Teachable vs Kajabi Affiliate Program 2026: Side-by-Side Comparison
Same 30% commission rate. Very different dollars. The real question is whether your audience buys a $89/month tool or a $249/month platform. contains affiliate links
Short answer: Kajabi earns more per referral, sometimes 2-3x more, because its plans cost more. But Teachable converts easier because it's cheaper and targets beginners. Which wins for you depends entirely on whether you reach budget-conscious first-time course creators or established online business owners who are ready to pay for a premium all-in-one tool. I think most affiliates should run both. They serve different buyer stages and there's no conflict between them.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | Teachable | Kajabi |
|---|---|---|
| Commission rate | 30% recurring | 30% recurring |
| Recurring duration | 12 months (capped) | Lifetime of subscription |
| Cookie duration | 90 days | 30 days |
| Entry plan price | $39/mo (Starter) | $179/mo (Basic) |
| Mid plan price | $89/mo (Builder) | $249/mo (Growth) |
| Top plan price | $399/mo (Advanced) | $499/mo (Pro) |
| Affiliate $ at entry plan | $11.70/mo per referral | $53.70/mo per referral |
| Affiliate $ at mid plan | $26.70/mo per referral | $74.70/mo per referral |
| Affiliate $ at top plan | $119.70/mo per referral | $149.70/mo per referral |
| Network | In-house | In-house |
| Payout method | PayPal | PayPal (auto) or manual |
| Payout schedule | 1st business day monthly, 30-day hold | 25th of month, 60-day hold |
| Minimum payout | None | None |
| Two tier | No | No |
| Annual billing discount | ~22% | ~33% |
The core trade-off: dollars per referral vs referrals per visitor
Both programs pay exactly 30% recurring. So why does this comparison even exist? Because the subscription prices are completely different.
Kajabi's cheapest plan is $179 per month. Teachable's cheapest real plan for affiliates (the Builder, which is what most creators actually use) is $89 per month. On the mid-tier plans, you're comparing $249 versus $89. That's almost a 3x difference in what you earn from a single referral staying on the platform.
But here's the catch. A creator spending $179 per month is not the same person as someone spending $89 per month. Kajabi buyers are further along in their business. They've probably already made money selling courses. They want email automation, funnel builders, a community feature, and podcast hosting all in one place. They're not on their first launch.
Teachable buyers are often starting out. They want something simple, affordable, and not overwhelming. The $89 Builder plan is a completely reasonable starting point for someone making their first online course. That lowers the bar to convert, which means more of your visitors actually buy.
So the trade-off is real. You can earn $53.70 per month per Kajabi referral or $26.70 per month per Teachable referral. But it might take twice as many clicks to get one Kajabi signup compared to one Teachable signup. Whether Kajabi wins in your specific situation depends on your audience.
Where Kajabi wins
Kajabi's math is hard to argue with if your audience is the right fit.
Higher dollar per referral, full stop. At every comparable plan level, Kajabi pays more per month per active subscriber. A referral who stays on Kajabi's Growth plan ($249/month) earns you $74.70 every month they're subscribed. A Teachable Builder subscriber earns $26.70. That's $895 per year versus $320 per year from one person. If you refer the same number of people who stay subscribed, Kajabi wins by a wide margin.
Lifetime recurring vs 12-month cap. This is significant. Teachable caps your commissions at 12 months per referred creator. After a year, that revenue stops, even if the creator is still happily using Teachable and paying every month. Kajabi's commissions continue for the lifetime of the subscription by default. Refer someone who sticks with Kajabi for 3 years, and you're earning 30% of their plan every single month for all 36 months. That compounding effect matters a lot if you're building a long-term affiliate income stream.
Established creator audiences. If your blog, YouTube channel, or podcast reaches people who already run a course business or online community, Kajabi is the natural recommendation. These creators are looking to consolidate tools, not save money. They understand $179 to $499 per month is reasonable for a platform that replaces their email service, funnel software, membership site, and course platform all at once. Your conversion rate in this audience segment will be much better for Kajabi than for a beginner platform.
All-in-one positioning is easy to sell. Kajabi is genuinely easier to explain in a compelling way. "Stop paying for five different tools. Kajabi replaces all of them." That's a simple and honest pitch that resonates with creators tired of duct-taping their tech stack together. Teachable's pitch is more about simplicity and affordability, which is valuable but less urgent.
