Ever feel overwhelmed trying to choose the right platform to build your online business?
It’s a jungle out there! Two popular contenders, Swarm and Kajabi, often get compared.
But which one is actually the best fit for you in 2025?
This can be a tough decision.
In this post, we’ll break down Swarm vs Kajabi, looking at their features, pricing, and who they’re ideal for.
Overview
We’ve spent countless hours exploring Swarm and Kajabi, diving deep into their features, interfaces, and user experiences.
Our hands-on testing, combined with user feedback, has allowed us to create a comprehensive comparison.
Highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each platform to help you make the best choice.
Over 500 businesses have already chosen Swarm to boost engagement. Click here to learn more and start your free trial today!
Pricing: Free trial available. Paid plan Starts at $39/month
Key Features:
- Gamification
- Integrations
- Analytics
Kajabi provides the tools to create, market, and sell online courses, along with building a professional website and engaging your audience.
Pricing: No free plan is available. Paid plan Starts at $69/month
Key Features:
- Website Builder
- Email Marketing
- Sales Funnels
What is Swarm?
Swarm is a platform designed to help businesses build and manage online communities.
It focuses on engagement and offers tools to help you track progress and measure success.
It’s a platform geared towards creating active and involved communities.
Also, explore our favorite Swarm alternatives…
Our Take
Ready to explore if Swarm is the right fit for your community? Over 500 businesses have already chosen Swarm to boost engagement. Click here to learn more and start your free trial today!
Key Benefits
- Gamification: Swarm heavily emphasizes gamification. Think points, badges, and leaderboards to motivate your members. This boosts participation.
- Integrations: Swarm often integrates with other business tools. This can streamline your workflow.
- Analytics: Swarm provides data and insights into your community’s activity. This helps you understand what’s working and what’s not.
Pricing
Swarm’s pricing usually starts at a certain monthly price point.
They often offer different tiers with varying features and member limits. It’s best to check their website for the most up-to-date pricing details.
- Novice: $39/month
- Pro: $79/month
- Expert:$149/month
Pros
Cons
What is Kajabi?
Okay, let’s talk about Kajabi. It’s an all-in-one platform. Think of it as your online business hub.
You can create courses, build a community, and market your product in one place.
It’s designed to simplify the process of running an online business.
Also, explore our favorite Kajabi alternatives…
Our Take
Over 50,000 creators have used Kajabi to generate over $5 billion in revenue. Ready to build a profitable business? Start your free trial today!
Key Benefits
Kajabi’s biggest strength is its comprehensive suite of tools.
They’ve helped over 75 million customers turn their passions into profitable businesses, generating over $8 billion in revenue.
You get everything you need to create, market, and sell your digital products.
- All-in-one solution: No need for separate website, email, and course platforms.
- Built-in marketing tools: Create funnels, automations, and email campaigns right inside Kajabi.
- No transaction fees: You keep 100% of your earnings on all plans (minus payment processor fees).
- 24/7 support: Get help whenever you need it with their customer support team.
- Mobile apps: Members can access your content and community on the go.
Pricing
- Kickstarter: $80/mo – 1 Website, 1 Product + 1 Community, 250 Contacts.
- Basic: $134/mo – 1 Website, 3 Product, 10,000 Contacts.
- Growth: $179/mo – 1 Website, 15 Product, 25,000 Contacts.
- Pro: $359/mo – 3 Website, 100 Product, 100,000 Contacts.
Pros
Cons
Feature Comparison
Swarm vs Kajabi Feature Comparison This comparison contrasts the narrative mini series Swarm with the all-in-one platform Kajabi, highlighting the difference between consuming entertainment and running a successful online business.
1. Primary Purpose
- Swarm: A fictional series meant for the audience to watch, created by donald glover and janine nabers, with the primary purpose of entertainment, social media commentary, and a character study of a fan’s obsession.
- Kajabi: The kajabi platform is an all-in-one platform for creating and selling online courses, with the primary purpose of helping creators build a successful online business.
2. Content Creator and Lead Character
- Swarm: The main creators are donald glover and janine nabers, featuring dominique fishback as the complex lead character, dre, alongside co-star chloe bailey and guest billie eilish.
