BricksMembers vs Kajabi / Teachable / Thinkific / Podia
Self-hosted WordPress plugin vs all-in-one hosted SaaS. Different categories, very different cost over time.
Verified May 2026 by AI · please confirm with the vendorWhich one is right for you?
Zero-maintenance hosted SaaS
Choose a hosted platform if you want zero technical maintenance, built-in CRM and email and landing pages, native mobile apps, and an AI course generator that drafts outlines for you, and you're willing to pay $29–$499+ per month indefinitely.
- Zero hosting / WordPress maintenance burden
- Built-in CRM, email, landing pages, native mobile apps, AI course builder
- Hosted on managed CDN, no plugin updates to manage
$497 once, not $29–$499 every month.
Choose BricksMembers if you want to own your platform on WordPress: keep all your data, pay no platform percentage on your sales, and replace recurring monthly fees with a one-time lifetime license. And because it's built natively for Bricks Builder, you design every member-facing page visually with complete control over the look, something hosted platforms, locked to their own themes and templates, simply can't offer.
- One-time $497 lifetime (100 sites) vs. $29–$499+ per month forever
- You own the platform, the data, the members. No platform fee on transactions
- No customer / product / admin caps
Every feature, side by side
Grouped by category. Hover any row for detail.
3 things this comparison can't match
- You own the data on WordPress (no hosted-platform lock-in or vendor dependency)
- $497 one-time lifetime vs. $29 to $499 per month forever, plus tiered platform fees on some plans
- Membership, LMS, payments, drip and access are all handled natively in Bricks, through its own dynamic data tags and display conditions, with custom elements only where there's no native way, so you design every member-facing page (login, profile, paywall, course player, certificate, checkout, etc.) yourself in Bricks, with full control over the design and no locked layouts.
Pricing & Licensing
Ownership & Economics (hosted-platforms comparison)
How the plans line up
Approximate prices.
The Migration Center handles the heavy lifting
A guided, dry-run-first wizard at BricksMembers › Migration Center in wp-admin. It scans your site, builds an import plan, runs in safe chunks, and offers rollback if anything looks off.
What it migrates automatically
- Course, lesson, and topic structure (with hierarchy preserved)
- Post content, titles, excerpts, and status
- Custom post meta fields (carried as-is)
- Required-level assignments (creates matching access rules)
- User level assignments and progress tracking
- Generic CSV exports of users, levels, courses, and progress
What you'll rebuild manually
- Quizzes from the source plugin (rebuild in BricksMembers' quiz module)
- Certificates and certificate issuance records
- Drip schedules from the source plugin
- Email automations (use BricksMembers' automation tab)
- For hosted platforms (Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific, Podia): BricksMembers provides rebuild packs (manual export guides + manifests) rather than direct imports. The source platforms don't expose APIs for the entities the importer would need. Realistic effort is a few hours of structured rebuild rather than a one-click import.
From Hosted platforms
Hosted platforms don't expose APIs for the entities BricksMembers would need (course structure, lesson media, quiz definitions, member progress) in a format suitable for automated import. BRM provides rebuild packs: written guides: for Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific, and Podia migrations: how to export content from each platform, what file formats to expect, and the manual rebuild steps in BRM.
Plan for a parallel-run period where the source platform continues to serve existing members while you onboard new ones through BRM. Stripe billing tokens, mobile-app installs, and platform-specific landing pages do not transfer.
Common questions: BricksMembers vs Hosted platforms
Year one: Kajabi Starter at $71/mo annual is $852/yr; Kajabi Basic at $143/mo annual is $1,716/yr; Kajabi Growth at $199/mo annual is $2,388/yr; Kajabi Pro at $399/mo annual is $4,788/yr. BricksMembers is $97/yr (1 site) or $497 one-time lifetime (100 sites). Over five years, Kajabi Growth costs $11,940 USD; BRM lifetime is a single $497 payment. The catch: Kajabi includes CRM, email, landing pages, and mobile apps that you'd otherwise assemble around BRM.
Not via automated import: those platforms don't expose APIs for the entities BRM would need. BRM provides rebuild packs: written export guides for each platform, what file formats to expect, and the manual rebuild steps in BRM. Plan for a parallel-run period.
Podia has a free starter; Teachable has a free plan with transaction fees; Kajabi and Thinkific are paid-only with free trials. All charge recurring fees. BricksMembers has no free tier; it's $97/yr or $497 lifetime.
No: hosted platforms are not WordPress plugins. They run on their own domains (or your subdomain via DNS) and don't use WordPress builders. BricksMembers is WordPress-native and Bricks-first.
Yes, with caveats. Teachable Starter charges 7.5%; Builder and Growth are 0%. Podia Free and Mover charge 5%; Shaker is 0%. Thinkific charges 0% across published tiers. Kajabi adds a tiered platform fee when you use a 3rd-party payment processor (5% on Starter, 2% on Basic, 1% on Growth, 0.5% on Pro); Kajabi Payments has no extra platform cut on top of the gateway. Always check the current pricing page for your tier. BricksMembers does not charge any platform transaction fees on any tier; you pay only your payment-gateway fees (Stripe, PayPal, etc.).
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Open the hubAbout this comparison
Last reviewed May 2026. This comparison reflects our own assessment based on publicly available information. Features, pricing, and availability change often. Please verify current details on each vendor's official website before purchasing.
All product names, logos, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used here for identification and comparison purposes only; this does not imply affiliation with or endorsement by them.