Where Teachable wins
Teachable has some real advantages, especially for certain audience types.
Easier to convert beginners. Someone launching their first course is not ready to spend $179 per month. They're scared. They don't know if anyone will buy their course. Teachable's Builder at $89/month (or $69/month annually) is a much easier yes. Lower barrier means higher conversion rate from your traffic. And $26.70 per month for 12 months is $320 per referral. That's real money and it's achievable on a much wider audience.
90-day cookie beats Kajabi's 30 days. Course creators research these platforms for weeks, sometimes months, before committing. A 90-day attribution window means if someone clicks your Teachable link today and signs up in 10 weeks, you still get credit. Kajabi's 30-day cookie is the standard, but it's shorter, and it means you lose credit on late-converting research traffic. If your audience is thoughtful and slow to decide, Teachable's longer cookie is a meaningful edge.
Creator-native audiences.** If your content serves bloggers, hobby course creators, educators, coaches just starting out, or people who teach skills rather than run businesses, Teachable fits better. These people aren't ready for Kajabi's price point. Pushing Kajabi to them will just not convert, and you'll frustrate your audience with a recommendation they can't act on.
Earlier payout, shorter hold. Teachable pays on the first business day of the month after a 30-day hold. So earnings from January are in your account around March 1. Kajabi pays on the 25th with a 60-day hold, so January earnings arrive around March 25. Not a massive difference, but Teachable gets you paid about three weeks faster. For affiliates managing cash flow, that's worth noting.
The 12-month math: 100 referrals, two scenarios
Let's run actual numbers. You send 100 signups over 12 months. Here's what those referrals earn you.
Scenario A: Creator-native audience (beginner and budget-conscious creators)
Assume 60% land on Teachable's Builder plan ($89/mo), 30% on Growth ($189/mo), 10% on Advanced ($399/mo). Average retention is 8 months because some creators quit or downgrade.
Teachable earnings per cohort: (60 x $26.70 x 8) + (30 x $56.70 x 8) + (10 x $119.70 x 8) = $12,816 + $13,608 + $9,576 = $36,000 over 12 months.
Now the same 100 referrals pushed toward Kajabi, but assume only 40% convert because the price is too high for this audience. Of those 40 who sign up, most land on Basic ($179/mo). Average retention is still 8 months.
Kajabi earnings: 40 x $53.70 x 8 = $17,184 over 12 months.
Teachable wins this scenario by a wide margin because the conversion rate difference overwhelms Kajabi's per-referral advantage.
Scenario B: Professional course business audience (established creators wanting all-in-one)
Assume 80% convert to Kajabi and most land on Growth ($249/mo). Retention is 10 months because these are committed, paying businesses.
Kajabi earnings: 80 x $74.70 x 10 = $59,760 over 12 months.
Same traffic pushed to Teachable at 90% conversion rate, mostly on Growth ($189/mo), 10-month retention.
Teachable earnings: 90 x $56.70 x 10 = $51,030 over 12 months.
Kajabi wins this scenario. And from month 13 onward, Kajabi pulls even further ahead because its commissions don't stop at 12 months. Teachable stops paying. Kajabi keeps paying as long as those customers subscribe.
The math confirms the central point: your audience type determines which program wins, not the commission rate itself.
The 12-month cap problem with Teachable
Worth spending a moment on this because it's the biggest structural difference between the two programs.
Teachable's partner program pays 30% recurring for the first 12 months of each referred subscription. Month 13, commissions on that referral drop to zero. The creator is still paying Teachable. You've just stopped being paid for it.
Kajabi's commissions, by default, continue for the lifetime of the customer's subscription. Some Kajabi merchants may configure their affiliate offers to pay first-payment-only, but the platform default is recurring for life. If you're referring creators to Kajabi's platform directly through Kajabi's own partner program, you should verify this detail when you apply.
What this means practically: a Kajabi referral made today is worth more in year 2 and year 3 than a Teachable referral made today. If you're building affiliate income as a long-term asset, Kajabi's recurring structure compounds in a way Teachable's capped structure cannot.
Audience fit: which program matches which content
Go Teachable if your content serves: first-time course creators, bloggers or coaches looking for a simple way to start selling, educators and teachers moving online, people with tight startup budgets, and creators who want a focused course platform without paying for features they won't use.
Go Kajabi if your content serves: established creators with an existing audience and email list, online business owners looking to consolidate tools, coaches or membership site operators who want everything in one platform, and creators who've already tried Teachable or Thinkific and want more marketing features.
