Kajabi is a solid platform. We're not here to pretend otherwise. They've been in the game for over a decade, they've helped thousands of creators build courses and memberships, and they've earned their reputation. When creators ask us "should I choose BTS or Kajabi?" we don't roll our eyes or launch into a sales pitch.
We built BTS differently on purpose. Not because Kajabi is bad—but because we saw an opportunity to rethink what creator business infrastructure could look like in 2026 and beyond.
At BTS, we believe creators deserve to own what they build. That's the fundamental philosophy behind everything we do. BTS is where creators turn content and community into real businesses—not just another monetisation tool bolted onto someone else's platform.
In this comparison, we'll be honest about where Kajabi shines, where we think we're better, and most importantly—who should choose which platform. Because the right answer isn't always us, and we're confident enough to say that.
Let's dig in.
Quick Comparison Table
| Feature | BTS | Kajabi |
|---|---|---|
| **Starting Price** | Free (Starter Plan) | $89/month (Kickstarter) |
| **Pro-Level Pricing** | $149/month + 3.5% | $499/month (Pro Plan) |
| **Platform Fee** | 10% free tier / 3.5% Pro | 0% (but higher subscription) |
| **Setup Time** | Launch in a day | Weeks to fully configure |
| **Design Philosophy** | Modern, brand-forward | Functional, template-based |
| **Learning Curve** | Minimal | Moderate to steep |
| **Best For** | Creators building owned businesses | Course creators wanting all-in-one |
| **Community Features** | Native, integrated | Add-on feature |
| **Email Marketing** | Integrated essentials | Full marketing automation |
| **Website Builder** | Brand-focused pages | Full website builder |
| **Mobile App** | Native experience | Pro plan only |
| **Payouts** | 1-5 days (same-day US) | Varies by processor |
| **Global Coverage** | Most countries | Most countries |
Our take: Kajabi packs more features into their higher tiers, but you're paying enterprise prices for what often feels like enterprise software. We designed BTS to get you earning faster with less overhead.
Why We Built BTS Differently
The creator economy is fragmented. That's not a marketing line—it's the reality we saw when we started building BTS.
Here's what a typical creator's tech stack looked like before platforms like ours existed: Patreon for memberships, Teachable for courses, Mailchimp for emails, Circle for community, Gumroad for digital products, Calendly for coaching calls, Stripe for payments, and a Squarespace website trying to tie it all together.
That's eight different platforms. Eight logins. Eight billing cycles. Eight support teams. Eight places where your data lives—and none of them talk to each other.
Most creator platforms optimise for transactions, not ownership. They want a piece of every sale. They want you dependent on their ecosystem. They want your audience to feel like their users.
We built BTS because we think that's backwards.
Infrastructure, Not Just Tools
BTS is the creator business infrastructure. When we say "infrastructure," we mean the foundation that everything else runs on. Not a tool you add to your stack—the stack itself.
From our experience: "We've seen creators waste months trying to connect disparate tools, only to end up with a Frankenstein system that breaks whenever one piece updates."
Everything runs behind the scenes in one space. Your content, your community, your payments, your member data—it all lives in one place that you control. No integrations to maintain. No data silos. No duct tape.
What "Owning Your Business" Actually Means
When we talk about ownership, we're not being philosophical. We mean practical things:
- Your member list is yours. Export it anytime. No hostage situations.
- Your brand is front and centre. Not our logo, your logo.
- Your pricing is your choice. We don't dictate what you can charge.
- Your relationship with members is direct. We're invisible to them—you're not.
BTS's take: "The best infrastructure is the kind you don't notice. We run the behind-the-scenes machinery so you can focus on creating, connecting, and growing something you own."
The Specific Problems We Saw
When we researched the market before building BTS, we kept hearing the same frustrations:
- "I'm paying for 10 tools but using 20% of each one."
- "My community feels disconnected from my content."
- "Setting up takes longer than actually creating."
- "I don't feel like I own my business—I'm renting it."
- "The platforms look corporate, not like *my* brand."
These weren't edge cases. These were creators with 50,000+ followers, making real money, feeling trapped by their own tech stack.
BTS gives creators one place to build something they own. That's not a tagline—it's our answer to fragmentation.
Where Kajabi Shines
Let's be real: Kajabi has been doing this for a long time, and they've gotten genuinely good at certain things.
Completeness Is Their Superpower
Kajabi is an all-in-one platform, and they mean it. Email marketing with automation sequences. Landing page builders with A/B testing. Full website creation. Course hosting with completion tracking. Membership sites. Podcasting. Analytics dashboards. Payment processing.
What we've learned: "Creators who want a single login for literally everything—and have the budget for it—find real value in Kajabi's comprehensiveness."