- Kajabi: The content creator is the online entrepreneur, using the kajabi course builder and website builder to establish their digital business.
3. Revenue Model and Cost
- Swarm: The swarm cost is incurred via a streaming service subscription (prime video), where the audience pays to watch the episodes of the mini series.
- Kajabi: Revenue is generated by the creator selling online courses and digital products; the cost is a tiered monthly subscription, detailed in any detailed kajabi pricing review, but the creator keeps all the money from sales.
4. Audience Engagement
- Swarm: Engagement is driven by the show’s stories, shocking moments (like the strip club scene), and meta-commentary on fan bases and social media discussions, prompting a strong emotional point of view.
- Kajabi: Engagement is driven by features that connect students to course content, email marketing, community discussions (circle feature), and automated customer support.
5. Content Delivery Format
- Swarm: Delivered as a fixed number of episodes in a single season of a mini series, designed to be watched on a screen as a film production.
- Kajabi: Delivers comprehensive learning products, online course materials, and live events through a website builder and a dedicated kajabi platform for a digital business.
6. Marketing and Sales Tools
- Swarm: The series itself serves as a piece of meta-marketing for the creators; there are no integrated sales tools.
- Kajabi: Kajabi makes sales and marketing seamless, offering an integrated email marketing system, landing pages, and sales funnels, giving the team the ability to achieve business growth.
7. Core Themes and Emotions
- Swarm: Explores dark emotions and obsession, centering on dre as a character whose actions are often those of a serial killer, fueled by a fan’s relationship with their idol, and inspired by actual events and actual persons.
- Kajabi: Focuses on the business emotions of success, security, and the ability to achieve financial goals through knowledge and a comprehensive digital business platform.
8. Platform Scope and All-in-One
- Swarm: Is simply a mini series available on other platforms (prime video) and social media; its scope is purely entertainment and cultural commentary.
- Kajabi: Is an all-in-one platform that includes everything needed to run a digital business, such as a website builder for the entire website, email marketing software, and course hosting.
9. Supporting Characters and Talent
- Swarm: Features a strong ensemble cast with notable appearances from chloe bailey and billie eilish, alongside other key characters like janine nabers, who co-created the show, enhancing the series’ reviews.
- Kajabi: Supporting tools include automations, affiliate programs, and the resources of kajabi university, which guides creators through building their business on the platform.
10. Digital Business Assets
- Swarm: The lasting asset is the critical discussion, fan bases, and the cultural impact of the series and the character dre; the episodes are what the audience will watch.
- Kajabi: The creator’s assets are digital products, the online course library, the email list (built with email marketing), the entire website, and the established kajabi account.
11. User Experience and Complexity
- Swarm: The viewing experience is binge-worthy, designed to shock and engage the audience, with a distinct visual film aesthetic that often ends abruptly in each episode.
- Kajabi: Kajabi makes the administrative experience of building a digital business intuitive, using a simple drag-and-drop website builder and tools to create landing pages and email marketing.
What to Look For When Choosing a Community Platform?
- Assess the platform’s core focus: Is it designed for commerce and selling to members, or for generating cultural buzz and deep swarm review discussions like the best show in movies?
- If it’s a creative platform, check its ability to generate engaging and thought-provoking content that channels complex themes and emotions, like those relating to black women and personal struggles.
- For a community platform, ensure it offers dedicated space for conversations, sharing ideas, and personal interests, fostering a greater sense of belonging than a typical forum.
- If the platform involves monetization, the financial process should be transparent—no unexpected charges that leave users feeling like they were billed with a new credit card without warning.
- Consider the lasting impact: Does the platform focus on transient trends, or does it offer enduring value—a place where content or acting performances live on long after the initial buzz is dead?
Final Verdict
Choosing between Swarm and Kajabi depends entirely on your specific needs.
If building a thriving community is your top priority, Swarm is likely the better choice.
Its specialized community features are unmatched.
However, if your focus is on selling online courses and having a robust all-in-one platform, Kajabi is the clear winner.
Its comprehensive suite of tools makes it ideal for course creators.
We’ve meticulously tested both platforms, and our recommendation is based on real-world experience.
