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Kajabi Fees Explained: Does It Take a Cut of Your Sales?

Nora Vance✱ Editorial voice, SkillonicaPublished October 8, 2026Updated October 8, 20268 min read

No, Kajabi doesn’t take a percentage of your sales.

That’s the direct answer, straight from the company’s own pricing FAQ. But “no platform fee” isn’t the same as “no fees,” and the gap between those two ideas is exactly where people get surprised on their first payout. Kajabi still runs payment processing through Kajabi Payments, and it still adds a surcharge if you insist on using a different payment provider. Neither of those is a secret, but neither is exactly front and center either.

Short answer

  • If you’re asking “does Kajabi skim a cut of each sale” → no, it doesn’t — that’s not how Kajabi charges you.
  • If you process payments through Kajabi Payments → you pay 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction on Basic, dropping to 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro.
  • If you use a third-party processor instead of Kajabi Payments or PayPal → you pay an extra surcharge on top: 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth, 0.5% on Pro.
  • If you use PayPal → you skip that surcharge entirely, same as Kajabi Payments.
  • If Kajabi Payments isn’t available in your country → the surcharge for using a third-party processor doesn’t apply either; it only kicks in where Kajabi Payments is an option you’re choosing not to use.
  • If you’re outside the US → the processing rates on Kajabi’s pricing page are quoted for US-based businesses, so check your actual rate before you budget around these numbers.

Why people think Kajabi charges a sales commission

The confusion isn’t irrational. A lot of course platforms do take a cut of revenue on their cheaper plans — Teachable charges a 7.5% platform fee on its Starter plan, for instance, and Podia charges 5% on Mover. So when creators go shopping and see that language elsewhere, they assume Kajabi works the same way. It doesn’t. Kajabi’s structure is 0% platform fee across Basic, Growth and Pro, what you pay instead is processing and, conditionally, a surcharge.

What processing actually costs you

Processing fees aren’t optional on any platform, somebody has to move the money, and card networks take their piece everywhere. On Kajabi, the rate depends on your plan: 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic ($179/month, or $143/month billed yearly), 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth ($249/month, or $199/month yearly), and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro ($499/month, or $399/month yearly). Notice the pattern, the pricier the plan, the better your processing rate. That’s a real incentive to upgrade if you’re doing meaningful volume, though I’d want to run your own sales numbers before assuming the upgrade pays for itself.

The surcharge nobody reads about until it hits them

Here’s the part that trips people up: if you skip Kajabi Payments and bring your own processor, Kajabi adds a surcharge on top of whatever that processor already charges you. That surcharge is 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth, and 0.5% on Pro. PayPal and Kajabi Payments are both exempt from it, so if you have a reason to avoid Kajabi’s native processing (maybe your business already runs on Stripe for other reasons), know that you’re paying extra for that preference, and the extra shrinks the higher your plan tier.

Does your country change the math?

Possibly, and Kajabi says so itself. The processing percentages listed on its pricing page are specified for US-based companies; rates differ in other countries. There’s a wrinkle worth knowing too: if Kajabi Payments isn’t available where you operate, the third-party surcharge doesn’t apply to you at all, since that surcharge is specifically for people choosing another processor over an available Kajabi Payments option. If you’re not based in the US, treat every number above as a starting point, not a guarantee, and confirm your actual rate before committing to a plan.

The contact limit is its own cost

Fees aren’t the only place Kajabi’s pricing can grow on you. Basic includes 2,500 contacts, Growth includes 25,000, and Pro includes 100,000. If you outgrow your tier’s contact limit without wanting to upgrade the whole plan, Kajabi sells a block of 25,000 extra contacts for $125/month. That’s worth knowing before you build an email list and get blindsided by a “contact limit reached” notice mid-launch.

Decision criteria

Three things should actually drive your choice here, each tied to a real number:

  • Your payment processor preference. If you’re happy using Kajabi Payments or PayPal, the surcharge never applies to you. If you need a different processor, budget for the surcharge: 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth, 0.5% on Pro.
  • Your plan tier and processing rate. Processing drops as you go up, 2.9%+$0.30 on Basic down to 2.7%+$0.30 on Pro, so high-volume sellers get a real, if modest, discount for paying more upfront.
  • Your contact list size relative to plan limits. 2,500 on Basic, 25,000 on Growth, 100,000 on Pro, with $125/month blocks of 25,000 extra available if you need to stretch a tier instead of upgrading it.

