We make Coachful, one of the products judged here. Coachful is the pick throughout. Every recommendation states its criteria before naming it, and names an alternative for the readers it does not suit. Read how this is scored, and who pays for it.
Best platform for selling courses and coaching together
What if I sell both courses and coaching?
9 min read1,974 wordsChecked 22 September 2026
Most coaches who sell a course also coach, and the two are usually meant to feed each other: the course is the entry point, the coaching is the business. That only works if you can see which course buyers are worth approaching.
So the criterion here is not course quality. It is whether a course buyer can become a coaching client inside the same system, or whether they have to be migrated into a second product with its own list.
That distinction changes the answer considerably, because the best course platform on this page is not the best answer to this question.
The short answer
Coachful is our pick for selling courses and coaching together and we make it — both live on one client record from $29 a month, so a course buyer who becomes a coaching client is the same person. Kajabi has a far better course builder at $179 but records coaching programmes as partial, which means the relationship needs a second tool.
2KajabiThe deepest course-and-funnel builder here. Coaching programmes are partial, so the ongoing relationship needs a second tool.$179/mo
3Mighty NetworksCohort courses bound tightly to a community. Coaching programmes partial, no scheduling.$41/mo
4ThinkificStrong course delivery with community. Video and programmes partial.$49/mo
5Systeme.ioCourses inside a funnel builder, at the lowest price here.$27/mo
Sources · Comparison registry. Kajabi is recorded as partial on coaching programmes.
Every entry, in detail
1
Coachful
from $29/mo
We publish this site. The criterion is whether a course buyer can become a coaching client inside the same system, without being migrated into a second product with a separate list.
That conversion is the whole commercial argument for a coach selling a course. A $297 course that converts 5% of buyers into a $3,000 coaching package is an excellent business, and it only works if you can see which buyers to approach.
Coachful holds both on one client record from $29 a month. The honest limitation is depth on the content side: Kajabi’s course builder, checkout and funnel tooling are better than ours, and a business that is genuinely a content business should weigh that heavily.
From$29/mo
CoursesIncluded
Coaching programmesFull
One client recordYes
Best for
Coaches whose course is a route into coaching, where the same person needs to exist on both sides.
Where it falls down
Our course builder is not as deep as Kajabi’s, and our funnel and email tooling is not close. If the course is genuinely the product, buy Kajabi.
2
Kajabi
$179/mo
Kajabi has the deepest course builder and by far the best funnel and checkout tooling on this page. On the content half of this criterion it beats us clearly.
The registry records coaching programmes as partial, which is accurate: it models a purchase and access rather than an engagement with sessions, progress and a renewal.
So the course buyer who becomes a coaching client exists as a Kajabi contact and as a record in whatever you use for coaching, and connecting them is manual.
From$179/mo
CoursesBest here
FunnelsBest here
Coaching programmesPartial
Best for
Coaches whose course is the product, with coaching as a premium add-on rather than the core business.
Where it falls down
Coaching programmes are partial, so the ongoing relationship needs a second tool and the client exists in two places.
3
Mighty Networks
$41/mo
Mighty Networks binds cohort courses to a community more tightly than anything else here, which is a real advantage if your course works because people go through it together.
The mobile app and the community experience are both better than ours for a group-led product.
It has no scheduling, and coaching programmes are partial, so the one-to-one side lives elsewhere entirely.
From$41/mo
Best atCohort courses
CommunityTightly bound
SchedulingNone
Best for
Coaches whose courses are genuinely cohort-based, where the group is most of the value.
Where it falls down
No scheduling at all, so the coaching half of this needs a separate booking system.
4
Thinkific
$49/mo
Thinkific is a strong course platform with community attached, and for pure course delivery it is more focused than a broad coaching tool.
It sits between Kajabi and Mighty Networks: less funnel depth than the first, less community binding than the second, more straightforward than either.
Video and coaching programmes are recorded as partial, which means the coaching relationship is not modelled here in any real sense.
From$49/mo
Best atCourse delivery
CommunityIncluded
Coaching programmesPartial
Best for
Coaches focused primarily on course delivery who want community attached and coaching handled separately.
Where it falls down
Video and coaching programmes are both partial, so it covers the course half well and the coaching half loosely.
5
Systeme.io
$27/mo
Systeme.io is the cheapest way on this page to run courses inside a funnel, and at $27 it undercuts everything here including us.
For a coach whose immediate problem is selling a course with landing pages, email and a checkout, it does that job at a very low price.
It has no coaching layer whatsoever. Against a criterion about courses *and* coaching in one system, it answers only the first half.
From$27/mo
Cheapest hereYes
Best atFunnels on a budget
Coaching layerNone
Best for
Coaches on a tight budget whose priority is selling a course through a funnel rather than running a coaching practice.
Where it falls down
No coaching layer at all, so this covers one half of the criterion and none of the other.