There's also a content angle here. Kajabi vs Thinkific, Kajabi vs Podia, "best all-in-one course platform" content naturally positions Kajabi well. Teachable fits better in "how to create your first online course" content, beginner guides, and affordable course platform roundups.
I think the most interesting play is to cover both audiences in your content strategy. A post about starting a course business naturally leads to a Teachable recommendation at the beginner stage and a Kajabi recommendation when they're ready to scale. You earn from both programs on different parts of the buyer journey.
Both programs are in-house. What that means for you
Neither Teachable nor Kajabi runs their affiliate program through a major network like Impact, ShareASale, or PartnerStack. Both are managed inside their own platforms.
For affiliates this means a few things. There's no central network dashboard where you can see both programs in one place. You'll have separate logins, separate tracking links, and separate payment accounts for each. That's a minor annoyance but not a real problem.
More importantly, there's no neutral third party for dispute resolution. If a tracked conversion doesn't get credited, you're dealing directly with Teachable or Kajabi's affiliate support team. Both platforms have clean payout histories in community reports, so this isn't a practical concern for most affiliates. But it's different from the way something like NordVPN's Impact-hosted program works, where disputes have a structured resolution process.
Both programs pay via PayPal for automatic payouts. If you don't have PayPal or prefer bank transfer, Kajabi also allows manual payout workflows where the merchant can pay you by any method they choose. Teachable's automatic system is PayPal only.
Annual billing: the math changes
Most serious creators buy annual plans. Teachable offers about 22% off on annual billing. Kajabi offers about 33% off.
When a referred creator buys an annual Kajabi plan, you earn 30% of the annual payment upfront. Kajabi Growth annual is $2,976 per year. Your commission is $892.80 in one payment. That's a significant single-commission event.
Teachable Builder annual is $828 per year. Your commission is $248.40. Still good, but less than a third of the Kajabi annual payout.
For affiliates who run content that drives annual plan buyers (typically decision-ready audiences who've already decided to commit), Kajabi's annual commissions are large enough to noticeably impact your monthly earnings in a single conversion event. One Kajabi annual Pro plan ($5,988/year) earns you $1,796.40 in a single payout.
What about Podia?
If you're covering the course platform affiliate space, Podia's affiliate program is worth knowing about too. It pays 30% recurring with no cap and its plans are priced between Teachable and Kajabi. Good middle-ground option for the same audience and it rounds out your coverage across different price points and feature levels.
Honest verdict
Run both if you can. There's genuinely no conflict. They serve different buyer stages and different content types. You can mention Teachable for beginners and Kajabi for scaling, and it reads as helpful advice, not a confusing mess of recommendations.
If you must choose one: pick based on your audience, not the commission rate. The rate is the same. The money per referral is dramatically different. So is the conversion rate you'll realistically see.
Choose Teachable if your audience is newer to the course creation world, you write beginner-focused content, or you want a larger volume of lower-value referrals. The 90-day cookie helps and the conversion rate on budget-friendly audiences is real.
Choose Kajabi if your audience already runs an online business, you write about scaling and automation, or your readers are actively looking to consolidate their tech stack. Every Kajabi referral that sticks pays you for years, not months.
Maybe the simplest way to think about it: Teachable is the right answer to "what platform should I use to sell my first course?" Kajabi is the right answer to "I'm making money from courses and I need a real business platform." Write content for both questions. Link to both programs. The 12-month math in scenario B shows Kajabi earns more on the right audience. The scenario A math shows Teachable earns more on the wrong Kajabi audience. Match program to audience and you'll earn from both.
Full program pages
For complete program details including commission history, creative assets, approval tips, and deeper conversion context, read the individual pages:
- Teachable affiliate program — full review
- Kajabi affiliate program — full review
- Podia affiliate program — 30% recurring, no cap
Also see the full online education affiliate category page for all course platform, e-learning, and creator tool affiliate programs ranked by commission quality.
FAQ
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Related comparisons and resources
Teachable affiliate
Full program review. 30% recurring 12 months. 90-day cookie. In-house. Monthly PayPal.
Kajabi affiliate
Full program review. 30% recurring lifetime. 30-day cookie. In-house. Plans from $179/mo.
Podia affiliate
30% recurring with no 12-month cap. Mid-range pricing between Teachable and Kajabi.
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