We hope this detailed comparison has helped you make an informed decision.
Ultimately, the “best” platform is the one that best serves your unique goals.
More of Swarm
Here is Swarm compared with alternatives:
- Swarm vs Skool: Swarm emphasizes structured communities; Skool blends community with gamified courses.
- Swarm vs Circle: Swarm focuses on structured groups; Circle provides flexible community customization.
- Swarm vs Teachable: Swarm also offers a one-stop shop where coaches/creators can sell courses, memberships and digital products; Teachable prioritizes courses with community features.
- Swarm vs GoHighLevel: Swarm is a community platform; GoHighLevel is an expansive marketing suite with a community.
- Swarm vs MightyNetworks: Swarm builds structured communities; Mighty Networks combines community, courses, and content broadly.
- Swarm vs Bettermode: Swarm offers a community structure; Bettermode provides extensive branding and customization options.
- Swarm vs Thinkific: Swarm builds structured communities; Thinkific is centered on course creation with community support.
- Swarm vs LearnWorlds: Swarm focuses on community structure; LearnWorlds is dedicated to interactive learning communities within courses.
- Swarm vs Disco: Swarm facilitates general structured communities; Disco is built specifically for cohort-based learning communities.
- Swarm vs Kajabi: Swarm is a community tool; Kajabi is an all-in-one platform that integrates community with business tools.
- Swarm vs Wylo: Swarm facilitates structured communities; Wylo connects individuals through interest-based communities.
- Swarm vs Whop: Swarm builds structured communities; Whop serves as a marketplace for accessing various communities and products.
More of Kajabi
- Kajabi vs Skool: Kajabi offers all-in-one business tools; Skool focuses specifically on community, courses, and gamification.
- Kajabi vs Swarm: Kajabi provides broad creator tools; Swarm is designed for structured, interest-based communities.
- Kajabi vs Teachable: Kajabi is a full business platform; Teachable centers on course creation with community features.
- Kajabi vs GoHighLevel: Kajabi targets creators with courses/community; GoHighLevel is a marketing/sales automation suite.
- Kajabi vs Bettermode: Kajabi is an all-in-one creator platform; Bettermode provides a highly customizable dedicated community space.
- Kajabi vs Thinkific: Kajabi offers integrated marketing/sales funnels; Thinkific specializes in course creation with community options.
- Kajabi vs LearnWorlds: Kajabi is a complete business platform; LearnWorlds focuses on interactive online courses and learning communities.
- Kajabi vs Circle: Kajabi is an all-in-one solution; Circle is a dedicated, modern community platform.
- Kajabi vs Disco: Kajabi is a general creator platform; Disco is built for cohort-based courses and learning communities.
- Kajabi vs Wylo: Kajabi is a business platform for creators; Wylo connects users via interest-based communities.
- Kajabi vs Whop: Kajabi is a platform for building and selling directly, while Whop is a marketplace for the community of sale/digital access.
- Kajabi vs MightyNetworks: Kajabi integrates robust marketing; MightyNetworks prioritizes community, courses, and content together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kajabi better than Swarm?
“Better” is subjective. Kajabi excels at course creation and offers a comprehensive suite of marketing tools. Swarm shines with its robust community-building features. The best platform depends on your primary focus: courses or community.
Is Swarm good for selling courses?
Swarm can be used for selling courses, but it’s not its primary strength. Its course features are less developed than Kajabi’s. It’s a better fit if community is your main product, with courses as a supplementary offering.
Is Kajabi worth the cost?
Kajabi is a premium platform, so the cost is higher. However, it offers a wide range of features, potentially eliminating the need for other paid tools. If you maximize its capabilities, especially for course creation and sales, it can be a worthwhile investment.
Can I switch from Swarm to Kajabi
Migrating between platforms is possible but can be complex. It involves exporting and importing data, potentially redesigning your website, and reconfiguring integrations. Research the migration process carefully before making the switch.
What platforms are similar to Swarm and Kajabi?
Several platforms offer similar functionalities. Thinkific and Teachable are popular alternatives for course creation. For community building, platforms like Mighty Networks are worth exploring. Consider your specific needs and budget when evaluating alternatives.
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