Kajabi Vs Podia: Which Should You Choose? (2023 Comparison)

kajabi vs podia

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Kajabi Vs Podia (2023 Comparison)

kajabi vs podia

Published by Al Rose

Last Updated on May 5, 2023

Looking for a clear, in-depth comparison of Kajabi vs Podia so you can choose the right platform for your online business?

There are tons of considerations taken into account when setting up your own online platform. In this digital age, when you want to reach the maximum number of people, there are tools that do all the heavy lifting for you.

This article aims to set a competition between two online business platforms: Kajabi vs Podia. Kajabi provides a platform where you can market your content. While Kajabi has been in operation since 2009, Podia made its mark in 2014, focusing on memberships and digital courses. We will be focusing on notable parallels between the two.

Both online business/online course platforms do not have a free version but do provide a free 14-day trial.

For a short period ending soon, we have secured a special deal to extend Kajabi’s free trial from 14 days to 30 days for our readers. If you are interested in this special offer, click here for registration details

Table of Contents

Kajabi Vs Podia: Online Course Creator

Kajabi

Do you ever just randomly design a whole course?

As one of the top online course platforms, Kajabi gives the option of systematically targeting a niche audience. Your course can be related to any topic of your liking: health, beauty, photography etc. The design will be presented with the introduction first, then the components and sub-components to cover. With their course creation tools, you can make videos and online assessments to help aid learning.

Podia

Podia too has all the aspects required for an effective display of courses. You will be provided with an online course builder where you can easily add sections, files, links, texts and quizzes. Along with this, you will have a sales page, coupons to promote selling, a live message feature and a student management system.

All of this makes Podia a very strong Kajabi alternative in this area.

Winner

Being a beginner who wants to sell online courses, Podia would seem more user-friendly because of its user interface.

Kajabi Vs Podia: Templates

Kajabi

With Kajabi, whether you want to build a website, an online store, or even a blog, it can be constructed in a professional manner without having to worry about any kind of coding. 

These can be tailor-made to your needs, can display all kinds of media, plus have a drag and drop feature. All of this is meant to enhance performance.

These templates can be used for your landing page, storefront, library, sales pages, and email funnels. A particular them or color scheme will be followed in each template. 

They will include your featured items, blog tags, any downloadable items, and payment options. These will generally be large tiled icons that can be customized with ease.

Podia

With Podia, you can also design your own custom sales and landing pages. You can assign a layout, a theme, add in your bio, any links you think are relevant, and create an attractive page for potential customers.

Your landing pages will show your primary heading. You can even add video backgrounds. Some themes will provide you with bold colors, but you can choose a pastel scheme if that is your preference. Your promotions, pricing grids, testimonials, and images will display your brand’s proposition.

Access Your Free Kajabi Strategy Meeting

Following the steps below, you can secure a free 1:1 strategic session with a member of the Kajabi Customer Success team to help build your business on Kajabi.

Step 1: Sign up for your free Kajabi trial by clicking on this link or other links on this page

Step 2: You’ll get an email from us providing instructions on how to schedule your free Success Session.

Step 3: Schedule Session with a Kajabi expert and use their knowledge to create a personalized action plan for your business.

Winner

While both have the availability of customization, Kajabi wins this round by providing many more options to choose from.

Kajabi Vs Podia: Email Marketing

Kajabi

Using Kajabi, you can efficiently broadcast your message to your intended audience, or even your whole list. You can add in illustrations and emojis for that email to truly reflect you. 

You can even add in keys for a call to action in your emails. This would be helpful for businesses that have a niche product.

A key factor, however, is how all of this is automated. When a person enters their details in the sign-up page, it sets up a chain of events. 

A product inside a shopping cart, but was not purchased, a reminder email is sent to the consumer. Email sequences are sent about offers and special promotions. This sets up a communication network for every new lead, and increases the chances of purchases.

Podia

Now for Podia’s email marketing features. There are two options here. One, you can send a newsletter to keep your contacts updated. This would only be a handful of emails. Two, you can create a drip email campaign.

Through a system of funnels, for example, if a trial is bought, a trigger mechanism will be activated which will direct the consumer towards paid purchases.

