How to Connect Kajabi and ConvertKit (Kit): The Complete Integration Guide
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If you are running courses or memberships on Kajabi and you want your email and automations to live in ConvertKit, you are in the right place. The Kajabi and ConvertKit integration is one of those things that sounds like it should take five minutes and then quietly eats your afternoon, mostly because there is more than one way to connect the two and nobody tells you which one you actually need.
I use both tools, so this is the guide I wish I had the first time I wired them together. ConvertKit rebranded to Kit in 2024, so if you see "Kit" inside the apps and "ConvertKit" everywhere else, they are the same product. I will use both names below since most of us still call it ConvertKit out of habit.
Here is what we will cover: the three ways to connect Kajabi and ConvertKit, how to set up each one, which method fits your situation, and the handful of issues that trip people up after the connection is live.
There are three ways to connect Kajabi and ConvertKit. The free native integration passes names and emails only. The Kit Kajabi app is the powerful option that syncs purchases and triggers automations, but it needs Kajabi's Public API. Zapier sits in the middle and works on any plan. Most people who want real automation should use the Kit app. Everyone else can start with the native integration in about ten minutes.
Why connect Kajabi and ConvertKit at all
Kajabi already has email built in, so the first fair question is why you would bother bringing ConvertKit into the picture. The answer comes down to jobs. Kajabi is built to host your courses, run your checkout, hold your community, and put your whole offer in one place. ConvertKit is built to do one thing extremely well, which is email and automation, and it tends to have the edge on deliverability and on the kind of tag based, branching sequences that move revenue over time.
So the typical setup looks like this. Kajabi handles the product, the payment, and the access. ConvertKit handles the list, the nurture, and the long game. Connecting them means a person who buys a course in Kajabi shows up in ConvertKit tagged and dropped into the right sequence without you touching anything.
If you have Kajabi already and you are weighing whether to bring in dedicated email, ConvertKit has a free plan you can test before you pay a cent. And if you are coming from the other direction, already living in ConvertKit and looking for a home for courses and checkout, you can start a free trial of Kajabi here. The two genuinely complement each other, which is exactly why this integration exists.
Method 1: The native Kajabi ConvertKit integration
This is the built in option and it is free on both sides. It is the right starting point if all you need is for people who opt in through a Kajabi form to land on a ConvertKit list. The big limitation to know up front is that the native connection passes name and email only. It does not send tag or purchase data, so if you need ConvertKit to know what someone bought, this method alone will not get you there.
Here is how to set it up.
- In Kajabi, go to your Account Settings, open the Settings tab, and select Third Party Integrations.
- Toggle on the ConvertKit integration and paste in your ConvertKit API key, which lives in your ConvertKit account settings under the developer or API section. Click Save.
- In ConvertKit, create the form you want Kajabi opt ins to flow into, and grab the Form ID from the form page URL.
- Back in Kajabi, map your Kajabi form to that ConvertKit Form ID and save at the top right.
- Test it by submitting your Kajabi form with a real email address and confirming the subscriber appears in ConvertKit.
One thing to watch. If you have double opt in turned on in both Kajabi and ConvertKit, your subscriber gets two confirmation emails, which is a fast way to lose them. Pick one place to run the double opt in and turn it off in the other.
Method 2: The Kit Kajabi app (the powerful one)
Kit released a much deeper Kajabi app, and this is the one to use if you want the integration to actually drive automation rather than just move email addresses around. With this connection your Kajabi students and community members sync into ConvertKit as subscribers with their tags and custom fields intact, purchases are tracked so you can segment by what someone bought, and a purchase or content access can trigger a Visual Automation in ConvertKit. It can even grant access to a Kajabi offer from inside a ConvertKit automation, which is how people set up things like a free course unlocking after a discovery call.
The one requirement to know before you start is that this app needs access to Kajabi's Public API. That comes with the Kajabi Pro plan, and on lower plans like Growth you can buy the Public API as an add on. Confirm that is enabled in your Kajabi account first, or the install will stall.
- In Kajabi, generate your API credentials. You will need both the API Key and the API Secret. Make sure Public API access is active on your plan.
- In ConvertKit, find the Kajabi app in the integrations or app listing and start the install. You can also open it directly from the Kajabi app listing inside Kit.
- Authenticate by entering the Kajabi API Key and API Secret when prompted.
- On the sync preferences screen, choose which contacts to import and whether to bring in historical data or only sync new contacts going forward. If you skip historical import, only people added after install will appear.
- Configure your custom field mappings and tag settings, then save and continue to finish the install.
- Confirm ongoing sync for active subscribers is switched on, then run a test purchase with a free coupon to make sure the buyer lands in ConvertKit with the right tag.
This is the setup I would point most serious course sellers toward, because the whole reason to connect these tools is event driven automation. A tag sitting on a contact is mildly useful. A tag that fires a timed, branching sequence the moment someone buys is what actually earns. You can see ConvertKit's automation features here.
Method 3: Zapier or a direct webhook
If you are not on a Kajabi plan with Public API access, or you want a specific trigger the other methods do not cover, Zapier is the flexible middle path. Zapier offers a prebuilt Kajabi trigger such as a new purchase or offer purchase, and maps it to a ConvertKit action like adding a subscriber to a form or applying a tag. It costs a Zapier subscription, but it needs zero API knowledge, and if you run fewer than about a hundred purchases a month the Zapier free tier may be enough to start.
