GoHighLevel and Kajabi both claim to offer everything you need to start and run a digital business in one place.
But which one is the better fit for you right now—and can it grow with your needs over time?
Having used both firsthand, I can tell you that things might not be as all-inclusive as they seem.
In the next 15 minutes, let’s save money, time, and frustration by connecting you to the best all-in-one digital business platform between Kajabi and GoHighLevel.
But hey, I know life gets busy, so here’s a quick overview to get you started.
What I like about Kajabi 👍
- Excellent course and coaching tools: I use Kajabi extensively for online courses, coaching sessions, and community building. Its content dripping, assessments, learner engagement, and progress-tracking tools are spot-on. GoHighLevel doesn’t quite match up here.
- Powerful customization tools: While GoHighLevel offers decent templates and merge fields, Kajabi goes all out to help you customize the look, feel, and functionality of your pages across your entire business.
- Podcasts and webinars: No need for integrations. Kajabi’s higher plans support both natively, which is pretty handy for marketing your products today.
- A bucketload of conversion optimization tools: You’ll find a variety of tools at your disposal, including A/B testing, heatmaps, exit-intent popups, order bumps, bundles, abandoned cart follow-ups, flexible payment options, and more. It’s like having a conversion-boosting toolbox!
- All-in-one business platform: While physical sales aren’t directly supported (you’ll need a Shopify integration for that), Kajabi goes all-out in making the tools it offers comprehensive and robust.
👎 What I don’t like about Kajabi: It can be a bit pricey, especially as you scale. The plans have some caps that might feel limiting compared to GoHighLevel’s unlimited approach. Also, I wish it had more integrations – GoHighLevel clearly has the edge there.
What I like about GoHighLevel 👍
- Awesome reseller program: If you offer done-for-you services or resell third-party business tools, especially as an agency, GoHighLevel is an excellent platform. You need just five $97/month clients (sub-accounts) to break even, and all additional income is yours to keep. It’s a great deal!
- Done for you and Done with you: For $299 extra, you can have a certified GHL expert set up your GHL account. This is a good consideration if you’d rather get to things quickly or just haven’t got the time on your hands. Plus, it helps shorten the learning curve.
- Responsive support: I found support to be both fast and knowledgeable. Getting unstuck means getting things done on time, both for yourself and your clients.
- Multi-channel approach: I particularly like that you can integrate calls, SMSs, MMSs, Facebook messengers, and more directly into your HighLevel funnels. It’s like having all your communication channels in one place!
- All-in-one business platform: HighLevel will likely cover most of your needs, from email marketing automation and page building to affiliate marketing and appointment bookings (CRM).
- Cost savings: You can indeed replace several tools with a single GoHighLevel subscription. Just be careful not to add too many integrations or send loads of broadcast emails or SMS/calls, which cost extra.
👎 What I don’t like about GoHighLevel: It can be almost overwhelming at first. Well, almost all comprehensive platforms have a steep learning curve, but GoHighLevel takes it to another level. So, don’t miss their onboarding call. It is a welcome reprieve. And if you need to, let a GHL-certified pro set up your account for that $299. Also, while it’s great for digital agencies, advanced content creators might feel there’s quite a bit missing compared to Kajabi.
Upfront bottomline
I find Kajabi is better suited to content creators and educators (like coaches and consultants). That’s because it is a comprehensive platform for creating, building, marketing, selling, and upselling digital products. It also offers more robust customization/branding tools than GoHighLevel. Check out my in-depth, hands-on Kajabi review here for more.
Meanwhile, HighLevel is built for all types of businesses, from lead generation to selling physical products. It is especially popular with digital agencies that offer done-for-you services. I particularly like their unlimited approach to contacts, emails, funnels, etc. across all plans, compared to Kajabi’s limited approach. Here’s my full GoHighLevel review for more.
That said, here’s how HighLevel and Kajabi compare in key areas, so you can decide what works for you.
Overview
What does GoHighLevel do?
