Who Does It Better? Shiken or Kajabi?

All course creators want to use the best online course platforms for their business, but there are so many to choose from and it can be hard to know which one is for you. If you’ve been searching for a while, you’ll likely have come across Kajabi at some point.

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What is Kajabi Good For?

As one of the market-leading course-creation websites, it has built up an excellent reputation for good reason. Started in 2010 by Kenny Rueter, it sells itself as an all-in-one platform, offering website building, course creation, selling and marketing in one place for one price. If you don’t want to deal with external providers and like the idea of simplicity in your fledgling business, then this might seem very attractive.

If, however, you want a little more flexibility in your business, you might prefer a platform like Shiken, which gives you the options to use your existing website if necessary. Shiken also gives you more variety in the course creation process, so your courses are more personalized, helping them to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

So which platform is best for you? The answer lies in their unique features.

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Everything in one place for easy course creation and management

The biggest benefit of Kajabi is the fact that it has an integrated solution for every part of the course creation process. Not sure how to structure your course? The Kajabi AI tool can plan an outline for you to work from. Need a website to give context to your business and make your courses easy to find? The Kajabi website builder will help you make one with the aid of lots of different themes. And your subscription price includes hosting too!

And when it comes to making the courses, all the tools are there, with options to suit all the different ways you might like to present your course. You can offer coaching products, create communities for each course and even make and monetize podcasts. There are helpful marketing features like landing pages, email automation and sequences, so you can get people engaged with your courses and the analytics tools give you an idea of how your campaigns are doing, so you know if your efforts are successful.

An exciting new feature of Kajabi, which makes it one of the best online course platforms, is the AI Creator Studio. This is a fantastic tool for helping you take your content and multiply it, with seemingly unlimited possibilities. Show the AI tool one of your videos, courses, podcasts, etc., and then decide if you’d like to make a blog post, social media post, reel or video clip from it. The clever AI system will do it for you, allowing you to edit it to better fit your brand, if needed. Or, if what it offers is not quite right, you can easily regenerate new content.

And, since Kajabi puts a huge focus on your earning potential through the site, it has a streamlined process for handling transactions and taking money for your courses. It offers potential students flexible payment options and an easy checkout process so they can buy without hassle, increasing conversion for you and protecting your profit.  There’s no transaction fees and students can pay using Apple Pay and Google Pay, making it a mobile-friendly checkout too.

How much does Kajabi cost?

Kajabi is definitely not one of the cheapest online course platforms, but its price is justified by its huge range of features that make course creation effortless. Unlike many of its competitors, including Shiken, it doesn’t have a free plan, but it does offer a 14-day trial. Be aware, you will have to enter your debit or credit card details to get this, so make sure to cancel in plenty of time if you decide Kajabi is not for you.

There are then five packages to choose from. The cheapest is the Kickstarter package at $69 a month, which is great for beginners but has limited options. The most expensive is the Enterprise package which is for six-figure creators, with the cost only available by contacting the sales team.  All the packages are slightly cheaper if you pay for a year up-front rather than monthly.

You can upgrade as your business grows, which is convenient, and while the cost may seem expensive, if you were to outsource many of the features the platform offers, you’d likely be paying substantially more. So, if you use Kajabi to its full potential, it is worth it.

What are the limitations of Kajabi?

Everything sounds great so far, doesn’t it? However, despite Kajabi’s incredible course creation technology, it seems its customer service is lacking. There is a number on the website you can call, but if you are outside of the USA, this is possibly not an option for you. There is a 24/7 AI chatbot to help, but if you want to speak to an actual person, you may struggle.

Users have also found it difficult to cancel their plans or obtain refunds. It can be done, but the process is challenging.

As for the technology itself, the analytics system is pretty basic. It is very useful but not as comprehensive as it could be. And the AI Creator Studio is still far from perfect, but this is something that will likely get better very quickly as this online tool advances.

And of course, there’s the price, which might be a limiting factor for brand-new course creators. It’s up to you to weigh up whether or not this platform is worth the cost for you.

How does Shiken measure up to Kajabi?

Shiken is not quite as comprehensive as Kajabi, but it does offer far more in terms of flexibility and variety of course options.

Courses people actually want to complete

Video courses are great because they allow you to get information across in a personal, relatable way, but Shiken thinks variety helps courses to appeal to a wider range of people. That’s why it mixes passive and active learning options into your course creation process. Make videos as your base, but supplement that with quizzes and games, with leaderboards and visible skill progression to increase engagement and ensure a five-star rating on your course.

AI integration

Just like Kajabi, Shiken includes AI tools in course creation, making for a quicker, smoother process. You can use AI to create course summaries and take-away PDFs for your students to print and refer to when offline. Or take your content repurposing to the next level by creating blog posts, social media posts and other texts that will bring your students back to your course. You can even create Wiki pages, dashboards and databases using AI!

Shiken's AI tools are a little more

Next-level marketing tools

Shiken’s marketing suite is one of the things that makes it the best platform for online courses. You can use it to ensure your course is front and center of students’ minds when they are searching for what your course offers. Create emails that will encourage clicks, social media posts that will stop people scrolling and landing pages that promote your courses in the best possible light, all with the aid of templates and AI.

Selling your way

The Shiken store is a great place to promote your course and allow potential students to follow your activity. Customers can buy and compare your courses with ease in this space. But you can also add your course to your own landing page, giving you more control over how it is presented and an extra avenue for marketing.

Cost comparison

Shiken is a steal compared to Kajabi. The free version gives you limited access to most features of the platform, so you can start creating without paying any money, allowing you to get a feel for Shiken and what it can do. Packages then range from £39 a month to £147 a month, with an enterprise option available on request. These packages allow you to scale your business over time, so you can promote growth in your course creation business.

So, which one will you choose?

Both Kajabi and Shiken are respected platforms to use in 2024, but which one is the best platform for online courses? The answer lies ultimately in your skill level, budget and the features you’d want to include.

Shiken is a little more purse friendly than Kajabi, but it doesn’t currently have the website builder and hosting.  The analytics and AI tools in Shiken are a little more comprehensive and reliable than those in Kajabi, but Kajabi has arguably a more robust course creation system that makes it very easy to create simple courses from scratch.

Some may argue that this removes any flexibility or originality from Kajabi, while others will appreciate the fact that they can build courses with little technical knowledge.

Both platforms have great marketing tools and offer AI assistance throughout the course creation process. Of course, our bias leans towards Shiken for its flexibility and customization options, but there’s only one way to know which of these two brilliant online course platforms will suit you best. Why not sign up for a free account today and test it out for yourself?

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