The principle that keeps this clean is one Kajabi event mapped to one ConvertKit tag, and that tag triggering exactly one automation. Resist the urge to stack several automations on the same tag, because that is how a subscriber ends up getting two sequences at once.
For the technically comfortable, Kajabi can also fire a Send Webhook action from an automation directly to a ConvertKit form endpoint, which skips the Zapier subscription entirely. That is more setup and more to maintain, so I only reach for it when there is a clear reason.
Start your free Kajabi trial and follow along with this guide.
Try Kajabi free for 30 daysWhich method should you use
If you only need names and emails flowing from a Kajabi form into ConvertKit, start with the free native integration. It is the fastest to live and you can always upgrade later. If you want purchases, tags, and automations to drive your follow up, and you are on Kajabi Pro or willing to add the Public API, install the Kit Kajabi app. If you are on a lower Kajabi plan and not ready to add the API, use Zapier as your bridge. None of these locks you in, so it is fine to begin simple and graduate as your funnel gets more deliberate.
Common issues after you connect them
A few things reliably go sideways, and knowing them in advance saves a support ticket.
Double confirmation emails. Covered above, but worth repeating because it is the most common one. Run double opt in in a single platform, not both.
Delayed automations during launches. Webhooks are near instant in theory, but Kajabi can queue them during a high traffic launch, so a tag might land in ConvertKit five to fifteen minutes late. If your welcome email is set to send immediately, set it to send within one hour instead. That absorbs the delay without the subscriber noticing. For genuinely time sensitive messages like a live workshop login link, send those straight from Kajabi and let ConvertKit handle the nurture.
Refunds that do not sync. When someone buys, Kajabi fires a purchase event and ConvertKit reacts. When someone refunds, Kajabi does not always fire a matching event, so build a manual check into your refund process rather than assuming the tag came off.
Kajabi vs ConvertKit: do you even need both?
Plenty of people land here still deciding whether to run both tools or pick one, so let me be straight about it. If you are a course creator, run a membership, or need somewhere to host and sell your content with checkout built in, Kajabi is the all in one home for that. If your main job right now is capturing leads and nurturing them by email, and you want the strongest deliverability and automation you can get, ConvertKit does that one thing better than almost anyone.
The honest answer for a growing business is often both, used for what each is best at. You do not have to start there. You can run Kajabi's native email until you outgrow it, then layer ConvertKit on top when your sequences get serious. The integration above is exactly what makes that handoff painless when you reach it.
| Job to be done | Best tool |
|---|---|
| Hosting and selling courses | Kajabi |
| Memberships and community | Kajabi |
| Checkout and offers in one place | Kajabi |
| Email deliverability | ConvertKit |
| Tag based automation and sequences | ConvertKit |
| Growing and segmenting a list | ConvertKit |
Pricing on both moves around and scales with usage, so rather than quote numbers that go stale, here are the live pages. You can check Kajabi's plans with a free trial or grab the current Kajabi deal of 3 months for $99 if you already know it is your platform. On the email side, here is ConvertKit's pricing, including the free plan. The only pricing detail that matters for this integration is the one I flagged earlier: the Kit Kajabi app needs Public API access, which is on Kajabi's Pro plan or available as an add on lower down.
Frequently asked questions
Does Kajabi integrate with ConvertKit natively?
Yes. Kajabi has a built in ConvertKit integration you enable under Account Settings, Third Party Integrations. It passes names and emails from Kajabi forms to a ConvertKit form. It does not pass tags or purchase data, so for anything beyond basic list building you will want the Kit Kajabi app or Zapier.
Is ConvertKit the same as Kit?
Yes. ConvertKit rebranded to Kit in 2024. The product, features, and pricing are the same. Most people still search and refer to it as ConvertKit, which is why you will see both names used interchangeably.
Do I need a paid Kajabi plan to connect ConvertKit?
Not for the basic native integration, which works on standard plans. The deeper Kit Kajabi app, the one that syncs purchases and triggers automations, requires Kajabi's Public API. That comes with the Pro plan or can be purchased as an add on on lower plans like Growth.
Can I trigger a ConvertKit automation when someone buys on Kajabi?
Yes, with either the Kit Kajabi app or a Zapier connection. A Kajabi purchase event can apply a ConvertKit tag, and that tag can launch a Visual Automation. Keep it to one event, one tag, one automation to avoid subscribers receiving overlapping sequences.
Why are my Kajabi subscribers getting two confirmation emails?
Because double opt in is turned on in both Kajabi and ConvertKit. Choose one platform to run the confirmation step and switch it off in the other.
Should I use Kajabi's built in email or ConvertKit?
Kajabi's native email is fine when you are starting out and want everything in one place. ConvertKit is the stronger choice once deliverability and detailed automation matter to your revenue. Many businesses run both, using Kajabi for the product and ConvertKit for the email.
If you need the email side, start with ConvertKit's free plan. If you need the course and checkout side, try Kajabi free. Then come back and connect them with the method that matches your plan.
If you’re looking for a Kajabi Review look here. If you’re looking for a Kajabi coupon code look here.