Whether you’re looking to sell courses, build a community, or accomplish both at the same time, finding the right platform to sell your expertise is key to achieving your goals. The last thing you want to do is dedicate all the time, energy, and costs that go into this process only to end up hindered by the platform you build on.
Along your search for the best community & course creation platform, you’ll come across two popular choices: Mighty Networks vs Kajabi. While both prize themselves as the best “all-in-one” platform for creators, only one can reign supreme. And today, we’ll help you determine which of these choices best suits your needs as a creator.
While Kajabi is an incredible online course creation platform, Mighty Networks offers a bit more capabilities for creators to expand their products with community building, live events, apps, and more. But that’s just the beginning of what you need to know. We’ll crack the case on whether you should build on Kajabi vs Mighty Networks below, starting with a brief explanation nad overview of each platform.
What is the Difference Between Mighty Networks vs Kajabi?
We want to kick this conversation into gear by first unpacking some of the basic elements of each platform.
After we introduce the two contestants in today’s battle, we can begin to compare them side by side and highlight some of the key differences that separate them from one another. Because at first, they appear to do the same thing for the same type of creator. However, as you’ll soon discover, that is not the case.
Let’s start by introducing Mighty Networks:
An Introduction to Mighty Networks
Mighty Networks is considered to be one of the most innovative, all-inclusive solutions for creators. It helps you not only create and sell your expertise in the form of courses but also build a thriving community that you can continue to monetize over time. The platform uses “spaces” which are the building blocks you’ll use to sell courses, community membership, events, and more.
One of the foundational principles behind Mighty Networks is the fact that community belongs at the center of your ecosystem as a creator - whether you sell courses, memberships, or any other informational products. And as you’ll see when we start to compare the two platforms side by side, the focus on community is what sets Mighty Networks apart.
There are three different plans for creators on Mighty Networks:
- Community ($33/month): Best for beginners, this plan helps you build a community with native live streaming & video, chat & messaging, events & Zoom integration, and paid memberships. If you want to lay the groundwork for your info products business, this is a great starting point.
- Business ($99/month): This mid-level tier is best for most coaches and course creators, as it includes everything above along with the ability to create online courses, live cohort course creation, featured pages & events, analytics & member data, Zapier APIs, and other automation workflows.
- Mighty Pro (contact for pricing): If your business is thriving and you want to level it up, this plan will empower you to do so. It includes your own iOS & Android apps to help you create the best community experience possible (with branded app notifications), a white-labeled app/web experience, and strategy/migration services & support.
Now, let’s bring in the other half of today’s debate: Kajabi.
An Introduction to Kajabi
If Mighty Networks is the premier community-building platform for creators, then you can think of Kajabi as the premier course creation platform. It’s designed specifically for this sole goal - with more features and capabilities in course creation than virtually any other platform.
Now, with that said, Kajabi does offer community-building capabilities as well - but these are less robust than Mighty Networks. This is by design, though, as Kajabi believes that this course-first mentality actually creates a better experience for not just you, the creator, but for your community members as well.
Just like Mighty Networks, you can choose from three different plans on Kajabi. Although this time, the pricing is a bit higher:
- Basic ($119/month): You can get your business up and running with up to 3 products, 3 funnels, unlimited landing pages, unlimited marketing emails, 10,000 contacts, 1,000 active customers, 1 website, and 1 admin user.
- Growth ($159/month): As your community scales, you can expand your offerings with up to 15 products and 15 funnels. Along with unlimited landing pages/marketing emails, you now have access to 25,000 contacts, 10,000 active customers, and 10 admin users. What’s more, you get access to an affiliate program, 24/7 chat support, advanced automations, and the ability to remove Kajabi branding.
- Pro ($319/month): On this top-tier plan, you and your team can scale even higher. You can create up to 100 products and 100 funnels. You can have as many as 100,000 contacts and 20,000 active customers while creating up to 3 different websites and leveraging 25 admin users. You also get a custom code editor on this plan - so you can really make your community your own.
Now that you have a basic understanding of the two different platforms in today’s conversation, let’s begin comparing Kajabi vs Mighty Networks side by side.
Mighty Networks vs Kajabi: Which is Better for Creators?
We want to preface this discussion by saying that the right choice in the Mighty Networks vs Kajabi debate should be contingent on your goals as a creator. It can really be this simple: if you want to focus on course creation, you’ll probably have a better experience with Kajabi. But if your goals span beyond course creation and you want the ability to monetize a community itself, then Mighty Networks may be your best bet.
With that said, what if you want both - the best course creation capabilities along with community monetization options? We’ll do our best to help you find a solution that offers the best of both worlds by comparing Kajabi vs Mighty Networks below. Let’s start by assessing the capabilities for creators on each platform.
