Why I Left Thrivecart—and Why I Returned to Kajabi

In April 2022, I chose to leave Kajabi. At the time, it felt premature to call it an “all-in-one” platform—only the course feature truly felt complete. 

The dashboard was clunky, and the cost didn’t reflect the limited functionalities I was actually using. The fact that it was endorsed by big-name marketers wasn’t compelling enough for me to stay. You can read more about the reasons in my article. 

More recently, I also began questioning my use of Thrivecart (I had gone from Kajabi to Podia for a year, and then Thrivecart for two years).

My Experience with Thrivecart

Initially, Thrivecart felt like a cost-effective decision. The lifetime deal was hard to resist, the platform was clean and functional, and I appreciated its straightforwardness.

But over time, I noticed a shift:

• System glitches became frequent
  
  
• Most updates seemed reactive—fixes rather than innovations
  
  
• Support was inconsistent and impractical: you had to submit a ticket with a unique code and wait several days, often receiving a generic response citing high support volume
  
  
• The interface, while functional, remained utilitarian and never evolved in the two years I was an active user.

Much of this seemed to coincide with a major investment they received in 2023 and internal restructuring that followed, including the appointment of a new CEO.

While this likely aimed to scale the platform, the user experience noticeably declined during that period.

These are the reasons why, although I was an affiliate, I never actively promoted Thrivecart—even when others did for the commission. It didn’t feel aligned to recommend something I didn’t fully trust and used with confidence.

After building and running my signature course for two years, I was bored! 😅

I did a course revamp in it after I fully released my course over a year, but still - something was missing. 

The platform no longer felt like a space that supported my growth and creativity. 

Reconsidering My Business Expenses

I looked at the cost of piecing everything together if I moved away from Thrivecart and signed up to another course platform. Costs add up and become quite expensive: 

• $100/month for the course platform
  
  
• $89/month for Circle (community)
  
  
• $19/month for email service
  
  

While each part worked independently, the overall experience was fragmented for me, who loves simplicity and organization. 

I also wanted to honor my clients feedback, they wanted a more seamless experience and not having to check two platforms between the curriculum/course and the private community. 

Consolidating these tools under one roof began to make more sense.

Some of my clients travel each month, so they don’t necessarily have that time to sit at their desk to study. So I also began to look at course platforms which had mobile device access. 

My Search for Integration

I tested various platforms with curiosity and care:

• Circle Courses: beautifully designed but didn’t meet my needs
  
  
• Searchie: more suited for memberships
  
  
• Thinkific: “difficult” support to say the least, outdated interface
  
  

I migrated one course to each, as I wanted to test them in real conditions. 

Still, I wasn't satisfied. 

So, I returned to Kajabi—just to see.

Kajabi, Revisited

To my surprise, Kajabi had developed significantly!

I explored it slowly, migrating step-by-step with the support of my virtual assistant. Here's what stood out:

• Support was responsive and thoughtful—not just links to generic help articles. I can ask multiple questions and get replies within the day
  

• Onboarding live session were intimate in a small group experience, and I had, a space to ask meaningful questions
  
  
• The interface was far more intuitive than I remembered—visually clean and simple to use
  
  
• Website templates were elegant and modern-looking  (a good sign, as I was considering a shift from Squarespace)
  
  
• I noticed a network of “Kajabi Experts” available for done-for-you services and used it to hire a website designer to design my five core pages (she was fantastic!) 

• They had also introduced a community feature—still in beta, but promising.

What Kajabi Does Well

I wouldn’t call Kajabi a “true all-in-one.” But for me, it functions beautifully as a four-in-one:

Courses

• Clear, elegant, and easy to build. Compared to Thinkific or Thrivecart, the structure feels much more user-friendly and modern.

• My students are loving the mobile access to both the course and community—it makes it easy to follow and engage with the content during their commute.

Community

While not perfect, it's functional. I appreciate:

• Hosting live calls directly on the platform—with automatic recordings
  
  
• I don’t use this but keep it for the future: Being able to schedule content and manage several groups (or “Spaces”)
  
  
• Small but meaningful features, like an announcement bar or post scheduling
  
  

Email

I’ve now transitioned fully from ActiveCampaign. While Kajabi offers fewer features, I find that I don’t need more. The simplicity actually enhances my workflow.

The templates are visually pleasing, and automation is surprisingly intuitive.

Website

I decided to move my site here so I could just have everything in one place. And because I already had so much on my plate with the course and community migration, I outsourced the setup.

Thankfully I already had my brand assets so all we needed was to move the content and redesign the pages' layout. 

Holding Space for Possibility

Some features don’t serve me at this stage:

Coaching:

While the feature is interesting, I continue to use Google Drive and Trello—a system my clients find simple and I’ve refined over time.

One key limitation is the inability to export all data at once is a deal-breaker.

My experience with Dubsado taught me that the ease of leaving a platform matters—energy, time, and hidden costs all add up.

"Creator Studio":

I explored it for captioning because I was unable to upload captions for my videos generated by other platforms.

While the concept is promising, it still feels like a tool in its early stages—useful in theory, but not yet dependable for my content creation needs.

Blog:

I did prefer the creative freedom Squarespace offered for blogging. Kajabi feels more limited here, but I’ve accepted the tradeoff for overall integration.

I hope in the future, that the website and blog aspects continue to develop.

Conclusion

If you're someone who values cohesion, simplicity, and flow  in the tools you use—Kajabi is worth exploring. It simplifies the backend, which frees up energy for client work and creativity.

That said, if you only need a course platform and don’t plan to use its community, email, or website features, there are simpler and more cost-effective options available.

If you’d like to try Kajabi for yourself, I’ve partnered with them to offer a 30-day free trial through my affiliate link.

P.S. I haven’t explored all of Kajabi’s features yet—like “Downloads,” “Podcast,” or “Newsletters”—but I’m looking forward to discovering them in time.

I’m taking a step-by-step approach, and the more I use it, the more I find myself both enjoying and being genuinely impressed by the platform!

Let me know if you have any questions. I'd love ot help!😉