar feature includes registration pages, automated email reminders, screen sharing, live chat, polls, and replay hosting. After the webinar, GetResponse segments attendees by engagement (watched the full webinar vs. dropped off at minute 15) and routes them into different email sequences. High-engagement attendees get the direct offer. Low-engagement attendees get a nurture sequence first. This kind of behavioral segmentation drives conversion rates that blanket follow-up emails cannot match. According to GetResponse's own benchmark data, segmented campaigns produce 100% higher click-through rates than non-segmented sends.

The AI Course Wizard is a newer feature that turns existing content (blog posts, documents, outlines) into structured course modules in roughly 30 minutes. For a creator who has years of blog content or workshop materials, this is the fastest way to repackage existing knowledge into a sellable course format. Instead of hiring a course designer at $2,000 to $5,000 to structure your content, the AI handles the outline and module organization while you review and refine.

Key features:

• Native webinar hosting with registration, reminders, and replays
• AI Course Wizard for fast course creation from existing content
• Visual automation builder with webinar attendance-based triggers
• Landing page builder with 200+ templates and A/B testing

Pricing: Free (500 contacts, email only). $19/month Email Marketing. $59/month Marketing Automation (webinars, automations). $119/month E-commerce Marketing.

Limitation: The free plan does not include webinars or the automation builder. You need the $59/month Marketing Automation plan to access the features that make GetResponse worth choosing for course creators. The course builder itself is template-driven and less flexible than Kartra or Systeme.io for custom course layouts.

Try GetResponse free or read the full GetResponse review.

How to pick the right one

The decision tree is simpler than the comparison table suggests.

You have no course revenue yet: Start with Systeme.io free. Build the course, launch it, see if it sells. Do not pay for anything until you have revenue.

You are making $1,000 to $5,000/month from courses: Kartra at $119/month consolidates your stack and gives you the best all-in-one course experience. Or invest in ThriveCart ($495 one-time) plus a $19 to $29/month email tool for lower ongoing costs.

You also run coaching or consulting: GoHighLevel at $97/month adds CRM, scheduling, and SMS to your course platform. No other tool here handles both client management and course delivery.

You sell via webinars: GetResponse at $59/month is the only platform that bundles webinar hosting with email and course templates.

You run high-ticket launches ($500+ courses): ClickFunnels at $97/month gives you the funnel architecture that maximizes revenue per visitor on high-ticket offers.

You teach through email, not video: ConvertKit at $0 to $29/month handles email-based course delivery better than any traditional course platform.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sell courses without a dedicated course platform like Kajabi or Teachable?

Yes. Kartra, Systeme.io, GoHighLevel, ClickFunnels, ThriveCart, SamCart, ConvertKit, and GetResponse all include course or membership delivery features. If you already use one of these tools for email or funnels, you can launch a course without adding a separate subscription.

What is the cheapest way to launch an online course in 2026?

Systeme.io's free plan. It includes a course builder, checkout pages, and email marketing for up to 2,000 contacts at $0 per month. You can host your first course, collect payments, and send automated sequences without paying anything.

Is ThriveCart Learn a real course platform or just a basic add-on?

ThriveCart Learn supports video lessons, drip content, quizzes, and student progress tracking. It is not as deep as Kajabi or Thinkific, but for most solo course creators selling one to three courses, it covers the essentials. The $495 one-time price makes it the cheapest long-term option.

Which course platform is best for coaches who also need a CRM?

GoHighLevel at $97 per month. It combines course hosting, membership areas, a full CRM with pipeline management, email, SMS, and scheduling. No other platform on this list bundles client management with course delivery at this price.

Should I use an all-in-one platform or a dedicated course tool?

If you already pay for email marketing and funnels separately, an all-in-one with a built-in course builder (Kartra, Systeme.io, GoHighLevel) consolidates your stack and saves $100 to $200 per month. A dedicated course platform only makes sense if you need advanced features like community forums, certificates, or cohort-based enrollment that all-in-ones do not offer.

Next steps

Pick the tool that matches your current revenue, not your projected revenue. If you do not have course sales yet, Systeme.io free removes every financial barrier. If you are already making money, Kartra or ThriveCart consolidates your stack and keeps more of that revenue in your pocket. Stop paying $199/month for a course platform when the tools you already own can do the job.

Use the Ea-Nasir tool finder to match the right platform to your exact budget and workflow.