If you're the type of creator who wants email automation workflows that rival HubSpot, Kajabi delivers. Their email marketing isn't a stripped-down afterthought—it's a legitimate marketing automation system built into the platform.
Proven at Scale
Kajabi has processed over $8 billion in creator sales. That's not nothing. They've seen edge cases we haven't seen yet. They've handled Black Friday rushes for creators with hundreds of thousands of students. Their infrastructure has been battle-tested in ways that only time provides.
Course Creation Is Deeply Developed
If your business is primarily courses—structured learning paths with videos, quizzes, certificates, and completion tracking—Kajabi's course builder is genuinely robust. They've had years to refine the student experience, the admin interface, and the reporting.
Their course player is polished. Their student progress tracking is detailed. Their certification system works out of the box.
Marketing Automation for the Ambitious
Kajabi's pipeline feature (their version of funnels) is sophisticated. If you want to build complex automated sequences—webinar funnels, launch sequences, abandoned cart recovery, conditional email paths based on behaviour—Kajabi can handle it.
Our honest take: We don't try to compete with Kajabi's marketing automation depth. That's not our focus, and we're okay with that.
Where We Think We're Better
Now for the part where we explain why we exist. We're not better at everything—but we're better at specific things that matter to a specific type of creator.
Design That Doesn't Look Like 2015
Unlike Kajabi's classroom-style interface, BTS is designed to look and feel like a modern brand, not an online course portal from the early 2000s.
This isn't superficial. Design affects how your members perceive your brand. When someone pays for access to your creator business, they should feel like they've entered your world—not a generic SaaS platform.
From our experience: "Creators consistently tell us that their members compliment how their BTS space looks. That never happened with their previous platforms."
Our design philosophy is brand-forward. Your colours. Your typography. Your aesthetic. We stay behind the scenes (literally our name) so your brand stays front and centre.
Getting Started in Hours, Not Weeks
Kajabi is powerful, but power comes with complexity. We've talked to creators who spent weeks just configuring their Kajabi setup before launching anything.
Most creators launch on BTS within a day. Not because we're limited—because we're opinionated about defaults. We made decisions so you don't have to agonise over settings.
Our methodology:
- Sign up (free to start)
- Upload your content
- Set your pricing
- Customise your brand
- Launch
No PhD in marketing automation required. No 47-video tutorial series to watch first.
Transparent, Creator-Friendly Pricing
Let's talk numbers.
Kajabi's pricing as of January 2026:
- Kickstarter: $89/month
- Basic: $179/month
- Growth: $249/month
- Pro: $499/month
BTS pricing:
- Starter: Free (10% platform fee)
- Pro: $149/month (3.5% + 30¢ per transaction)
Our data shows: "Creators earning $5,000/month pay significantly less with BTS Pro than with Kajabi Basic—and get features that require Kajabi Growth or Pro."
We designed our pricing for creators who are building, not just those who've already built. The free Starter plan lets you launch and validate before investing. Our Pro plan costs less than Kajabi's entry-level paid option while giving you more.
The Ownership Philosophy
Kajabi monetises content, while BTS helps creators build a real business.
That's not a knock on Kajabi—it's a different philosophy. Kajabi is built around courses and content delivery. BTS is built around the entire creator business: content, community, commerce, and connection.
When you build on BTS, you're not just hosting content. You're building a business asset. Something with real value. Something you could theoretically sell someday because you own the relationships, the data, and the brand.
Speed and Simplicity Over Feature Bloat
Kajabi has approximately 847 features (we're exaggerating, but not by much). That's great if you'll use them. It's overwhelming if you won't.
We focus on structure and momentum, not algorithms. Every feature we add has to earn its place by helping creators move faster, not by checking a competitive checkbox.
What we've learned: "The most successful creator businesses aren't the ones with the most features—they're the ones that launched quickly and iterated based on member feedback."
Who Should Choose Kajabi
We're confident enough to tell you when Kajabi might be the better choice.
Enterprise Course Creators
If you're selling courses at $997+ with complex launch sequences, webinar funnels, and sophisticated email automation, Kajabi's marketing tools justify their higher price. You'll use those features. They'll generate ROI.
Creators Who Need Full Website Control
Kajabi includes a full website builder. If your entire online presence needs to live on one platform—blog, landing pages, sales pages, member area—and you don't want to touch WordPress or Webflow, Kajabi handles it.
Those Already Deep in the Kajabi Ecosystem
Migration is painful. If you've spent years building funnels, email sequences, and automations in Kajabi, switching might cost more in time than it saves in money. Sometimes staying put is the smart play.