Decision table

Reader situation What to do Why
New creator, unsure of processor preference Stick with Kajabi Payments on Basic Avoids the surcharge entirely, no setup decisions to second-guess
Already using a specific processor for other business reasons Expect the surcharge, factor it into margin 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth, 0.5% on Pro, real money if you’re not using PayPal or Kajabi Payments
High transaction volume, price-sensitive on per-sale cost Consider Growth or Pro for the lower processing rate 2.7%+$0.30 on Pro vs 2.9%+$0.30 on Basic adds up over many transactions
Growing email list, not ready to upgrade the whole plan Either move to Growth, which already includes 25,000 contacts at $249/month, or buy a $125/month block of 25,000 extra contacts while staying on your current plan Which option costs less depends on what else you’d gain from Growth (more products, more admin users) versus just needing the contact headroom; neither is automatically the cheaper path
Comparing Kajabi against cheaper platforms Read the Kajabi vs Teachable and Kajabi vs Podia comparisons first Other platforms’ platform fees (Teachable’s 7.5% on Starter, Podia’s 5% on Mover) can outweigh Kajabi’s higher sticker price depending on your sales volume

Common mistakes

Assuming “0% platform fee” means “0% fees.” People read Kajabi’s FAQ, see the commission answer, and stop reading. Then processing fees show up on the first payout and it feels like a bait-and-switch, even though it was stated plainly, just not in the one sentence they focused on.

Switching to a third-party processor without checking the surcharge. A creator moves their existing Stripe setup into Kajabi because it’s familiar, not realizing the surcharge (2% on Basic) applies unless they’re on PayPal or Kajabi Payments. The fix is usually just switching to Kajabi Payments, but only if you catch it before a few months of sales have already eaten the difference.

Budgeting on the US processing rates when you’re not in the US. Kajabi says its rates are for US businesses and vary elsewhere, but it’s easy to skim past that line and plan your margins around 2.9%+$0.30 anyway. If your actual rate is different, your profit projections are wrong from day one.

Ignoring the contact limit until you hit it. Basic’s 2,500-contact ceiling feels generous until an email list grows past it mid-campaign. Buying the $125/month block is a cheap fix, but only if you notice the limit before Kajabi does it for you.

How Kajabi’s structure compares

If you’re deciding between Kajabi and something cheaper upfront, the real comparison isn’t the monthly price alone, it’s price plus fee structure plus what you actually need from the platform. The Kajabi review goes deeper into who the all-in-one approach actually suits. And if your budget is the main constraint right now rather than Kajabi specifically, the guide to the cheapest course platforms is a better starting point than this one.

FAQ

Does Kajabi take a percentage of my course sales? No. Kajabi’s own pricing FAQ states it doesn’t charge a platform commission on sales across Basic, Growth or Pro. What you pay instead is payment processing and, conditionally, a surcharge for using a non-exempt third-party processor.

What’s the cheapest way to avoid extra fees on Kajabi? Use Kajabi Payments or PayPal, both are exempt from the third-party surcharge. If you’re already set up with a different processor for other reasons, weigh whether switching saves you more than the hassle costs.

Does upgrading my plan actually save money on fees? It can, if you process enough volume. Processing drops from 2.9%+$0.30 on Basic to 2.7%+$0.30 on Pro, and the surcharge drops from 2% to 0.5% over the same range, but you’d need to run your own sales numbers to know if the plan price jump is worth it.

Can I avoid buying a $125/month contact block by just staying under the limit? Yes, if you’re disciplined about list hygiene, pruning unengaged subscribers keeps you under Basic’s 2,500 or Growth’s 25,000 without paying for extra headroom.

Is Kajabi more expensive than Teachable or Podia once fees are included? It depends entirely on your sales volume and plan choice on each side. Teachable’s 7.5% Starter fee and Podia’s 5% Mover fee can cost more than Kajabi’s processing-only model at volume, but Kajabi’s base plans cost more to begin with. The Kajabi vs Teachable and Kajabi vs Podia breakdowns walk through the specific numbers.

Does the free trial let me test the fee structure before paying? Kajabi offers a free trial (length isn’t stated on its pricing page) plus a 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans, so you can see the Kajabi Payments setup before committing, but you won’t see real transaction fees until you process actual sales.

How we got these numbers. Prices and fees come straight from the official pricing pages of Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, Podia, checked in September 2026. Where a value wasn’t published, the table shows “—”. Prices in this space change often — confirm on the provider’s site before you buy.