GoHighLevel (also HighLevel or GHL) is an all-in-one business platform for marketers, creators, and businesses.
GHL designed its platform, particularly for digital agencies and software resellers.
However, it also offers tools like online course creation, community building, and marketing automation to help digital creators.
The goal of HighLevel is to replace each of your other tools with a single subscription to GoHighLevel. Check this out:
What does Kajabi do?
With Kajabi, you also get an all-in-one platform for creators, marketers, and digital agencies. Here’s a sneak peek from the redesigned Kajabi dashboard.
Kajabi, for example, offers top-notch tools for creating courses, managing online communities, and automating email marketing.
There are, however, nuanced differences between Kajabi and GoHighLevel in their “all-in-one” aspect. Watch out for the following before you shell out money for a paid subscription.
Key difference #1. Kajabi is more powerful for course creators
GoHighLevel offers some membership features, but to my mind is not intended for course creators.
Its membership system is more basic. Instead of delivering extensive courses or supporting online communities, it is likely geared toward supporting agencies and businesses offering services.
With Kajabi, you can almost immediately tell the platform is built for these.
Like, consider these tools:
- The drag-and-drop course builder lets you structure your course in modules, lessons, quizzes, and discussions/comments. It also supports myriad customization and assessments (including multi-choice tests). It’s thorough for sure!
- You can also drip schedule content (gate or lock content/course compliance) so that learners can consume it at your chosen pace.
- Your courses will also support audio, text, and video content formats. And yes, you can also upload and manage video content from Google Drive, Dropbox, YouTube, and Wistia.
- The Kajabi course player goes the extra mile, too. It includes individualized progress tracking, heatmaps to show where learners are dropping off, and course-level analytics.
- For coaches, you can hold individual, group, or live sessions, as well as offer downloadables.
- For community engagement, Kajabi has ane-learning gamification approach that is so beautifully sophisticated that I wrote an entire blog about it here.
Here’s a preview:
Overall, I recommend Kajabi if your business is focused on online courses, online communities, memberships, or a learning management system (LMS) with a business focus.
Key difference #2. GoHighLevel’s CRM and Workflow automations are more sophisticated
I like that HighLevel seamlessly integrates SMS/MMS, emails, Facebook Messenger, and voicemail drops into funnels.
You can also create detailed workflows for follow-ups, lead nurturing, and client retention, thanks to GoHighLevel’s robust CRM system.
It helps you capture a wealth of information about individual leads.
And this means you can segment and personalize your marketing strategies for higher conversion rates.
Plus, GoHighLevel includes a solid Calendar tool that powers a comprehensive appointment booking and contact management system, keeping everything streamlined and organized.
Also, GoHighLevel’s social media planner is versatile enough to replace tools like Buffer, CoSchedule, and Hootsuite—especially if you’re not after overly fancy features.
Meanwhile, Kajabi’s CRM enables you to segment audiences, score leads and even pull in followers from social media.
If you prefer, you can manually import contacts using a CSV file.
You’re also free to edit and add custom fields to enrich your contact profiles with additional details to improve campaign personalization.
Both GoHighLevel and Kajabi offer the flexibility to add, use, and remove tags and filters, making contact list management a breeze.
Like GoHighLevel, Kajabi lets you trigger actions such as sending coupons, emails, or granting product access using simple, once-set rules.
That said, I find Kajabi’s automation more tailored to course delivery and marketing than to comprehensive digital marketing workflows.
Key difference #3. Funnels and pipelines
I’ve always enjoyed using Kajabi’s funnel templates—they’re intuitive and effective. Of course, if you prefer more control, you also have the option to build your funnels from scratch.
It might seem like a small detail, but I really appreciate how Kajabi lets you pick a funnel template, customize it, and optimize it—all without leaving the page. You can visualize and adjust the entire process right there, making it seamless and efficient.
Kajabi automatically integrates your email marketing stack with your pipelines.