Website Creation & Customization
On Kajabi, you have access to a library of pre-built website designs - each of which can be equipped with a fully usable navigation bar. You can take one of the templates and make it your own with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. What really sets Kajabi apart here is the fact that you can not only create a website and blog - but individual landing pages and funnels to sell your products.
On Mighty Networks, you build your website through “spaces” which are the building blocks for your projects. Spaces can be customized to meet your exact needs with up to 8 different features per space. For example, you can create a course space and enhance it with the chat feature which allows members to discuss the curriculum or network in real time.
Another really unique feature is the feed - where members can create posts, polls, and more. Other features include a discovery page for important content, events, a member directory, and a standalone webpage.
While you can create a solid website on Mighty Networks through these spaces, the more customizable interface of Kajabi takes the edge here in our book.
Product Creation Capabilities
This is really what matters the most to creators - what can you create, and how easily can you create it?
There are four main products creators can offer on Kajabi: courses, coaching, community, and podcasts. Each of these products comes equipped with a host of features to enhance the overall experience for you and your community.
For example, courses can be text/video, include quizzes, exclusive downloads, and more. Your coaching business can be integrated with calendar apps so students can book 1-on-1 calls. Your community can be enhanced through meetups, challenges, and more. Once you select the specific product you want to create within Kajabi, you’re taken through a seamless creation process step by step.
Because most creators are interested in creating courses, we want to talk about what makes Kajabi’s course creation process so special. You can set up automations within each course - for example, if a member completes a lesson, they’re sent a new offer or subscribed to an ongoing email sequence. What’s more, Kajabi offers certificates of completion for students - which is a huge plus.
Over on Mighty Networks, course creation is based on spaces. You can choose the type of course you want to create - typical online courses vs cohort courses - and then customize the course to meet your needs from there. While the features we discussed earlier are a nice way to enhance the experience for users, the course creation capabilities on this platform pale in comparison to Kajabi. And this is evident by the unbiased Creator Friendliness Score difference:
- Mighty Networks: 59.74
- Kajabi: 68.83
Because this is perhaps the biggest takeaway from the article, we want to reiterate this: Kajabi offers more control over the visual and practical experience of your course than Mighty Networks. However, the actual community building and management aspect of Mighty Networks has an edge. That’s because users have to access your Kajabi course in able to access the community - it can be a bit cumbersome.
Part of what gives Kajabi an edge in terms of product creation capabilities and that Creator Friendliness score is the level of support creators have. Kajabi users have access to the Facebook group with other creators so you can find answers to questions and network with other creators. They also offer live chat support - which is available through Mighty Networks as well - but lack the robust support documentation that Kajabi offers.
Pricing & Plans
If you’re just interested in the bottom line - meaning what you pay to create on Mighty Networks vs Kajabi - then read through as we summarize the pricing and plans of each platform to wrap up this conversation.
Mighty Networks is the more cost-effective choice - as their entry-level tier starts at just $33/month compared to $119/month at Kajabi. However, the difference in these plans isn’t just price - but what you’re paying for. With Mighty Networks, you upgrade your plan to unlock additional features - whereas you are paying to unlock more volume/scalability with higher price tiers at Kajabi.
You aren’t limited in terms of how many courses you can create, how many members you can have, and how many hosts/admins you’re allowed on Mighty Networks - which is a key difference between the two platforms.
With that said, you can’t even create courses on the lowest pricing tier at Mighty Networks, so it actually makes more sense to compare their Business plan ($99/month) to Kajabi’s Basic plan ($119/month). Still, Kajabi costs more - but it’s been said that you get what you pay for.
So, Which is Better: Mighty Networks vs Kajabi?
Now, we hope that you’ve already begun to see which platform is right for you in terms of Kajabi vs Mighty Networks. Think about it like this: Kajabi is your all-in-one course creation platform with community-building capabilities. With Mighty Networks, though, community isn’t an add-on to the course features - community is the very foundation of the platform.
So, ask yourself what matters more to you: easily building a thriving community and selling courses/other info products along the way or the best course creation and info product experience possible - with the ability to build community at the same time. From there, it’s a pretty simple decision!
Final Thoughts on the Kajabi vs Mighty Networks Debate
While you came here for help choosing between Mighty Networks vs Kajabi, we want to remind you that there are a few other incredible platforms that belong in the conversation with these two platforms as well.
We have similar comparison articles breaking these down for you - such as our guides on Thinkific vs Kajabi, Podia vs Thinkific, Kajabi vs Podia, or Circle vs Mighty Networks. You can also consider choosing between Podia vs Teachable, Circle vs Tribe, or Learnworlds vs Podia.
Otherwise, it’s time to really consider the points we’ve laid out in this Kajabi vs Mighty Networks comparison and choose the right platform based on your goals as a creator. Then, once you’ve made the decision, get to work and start building!