Kajabi alternatives: 3 open-source picks
Kajabi costs $179/mo — $2,148 a year. These 3 alternatives replace it for $0, led by CourseLit, Ghost and Medusa. All 3 are open source. License, stars and last commit checked by hand on 2026-08-29. No trials, no crippled tiers.
Courses, downloads, pages, email automation and paid communities in one self-hosted product; bookings remain elsewhere.
Publishing platform with memberships and paid newsletters built in. The self-hosted answer to Substack taking 10% of your revenue.
licenseMIT
runsyour server
setupnot verified by us yet — check the repo README
facts verified 2026-08-29
Headless commerce framework in Node.js — carts, orders, payments, fully customizable.
licenseMIT
runsyour server
setupnot verified by us yet — check the repo README
facts verified 2026-08-29
What each one is, in full: Ghost · Medusa
last updated 2026-08-29 · no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
the usual suspects · recommended everywhere, rejected here
GhostPublishing, email and memberships are covered; structured courses, quizzes and funnels are not.
MoodleAn excellent LMS, but not the email, funnel, storefront and membership business Kajabi is bought to run.
how to choose a Kajabi alternative
Most proven
Ghost, with 49,000 GitHub stars — the largest community of the 3, which usually means more answers when something breaks.
what you give up by leaving Kajabi
- all-in-one stack
- funnels
- email automations
- communities
- course delivery
- analytics
- customer support
None of the picks above covers all of it. The full verdict says which gaps matter.
Kajabi alternatives at a glance
| tool | license | running it | platforms | stars | active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CourseLit | open source | docker to self-host | web, self-hosted | 1,200 | 2026-07 |
| Ghost | MIT | docker to self-host | self-hosted, web | 49,000 | 2026-08 |
| Medusa | MIT | docker to self-host | self-hosted, web | 30,000 | 2026-08 |
why people still pay for Kajabi
They pay to avoid stitching and maintaining a dozen creator-business tools. If none of that applies to you, any pick above saves $2,148 a year.
questions about switching from Kajabi
Is there an open-source alternative to Kajabi?
Yes: CourseLit, Ghost, Medusa. Every tool on this page is open source: no trials, no crippled tiers.
Can open source really replace Kajabi?
Our verdict is YES. Ghost (49k stars), Medusa (30k stars), CourseLit (1k stars) are mature open-source replacements for Kajabi — self-host with docker and stop paying $179/mo. The full verdict, and what you give up by switching, is at caniopensourceit.online/kajabi.
What is the most popular open-source Kajabi alternative?
By GitHub stars, Ghost (49,000). Medusa is next with 30,000.