It sets up triggers and offers based on lead behavior.
This can help keep everything connected and streamline your workflow.
👎 Compared to GoHighLevel, Kajabi has one quack here. With the base $149/month plan, you’ll have just three funnels to work with – although you’ll get unlimited marketing emails and landing pages to go with it.
With GoHighLevel, you get unlimited everything; funnels, emails, landing pages, contacts, you name it.
I’ve found GoHighLevel to be pretty straightforward for creating funnels.
There’s no need to link different landing pages; it offers a visual, one-page experience that makes the process easy and intuitive.
Even better, GoHighLevel provides a wider variety of funnel templates than Kajabi, and they’re quite beautiful! A great head start on your funnel-building journey, in deed.
GoHighLevel funnels shine in multi-channel marketing, integrating two-way SMS/MMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, voicemail drops, and emails.
These channels often yield higher engagement rates than traditional emails, but it’s crucial to ensure GDPR compliance (of course).
Unlike Kajabi, which limits the number of funnels you can create across its plans, HighLevel offers unlimited funnels.
This makes GHL particularly well-suited for agencies or resellers managing multiple clients and products.
For niche players, both platforms deliver powerful funnel-building tools.
Key difference #4. Kajabi offers more customization options
Both platforms provide solid customization options with their drag-and-drop builders.
However, I’ve always preferred Kajabi’s customizability, especially with its theme templates.
These templates offer a strong foundation to start with, allowing for more personalized designs that align with your brand’s identity.
Kajabi’s templates definitely have that polished look, which can make a big difference in user experience.
Better, it offers over 40 elements to customize your pages. This means you can easily tailor the pages to just about any use case you can think of.
With Kajabi, you can whip up professional-quality web pages, blogs, and landing pages without needing to be a coding whiz.
And if you ever do want to dive into custom coding, that option is available in the $399/month plan.
On the other hand, GoHighLevel also offers a codeless experience for building your web, blog, and landing pages, making it easier to use.
But the page elements are not as many as Kajabi’s 40 options, but it’ll be enough.
On top of that, GoHighLevel brings a few features that might catch your eye, such as:
- Unlimited pages, allowing for boundless creativity
- Extensive customizability, whether you prefer to code or not, all at no extra cost
- A basic SEO tool, plus the ability to integrate a dedicated tool if you need more robust options
- Detailed web analytics for tracking and reporting
So, it really comes down to your preferences.
Do you lean towards Kajabi’s extensive customizability? Or, do GoHighLevel’s unlimited pages and integrated lead follow-ups speak to your needs?
Key difference #5. Kajabi provides more powerful conversion optimization options
GoHighLevel offers a range of options for setting up your e-commerce store and pages, including:
- The ability to create and sell unlimited products, no matter which subscription plan you choose
- Native support for selling physical products or the option to integrate with your favorite web store platform, like Shopify
- On-page live chat support to assist customers in real-time
And that’s not all! Here are a few more features to consider:
Kajabi’s checkout optimizations take e-commerce to another level.
- More payment options are available, including Kajabi Pay, PayPal, Stripe, all major credit cards, Buy Now Pay Later, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
- Easily add another payment gateway using Webhooks and Zapier.
- Implement upsells, cross-sells, downsells, and even pay-what-you-want pricing if you choose Kajabi Pay.
- Offer order bumps and bundle deals to increase your average cart value.
- Elaborate cart abandonment funnels help you recover lost sales.
- Plenty of checkout page design options help you create a seamless customer experience.
Overall, Kajabi really steps up its game to boost sales at checkout.
Key difference #6. Email marketing
GoHighLevel and Kajabi both provide unlimited emails, email broadcasts (for one-time announcements), and automated sequences.
That said, I find GoHighLevel’s multi-channel approach particularly impressive. It allows you to manage email, SMS, voicemail, and even social media marketing all from a single platform.
For instance, Kajabi includes email costs in its plans, while GoHighLevel charges $0.01 per email, which is separate from your monthly subscription.