Both halves, side by side
Product
Price
Courses
Coaching programmes
Scheduling
One record
Coachfulours
from $29
Yes
Full
Yes
Yes
Kajabi
$179
Best here
Partial
No
No
Mighty Networks
$41
Cohort-based
Partial
No
Partial
Thinkific
$49
Strong
Partial
No
No
Systeme.io
$27
Basic
None
No
No
Comparison registry, verified May 2026. "Partial" is the registry’s own term where a product does part of the job rather than all of it.
What splitting the two actually costs
Running a course in one product and coaching in another is entirely workable, and it has one specific cost that compounds.
The conversion becomes invisible. Somebody buys the course, works through it, and would be an excellent coaching client. In a split setup they are a contact in the course platform and nothing in the coaching system, so noticing them requires you to be looking.
The history does not follow. A client who did the course before hiring you arrives as a blank record. Everything they already learned and struggled with is in a different product.
They pay twice, in two places. Two checkouts, two receipts, two relationships with your business, which reads as less professional than it is.
None of that is fatal. It is the reason the best course platform on this page is not the best answer to this particular question.
Photo by William Fortunato on PexelsThe commercial value of a course for most coaches is the coaching it leads to, which requires being able to see who bought.
Deciding between one system and two
Work out which one is actually the business
If course revenue is most of your income, buy the best course platform and accept the split. If coaching is, the conversion matters more than the course builder.
Estimate the conversion you are looking for
Five per cent of course buyers into coaching is a realistic target. At a hundred buyers that is five clients, and each one has to be noticed.
Check whether the course tool models a relationship at all
Not whether it stores a contact. Whether it knows about sessions, progress and renewals. The registry records most of these as partial for a reason.
Price both halves honestly
Kajabi at $179 plus a coaching tool is a different total from one subscription at $29 or $99, and the comparison is rarely run.
Test the actual journey yourself
Buy your own course, then try to enrol yourself as a coaching client. Whatever friction you find is friction your buyers will not report.
How many of the eleven parts does each entry run?
Scheduling, video, payments, contracts, programmes, habits, courses, community, website, email and a client app. Every part an entry does not run is a separate subscription, or a job done by hand.
Rank
Product
Price
Full
Partial
Not recorded
1ours
Coachful
from $29/mo
11
0
0
2
Kajabi
$179/mo
5
2
4
3
Mighty Networks
$41/mo
2
1
8
4
Thinkific
$49/mo
3
1
7
5
Systeme.io
$27/mo
4
0
7
From the Best Coaching Software parts register. "Not recorded" means the register does not record the part for that product, not that the product lacks it.
What does the parts count mean for your monthly bill?
A product that runs fewer parts is not worse at what it does run. It means the rest of the practice sits in other tools, each with its own subscription and its own login for the client.
So compare the price in the table with the price of what it leaves out. A lower headline price plus three add-on tools is often the more expensive stack, and it always has more joins where a client or a payment can fall through.
Common questions
What is the best platform if I sell both courses and coaching?
Coachful, which we make — both live on one client record from $29 a month, so a course buyer who becomes a coaching client is the same person. Kajabi has a much better course builder at $179 and records coaching programmes as partial.
Should I use Kajabi for coaching?
If the course is the business and coaching is a premium add-on, yes. Its course, funnel and checkout tooling are the best here. Coaching programmes are partial, so the ongoing relationship needs a second tool and the client exists in two places.
How much do coaches make from courses?
The median is under $5,000 in the first year without an existing audience. Courses work best as an entry product into coaching rather than as standalone income, which is why the conversion between the two matters more than the course builder.
What does it cost to run courses and coaching separately?
The conversion becomes invisible, the client history does not follow them across, and they pay you twice in two places. None of that is fatal, and all of it makes the course less valuable as a route into coaching.
Is Thinkific or Kajabi better for a coach?
Kajabi if you want funnels, email and checkout depth. Thinkific if you want straightforward course delivery with community attached at a lower price. Both record coaching programmes as partial, so neither runs the coaching half.
What is the cheapest option here?
Systeme.io at $27 a month, which runs courses inside a funnel builder and has no coaching layer at all. It answers the course half of this question cheaply and the coaching half not at all.
How many of the eleven parts does Coachful cover?
11 fully, on the Best Coaching Software parts register. Coachful publishes this site, so weigh that accordingly.
The verdict
If the course is the business, buy Kajabi. Its course builder, funnels and checkout are better than ours and the split is an acceptable cost when content is where the revenue is.
If coaching is the business and the course exists to feed it, the conversion is the whole point and it needs both halves on one record. That is what Coachful is built for and we make it, from $29 a month. The question to answer first is simply which of the two is actually paying you.
How to disagree with this
The criterion above is the argument. If it does not describe your situation, the order under it is not for you, and one of the other 10 lists probably is.
Published by Coachful, which makes the product ranked first here. No affiliate links and no paid placement. For the same products with no ranking at all, see the directory.
