Kajabi

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Kajabi

A curated collection of the 3 best self hosted alternatives to Kajabi.

Kajabi is a SaaS platform for creators to create, market, sell, and deliver digital products such as online courses, coaching, and memberships. It provides website and course builders, email marketing, payment/subscription handling, and automation features.

Alternatives List

#1
Chamilo LMS

Chamilo LMS

Chamilo LMS is an open-source learning management system for delivering online courses, managing users, and tracking learning activities with an accessible, easy-to-use interface.

Chamilo LMS screenshot

Chamilo LMS is an open-source e-learning platform (LMS) designed to create, deliver, and manage online training and educational courses. It emphasizes ease of use and accessibility, and is commonly used by schools, universities, NGOs, and enterprises for structured learning programs.

Key Features

  • Course creation and management for structured online learning
  • User and role management for learners, teachers, and administrators
  • Assessments and quizzes for evaluating learner progress
  • Learning progress tracking and reporting features
  • Web-based interface designed with usability and accessibility in mind

Use Cases

  • Delivering online courses for schools, universities, and training centers
  • Corporate training programs with structured learning paths and evaluations
  • NGO and public-sector training initiatives requiring an accessible LMS

Limitations and Considerations

  • Chamilo 2.x is still in development; many deployments rely on the stable 1.11.x branch for production use

Chamilo LMS is a mature LMS project with a strong focus on practical course delivery and accessibility. It is suitable for organizations seeking a traditional, full-featured learning platform they can run and manage on their own infrastructure.

915stars
531forks
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#2
ILIAS

ILIAS

ILIAS is a PHP-based open-source learning management system for creating courses, assessments, wikis, forums, calendars and extensible training platforms.

ILIAS screenshot

ILIAS is an open-source, web-based Learning Management System written in PHP. It provides tools to create and manage courses, assessments, collaborative spaces and user groups, and is extensible via plugins and configuration. The project is community-driven and used in education and corporate training environments.

Key Features

  • Course and learning content management with support for modular course structures and content repositories
  • Assessment and quiz engine for tests, assignments, and automated grading workflows
  • Collaboration tools including wikis, forums, group spaces and calendaring
  • Granular user, group and role management with permission controls
  • Plugin/extension architecture to add custom functionality and integrations
  • Multilingual interface and extensive documentation for administrators and instructors
  • Runs on modern PHP runtimes and supports common relational databases for persistence

Use Cases

  • Deploying a university or college LMS to deliver courses, quizzes and student collaboration spaces
  • Running corporate training and compliance programs with centralized user and content management
  • Building structured e-learning offerings with assessments, documentation and group-based activities

Limitations and Considerations

  • Installation and configuration can be complex for non-PHP administrators and requires a supported PHP runtime (modern PHP versions) and a relational database; careful planning for hosting and dependencies is needed
  • The system is feature-rich and can present a steep administrative learning curve for customizing workflows and permissions

ILIAS is a mature, feature-complete LMS suitable for institutions that need a self-hosted, extensible platform for structured learning and assessment. It emphasizes flexibility and control for administrators and integrators.

458stars
395forks
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#3
edX (Open edX)

edX (Open edX)

Open edX is a scalable, modular LMS for delivering MOOCs and online programs with video, assessments, discussions, instructor tools, and extensible integrations.

edX (Open edX) screenshot

Open edX is an open-source online learning platform originating from edX, used to deliver MOOCs and structured online programs. It provides course authoring, learner-facing course delivery, assessments, and operational tools, and can be extended via plugins and integrations.

Key Features

  • Web-based course authoring (Studio) and course delivery (LMS)
  • Video-based learning experiences with sequencing and progress tracking
  • Problem types and graded assessments (e.g., quizzes, assignments, exams) with configurable grading
  • Discussion forums and course communication features
  • User enrollment flows and course runs for repeated offerings
  • Extensible architecture: pluggable components (e.g., XBlocks) and REST APIs for integrations
  • Support for multiple sites/brands and theming in typical deployments

Use Cases

  • Universities delivering large-scale online courses and professional certificates
  • Enterprises running internal training programs with custom integrations
  • Training providers offering cohorts, recurring course runs, and assessments

Limitations and Considerations

  • Large, multi-service architecture can require significant operational expertise (deployment, upgrades, maintenance)
  • Customization often involves plugins/theming and careful version compatibility across components

Open edX is best suited for organizations needing a robust, extensible learning platform with proven large-scale course delivery capabilities. Its modular ecosystem enables deep customization, while the platform’s breadth supports end-to-end online course operations.

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Why choose an open source alternative?

  • •Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • •No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • •Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • •Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running