Coaching Software

Kajabi Alternatives for Coaches: Who Should Switch, and to What (2026)

Sage.Coach October 17, 2026

A woman with short hair and glasses holding a clipboard, listening during a one-on-one session with a client whose back is to the camera

Quick answer: The best Kajabi alternatives for coaches depend on what you sell. Stay on Kajabi if courses and memberships are your income. Choose Paperbell if you sell session packages, or Sage if you run long one-on-one client relationships and need notes, goals, scheduling and billing in one client record.

I run a career coaching practice with 33+ active clients, and I build Sage because my own stack was Notion, Cal.com and a spreadsheet. So I’m not neutral. Here’s how I’d decide, including when not to leave Kajabi.

Why do coaches look for Kajabi alternatives?

It comes down to price or shape. Kajabi’s pricing page lists Basic at $179 a month, Growth at $249 and Pro at $499, with the limits set by contacts, not clients. Basic allows 2,500 contacts and 5 products. That is fair for a creator selling courses to a big list. It is a lot of platform for a coach with 15 clients.

The reasons I hear are about fit:

You sell sessions, not content. You pay for course and funnel tools you never open.
Your count is clients, not contacts. A pricing model built on list size doesn’t match a practice with 10 to 40 active clients.
Session notes live elsewhere. You still keep a second tool for what happened in each call.

What are the best Kajabi alternatives for coaches?

Pick by the job you need done. I’m describing what each tool is built around, not scoring it.

Paperbell. Built around packages, payments and scheduling for solo coaches. Good if your business is “sell a package, collect payment, run sessions.”
Sage. Built around the client record: sessions, notes, goals, scheduling, billing and agreements together. It’s mine, so weigh that. Pricing is by active client, from $99 a month for up to 5 clients, with unlimited coaches at every tier.
A course-first tool. If content is the product, Podia or Thinkific do that job with a smaller feature set than Kajabi.
A stack you assemble. A booking tool, a notes app and an invoicing tool. Cheapest on paper, but you do the copy-paste. Here are the five jobs any stack has to cover.

Is Kajabi still the right choice for some coaches?

Yes. Stay if you sell online courses, a paid community or a membership and want the site, email and payments in one place. Moving has a real cost, and a working setup beats a better-looking one you have to rebuild.

If your offer is a membership, read membership platforms for coaches first. The switch pays off when your pain is the one-on-one record: notes, session counts and client progress. You can run both: Kajabi for the course, a client-management tool for the practice.

How do you switch from Kajabi without losing client data?

Export first, move second. Run through this list before you cancel anything:

Export your contact list and purchase records. Keep any signed agreements. They are your record.
List what clients touch. Booking page, payment links, any course content. Rebuild only what they use.
Trial with three real clients. Dummy data hides the friction. One week of real sessions shows it.
Check the client view. A good portal shows what a coaching client needs to see, not just invoices.
Overlap for one billing cycle. Finish current packages in the old tool, start new clients in the new one.

FAQ

What is the best Kajabi alternative for coaches?
It depends on how you earn. Paperbell fits package sales, Podia and Thinkific fit course-first businesses, and Sage fits long-running one-on-one practices that need notes and goals in one place.

How much does Kajabi cost?
Kajabi’s pricing page lists $179, $249 and $499 a month for Basic, Growth and Pro, with lower rates on annual billing. Plans change, so confirm on their site.

Is there a free Kajabi alternative?
Sage has no free tier, but it has a 14-day free trial with no credit card. Check each tool’s client or contact cap before you build on it.

Can I move my Kajabi data to another tool?
You can export contacts and purchase records and rebuild from there. Course content may not transfer cleanly, so list what clients actually use and recreate only that.