Winner

Here, Kajabi is the clear champion with its automated email marketing features. Consumers can be adeptly informed about whole campaigns.

Kajabi Vs Podia: Affiliate marketing

Both platforms make it easy to create and manage your own affiliate program. Think of affiliation as a mutually beneficial agreement. It can help businesses who want their products to reach a wider audience.

Kajabi

An affiliate of your choosing, in Kajabi, will be given a link that directs users to your offer or checkout page. The affiliate should have a large enough network on social media sites like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Once they share the link, anyone who makes a purchase using that particular link in 30 days, the affiliate will receive a percentage of that sale.

Kajabi also enables you to communicate with affiliates using an Affiliate Announcement.

Keep in mind, the person who visits a page and makes a purchase should do so through the same browser for the affiliate to receive a cut.

Podia

Podia presents a tactical move in making customers engage further customers. It is your choice on the commission you want to pay to these affiliates, but a purchase through their link needs to be made within 15 days. Podia also provides an innovative setup to track the affiliates on board. All they need is an email address, and a PayPal account.

Winner

I would say this is a tie since both have highly developed mechanisms for their respective affiliate programs.

Kajabi Vs Podia: Membership

An online membership can be compared to one you get at country clubs. There is a certain fee you have to pay to access the facilities. Here, instead of a physical product, you have an online platform for your service.

Kajabi

Kajabi gives you free reign to post on your membership site. The more content you publish, consumers remain engaged and do not feel the need to cancel their subscription. This content can include articles, podcasts, informative videos, and even digital products such as online courses and e-books.

Podia

Podia is affording you the opportunity to get paid for giving people advice, or just posting creative content you would not have charged for otherwise. This can lead to more meaningful interactions, motivation to keep creating new content, and keeping your members satisfied through consistent engagement.

Winner

This portion has also resulted in a tie between the two, as both their membership programs award consumers with original content, and in turn benefit the creators.

Kajabi Vs Podia: A/B Testing and Analytics

First, let me explain to you what A/B testing is, if you do not really know. It is done to compare audience reactions to small variants of the same marketing activity. An example could be different colored headlines, where one can receive a more favorable response to the other.

Kajabi

Kajabi provides users with the opportunity to perform this testing and track the results. It can be performed on different aspects such as images, the subject of an email, the duration of any content, as well as offers presented to the public. Through this, different elements can be tested, and an optimal combination can be found to maximize sales.

Podia

Podia does offer A/B testing, but it is only for email headlines. That way, emails being sent out to consumers can be customized to their liking. For other kinds of tracking, Podia uses Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel.

Winner

Kajabi has no competition with regards to their A/B testing feature. They allow it to be used over a wide range of activities instead of just email headlines. Hence proving, they obtain a more beneficial insight.

Kajabi Vs Podia: Integrations

Kajabi

If you do not start out with Kajabi, and still prefer using some other tools, do not fear that they will be abandoned. To implement a certain amount of flexibility, Kajabi has Zapier Integration, which will effortlessly let you join your beloved tools with Kajabi. You can merge in over 500 applications of your choice.

Podia

Podia also adopted a similar mindset and can integrate with a range of third-party apps. Whether it be email service providers, payment processors, analytics, marketing tools, or advertising, Podia can connect with over a 1000 apps without any coding required.

Winner

Both Podia and Kajabi provide a similar range of integrations, the only difference being, Podia allows a greater number of connections. Since Podia’s system is better integrated, it wins this round.

Kajabi Vs Podia: Customer Support

Interacting with consumers and answering any queries they have is a vital part of any business.

Kajabi

Kajabi has adopted a two-tier approach. They have an online help center in their website. This covers general frequently asked questions, how to manage payments, marketing queries, building a website, creating products and how to become a partner. They even include refresher courses for the platform in Kajabi University.

Kajabi also has the feature of an automated chat, with the name Kajabi-bot, which is available 24/7, and has instant responses.

Podia

Podia has taken a very customer-centric approach. They too have a help center, where there are over 150 articles, answering any query you might have. You can access this help center at any time.

The differentiating factor here is the option of live chat. They have given timings of when live chat support is available, and an introduction to some of the ‘real’ people you can talk to.

