Kajabi offers more advanced customization
Unlike Podia, Kajabi offers advanced customization options on their “Pro” plan, which will allow you access to the code editor so you can edit the HTML/CSS of your Kajabi site.
This is a key selling point for creators who have a specific aesthetic, but only if they can afford the hefty price tag ($399/mo) that comes along with it (and don’t forget, unless you’re design and tech savvy, you still have to pay a designer and/or developer to do the work for you in the code editor, which is another added expense on top of the pricey monthly premium).
And remember, Podia is designed to be incredibly simple and easy to use (regardless of technical or design skill), which may outweigh access to advanced customization options.
Kajabi offers more templates
One of Kajabi’s strengths is the fact that they offer a variety of templates for products, websites, and pipelines/funnels. This can be a time-saver and also helpful for beginners who may not know where to start.
While Podia does not offer templates for products or pipelines/funnels, Podia does offer basic website templates that can be customized to fit your needs. Podia also offers a variety of unique, free tools that can help you instantly build core components for your online business, including:
Kajabi has slightly more advanced analytics
As covered in the chart a few sections above, Kajabi and Podia offer almost exactly the same analytics, but Kajabi offers two analytic options that Podia does not: Tracking pageviews and being able to parse the data by a specific timeframe (but again, you can get those metrics by integrating with Google Analytics).
Kajabi’s analytics Dashboard is also a little clearer and easier to follow, but these are all things Podia is working to actively improve in 2021 and beyond.
Podia offers live chat on storefronts and sales pages — Kajabi does not
Unlike Kajabi or ClickFunnels, Podia is the only online course platform that offers on-page live chat so you can answer questions and close deals with site visitors and communicate with customers who are logged in to Podia.
Not only is this a huge differentiator for Podia, it’s also a big added bonus for creators who want more opportunities to sell without having to shell out hundreds of dollars per month on expensive live chat software (or to try and build it themselves).
Podia offers course completion certificates — Kajabi does not
Podia offers built-in course completion certificates, but Kajabi does not (you’d have to use a third-party tool like Canva to create them then set up automated emails to deliver them upon course completion). While this may seem minor, it may be an important differentiator for certain creators and their students.
Podia offers more flexibility — Kajabi has limits on every plan
While Podia allows you to make unlimited products on paid plans, Kajabi has very strict limits on pretty much everything you need to run a successful online business (including products, pipelines, contacts, and more).
This is not only limiting, but can also become extremely expensive as your business grows since you’ll need to keep upgrading to more and more expensive plans in order to get more flexibility.
Podia offers free migrations — Kajabi does not
If you’re switching from another platform, Podia offers a free migration service with any paid annual plan to help you make the transition.
All you have to do is give the Podia team your login info and they’ll move all of your content and customers to Podia for free. Kajabi does not offer this as a paid or free service.
ClickFunnels vs Podia
Now that you know how Podia and Kajabi compare, let’s do the same for ClickFunnels so you can clearly see the differences, as well as the potential upsides and downsides.
Podia is built specifically for digital products and content creators — ClickFunnels is not
Like Kajabi, Podia was also designed specifically for content creators who sell digital products which means the platforms include the specific features and functionality content creators need to create, host, market, and sell products while also delivering a seamless student experience.
In contrast, ClickFunnels is made for any type of business selling any type of product and is focused on helping businesses capture and convert more leads. It may be a great complement to something like Podia or Kajabi, but it’s not going to give you everything you need to build a successful knowledge-sharing business.
Podia offers native online course, digital download, community, coaching, and webinar features — ClickFunnels does not
As noted above, Podia was designed specifically for content creators, which means the platform includes native functionality and support for common digital products including online courses, digital downloads, communities, coaching services, and webinars.
ClickFunnels, on the other hand, allows you to sell digital downloads and memberships, but doesn’t have a native course builder or other product-creation tools. This can be tricky when trying to create first-class products, present your products in the most cohesive way, deliver a seamless student experience, and engage with your students.
Podia is simple and easy to use — ClickFunnels requires tons of training and knowledge
There’s a reason Podia is top rated when it comes to usability — it’s designed to be dead simple and doesn’t require much (if any) training to use it. It also has a similar style to other LMS platforms, making it an easy tool to use if you’re coming from another e-learning platform.
While ClickFunnels may provide users with a lot of training and resources upfront, it can quickly become overwhelming and time consuming to learn everything and then to apply those learnings to your own business, especially if you’re a beginner.
ClickFunnels is significantly more expensive than Podia
When you compare ClickFunnels lowest tier plan to Podia’s lowest tier plan, ClickFunnels is almost four times more expensive; and, if you compare Podia’s most expensive plan ($89/mo) to ClickFunnels most expensive plan ($297/month), we’re talking over $200 more each month.