Creators Prioritising Email Marketing Sophistication
If email is your primary sales channel and you want HubSpot-level automation without HubSpot, Kajabi's email marketing is genuinely powerful. Behavioural triggers, conditional logic, advanced segmentation—it's all there.
Our recommendation: "If you immediately thought 'yes, that's me' to any of these, Kajabi deserves serious consideration. No platform is right for everyone."
Who Should Choose BTS
If a creator has an audience but no structure, BTS is the answer. Here's who we built this for:
Education-Focused Creators with 10k+ Followers
You have an audience. You have expertise. You have content ideas. What you don't have is a cohesive business structure. You're tired of duct-taping tools together and calling it a business.
BTS gives you the infrastructure to turn that audience into a real, owned business—not just a collection of monetisation experiments.
Creators Who Value Design and Brand
If you cringe every time you send members to a platform that looks like corporate software, you're our people. BTS is designed to disappear. Your brand stays visible; we stay invisible.
Those Tired of Paying Enterprise Prices
Kajabi's Pro plan costs $499/month. That's $6,000/year before you've made a single sale. For creators in the building phase, that's a heavy bet.
BTS lets you start free, prove the concept, and scale your costs alongside your revenue. Pay more when you earn more.
Creators Building for Ownership
You're not trying to create a side hustle. You're building an asset. Something with equity value. Something you could sell, partner on, or pass down.
BTS is not a social network or a marketplace. We're infrastructure for creator businesses that want to exist independently.
The "Simple but Scalable" Crowd
You want to launch this month, not next quarter. You want to learn the platform in hours, not weeks. You want power when you need it without complexity when you don't.
BTS's take: "Our best creators aren't the most technical—they're the ones who launched quickly and focused on serving their members instead of configuring their platform."
Making the Switch
Already on Kajabi and considering BTS? Here's what migration looks like.
What Transfers Easily
- Your content: Videos, downloads, and materials move over smoothly
- Your member data: Email addresses, names, and basic info export cleanly
- Your pricing structure: Set up equivalent tiers in BTS
- Your brand assets: Logos, colours, and imagery work across platforms
What Requires Rebuilding
- Email automations: Kajabi's sequences don't export; you'll rebuild simpler versions
- Complex funnels: Our approach is different; you'll likely simplify
- Course completion data: Historical progress typically doesn't transfer
How We Help
We don't leave you alone with a CSV file and good intentions. Our creator success team has migrated creators from Patreon, Teachable, Kajabi, and others. Real humans who understand the process and can guide you through it.
Our recommendation: "Based on working with migrating creators, we suggest running both platforms briefly during transition. Let members naturally move over rather than forcing a hard cutoff."
Most migrations complete within 2-4 weeks, depending on content volume and community size.
Our Honest Take
Here's where we land after thousands of words of comparison:
Kajabi is enterprise software for course creators. It's comprehensive, powerful, and priced accordingly. If you're running a sophisticated course business with complex marketing needs and you have the budget, it delivers.
BTS is infrastructure for creator businesses. It's modern, fast, and designed for creators who want to own what they build. If you're building a business around your content and community—not just selling courses—we think we're the better fit.
We built BTS because creators are forced to stitch together tools that never become a real business. We wanted to fix that. Not by adding more features than everyone else, but by building the foundation that everything else runs on.
$1.4 million paid out to creators. 1,600+ creators on the platform. Growing fast because the approach resonates.
Try the free Starter plan. Launch something. See how it feels. You can always upgrade—or switch to Kajabi—based on actual experience instead of comparison articles.
BTS is where creators turn content and community into real businesses. That's the bet we made when we built it. That's the promise we keep every day.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does BTS cost?
BTS offers a free Starter plan with a 10% platform fee—you only pay when you earn. Our Pro plan is $149/month plus 3.5% and 30¢ per transaction, significantly less than comparable Kajabi tiers. In our experience, most growing creators find Pro pays for itself quickly through lower percentage fees. Check our pricing page for the full breakdown.
Is BTS free to use?
Yes. Our Starter plan is genuinely free to launch with—no credit card required, no trial period. You keep 90% of earnings while you validate your business. Upgrade to Pro when the math makes sense for your revenue level.
What makes BTS different from other creator platforms?
We focus on creator business infrastructure, not just monetisation. Everything runs behind the scenes in one place—content, community, payments, and member data—so you can focus on creating. We're not a social network, not a marketplace, not a course platform. We're the foundation your creator business runs on.
Can I migrate my existing members to BTS?
Absolutely. We help creators migrate from platforms like Patreon, Teachable, Kajabi, and others. Member data exports and imports cleanly, and our success team guides you through the process. Most migrations complete in 2-4 weeks with minimal member disruption.