If you have over 20,000 contacts, those costs can add up quickly.
Additionally, GoHighLevel’s email templates have a more basic appearance compared to Kajabi’s polished designs—although you can still customize sections with various elements.
That said, I commend GoHighLevel for its ability to deliver intricate workflows across multiple channels and trigger-based actions, such as cart abandonment reminders.
You can also track leads, split-test emails, and integrate appointment scheduling directly into your GoHighLevel campaigns. This is crucial for managing multiple clients or complex marketing sequences.
On the other hand, Kajabi’s customizable email templates are vibrant and allow you to create visually appealing emails with minimal experience.
You can also look forward to automated campaigns that deliver content based on user actions, which is vital for nurturing leads and engaging learners.
Plus, I enjoy how Kajabi manages email delivery, which boosts open rates.
In contrast, you’ll need to integrate Mailgun (or your preferred email service) to reliably send bulk emails through GoHighLevel.
Kajabi also makes it easy to create timed email sequences and automated follow-ups, such as welcome emails, webinar enrollments, and course purchases.
Kajabi also integrates with platforms like Mailchimp for more advanced email marketing features.
And, if you’re looking for depth and flexibility in your email campaigns with GoHighLevel, you can take advantage of the API, which is available on the $297/month plan or higher.
Key difference #7. Integrations
Kajabi doesn’t provide direct API access; instead, it connects with third-party apps through Zapier.
This allows you to integrate with various tools for email marketing, like Mailchimp, as well as payment gateways such as Stripe and PayPal, and webinar platforms.
GoHighLevel, in contrast, boasts a robust integration ecosystem.
With direct API access available at the $297/month plan or higher, you can create and implement diverse custom integrations–far more than Kajabi can handle.
Additionally, GoHighLevel offers native integrations with SMS providers like Twilio, email platforms such as ConvertKit and AWeber, and instant messaging channels like WhatsApp. Plus, its integration with Zapier expands your options even further.
Key difference #8. Is GoHighLevel cheaper than Kajabi?
Here’s the thing. Kajabi and GoHighLevel cater to different types of businesses with their distinct pricing structures.
Kajabi now offers four plans: Kickstarter ($69/month), Basic ($149/month), Growth ($199/month), and Pro ($399/month).
It’s worth noting that Kajabi, even at its highest tier ($399/month), doesn’t provide unlimited tools beyond emails and landing pages. Advanced features like affiliate marketing, custom branding, and webinars/podcasts are only available at the most expensive levels.
In contrast, GoHighLevel offers three distinct plans: the Starter plan at $97/month, the Unlimited plan at $297/month, and the SaaS Pro plan at $497/month.
Unlike Kajabi, all of GoHighLevel’s plans come with unlimited accounts, contacts, funnels, emails, and more. The two higher-tier plans even offer white-label solutions, including iOS and Android apps.
However, keep in mind that for email and SMS messages, you’ll incur additional costs, such as charges from Mailgun and Twilio. These can significantly increase your monthly HighLevel subscription, depending on your usage.
On the plus side, GoHighLevel lets you resell the platform as a branded SaaS product, which Kajabi doesn’t offer.
To take advantage of this, you’ll need the $497/month plan.
This plan lets you create, configure, and resell HighLevel sub-accounts (clients) with your own apps or Marketplace tools.
There’s also no limit to how many times you can resell it, giving you a great opportunity to generate extra revenue.
GoHighLevel vs Kajabi: Verdict
Ultimately, Kajabi and GoHighLevel cater to slightly different business needs.
Kajabi shines for content creators, providing a comprehensive suite of tools for courses, coaching, branding, and marketing automation.
On the other hand, GoHighLevel offers powerful CRM, reputation management, and multi-channel marketing capabilities.
With its extensive workflows, unlimited features, and reseller program, I believe GHL is an excellent option for agencies and businesses seeking to expand their client base with minimal restrictions.