Granted, you’re getting a lot of trainings and bonus resources with that price (and two features Podia lacks: The funnels and advanced segmentation), but for many creators, that is not enough to justify the massive price hike.
Podia includes unlimited email marketing with every paid plan — ClickFunnels does not
On every paid Podia plan, you can send as many emails as you like and there’s no limit on the number of subscribers you can have.
ClickFunnels only offers unlimited email marketing with their Funnel Hacker plan, which means in order to have the most impact, you’d need to pay for the Premium $297/month option.
ClickFunnels offers pre-built sales funnels — Podia does not (but offers something similar)
As their name suggests, ClickFunnels is known for their “funnels” feature, which includes specific, pre-built funnels for a variety of marketing needs including generating leads, generating sales, and running an event like a webinar.
While Podia does not offer pre-designed funnels, you can build something very similar with Podia’s sales pages, which can be easily customized to fit your brand/aesthetic and can be used for a variety of needs, including generating leads, marketing products, collecting sales, getting sign-ups for your webinar, and so much more.
ClickFunnels offers A/B split testing — Podia does not
If you’re a more advanced marketer, having the ability to run split or A/B tests on your sales/landing pages may be important, and with ClickFunnels, you can test different pages, headlines, videos, buttons, images, copy, and more. Podia, on the other hand, does not offer built-in split or A/B testing.
ClickFunnels has more robust segmentation than Podia
While both platforms include segmentation capabilities, Podia’s segmentation is more limited while ClickFunnels is a bit more advanced with “smart lists” and “tagging” which allow you to learn specific information about your subscribers/customers, track their behavior, and send them targeted messages based on the aforementioned.
ClickFunnels offers tons of “bonuses” — Podia does not
If you sign up for ClickFunnels Platinum plan ($297/mo) they throw in a whole bunch of bonuses, including free events, trainings, books, courses, access to their private community, and more, which can be incredibly appealing for beginners and advanced creators alike.
That being said, Podia does have plenty of free resources for customers and non-customers, including:
ClickFunnels can be used to sell physical products — Podia cannot
With ClickFunnels, you can sell both physical and digital products, which is a big plus for businesses that sell a variety of products (versus one type). As a platform built specifically for digital products, Podia does not have the ability to support physical products at this time.
ClickFunnels offers advanced customization options — Podia does not
If you have a specific aesthetic, ClickFunnels offers advanced customization options (i.e. - custom CSS) that can help you achieve the look you desire, however you’re still sort of “stuck” with the overall ClickFunnels look-and-feel, which as we covered throughout this article, might look too “sales-y” for some businesses.
While it’s true that Podia does not offer advanced customization options at this time, you can still change things like colors, fonts, logo, favicon, add imagery, videos, sections, and more. The editor is also very easy to use (i.e. - drag-and-drop functionality) and the output (i.e. - sales pages, storefront, etc) always looks clean, modern, and trustworthy, no matter what you’re selling.
Podia offers unlimited video hosting built into the product — ClickFunnels does not
On any paid Podia plan, you can host as many videos as you like with as many products as you like, making it the ideal choice for content creators – particularly those who rely more on video or have a lot of products. ClickFunnels, on the other hand, does not offer video hosting built into the product.
Podia looks clean and modern — ClickFunnels looks cluttered and sales-y
Everything about Podia — from the product itself to our customer’s websites, sales pages, emails, and more — is simple, clean, and modern. It was purposefully designed to be easy for creators to build beautiful websites, pages, and emails that focus on their products and help them sell, without getting bogged down in too much customization or distracting elements.
In comparison, ClickFunnels pages tend to look more “sales-y,” dated, and cluttered, which can be distracting and a turn off for some customers.
You can build your entire website on Podia — this is not true of ClickFunnels
While both platforms allow you to create sales pages and landing pages, you won’t be able to build a true website on ClickFunnels, which can be difficult when you’re trying to create a “home” for your business, as well as a cohesive sales experience.
Podia, on the other hand, allows you to build an entire custom website complete with your sales/landing pages, as well as your “core” pages like a Homepage, about page, services page, and more.
Podia offers free migrations with any annual plan — ClickFunnels does not
If you’re moving your business from another platform or just need help getting all of your products and email lists set up and ready to go, Podia offers a free migration service to help you do just that (available on any annual plan). ClickFunnels does not provide a migration service of any kind.
Let’s compare all 3 online course platforms (Kajabi vs ClickFunnels vs Podia) across every feature and offering
Now that we’ve showcased each platform in depth and compared them to each other, check out the chart below which will help you quickly and easily compare the 3 options across every feature and offering.