How long does it take to set up BTS?
Most creators launch within a day. Our onboarding is designed for speed—opinionated defaults mean you're not buried in configuration options. Upload content, set pricing, customise branding, launch. No 47-video tutorial required.
Does BTS take a percentage of my earnings?
Yes, transparently. Starter plan: 10% platform fee. Pro plan: 3.5% plus 30¢ per transaction. Unlike platforms with hidden fees or complex processing charges, you always know what you're paying. Our fee structure rewards growth—earn more, keep more.
What kind of support does BTS offer?
Real humans who understand creator businesses. Our creator success team provides hands-on support—not just ticket systems and help articles. We help with migration, launch strategy, and ongoing optimisation. Creators consistently cite support as a reason they stay.
Can I use my own domain with BTS?
Yes. Pro members connect custom domains for a fully branded experience. Your members see yourbrand.com, not behindthescenes.com/blog/yourbrand. It's your business; it should look like it.
Is BTS better than Kajabi?
It depends on what you're building. We built BTS for creators who want to own their business infrastructure—content, community, and commerce in one place. Kajabi excels at sophisticated course creation and marketing automation. Different tools for different goals. We're confident BTS is better for our target creators.
Can I use both BTS and Kajabi?
Some creators do run multiple platforms during transition or for specific use cases. But most find BTS handles everything they need in one place—that's the point of infrastructure. Running multiple platforms usually adds complexity without proportional benefit.
Does BTS have email marketing?
Yes, integrated essentials for member communication, announcements, and engagement. We don't try to replicate Kajabi's full marketing automation suite—that's not our focus. If you need HubSpot-level email complexity, Kajabi or dedicated email tools might serve you better.
What payment methods does BTS support?
We support major credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other popular methods through our payment infrastructure. Payouts reach creators in 1-5 days globally, with same-day options available for US creators. We process payments in most countries excluding certain restricted regions.
Can I sell courses on BTS?
Yes. You can host video content, create structured learning paths, and sell access through subscriptions or one-time payments. We're not a dedicated course platform with quizzes and certificates—we're infrastructure for creator businesses that might include courses alongside community, downloads, and other offerings.
What types of content can I sell on BTS?
Subscriptions (monthly/annual), pay-per-view content, one-time digital products, tips, custom requests, and bundled offerings. You control pricing for everything. Our monetisation flexibility supports whatever business model fits your audience.
Is BTS good for beginners?
If you have an audience (10k+ typically) and something to offer them, yes. We're designed for speed—launch quickly, learn from real members, iterate. We're not ideal for creators still building their first audience. You bring your audience; we help you turn them into a business.
How does BTS compare to Patreon?
Patreon monetises content, while BTS helps creators build a real business. Patreon is a tip jar with tiers; BTS is business infrastructure. Different tools, different philosophies. Many creators migrate from Patreon when they're ready to own their business rather than rent space on someone else's platform.
Does BTS have a mobile app?
Yes. Members access your content through a native mobile experience. Your brand stays front and centre—they're engaging with your business, not our app. The experience is designed to feel like your product, not a third-party platform.
What's the catch with the free plan?
No catch. We take 10% of transactions instead of a monthly fee. You pay when you earn. We're betting that creators who succeed on our free tier will upgrade to Pro when the math makes sense—that's our business model. Start free, scale when ready.
How do I get started with BTS?
Sign up at behindthescenes.com. No credit card required for Starter. Upload content, set pricing, customise your brand, launch. Most creators go live within 24 hours. Our team is available if you want hands-on guidance through the process.
Why did you build BTS?
Because the creator economy is fragmented. Creators are forced to stitch together tools that never become a real business. We built BTS to be the infrastructure behind the scenes—one place to build something you own. $1.4M+ paid out to creators so far, 1,600+ creators building on the platform. The approach is working.
Key Takeaways
- Kajabi is comprehensive but expensive—enterprise software pricing for enterprise-level marketing automation
- BTS is infrastructure for ownership—modern design, fast setup, creator-friendly pricing
- Choose Kajabi if you need sophisticated email automation and have the budget for it
- Choose BTS if you want to build a real business you own, not just monetise content
- Both platforms work—the right choice depends on your specific goals and situation
About the Author
The BTS Team is the Product Team at BTS. We built BTS to solve the fragmentation problem we saw creators struggling with every day. Our experience comes from working directly with 1,600+ creators building real businesses on our infrastructure.
This article reflects BTS's methodology and perspective as of January 2026. We're obviously biased—we built one of these platforms—but we've tried to be genuinely helpful rather than just promotional. Try both if you're unsure. The right answer becomes clear when you actually use the tools.