Winner

Just on the basis of a live chat, Podia takes the cake. There is a limited amount of options you can ask a robot, and, at least for me, human interaction proves to be more helpful.

Kajabi Vs Podia: Ease of Use

Kajabi

With Kajabi, you find most of your business-related needs under one roof. Especially if you are just setting up, you can perform marketing, send emails, create products, and sell online courses. They have an instructional system that guides you through every step. They are also constantly updating features so even a layman can use them.

Podia

With Podia, you do not need to learn coding of any sort. It is simple to set-up and create your own storefronts, and product offerings. The menu for customization is wide enough to put through your own identity but limited enough as to not lose yourself in choices. Customers can access and buy products without difficulty.

Winner

Again, I will end this on a tie, as both platforms are meant to aid both sellers, and buyers, in every way possible.

Key Differences

Kajabi: Automation

This part gets a little technical as you need to know what if/then/when commands are. It means, if a particular action takes place, then the resulting outcome should be this. This will allow processes to be streamlined.

This “if” is a conditional that helps in automation. For example, if you want to single out people for an email, who picked a particular response. People who chose the color pink in a survey should be the only ones emailed. That will be your “if” condition. You can use this condition in pipelines, campaigns, events, forms, offers, and even posts.

Podia does not have this particular feature which makes Kajabi stand out.

Kajabi: Pipelines

For launching a product, giving promotional offers, or giving free reports, every aspect of marketing can be automated. Blueprints are given for the type of pipeline you want, or you can even create one your point zero. 

Such pipelines can capture emails and then send check-in emails, with any offer you want to present. 

The pipeline can have several videos which can outline the opportunity and experience, direct the consumer to the sales page, and finally, to the offer checkout. It is a way for new businesses to create relationships with consumers.

Podia does not have this particular feature which makes Kajabi stand out.

Podia: Messaging

Podia has imbedded this game-changing system within its platform. Game-changing in terms of customer dealings, at least. This feature allows you to directly message customers. 

Not only does this create engagement and personalization, but since you are interacting in real time with consumers, you can get immediate feedback. You can understand their context, deal with pressing queries, and give on the spot solutions.

Kajabi does not have this particular feature, and so lags behind in customer engagement.

Podia does not have this particular feature which makes Kajabi stand out.

 

Pricing

Kajabi

Kajabi pricing offers a choice from three monthly plans for users:

Basic: This gives 3 products, 3 pipelines, 10,000 contacts, 1 website and is priced at $149.

Growth: This provides 15 products, 15 pipelines, 25,000 contacts, 1 website and is priced at $199.

Pro: This offers 100 products, 100 pipelines, 100,000 contacts, 3 websites and is priced at $399.

Podia

Podia offers two distinct packages at monthly rates:

Mover: This is for entrepreneurs wanting to kickstart their business and is priced at $39.

Shaker: This for established business wanting to take the next step and is priced at $79.

Both packages provide services like messaging, webinars, email marketing tools, support, but Shaker has the advantage of affiliate marketing, memberships, and blogs.

podia

Conclusion

Here we are, at the end of the battle. Both platforms have given their all. Certain advantages favor Kajabi more, such as their array of templates and customization, their A/B testing mechanism, and their automation. Yet, for integrations, messaging, and customer support, Podia slithers ahead.

If compared purely on a pricing basis, Podia might seem attractive to emerging entrepreneurs. Even Podia’s most expensive option seems affordable when compared with the most basic package of Kajabi. Some might want to save on this monthly cost and go for an inexpensive option. But, with Kajabi’s price, they are also offering a wider range of services.

Frankly, I can only give my opinion. The choice is yours and will be made according to your own business requirements.

Choose Kajabi if:

  • You want an all-in-one platform
  • You want automated features present in emails, products, and pipelines
  • You want a greater range of customizable themes
  • You want to create an unlimited number of landing pages
  • You want to create email campaigns
  • You want a 24/7 support chat with a bot

Choose Podia if:

  • You want a standalone platform
  • You do not want any bound on the number of courses and memberships you can make
  • You want better support with affiliated marketing
  • You want a greater number of integrated tools
  • You want to send drip campaigns
  • You want a limited, but live chat